art-Klimt.com
Gustav Klimt 1862-1918
Gustav Klimt - Cartoon for the Frieze of the Villa Stoclet in Brussels: Fulfillment 1909
 Cartoon for the Frieze of the |
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia :
The Stoclet Palace (French: Palais Stoclet, Dutch: Stocletpaleis) is a private mansion built by architect Josef Hoffmann between 1905 and 1911 in the Woluwe-Saint-Pierre area of Brussels, Belgium, for banker and art lover Adolphe Stoclet. Considered Hoffman's masterpiece, the Stoclet's house is one of the most refined and luxurious private houses of the twentieth century.
The mansion is still occupied by the Stoclet family and is not open to visitors. It was designated as a world heritage site by UNESCO in June 2009.
The Stoclet Palace was commissioned by Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949), a wealthy industrialist and avid art collector. He chose 35 year old Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956), a founder-member of a radical group of designers and artists who called themselves the Vienna 'Sezession', established in 1897. Hoffman abandoned the fashions and styles that had come before and produced a building of true modernity; an asymmetrical compilation of rectangular blocks, underlined by exaggerated lines and corners.
This no-nonsense starkness is softened by the artistic windows, which break through the line of the eaves, the rooftop conservatory and the bronze sculptures of four nude males by Franz Metzner, which are mounted on the tower that rises above the stairwell. Regimented upright balustrades line the balconies, touched with Art Nouveau ornamentation.