ALEXANDRA SMETANA — CLAUDIA KAROLYI

I. Truly modern — The reception of Josef Hoffmann's bookplates in research

Josef Hoffmann, professor, architect, 2 bookplates, one of them a truly modern Exlibris Alma Schindler, Vienna, 1901, is what Karl Emich Graf zu Leiningen-Westerburg states briefly and precisely in his list of Deutsche und österreichische Buchzeichen Exlibris¹ (German and Austrian bookmarks exlibris), which was issued in 1901. The same plate is listed two years later among the new appearances by Eduard Dillmann in the first publication of the Austrian Exlibris Society: Hoffmann, Josef, Vienna: Alma Schindler (by now married Mahler).²

A further plate by Hoffmann, however, escaped the notice of the Austrian exlibris authors of the first hour in their praiseworthy endeavour to turn their eye to the novelties in the field of the bookplate in Austria in order to investigate and lift the native exlibris treasures³. It was presented in Ver Sacrum in 1903, and was commented on in the Zeitschrift für Bücherzeichen – Bibliothekenkunde und Gelehrtenkunde of the Berlin Exlibris Association with the following words: “Recently the Viennese Ver Sacrum has taken heed of the exlibris drawing; in numbers 7 and 8 of the 1903 issue they show two exlibris – strongly Secessionist of course – “F.M.” by Josef Hoffmann (figures like Macintosh’s) and one by Minka Podhajska-Vienna (crowing cock at sunrise).”⁴

Only as late as 1953 did the Austrian society turn their attention to the graphic work of Josef Hoffmann again. In the publication for the 50^th anniversary of the society, an illustration of Hoffmann’s plate for himself “JH”, concludes Hoschek-Mühlhaimb’s contribution On the History of Austrian Small Graphics since 1900⁵. In the thirteen-page essay, which – as the author himself states critically – is little more than a slight sketch⁶, Hoschek mentions that especially in Austria the turning away from Historicism led in a creative way to a tempestuous search of new forms which organisationally found its expression in the foundation of the artists’ Association of the Viennese Secession in 1898 (sic!)⁷. He emphasizes, however, for shortness of space, an appreciation of the exlibris creations of this Association could not be accomplished and he had to restrict himself to just mentioning a few artists.

In this enumeration Hoffmann together with Koloman Moser and Alfred Roller are “done with” as brilliant Tri-Star that spread Vienna’s artistic fame all over the world⁸, and it is furthermore stated: Considering the well-known importance of these artists it suffices to emphasize that their bookplates and small graphics in the first place perhaps created the type of modern applied graphics, especially through the ornamental treatment⁹. After listing some graduates of the Kunstgewerbeschule (Academy of Handicraft), respectively artists who worked for the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop) Mühlhaimb concludes his brief two-page appreciation of the Viennese Modern Style: To sum up, one can say that Secession and Wiener Werkstätte together with Secessionist architects and sculptors imposed the stamp of modernism on Vienna, and it is from this viewpoint of “novelty”, too, that their small graphic art should be appreciated¹⁰.

Thanks to Heinrich R. Scheffer, the Austrian Exlibris Society again – that is 40 years later – in their Yearbook 1992/93 throws a glance upon the Viennese graphic art at the turn of the century and the time between the wars. In his essay Die Wiener Werkstätte und ihre Exlibriskünstler (The Vienna Workshop and its bookplate artists)¹¹ Scheffer, after a brief introduction into the programme and history of the Productivgenossenschaft von Kunsthandwerkern in Wien (Productive cooperative of handicraft artists), founded in 1903 like the Bookplate Society, describes the bookplates of Kolo and Ditha Moser, Berthold Löffler, Oskar Kokoschka, Richard Teschner, Anton Kling, Dagobert Peche, Friedrich Skurawy and Rudolf von Larisch.

