August Endell

He had the intention to pursue a doctorate degree in academics, but changed direction when he met Hermann Obrist, who became a close friend,[1] and whose work was characterized by expressive ornamentation of observed submarine flora and fauna.

Although influenced and encouraged by Obrist, Endell was primarily concerned with translating his idea of mobile space into architecture and decorations.

[2] In 1898 Endell joined the Initiative of Artistic Münchner Vereinigten Werkstätten für Kunst, and established himself as one of the innovators and leaders of the Kunstgewerbler movement.

[3] In the spring of 1900, Endell met Else Plötz (later the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven), then an actress and aspiring artist who took private art lessons from him.

In 1918 Endell was appointed director of the Breslau Academy of Art, in which function he served until he fell ill and died on April 13, 1925,[8] at the age of 54.

In 1897 he received his first commission, an important one that made him practically famous overnight: to design the façade of the Atelier Elvira Photographic Studio in (Munich), which belonged to Hermann Obrist.

[2] The magazine played a key role in the development of the Art Nouveau movement as a whole, printing illustrations by both well-known and young upcoming artists.

The art of applying forms of nothing insignificant, not representing anything, and not resembling anything… running deep into our souls, so deeply and so strongly as only music can do.

All while working as a self-taught architect, Endell was continuously publishing articles, essays, and books on his thought of design.

He began creating and building things such as gates, arches, stairway rails, and other decorative wall elements.