Adolfo Hohenstein

Paintings

A. Calderoni Gioielliere

Vino Vermouth FCo. Cinzano e C

Chiozza e Turchi

Litografia Doyen

Aceites de oliva y aceitunas G. Sensat

Tosca

Il vero Amaro Felsina

Hellenica World, Paintings, Drawings

Ars

Hellenica World, Paintings, Drawings

Cesare Urtis E Cº.Chiozza e Turchi

Hellenica World, Paintings, Drawings

Fratlli Rittatore Il vero Amaro Felsina

Hellenica World, Paintings, Drawings

"Iris"

Hellenica World, Paintings, Drawings

Litografia Doyen Tosca Vino Vermouth Fco. Cinzano e Cº

A. Calderoni Gioielliere

Adolfo Hohenstein (Saint Petersburg, 18 March 1854 – Bonn, 12 April 1928) was a German painter, advertiser, illustrator, set designer and costume designer. He's considered the father of the Italian poster art and an exponent of the Stile Liberty, the Italian Art Nouveau. Together with Leonetto Cappiello, Giovanni Mario Mataloni, Leopoldo Metlicovitz and Marcello Dudovich, he's considered one of the most important Italian poster designers.

Early years
Adolfo Hohenstein: 1899 advertising poster

Adolfo Hohenstein was born in Saint Petersburg, the capital of Russian Empire, to German parents, Julius and Laura Irack. His father was a forest engineer, whose career prompted him to travel extensively. Adolf moves to Vienna where he grows up and completes his studies. His travels take him to India, where he decorates the houses of the local nobility.

The Italian experience

In 1879, he settles down in Milan, Italy. He becomes a set and costume designer for La Scala and other theatres. There he meets the musical publisher Giulio Ricordi, and in 1889 begins to work for the Ricordi Graphical Workshops, where he shortly becomes the artistic director in charge of the graphical part. He'll create the posters for La Bohème and Tosca, as well as publicity for Campari, Buitoni and Corriere della Sera, numerous postcards, covers for scores and booklets. His work will continue to cover the theatrical dimension: scenarios and wardrobes for several works, among them Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff (1893) and a major part of the works of Giacomo Puccini, from the sketches of the Villas to posters of Madama Butterfly (1904). At Ricordi's he has as colleague Giovanni Mario Mataloni and as students Leopoldo Metlicovitz and Marcello Dudovich.

Return to Germany

In the first years of the 1900s, after marrying Katharina Plaskuda, a widow, he travels more and more frequently between Italy and Germany till 1906, year in which, after winning the competition for the graphical symbol and the poster for the "Esposizione per il Traforo del Sempione", he leaves Milan for Bonn and Düsseldorf definitively. He will settle in Bonn in 1918. The German years see him engaged mostly as a painter and involved in the decoration of numerous buildings, among them one of the first in constructed reinforced concrete in Renania (1911). He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting.

Adolfo Hohenstein died in Bonn 12 April 1928.
Main poster works
Adolfo Hohenstein: poster for Corriere della Sera newspaper (1898).
Adolfo Hohenstein: poster for Tosca by Giacomo Puccini (1899).
Adolfo Hohenstein: poster for Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini (1904).

1898 – Corriere della Sera
1898 – Cintura Calliano contro il mal di mare
1899 – Onoranze a Volta nel centenario della pila
1899 – Tosca
1899 – Cesare Urtis & Co. Torino. Forniture electriche
1900 – Esposizione d'Igiene
1900 – Monte Carlo. Tir aux pigeons
1900 – Monaco. Exposition et concours de canots automobiles
1901 – Bitter Campari
1904 – Madama Butterfly
1905 – Fiammiferi senza fosforo del Dottor Craveri
1906 – Birra Italia

Main theatre works (Ricordi Archives)
Adolfo Hohenstein: sketch for the sets of La bohème by Giacomo Puccini (1896).
Adolfo Hohenstein: props for La bohème by Giacomo Puccini (1896).

Giacomo Puccini, Le Villi, Milan, Teatro Dal Verme, 31 May 1884

2 original sketches
2 scenario props

Giacomo Puccini, Edgar, Milan, Teatro alla Scala, 21 April 1889

54 original costumes
5 scenario props

Richard Wagner, Mastersingers of Nuremberg, Milan, Teatro alla Scala, 26 December 1889

62 original costumes
4 set props

Alfredo Catalani, Loreley, Torino, Teatro Regio, 16 February 1890

42 original costumes

Alfredo Catalani, La Wally, Milan, Teatro alla Scala, 20 January 1892

4 original sketches
41 original costumes
1 set prop

Alberto Franchetti, Cristoforo Colombo, Milan, Teatro alla Scala, 26 January 1892

90 figurini originali

Niccolò van Westerhout, Cimbelino, Rome, Teatro Argentina, 7 April 1892

37 original costumes
3 set props

Giacomo Puccini, Manon Lescaut, Torino, Teatro Regio, 1893

57 original costumes
4 set props

Giuseppe Verdi, Falstaff, Milan, Teatro alla Scala, 9 February 1893

5 original sketches
41 original costumes
4 set props
13 watercolor designs

Giacomo Puccini, La Bohème, Torino, Teatro Regio, 1 February 1896

3 original sketches
62 original costumes
4 set props

Pietro Mascagni, Iris, Rome, Teatro Costanzi, 22 November 1898

3 original sketches
40 original costumes
9 set props
1 portrait of Mascagni

Giacomo Puccini, Tosca, Rome, Teatro Costanzi, 14 January 1900

3 original sketches
49 original costumes
4 set props

Alberto Franchetti, Germania, Milan, Teatro alla Scala, 1 March 1902

4 original sketches
95 original costumes
7 set props

Franco Alfano, Risurrezione, Torino, Teatro Regio, 1904

2 set props

Exhibitions

1894 – Esposizioni Riunite, Milan, Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense
1911 – Katalog der Großen Kunstausstellung Düsseldorf (27 May – 8 October), Düsseldorf, Kunstakademie
1912 – Katalog der Frühjahrs-Ausstellung (3 March – 14 April), Düsseldorf, Kunst-Akademie
1916 – Kunstchronik, Neue Folge 26, Monaco, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte
1917 – Große Berliner Kunstausstellung, Düsseldorf, Kunstakademie