Joseph Maria Olbrich (22 December 1867 – 8 August 1908) was an Austrian architect and one of the

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (; also known as the Union of Austrian Artists or ) is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian painters, graphic artists, sculptors and architects, including Josef Ho ...

founders.

Early life

Olbrich was born in

Troppau Opava (; , ) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Opava River. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia and was a historical capital of Czech Silesia. Administr ...

Austrian Silesia Austrian Silesia, officially the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia, was an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Habsburg monarchy (from 1804 the Austrian Empire, and from 1867 the Cisleithanian portion of Austria-Hungary). It is la ...

(modern day Opava, Czech Republic), the third child of Edmund and Aloisia Olbrich. He had two sisters, who died before he was born, and two younger brothers, John and Edmund. His father was a prosperous confectioner and wax manufacturer who also owned a brick works, where Olbrich's interest in the construction industry has its early origin.

Career

Olbrich studied architecture at the

University of Applied Arts Vienna The University of Applied Arts Vienna (, or informally just ''Die Angewandte'') is an arts university and institution of higher education in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It has had university status since 1970. History The predecessor of the ...

(''Wiener Staatsgewerbeschule'') and the

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna () is a public art school in Vienna, Austria. Founded in 1688 as a private academy, it is now a public university. The academy is also known for twice rejecting admission to a young Adolf Hitler in 1907 and 1908. ...

, where he won several prizes. These included the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

, for which he traveled to Italy and North Africa. In 1893, he started working for

Otto Wagner Otto Koloman Wagner (; 13 July 1841 – 11 April 1918) was an Austrian architect, furniture designer and urban planner. He was a leading member of the Vienna Secession movement of architecture, founded in 1897, and the broader Art Nouveau mo ...

, the Austrian architect, where he worked on Wagner's

Wiener Stadtbahn The Vienna Stadtbahn () was a rail-based public transportation system operated under this name from 1898 until 1989. Today, the Vienna U-Bahn lines U4 and U6 and the Vienna S-Bahn (commuter rail) run on its former lines. In 1894, the architect ...

(Metropolitan Railway) buildings. In 1897,

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (14 July 1862 – 6 February 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and a founding member of the Vienna Secession movement. His work helped define the Art Nouveau style in Europe. Klimt is known for his paintings, murals, sket ...

, Olbrich,

Josef Hoffmann Josef Hoffmann (15 December 1870 – 7 May 1956) was an Austrians, Austrian-Sudeten Germans, Moravian architect and designer. He was among the founders of Vienna Secession and co-establisher of the Wiener Werkstätte. His most famous architect ...

and

Koloman Moser Koloman Moser (; 30 March 1868 – 18 October 1918) was an Austrian artist who exerted considerable influence on twentieth-century graphic art. He was one of the foremost artists of the Vienna Secession movement and a co-founder of Wiener Werk ...

founded the ''

'' artistic group. The group's aesthetic sense sought playful juxtapositions of blank surfaces and geometric regularity against expansive (largely floral) ornamentation. Olbrich designed their exhibition building, the famous

Secession Building The Secession Building () is a contemporary art exhibition hall in Vienna, Austria. It was completed in 1898 by Joseph Maria Olbrich as an architectural manifesto for the Vienna Secession, a group of rebel artists that seceded from the long-estab ...

, which became the movement's landmark. The building combined a church-like entrance hall with a warehouse-like exhibition space. In 1899,

Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse Ernest Louis (; 25 November 1868 – 9 October 1937) was the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, reigning from 1892 until 1918. Early life Ernest Louis was the elder son of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of ...

, founded the

Darmstadt Artists' Colony The Darmstadt Artists' Colony refers both to a group of Jugendstil artists as well as to the buildings in Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt in which these artists lived and worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, near to the Rosenhöhe Park. ...

, for which Olbrich designed many house and several exhibition buildings. Olbrich gained Hessian citizenship in 1900 and was appointed to a professorship by the Grand Duke. In 1903, he married Claire Morawe. In the following years, Olbrich executed diverse architectural commissions and experimented in applied arts and design. He designed pottery, furniture, book bindings, and musical instruments. His courtyard and interiors at the

St. Louis World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds totaling $15 mill ...

won the highest prize at the exhibition. At the time, the ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the '' Belleville News-Democra ...

'' wrote of his pavilion, "The interior decorators of the United States are now talking about the Olbrich Pavilion. It is already indicated as one of the things at the World's Fair which will leave a permanent mark upon American life." He was subsequently appointed corresponding member of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

. His architectural works, especially his exhibition buildings for the Vienna and Darmstadt Secessions, had a strong influence on the development of the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

style. Shortly after his daughter Marianne's birth on 19 July 1908, Olbrich died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

on 8 August, aged 40.

Works

* The Secession hall, Vienna * Residence for

Hermann Bahr Hermann Anastas Bahr (; 19 July 1863 – 15 January 1934) was an Austrian writer, playwright, director, and critic. Biography Born and raised in Linz, Bahr studied in Vienna, Graz, Czernowitz and Berlin, devoting special attention to philosophy, ...

, Vienna * and other buildings at

, Mathildenhöhe,

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

Department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

for

Leonhard Tietz Leonhard Tietz (March 3 1849 - November 14 1914) was a German department store entrepreneur and art collector of Jewish origin. Biography Born in Birnbaum an der Warthe, Province of Posen, Prussia (today Międzychód, Poland), Leonhard Tietz was ...

* Villa for Josef Feinhals,

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, built 1908 and destroyed in World War II

Gallery

Wien - Secessionsgebäude.JPG, Secession Hall, Vienna DA-Haus Olbrich1.jpg, Olbrich's house at the

DA-Oberhessische Haus1.jpg, Upper Hesse Exhibition House,

Ausstellungsgebäude_(Mathildenhöhe)_01.JPG, Exhibition building DA-Haus_Deister1.jpg, Wilhelm Deiters’ House DA-Gr_Haus_Glueckert1.jpg, Glückert House Prinzessinenhaus Schloss Wolfsgarten.jpg, "Prinzessinenschloss" in Langen, Germany Hochzeitsturm Darmstadt 2022.jpg, Wedding tower La_colonie_dartistes_jugendstil_(Mathildenhöhe,_Darmstadt)_(7882268852).jpg, Ernst-Ludwig House Koenigsalle-3.JPG, Department store in Düsseldorf

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Joseph Maria Olbrich
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Architectuul
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olbrich, Joseph 1867 births 1908 deaths Austrian architects People from Austrian Silesia Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni Vienna Secession architects People from Opava Architects from Austria-Hungary