Why are Josef Hoffmann’s bookplates not mentioned at all in this text either? After all none of the above mentioned artists can be called a bookplate artist in the narrow sense of the word, but like Hoffmann only dealt with bookplates as an aspect of the book as a total work of art. But even though Josef Hoffmann originally joined the Secession as a graphic artist¹² and not only presented numerous graphic book designs, but in 1898, together with Moser and Roller, was also a leading editor of Ver Sacrum, the artist so far has mainly been seen as an architect and master of handicraft whereas his eminent graphic talent […] has never been sufficiently appreciated¹³. Moreover, Heinrich R. Scheffer presumably bases his review of the bookplate artists of the Wiener Werkstätte on exlibris from his own collection and does not possess the rare Hoffmann plates – the exlibris presented in Ver Sacrum in 1903 in a way only exists as a sketch.

The bookplate for Alma Schindler, dated 1901, and called a genuinely modern exlibris (see fig. 1) was printed in two colour varieties – blue resp. green¹⁴. It reflects the formal language that is typical of Hoffmann’s graphic work around 1900, and his abstract symmetrical line ornaments reveal a striking similarity with Hoffmann’s decorative book designs, published in Ver Sacrum (cf. fig. 2, 3). Both the bookplate for Alma Schindler and the designs in Ver Sacrum convey his joy to intuitively pursue a curving line, and like other Hoffmann drawings that survived still today bear witness that he practised the designing of ornaments and patterns as exercises in thinking, but also as if he were compelled to do so…[…] He is capable of varying decorative forms, once invented, infinitely and to repeat them again and again in the most diverse contexts until new formations of lines attract his attention.¹⁷

 

fig. 1: J. Hoffmann, Exlibris Alma Schindler, um 1901, Klischee (60 x 42 mm)	fig. 2: J. Hoffmann, Buchschmuck (140 x 36 mm), reproduziert in Ver Sacrum 1900	fig. 3: J.Hoffmann Buchschmuck (80 x 30 mm), reproduziert in Ver Sacrum 1900

In their study Josef Hoffmann und die Wiener Werkstätte (Josef Hoffmann and the Vienna Workshop), Daniele Baroni and Antonio D’Auria remark that it is particularly these pages of Ver Sacrum which for Olbrich and Hoffmann presented a kind of workshop where they could refine and outline precisely their respective repertoire of forms¹⁸.

On account of this workshop character of many graphic works from this time around 1900, it is often difficult, as Hans Bisanz points out, to distinguish applied from free graphics since this was a stylistic period where the protagonists opted for the ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ (total work of art) as an ideal superior to the (equally valid) artistic genres and which they partly demonstrated personally by engaging in various artistic fields. This led to ever new transgressions of borders, and in magazines like “Ver Sacrum” or “Die Fläche” (The Plain) brought about the repeated appearance of experimental or utopian “poster and exlibris designs” which were not meant as sketches to be executed but rather simply as an aesthetic basis for discussion¹⁹.

fig. 4: J. Hoffmann, Exlibris für Fritz Waerndorfer 148 x 56 mm, reproduziert in Ver Sacrum 1903

Bisanz here refers to the Exlibris by Josef Hoffmann, reproduced in 1903 in Ver Sacrum 6 together with other ornamental figurations²⁰,  that has been presented in practically all standard works on the Viennese Modern Style (cf. fig. 1). Hoffmann included the initials FW in the ink drawing – the original of which finds itself in the archives of the Viennese Secession²¹ – which the Berlin exlibrists wrongly deciphered as FM whereas the Vienna art scene naturally knew that they stood for his friend and business partner Fritz Waerndorfer²². The plate, characterised by the Bookplate Journal as strongly secessionist with figures à la Macintosh, shows three stylised female heads placed on lines and quotes Margaret and Frances Macdonald’s personal way of seeing the human figures as a stiff slim shell […]²³ that was criticised by the art critic Ludwig Hevesi on the occasion of the 8^th  Secessionist Exhibition in 1900. This reduction of the human figure to a line can be understood as a homage of the artist as well as the owner to the Glasgow group of artists The Four²⁴ because Hoffman and Waerndorfer since the exhibition were in close contact especially with the Macintoshs. In 1902 the couple also designed Waerndorfer’s music room²⁵, and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who enthusiastically welcomed Moser’s and Hoffmann’s plan to found a workshop for metal work in Vienna, discussed the programmatic artistic foundation of such an institution with Hoffmann, Moser and Waerndorfer²⁶. For Helmut Franck, who also hints at the connection with the Glasgow Nouveau Art Group, the plate, however, represents the prototype of the Viennese Art Nouveau with its dotted frame and the script incorporated into the total effect.²⁷

