Josef Hoffmann: Pioneer of Modern Design & Wiener Werkstätte

[00:00:00][Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] behind for [Music] never before did art history go through such a thrilling and exciting development as at the beginning of our Century the film you are now watching will try to trace the life and evolution of a man whose creative power and above all his feeling for design played a major part in the shaping of the aesthetic perception and aesthetic understanding of our Century whole generations of Architects and designers made him their role model and for many he still is today we are talking about the artistic phenomenon of yoseph Hoffman you're invited to join us in a detailed journey through that eventful time at the beginning of our Century which became part of and influenced art history together let us try to follow this story's thread it should bring us nearer the cultural developments of the past make them understandable and this is the most important make us aware of today's cultural developments but to start the question who exactly was the legendary Yosef Hoffman [Laughter] [Music] for if we want to know more about this fascinating personality and the fertile nature of his creativity we will have to try to dig down to the roots and describe the cultural currents of the end of the 19th century in today's Czechoslovakia above fall in Bohemia and Moravia the effects of the Industrial Revolution were noticeable earlier and stronger than in the other parts of the austr Hungarian Empire Hoffman came from this region born in 1870 in pianets in Moravia this put him alongside many creative minds who enriched the cultural and economic life of Vienna at the turn of the [Music] century as of 1887 he visited the Technical College in Bruno where he studied the methods of classical architecture after his practical year in vburg as a student of architecture Hoffman studied from 1892 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna built by taril Hansen his teacher Carl frer Von haawa was then at the height of his popularity due to his ringa buildings after his death Otto Vagner the most famous architect of the end of the 19th century and Pioneer of the modern took over the [Music] [Applause] [Music] class if one tries to piece together the complex list of Trends in the Arts in the last centuries one ends up with three guiding principles firstly the ever more forcibly declared wish to tear down all links with the traditional and from then on to present oneself as completely modern then the second guiding principle the ever growing interest in international art currents one made an effort to look at oneself as European and thirdly artist groups were formed almost as political parties organizing themselves and declaring their intentions loudly and they often disagreed with one another [Music] after Hoffman demonstratively left the kler house with a number of like-minded colleagues including Gustaf climp and colosa the setet was founded in 1897 the organization of graphic artists the new organization's home built by Yosef Maria ol offered the young Hoffman as organizer of the exhibitions ideal opportunity to present himself to an art-loving Progressive and financially well-endowed circle of potential clients the Society of this time seemed to show as never before an interest in art the conventional salons acmis and the like very quickly lost their influence as the modern questions the authority of the traditional the art of this time saw itself as a stimulus of the Contemporary consciousness [Music] if one takes a look at Hoffman's works from this time one can clearly identify the influence of the school of Vagner which determined the structure of an object through the emphasis on the surface while the Belgian anuo influenced the cists it was also important for Hoffman already in 1899 Hoffman's name was so well known that he was appointed professor at the vienes school of Applied Arts at the beginning of 1900 a basic change of style is noticeable with the Turning Away from the curves and sweeps of the Seton and anuo a turn towards simpler forms took place during this very important phase of development Hoffman was commissioned to build a colony of Villas on the hoat hill in Vienna Hoffman was a close friend of the Seton building contractors and this gave him the chance to design houses that suited both his and the Builder's [Music] ideal this was to reach a Unity both outside and inside the house or in Hoffman's own words to build a house whose exterior is at one with its interior with the interior design Hoffman's transformation is even more noticeable here he moves away from the Teton and for the first time he Reveals His Own unmistakable and independent style the interior of the houses still existing today are no longer in their original state even though some have been lovingly adapted to suit today's [Music] requirements Hoffman's turn away from the sweeping curves of anuo and his turned towards simpler forms has to be seen in the historic context with the move away from the floral yugan steel which set in around 1900 in Europe and went hand inhand with a Renaissance of classical ideals at this time British examples had a special influence on [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hoffman his admiration for the latest developments in architecture and applied arts in Britain is easy to explain on the one hand numerous Illustrated magazines allowed for an avid exchange of information on the other hand there were a number of Seton exhibitions where British artists such as Ashby and Macintosh took part along with the houses on the hovat Hoffman was commissioned with the interior decoration of a number of vienes apartments at that time he was Vienna's fashionable architect and his Works were unrivaled worldwide they were so revolutionary that one can rightfully argue that a new era had be gun in later years Hoffman explained his developing interest at this time in the square and the use of black and white by saying that these clear elements had never been Incorporated in previous Styles