Biography

Joseph Maria Olbrich (Oppava 1867 - 1908 Düsseldorf)

Joseph Maria Olbrich - between Darmstadt and Vienna

The architect, designer and graphic artist Joseph Maria Olbrich, born in 1867 in Troppau / Oppova, studied architecture at the Staatsgewerbeschule in Vienna and at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste. Already as a student, he won several prizes with his designs, including the Rome Prize of the Academy. After a trip across Italy and Tunisia in 1893, he returned to Vienna and worked in Otto Wagner's office. Together with Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, Otto Wagner and Gustav Klimt, Joseph Maria Olbrich was one of the co-founders of the Vienna Secession. In 1899 the artist followed the call of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt to realise the planned artists' colony on the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt according to the prevailing taste of the time. Olbrich designed all the buildings of the artists' colony except for Peter Behrens' residence. One of the most famous buildings was the Hochzeitsturm, which was completed in 1908. In 1907, Olbrich joined Peter Behrens, Richard Riemerschmid and Hermann Muthesius in founding the Deutscher Werkbund. He founded his own architectural office in Düsseldorf in the same year. Joseph Maria Olbrich tragically died of leukaemia in 1908 at the age of 41.

Olbrich participated in the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, the International Exhibition in Turin in 1902 and the World Exhibition in St. Louis in 1904. In the same year, of course, at the Mathildenhöhe in 1904, as well as in 1908.

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Objects by Joseph Maria Olbrich