As a co-founder of the Secession, the Wiener Werkstätte, and the Österreichischer Werkbund, Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956) had a decisive influence on modern Viennese architecture and design.
Around 1948 Hoffmann wrote his autobiography, in which he recapitulated his life and career. From his childhood with his family in his home town of Brtnice, his education in Brünn and Vienna; to the founding of the Secession and the Wiener Werkstätte and the late 1920s, the text covers all of the important events in his life. The reader is presented with absorbing information about Hoffmann’s personal relationships to his homeland, to fellow artists Otto Wagner, Koloman Moser, and Dagobert Peche, and to his patrons, such as the Wittgenstein, Stoclet, Primavesi, and Mauthner families.
As the only comprehensive, authentic source concerning the life and work of Josef Hoffmann, his descriptions are of enormous significance, and the starting point for any other work on Hoffmann’s oeuvre. Now with extensive commentary, his autobiography is once again available to a wider public.
 
Exhibition schedule: Josef Hoffmann House, Brtnice, Czech Republic, June 16, 2009–January 31, 2010