Josef Hoffmann
A major figure in the history of Austrian art and architecture, a co-founder of the Wiener Werkstätte and the Vienna Secession, Josef Hoffman was an architect and designer whose influence extended throughout Europe. After studying at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and completing a traineeship with the famous Otto Wagner, he made a one-year study trip to Italy in search of sources for architectural designs. His contact with Adolphe Stoclet (the director of the Austro-Belgian Railway Company, which operated the Aspangbahn in Austria) enabled him to build the Stoclet Palace, his masterpiece in Brussels. His style is characterised by a quest for sobriety and is reduced to the most essential forms alone. It became one of the main sources of architectural inspiration for the whole of the twentieth century.
