Adolfo Hohenstein

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. Adolfo moved to Vienna where he grew up and completed his studies. His travels took him to India, where he decorated the houses of the local nobility.

In 1879, he settled down in Milan, Italy. He became a set and costume designer for La Scala and other theatres. There he met the musical publisher Giulio Ricordi, and in 1889 began to work for the Ricordi Graphical Workshops, where he shortly became the artistic director in charge of the graphical part. He created 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 continued 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 Le Villi (1884) to posters of Madama Butterfly (1904). At Ricordi's he had as colleague Giovanni Mario Mataloni and as students Leopoldo Metlicovitz and Marcello Dudovich.

In the first years of the 1900s, after marrying Katharina Plaskuda, a widow, he traveled more and more frequently between Italy and Germany till 1906, when, after winning the competition for the graphical symbol and the poster for the "Esposizione per il Traforo del Sempione", he left Milan for Bonn and Düsseldorf definitively. He settled in Bonn in 1918. The German years saw 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.

1898 – Corriere della Sera 1898 – Cintura Calliano contro il mal di mare 1899 – Onoranze a Volta nel centenario della pila 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 1905 – Fiammiferi senza fosforo del Dottor Craveri 1906 – Birra Italia

1894 – Esposizioni Riunite, Milan, Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense 1911 – Katalog der Großen Kunstausstellung Düsseldorf (27 May – 8 October), Düsseldorf, Kunstpalast 1912 – Katalog der Frühjahrs-Ausstellung (3 March – 14 April), Düsseldorf, Kunstpalast 1916 – Kunstchronik, Neue Folge 26, Munich, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte 1917 – Große Berliner Kunstausstellung, Düsseldorf, Kunstpalast (16 June – 30 September): one oil painting, Schwarzwaldküche (Black Forest kitchen)