Joseph Maria Olbrich

1867 Troppau (Opava) - 1908 Düsseldorf

Born in Troppau, today’s Opava, in 1867, Olbrich attended the Staatsgewerbeschule in Vienna in 1882-1886. In 1886 he returned to Troppau and acquired practical experience from a local artist. He then went back to Vienna and took up architecture studies at the Academy of Visual Arts (1890-1893). Olbrich was a brilliant student and in 1893 won an award in Rome, which led directly to a study stay in Italy and North Africa. He returned to Vienna in 1894 and started to work in the office of Otto Wagner, a prominent architect. In 1896 Olbrich began to develop a characteristic art nouveau style, featuring decorative vegetation. In 1897, he was a founder member of the Wiener Secession. His famous Secession House was built in 1898. In 1899 Olbrich joined the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony. In 1903 he established the Union of German Architects; in 1895 he was a corresponding member of the American Institute of Architecture, and in 1906 he was appointed an honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. In 1907 Olbrich and the majority of his associates moved to Düsseldorf, although he kept the studio in Darmstadt. He died in 1908, soon after the birth of his daughter Marianne.

Author's objects in collections