Adolfo Hohenstein Biography
Adolfo Hohenstein (1868 - 1944) was a German painter, advertiser, illustrator, set designer and costume designer. Hohenstein is considered the father of Italian poster art and an exponent of the Liberty Style, or Italian Art Nouveau. Together with Leonetto Cappiello, Giovanni Mario Mataloni, Leopoldo Metlicovitz and Marcello Dudovich, he is considered one of the most important Italian poster designers.
Adolfo Hohenstein was born in St. Petersburg, to German parents.
He moved to Vienna, where he grew up and completed his studies. His travels took him to India, where he decorated the homes of the local nobility.
In 1879, he settled in Milan, Italy. He became a set and costume designer for La Scala and other theatres. It was there that he met the music publisher Giulio Ricordi, and in 1889 he began working for Officine Grafiche Ricordi, where he soon became artistic director responsible for the graphics. He created posters for La Bohème and La Tosca, as well as advertisements for Campari, Buitoni and Corriere della Sera, numerous postcards, sheet music covers and brochures. His work will continue to embrace the theatrical dimension: scenarios and wardrobe for several operas, including Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff (1893) and a large part of Giacomo Puccini's works, from the sketches of Le Villi (1884) to the posters of Madama Butterfly (1904 ).
He settled in Bonn in 1918. The German years saw him mainly engaged as a painter and involved in the decoration of numerous buildings, including one of the first built in reinforced concrete in the Rhineland (1911).