Moreover, the female triad on the exlibris for Fritz Waerndorfer refers to a central symbol of the Viennese Secessionists. The cover of the first Ver Sacrum issue already, designed by Alfred Roller, shows a blossoming little tree bursting the staves of the too narrow wooden vessel, which is covered by three empty heraldic shields. The shields symbolize the three equivalent artistic genres architecture, painting and sculpture, which are also, again and again symbolized by the Secessionists in form of three female figures²⁸ – presumably also in the exlibris for Fritz Waerndorfer which at the same time was designed by Kolo Moser and which shows three women wrapped in long cloaks in the foreground.²⁹ 

fig. 5: J. Hoffmann, Eigenexlibris, Klischee (30 x 30 mm)

Whereas the Moser plate for Fritz Waerndorfer was indeed reproduced in two different formats, Josef Hoffmann’s bookplate design possibly really served as an aesthetic basis of discussion, as Bisanz stated, since no reproductions of this graphic exist.³¹

The third bookplate by Josef Hoffmann, however, known from publications, is in the collection of the National Library in two copies, and the fact that it has a gummed back indicates that it was actually used to mark ownership (cf. fig. 5). On the small signet-type graphic which because of its small size resembles a closing mark, the initials “H” resp. a mirrored “J” joined to the “H”, in massive shafts form a square – as it were the “trademark” of the artist, who on account of his excessive use of geographic ornaments was ironically called “Quadratl-Hoffmann” (Square-Hoffmann).

fig. 6: Schutzmarken und Monogramme der Mitglieder der Wiener Werkstätte aus dem Arbeitsprogramm, 1905

This square décor, typical of the Viennese art nouveau since 1901, could appear as decorative element in any kind and material of Hoffmann’s work according to Elisabeth Schmuttermeier³². She draws attention to the fact that the signets of individual members of the Vienna Workshop as well as the Vienna Workshop monogram show a square outline, and the registered trademark, the “rose-mark”, was mainly formed by squares.³³ Hoffmann’s designer monogram, published in 1905 (cf. fig. 6). in the projected programme of the Vienna Workshop, not only – like Hoffmann’s bookmark – has a square outline, but the arrangement of his initials H J is similar, which leads to the conclusion that the bookmark was developed from the design mark and also dates from after 1903.

The exlibris by Josef Hoffmann that had been known so far seemed to indicate that the artist shortly after the turn of the century lost interest in the design of bookplates and concentrated on handicraft design. Bookplates and bookplate designs in the possession of the family of Margarete and Götz Primavesi and so far unpublished prove, however, that the artist occasionally dealt with this medium also in the twenties.

Footnotes:

1. Karl Emich Graf zu Leiningen-Westerburg: Deutsche und österreichische Bibliothekszeichen Exlibris. Ein Handbuch für Sammler, Bücher- und Kunstfreunde, Stuttgart 1901 (Reprint der Ausgabe des Verlags Julius Hoffmann vom Zentralantiquariat der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, Leipzig 1980), 472.

2. Eduard Dillmann: Österreichische Ex libris. Neuerscheinungen, Österreichische Ex libris-Gesellschaft (Hrsg.): 1. Publikation, Wien 1903, 52.

3. Eduard Dillmann: Zur Einführung, Österreichische Ex libris-Gesellschaft (Hrsg.): 1. Publikation, Wien 1903, 5.

4. Ex-libris-Verein zu Berlin (Hrsg.): Zeitschrift für Bücherzeichen – Bibliothekenkunde und Gelehrtengeschichte, Jg. XIII, Görlitz 1903, 87.

