100th anniversary of the death of Josef Maria Olbrich

Release Date: 2008|08|05
Number of Copies: 1.200.000
Printing Style: Offset
Design: Hannes Margreiter
Printed by: Österreichische Staatsdruckerei
Type: Special issue stamp

Josef Maria Olbrich, born on 22 December 1867 in Troppau, demonstrated an interest in the building trade at a very early age. After a few years working as an architectural draughtsman, he began to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1890, and was a pupil of the Ringstrasse architect Carl Freiherr von Hasenauer. In 1893, Olbrich joined Otto Wagner’s architect's office, where his excellent draughtsmanship brought him many years of success. The young architect created a special exhibition room for the newly founded artists’ association, the Viennese Secession. The building later became known as the Secession building, and entered history as one of the main works of the Vienna Jugendstil.

In 1899, Olbrich took up the invitation of the Grand Duke of Hessen, Ernst Ludwig, who offered him the opportunity to implement his architectural and artistic ideas in Darmstadt. Olbrich soon became the leader of the colony of artists on the Mathildenhöhe. He created the main building, the Ernst-Ludwig house, whose sober architecture constituted a synthesis between the arcane and the modern. He designed a number of other residential and exhibition buildings that served as exemplary models for modern buildings and homes. In 1906, Olbrich received his last and largest commission: the construction of the Leonard Tietz AG department store (later Kaufhof AG) in Düsseldorf. After a short serious illness, Olbrich died on 8 August 1908 at the age of only 40.

In his striving towards the total work of art, Olbrich dealt not only with architecture but also with the decorative ornamentation of interiors and the design of handicraft objects. Thus he created a large number of designs for crockery, furniture, musical instruments and other objects, such as the letterbox illustrated on the stamp.

The model for this extraordinary letterbox was designed by Olbrich for the home of the manufacturer Max Friedmann in Hinterbrühl near Vienna. It is made of sycamore wood, stained brown and with traces of an original blue staining inside. The brass fittings and the white glass stones used on the leaf tendrils reinforce the visual effect of this house letterbox. Incidentally, this valuable exhibit has been part of the Municipal Art Collection of Darmstadt since the 1970s.