Joseph Maria Olbrich

Joseph Maria Olbrich was one of the most important leaders of the Vienna Secession. Olbrich was a brilliant Austrian architect and designer who joined forces with Josef Hoffmann and other Vienna Secessionists, worked under Otto Wagner in the 1890s and, in 1899, moved to Darmstadt at the invitation of the Duke of Hesse. Olbrich’s major commissions included the Secession Building, Vienna, Austria; Café Niedermeyer, Troppau, Austria (modern-day Opava, Czech Republic); and the Ernst Ludwig House, the Olbrich House, and the exhibition buildings at the influential Darmstadt Artists' Colony.