5. Rudolf Hoschek-Mühlhaimb: Zur Geschichte der österreichischen Kleingraphik seit 1900, Österreichische Ex libris-Gesellschaft (Hrsg.): Österreichisches Jahrbuch für Exlibris und Gebrauchsgraphik, Festschrift zum 50-jährigen Bestand der Gesellschaft, Bd. 39, Wien 1953, 33-46.

6. Hoschek-Mühlhaimb: ibid., 45.

7. Hoschek-Mühlhaimb: ibid., 35.

8. Hoschek-Mühlhaimb: ibid., 36.

9. Hoschek-Mühlhaimb: ibid., 36.

10. Hoschek-Mühlhaimb: ibid., 36.

11. Heinrich R. Scheffer: Die Wiener Werkstätte und ihre Exlibris-Künstler, Österreichische Exlibris-Gesellschaft (Hrsg.): Österreichisches Jahrbuch für Exlibris und Gebrauchsgraphik 1992-1993, Bd. 58, Wien 1993, 13-33.

12. Cf. Danile Baroni, Antonio d’Aurio: Josef Hoffmann und die Wiener Werkstätte, Stuttgart 1984, 19.

13. Hans Ankwicz-Kleehoven: Josef Hoffmann. In: Große Österreicher. Neue Österreichische Biographie ab 1815, Bd. 10, Wien, Zürich, Leipzig 1957, 178; cf. also Eduard F. Sekler: Josef Hoffmann. Das architektonische Werk, monograph and work list, 2^nd revised Edition, Salzburg, Wien 1986, who in the chapter “Late Works” also states that little notice has been given so far to Hoffmann’s designs for book covers, his book art and his free graphics (cf. 226 and footnotes 25, 26).

14. As the bookplate is not among the stock of the ÖNB, it was kindly made available to us by Peter Rath, collector and archivist of the Austrian Exlibris Society.

15 Cf. Vereinigung bildender Künstler Österreichs (Hrsg.); Ver Sacrum, Mitteilungen

der Vereinigung bildender Künstler Österreichs, Heft 5, 1900, Wien 1903, 67 and 74.

16. Sekler: Josef Hoffmann ibid., 228.

17. Angela Völker: Josef Hoffmanns Gesamtkunstwerk. Ornament und Muster. In: Peter Noever, OswaId Oberhuber (Hrsg): Josef Hoffmann 1870-1956. Ornament zwischen Hoffnung und Verbrechen, Wien 1987, 15.

18. Danile Baroni, Antonio d'Aurio. Josef Hofmann (s. ann. 12), 22.

19. Hans Bisanz: Gebrauchsgraphik. In: Wien um 1900, Kunst und Kultur, mit Textbeiträgen von Maria Auböck u. a., Wien, München 1985, 201.

20. Cf. Ver Sacrum (s. ann. 15), 115.

21. Cf. Marian Bisanz-Prakken: Heiliger Frühling. Gustav Klimt und die Anfänge der Wiener Secession 1895-1905, Wien, München 1999, 118f. resp. 202.

22. Fritz Waerndorfer resp. Wärndorfer (Wien 1868-1939 Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) descended from a family of Jewish industrialists who owned one of the largest cotton manufactories in the monarchy. Through Hermann Bahr he came into contact with the Secession and its leading members like Josef Hoffmann, Gustav Klimt und Koloman Moser. In 1903 he financed the foundation of the Wiener Werkstätte and acted as its commercial director till in 1914 he emigrated to America under the pressure of his family who wanted to prevent his financial ruin. In America he first became a farmer, the worked as designer for a textile company and began to paint watercolours, which in 1927 were shown at the gallery Otto Nirenstein in Vienna. Fritz Waerndorfer owned a copious and high-quality art collection which today is scattered and unfortunately can be reconstructed only with difficulty with the help of photos and other documents. From Gustav Klimt, whom Waerndorfer held in high esteem, he acquired important works, as for example, "Pallas Athene" or "Die Hoffnung". To his collections belonged among others about 150 letters by Aubrey Beardsley and works of the Belgian sculptor and graphic artist Georg Minne, both artists that had been paid tribute to in exhibitions by the Secessionists. Another highlight were numerous graphic works by Koloman Moser and Marcus Behmer. On Fritz Waerndorfer as manager of the Wiener Werkstätte cf. Werner J. Schweiger: Wiener Werkstätte, Kunst und Handwerk 1903-1932, Augsburg 1995; on Waerndorfer as art collector and patron cf.: Peter Vergo: Fritz Waerndorfer as Collector, Alte und moderne Kunst, Heft 177, 26. Jg., 1981, 33-38 resp. Hanna Egger u. a.: Ein moderner Nachmittag. Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh und der Salon Waerndorfer in Wien, Wien, Köln, Weimar 2000.

