Josef Hoffmann was born in 1870 in Pirnitz-Mähren. He was a prominent figure in the Vienna Secession movement. Hoffmann studied under Karl Hasenauer and Otto Wagner at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Until 1937, he taught architecture at the Kunstgewerbeschule of the Österreichische Museum für Kunst und Industrie. In 1903, he co-founded the Wiener Werkstätte with Kolo Moser. Hoffmann developed his simple geometric forms as a departure from the more curvilinear language of European Art Nouveau. One of his major works was the Stoclet Palace in Brussels (1905-1911). He pioneered the principles of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art. Hoffmann passed away in 1956.