
Josef HoffmannÖsterreich, 1870–1956Darf man es sehen?
Chicago, Vereinigte Staaten
Es gehört zur Sammlung, ist derzeit aber nicht ausgestellt.
1899–1936
Employed by: University of Applied Arts Vienna
1920s
Public housing for workers
In the 1920s he becomes particularly interested in building public apartment blocks for working-class residents, to relieve the severe post-war housing shortage; he organises exhibitions of urban-planning projects featuring relatively cheap houses of simple construction.
1932
Closure of the Wiener Werkstätte
The Wiener Werkstätte, which flourished in its early years and spread its idea, is forced to close: first the First World War stood in its way, then the Great Depression, which hit Germany and Austria especially hard.
1936
Professor emeritus of the Kunstgewerbeschule
He becomes professor emeritus and is essentially retired, though he continues to work with his earlier students.
1937
“The Boudoir of a Great Actress” in Paris
He presents a model interior, “The Boudoir of a Great Actress”, at the Paris International Exposition of 1937, and in the same year designs new interiors for the Hotel Imperial in Vienna.
1938
The Anschluss and the “Haus der Wehrmacht”
After the Anschluss of 1938 he remodels the former German embassy building in Vienna into the “Haus der Wehrmacht” for army officers. Hoffmann had voted for the union of Austria with Germany, and the Nazis appointed him a Special Commissioner for Viennese arts and crafts.