23. Ludwig Hevesi: Acht Jahre Sezession (März 1897-Juni 1905), Krilik -Polemik - Chronik. Edited again and introduced by Otto Breicha. Reprint of the edition of 1906 by the Ritter Verlag, Klagenfurt 1984, 292.

24. The Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh together with the two fellow students J. Herbert McNair and the sisters Margaret und Frances Macdonald (their later wives) formed the group "The Four", which from 1890 approached the public with handicraft designs. The group was invited in 1900 by Josef Hoffmann for the 8^th Secession Exhibition, a show of the achievememts of the Austrian and international handicraft. At the exhibition they were responsible for setting up and decorating one room. Their geometrical conception of form in the coming years decisively influenced the Viennese art nouveau: Only for a short period before the turn of the century the Viennese artists followed the floral Art Nouveau style as it was adhered to abroad. From 1900, the ‘geometrical aspect’, created in Vienna, for a number of years determined the style and – with exception of the work of the Scotsman Charles Rennie Mackintosh – was in diametrical contrast to the work of rest of the European art movement. The objects of the Glasgow couple C.R. Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald, shown at the VIII^th Secession Exhibition in 1900, certainly contributed to the sensitisation of Hoffmann in regard to new priorities. The black-white contrats, the elegance of interiors, the occasionally applied square ornamentation of the Scotsman were exemplary. (Elisabeth Schmuttermeier: Die Wiener Werkstätte. In: Wien um 1900, Kunst und Kultur, mit Textbeiträgen von Maria Auböck u. a., Christian Brandstätter: Wien, München 1985, 192f.) On 8th. Secession Exhibition cf. Werner J. Schweiger: Wiener Werkstätte (s. ann. 22), 15ff.; Marian Bisanz-Prakken: Heiliger Frühling (s. ann. 21), 24f.; Vereinigung bildender Künstler Wiener Secession (Hrsg.): Die Wiener Secession, Teil 2: Die Vereinigung bildender Künstler 1897-1985, Wien, Köln, Graz 1986, 27f.

25. Cf. Hanna Egger u. a.: Ein moderner Nachmittag (s. ann. 22).

26. Cf. Schweiger: Wiener Werkstätte (s. ann. 22), 22ff.

27. Helmut Franck: Jugendstil-Exlibris, Leipzig 1984, 114.

28. Cf. Bisanz-Prakken: Heiliger Frühling (s. ann. 21), 16 and Bernhard Denscher: Österreichische Plakatkunst 1898-1938, Wien 1992, 39, and the Secession poster by Kolo Moser for the 13^th exhibition (Ill. in Denscher, 43) resp. that by Alfred Roller for the 16^th exhibition (Ill. in Denscher, 43).

29. Cf. C. Karolyi, A. (Smetana)-Mayerhofer: Das Glück des Sammelns. Die Exlibris-Sammlung Ankwicz-Kleehoven in der ÖNB, Biblos 46, I (1997) 110f.

30. In the exlibris collection of the ÖNB the plate is contained in the formats 75 x 73 mm and 143 x 138 mm resp.

31. Neither the Vienna Secession archives nor the Albertina, or the exlibris collection of the ÖNB possess prints of the plate, nor does it appear in any list of German or Austrian exlibris collections.

32. Schmuttermeier: Die Wiener Werkstätte (s. ann. 24), 192f.

33. Cf. Schmuttermeier: Ibid., 192f.