during this prolific period Hoffman found solutions to problems which a decade later would come to be popularly accepted and understood as basic principles [Music] the sculpture super P Rel was created by Hoffman in 1902 for the 14th exhibition of the Seton it's recognized as the final Turning Point towards a new feeling for design throughout the world workshops started up with the aim to find new and contemporary forms no longer wanting to follow the example of historical precedence using the fortune of the young industrialist and art lover Fritz vorer and with the enthusiasm and creative power of Yosef Hoffman and KO mosa the V vetta the Vienna workshops was founded in May 1903 a productive community of artists and craftsmen who were to make a deep impression on the life of Hoffman as well as on the vienes art scene the undertaking vetta had a clear aim to make all facets of human life into one Unified work of art this began with the creation of for that time extraordinarily Advanced working conditions for the Craftsman and it ended with the wish to create everything entirely a new whether or not it was needed for everyday use or should act as decoration it was also decided only to approve objects of outstanding individuality and beauty and great value was put on the exclusive and exquisite craftsmanship exus this followed the organization's motto better to work 10 days on one product than to manufacture 10 products in one day the seat of the Venture was in the no sft gasa 32 to 34 where a new building was adapted to their requirements it would eventually exhaust vor's complete fortune in the meantime however the enthusiasm with which the key figures threw themselves into their work was [Music] great it was from here that the Veta operated the architect's office and the workshops on the remaining photographs from that time it all looks more impressive than it actually was was the ven data definitely had economic problems from the beginning and one can easily imagine what kind of financial success they had if one considers that it took them a year to adapt their offices while at the same time building up their stock of goods [Music] through exhibitions and fairs and along with the encouragement of a well-wishing press the venaka quickly gained an excellent and widespread reputation but still it was not possible to make the undertaking self-sufficient and to become independent from supporters and financial [Music] backers in any case the idealism of a few people left us with a vast number of objects that in their Creative Energy and in their diverse forms have a place in art history which cannot be disputed the DU Hoffman and mosa complimented each other so well that for a time it was impossible to differentiate between their [Music] designs although one has to note that Moses's great talent for the surface art had a decisive influence on Hoffman's creative activity and that Hoffman further developed Moses many impulses into his own personal style the circle of customers of the vetta and Joseph Hoffman mainly consisted of artists and also of the open-minded Progressive and financially well-to-do Jewish upper middle class of the monarchy the first large assignment for Hoffman and the vetta the erection and interior design of the sanatorium porasor came about through the acquaintance of the building contractor with the art critic beuker candle she as an avid of the Seton and admirer of ysf Hoffman recommended him to the [Music] Builder the sanatorium was designed for a wealthy circle of patients to cater for the highest levels of comfort and luxury Hoffman made use of the most modern available techniques when building the sanatorium poras dorf by constructing it in steel and concrete [Music] his original plans show that he was inclined to take more radical advantage of this new construction technique than was actually possible in practice decoration was used sparingly on the building as with the outside so the inside is convincing with its Simplicity and boldness of concept and execution inside there are fascinating contrasts between the sever of the architecture and the more abundantly treated interior certainly the intended purpose of the sanatorium porkers dorf called for a level of hygienic sobriety which helped Hoffman in his design the rooms are large in dimension and geometrically [Music] straightforward in 1926 leapold Bower added another floor against the architect's will and thus robbed the building of its character it was aryanized during the Nazi period and for a number of years after the war it was used as an old people's home in the 1960s some of the furniture was thrown away some were sold and the building has since been [Music] neglected today it is often claimed that Wicked art dealers plundered the sanatorium porkers dorf but this is not quite true nobody was interested in Yosef Hoffman at the beginning of the' 60s and when I searched for an example of these famous chairs for my collection the director told me all the chairs had already been thrown away then I asked the porter if he knew where one of the chairs could be he told me that all of them were in the Attic they were all sold to me very cheaply Lock Stock and Barrel they were really not wanted sometime later I offered these chairs to the international museums who bought them Paris London New York and this may have contributed to the fact that Joseph Hoffman became famous worldwide East Josef Hoffman's most significant building is listed and under protection however even by the early 1990s no fund have been found to renovate [Music] it for Yosef Hoffman the highest priority was hand finish of the highest quality [Music] the final finish is the most important that all parts are worthy of the same attention and that it is attractive in its form today that is difficult in Yosef Hoffman's time however labor costs were not so high he wanted objects that stood for 100% quality with every line being straight and perfect the surface had to be worked evenly with not even a tap of the hammer being too hard whether it was visible at the front or hidden at the