[Olbrich, Joseph Maria- Seminal Architecture and Design Austrian Art Nouveau Plates] Architektur von Olbrich

Berlin: Ernst Waysmuth, 1901. First Edition. First Edition. Offered here are 52 folio printed leaves from the original portfolio, loose as issued, of the eventual 150 plates in the series, consisting of architectural floor plans, sketches, some full page and in color, including the color study for a house in Darmstadt and the color study for Hans Christiansen's house also in Darmstadt, as well as tinted photogravures. Each page measures 19 x 12 3/4 inches, numbered in the type, and with the Waysmuth imprint. Joseph Maria Olbrich (1867-1908) was a leading architect in Austrian Art Nouveau and one of the founders of the Viennese Secession, and he designed the Vienna Secession Building in 1897. He later became the sole architect (with one exception) of an artistsí colony in Darmstadt, at the invitation of the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt. At the colony, he designed houses for notables such as Hans Christiansen and Georg Keller. Olbrich also designed interiors, craft objects, furnishings, glass, and china ware, and established his own architectural practice in 1907. The series published over a period of more than ten years, of which 52 plates are available here, as well as the printed title page. The series represents almost all the important works by the artist from his time in Darmstadt, who died young. The partly multicolored panels based on original drawings or in intaglio printing based on photographs show completed buildings (including the exhibition center and the main station of the city of Darmstadt, designs for workers' houses, the Villa K¸nzle in Berlin-Steglitz, the Tietz department store in D¸sseldorf, etc.), but also Architectural plans, interior furnishings and arts and crafts objects, each typographically inscribed in the artist's own Art Nouveau font. A wonderfully preserved lot, near fine with occasionally soiling and edge crimping (very minimal). A hallmark of architectural design. Extremely scarce thus.