Rare Early Pair of Chairs, Josef Hoffmann, 1905
A rare and very early design for a pair of chairs by Josef Hoffmann, founder of the Vienna Workshops, executed by the renowned furniture manufacturer Jacob & Josef Kohn.
The present pair of chairs is crafted in beech and bent beechwood, light-stained and finished with a shellac polish.
The distinctive design of these chairs, with their side elements bent from a single continuous piece of wood extending from the backrest to the feet, as well as the horseshoe-shaped base on which the four legs rest, reflects the remarkable inventiveness and aesthetic clarity of Hoffmann’s designs.
The two spheres on the front of the chairs are not only a structural element but also a stylistic feature frequently used by Hoffmann, demonstrating his exceptional sensitivity to form. Seat and backrest are elegantly executed with flat upholstery. They were restored in our workshop and newly covered in light-colored Alcantara.
Labels, each signed “J. & J. Kohn Budapest” on the underside.
A rare pair of chairs, especially in this light finish.
Literature:
MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst Wien, collection, Example in mahogany stain with velvet upholstery, Inventory no. 2957
Kohn catalog 1916, p. 53
Renzi, Il mobile moderno, p. 200
Josef Hoffmann (1870 – 1956):
Josef Hoffmann was born in 1870 in Pirnitz, Moravia, during a socially and politically challenging era that also marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, with all its positive and negative aspects.
In 1892, he began studying architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under Carl von Hasenauer and Otto Wagner. He was early inspired by the English-Scottish Arts & Crafts movement, whose vision was to infuse all areas of life with art — designing everyday and functional objects in a more beautiful and aesthetic manner, and making well-designed objects accessible to a broader public.
Hoffmann, like his teacher Otto Wagner, believed that art could even have a healing effect on the human soul. They redefined the role of the architect: from then on, the architect was to be a designer as well, creating not only buildings but also all objects within them. Hoffmann remained faithful to this credo throughout his life.
At just 29 years old, Hoffmann was appointed professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. In 1897, together with Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Carl Moll and others, he founded the Wiener Secession, a movement that positioned itself in opposition to established academic art.
In 1903, together with Koloman Moser and supported by the industrialist Fritz Waerndorfer, he co-founded the Wiener Werkstätte.
Among Hoffmann’s first iconic masterpieces is the Sanatorium Purkersdorf (1904), where he designed everything down to the smallest detail — from the interiors to the gardens — creating a radical new vision of the Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art).
One of his most significant works, which brought him international recognition, was the Palais Stoclet in Brussels (1905 – 1911). Here, he fully realized his concept of the total work of art: architecture and design merge seamlessly with everyday life, and art becomes an aesthetic component of daily existence.
An interesting historical note is that Theophil Edvard Hansen had previously pursued a similar vision of integrating architecture and interior design in several of his Viennese projects.
The strict and clear formal language of Hoffmann’s designs was pioneering for modernism. His works, like those of Adolf Loos, are characterized by timeless elegance and the highest standards of craftsmanship.
As Le Corbusier once stated about Josef Hoffmann:
“…today, when new generations appropriate the fruits of the work of the true pioneers, it is only just to express our gratitude to men such as Professor Hoffmann and to enterprises as bold as the Wiener Werkstätte. In the end, what endures is that indispensable superfluity — art.”