back of the article that's because he was a [Music] perfectionist Hoffman who worked with us until 1954 was often difficult because his projects were very complicated but the finished products are very [Music] pleasing there have always been problems in the production of highquality [Music] handcraft early on kosa before 1907 when he left the vetta due to differences with Fritz vorer pointed out at every opportunity that an obsession for Quality joined with an immense range of goods could hardly be supported by the paying [Music] public it is the same today objects of the highest handcrafted finish can only be financed through other products most of the objects produced in the venetta were stamped with a number of different Hallmarks with the trademark of the vetta the monogram of the designer that of the Craftsman who completed it and an extra Hallmark for silver surviving objects of this period are in part to be found in museums and partly in private collections a small number are still available from art dealers and enjoy International acclaim [Music] [Applause] [Music] yoseph Hoffman is doubly important for Our Generation not only is he a master of Stylistics but he also has a dynamic approach to his projects what particularly fascinates me about Joseph Hoffman is the intensity with which he creates small things which are then used as the basis for the large scale th his buildings are derived from an obsessive attention to detail an intense focus on the small contents of the construction that means the interior the chairs his objects [Music] the vetta had about 100 employees in 1905 37 of whom were masters of their trade apart from Yosef Hoffman and kosza Otto prer and ceska from about 1904 Edward Vima visil and B hold ller from 1907 and dagat peska from 1915 were responsible for designs to name just the most important [Music] also freance artists such as Gustaf climp orik hanak Oscar koska and Egon Sheila worked for the vetta [Music] one has to recognize that firstly he was a true admirer of William Morris and saw culture stemming from the basis of art and crafts Joseph Hoffman was a typical representative of the middle class of that period it was the middle class not the aristocracy that was responsible for the real I would say the noble culture of that time and so Hoffman wanted to bestow the best handcrafted and fantastic things on this Noble [Music] culture alongside this was also the commodity culture and he was of the opinion that the environment shouldn't be made up of millions of horrible mass-produced things he thus felt it was his duty to also make industry produce beautiful articles [Music] between about 1904 and 1908 the vetta had its own adjoining carpentry [Music] Workshop it had to be closed down as the noise level was too great for the neighboring tenants as a rule the furniture of the vetta was unsigned signed lost characteristic keys and fittings but above all the special signatures of each of the designers as well as the outstanding workmanship and finish are of considerable importance when attributing not easily identifiable objects [Music] Hoffman's significance as an early industrial designer for Bentwood Furniture can hardly be overestimated for the firm yacob and Yosef Korn he designed a Furniture series which through its simple forms not only conformed to the requirements of an industrial finish but also had a captivating Timeless Elegance through vigorous exhibition The Firm corn brought Hoffman's Furniture to an international public [Music] between 1902 and 1904 Hoffman's purist phase reached its peak and he concentrated solely on Elementary forms so much Spartan frugality often went against the wishes and intentions of his Commissioners they wanted to be able to recognize a bit of the old style in his new Creations something from the excess of historicism from the richness of Furnishings which matched their lifestyle and Hoffman's artistic fantasy would later be able to react to this demand once he had moved on from his phase of ridding himself of historic weights he was again prepared to let decorative elements flow into his work after 1904 a number of projects were carried out where Hoffman's search for simple form is clearly recognizable but the choice of material and the painstaking work Methods made the objects more Splendid and opulent than in the previous years [Music] the internationally accepted peak of Hoffman's career is the palet stocket built in Brussels and still existing in its original form its Dimension quality and Architectural significance was an accomplishment that was not to be surpassed throughout his long and fruitful [Music] career you will know the story Baron stocket was on his honeymoon in Vienna and he went for a walk on the hoat where there are a number of Yosef Hoffman houses he liked them so much that he apparently said I am going to stay in Vienna and build myself a house he meant the area where the a house now stands and so it was planned and then one day he came in and said that his father had died and that he would now have to build his big house in Brussels that is how the palace stocket came to be [Music] for and gross House St and so [Music] not only had material and techniques of manufacturing become more complicated but also from 1905 a new change in Direction in Hoffman's creative work is recognizable which can be seen as a return to classicism one has to note however that Hoffman always filtered the classical repertoire of form through his purest abstraction [Music] [Applause] all these Tendencies were channeled into the building and coupled with a considerable Financial strength of Adolf stoclet resulted in probably Europe's Most spectacular unified work of art of this Epoch when building the pal stocket the relationship between the commissioner and architect was the happiest imaginable a fact which is clearly expressed in the consequent atmosphere and quality of the building where OB obviously no compromises were made neither with the outside finish nor with the interior the real costs of the P stocket are not known but according to rumors the artists