Joseph Maria Olbrich Art Nouveau Chair, Darmstadt Germany Circa 1905

JOSEF MARIA OLBRICH (1867–1908)
Chair, designed circa 1905, fabric after Wiener Werkstätte

Josef Maria Olbrich – Music Room Salon Chair, Darmstadt circa 1905Vienna Secession · Künstlerkolonie Darmstadt · Sycamore, Mother-of-Pearl Inlays · Documented Piece

A salon chair from a music room ensemble, in sycamore and pearl veneer with mother-of-pearl and precious wood inlays, executed after the design of Josef Maria Olbrich in Darmstadt circa 1905. Upholstered in fabric with a pattern after Josef Hoffmann. The reference piece of this series is preserved in the Museum Künstlerkolonie Darmstadt.

Olbrich's music room furniture was presented at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904, where his interiors won the highest prize at the exhibition. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote at the time that the Olbrich Pavilion was "one of the things at the World's Fair which will leave a permanent mark upon American life." Olbrich was subsequently appointed corresponding member of the American Institute of Architects.

Josef Maria Olbrich (Troppau, 1867 – Düsseldorf, 1908) was co-founder of the Vienna Secession with Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser in 1897, and designer of the celebrated Secession Building in Vienna. In 1899, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse appointed him professor and chief architect of the Künstlerkolonie Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt — today inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List (2021). Olbrich died in Düsseldorf in 1908, aged only 40, leaving a body of work that went on to influence Frank Lloyd Wright and the pioneers of American modernism.

His works are held in the collections of the Museum Künstlerkolonie Darmstadt, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

• Height: 94 cm · Width: 40.5 cm · Depth: 46 cm
• Materials: sycamore, pearl veneer, black-stained pearwood, mother-of-pearl and precious wood inlays
• Upholstery: fabric with pattern after Josef Hoffmann
• Literature: Museum Künstlerkolonie Darmstadt, Renate Ulmer, 1989/1990, pp. 194–195 · Landesmuseum Oldenburg catalogue
• Documented provenance: Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, 1904
• Condition: very good

Seen in museums — available to you.

Available for viewing by appointment at our Düsseldorf gallery.

Keywords integrated: Josef Maria Olbrich, Vienna Secession, Künstlerkolonie Darmstadt, music room chair, Mathildenhöhe UNESCO, Louisiana Purchase Exposition 1904, Jugendstil furniture, mother-of-pearl sycamore, Josef Hoffmann
Bibliographie : Museum Künstlerkolonie Darmstadt, 1989, p. 194–195 ; catalogue d’exposition, Landesmuseum Oldenburg.
Louisiana Purchase Exhibition 1904. LPE