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ONLINECOLLECTION

Design for a Sweets Tin, c. 1919

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Pencil, ink, India ink on paper
21×14.8 cm

Artists

  • Josef Hoffmann

    (Pirnitz 1870–1956 Vienna)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
Every object designed by Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956), whether tin, flacon, chalice or candlestick, is characterized by the artist’s meticulously precise but at the same time sensual and playful esthetic awareness with which he ran through forms. Born in the Moravian town of Pirnitz (present-day: Brtnice/Czech Republic), Hoffmann pursued the notion of bettering the world through beauty with obsessive consistency – an idea that was reflected in the concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or universal work of art. Every singly object in the households of his commissioners was to fit in with the greater ensemble, and was to be of the highest artistic quality. This aspiration is palpable in all of Hoffmann’s designs, which show his ability as a confident and exact freehand draftsman. They not only illustrate his masterful handling of antique practices such as fluting, which he often invoked as variations, but also his skill as a formalist. Hoffmann designed his objects as if he were dealing with architecture.

Object data

Artist/author
  • Design: Josef Hoffmann
Title
Design for a Sweets Tin
Date
c. 1919
Art movement
Wiener Werkstätte
Category
Graphic work
Material​/technique
Pencil, ink, India ink on paper
Dimensions
21×14.8 cm
Signature
Monogrammed center right: JH
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 1176
Inventory access
Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994
Keywords

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (o.D.);
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (seit 1994).

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