Cabaret flater Mouse of 1907 was a sort of byproduct of the palet stoclet the same artists who worked on stoclet were also involved in the design of the flater mouse apart from Hoffman who was responsible for architecture and Furnishing many others including pni ller oska climp vimma and Cheska worked on this project The Works of Hoffman shortly before the first world war by this time he had separated his architect's office from the vetta revealed an individual approach to classicism and ideally reflected the need for the representation of a social class whose days were already numbered due to political circumstances uninfluenced by socially aware critical Trends concerning the role of the ornament in his time Hoffman was probably one of the few great architects of the 20th Century who could emotionally grasp the relation between decoration and decorum as a real experience The Villa primi was Hoffman's last great building before the first world war whose outbreak put an end to any private building for a number of years [Applause] [Music] PR Vienna has always been a place of polarities and in the Progressive movements there were very different and incompatible Tendencies which occasionally led to disputes there was of course The Parting of ways between Adolf L and yoseph Hoffman and here one must note that very early on and above all with the sanatorium porasor and later with the pal stocket yoseph Hoffman had produced masterpieces of the modern which sparked off completely new developments later on and probably mainly under the influence of his colleagues at the Veta and also influenced by the significance of his own creation he developed new inclinations which were directed more towards the applied Arts as well as to the decorative man as of 1905 the vetta produced hand painted and printed silks The backous Firm was responsible for the machine printed and woven textiles [Music] the diversity of the wees on offer from the vetta was immense as well as leather goods there was enamel jewelry Pearl embroidery sheets of pictures postcards lace Fashions Ceramics and yes even a hat Department [Music] the time up to the liquidation of the vetta and the auction of the stock in 1932 was influenced by a new generation of artists and Craftsmen the most important impulses came from dagobert peser the war meant many of the employees were women above all graduates of the school of Applied Arts because of the imbalance between the basic requirements of daily life and the opulence of the V Baretta's furnishings the organization was increasingly criticized for its frivolity and inopportune choice of design above all adol FL an opponent of the Arts and Crafts movement and the vetta said he wanted the crafts freed from the artists in 1932 the venetta went into [Music] liquidation yoseph Hoffman was very ill for many years after 1919 and for some time had to pass on the management of his Studio to Oswald herle even though his International Acclaim had reached its peak the controversy surrounding him was not to die down throughout the 20s and 30s he suffered greatly from these disputes he felt he had been slighted and was misunderstood and he was often offended and reacted angrily still or just because of this Hoffman tirelessly applied himself to the creation of new forms until his death hman I knew yoseph Hoffman in the 50s from the tables reserved for artists from the set he led a kind of retired man's existence at that time in other words he had very few commissions the interest in him changed somewhat in the 60s the design of around the 1900s aroused great interest in the artists partly inspired by America and they began to buy and exchange [Music] Furniture one often heard reports from America of how much it was appreciated this of course made it all much more interesting although this demand for Hoffman's Works was not at all [Music] expected after the second world war Hoffman assumed a number of official duties while receiving fewer commissions for design His official engagements included membership of the art Senate and Austrian General commissioner for the banala in Venice Hoffman's 85th birthday turned into a real Triumph he was not only awarded a special prize in Austria which included a large sum of money but was also invited to Belgium with his wife where the stocket family opened their house for a spectacular birthday [Music] celebration Adventure art history one could nearly say Thriller art history the cultural overturn in the first third of our Century took place at a breathtaking speed and if you are missing our thread of the plot which we mentioned at the beginning of this film then that's because it just doesn't exist it cannot as art history never runs in straight lines but in a number of different stages which complement or overlap or even contradict each other we remember the new objectivity of Y Hoffman's early designs and parallel to that the new Surface art of Edward vimer and especially of p and the film wanted to show just that that the orientation of style cannot be defined and categorized into specific years the film also wanted to prove that each cultural Epoch and that means even now ours has very avangard currents these currents are only recognized as such by very few people but we hope that through this film we have become more sensitive to the cultural events of our time and for that which is now developing which possibly will one day be considered avard nobody can tell at the time of its birth what avantgard is years later cultural historians more or less Define what avantgard was [Music] hman J Hoffman one of Austria's greatest artists and one of the most influential architects of the 20th century died in Vienna at the age of 86 his life's work included all areas of the Fine Arts as initiator of the V he was a decisive influence on the drawings and paintings of his time as a founder of the Veta he revolutionized the arts and crafts as an eternal avangard yoseph Hoffman will always be a revered example for the Austrian artist [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] oh [Music] e the [Music]