Joseph (Josef) Anton Hodel

Born 1874
Died 9 May 1930

Active: 1900 - 1930

Country of birth: Switzerland

Country of death: England

Art metal worker, jeweller

Born in Lucerne, Switzerland. His father was Johan Hodel, the Police Adjutant for Lucerne (presume inspector or higher rank). Hodel may have received some training at the Lucerne School of Arts and Crafts. He worked for Bossard goldsmiths in Lucerne where a fellow worker was Louis Weingartner. They later became partners or associates after they moved to Britain c.1900. (Louis was the brother of Seraphim Weingartner, director of Lucerne School of Arts and Crafts.)

Both practitioners worked for the Bromsgrove Guild in the early 1900s, Hodel is said to have been the chief designer. Between 1905-7 he made a presentation box or casket for the Hornby Library in Liverpool. This commission may have paved the way for Hodel's move to Liverpool in 1908 and appointment as teacher of metalwork at Liverpool School of Art. During the First World War Hodel was interned but returned to teaching and practice after 1918. He received a number of commissions during the 1920s including a commemorative bowl to mark the completion of the Mersey Tunnel (Liverpool Town Hall).

This biographical note is largely drawn from information submitted by his grandson, Ken Fackrell including information derived from documentary material in Sempach, Switzerland, translated by the Archivist at Stadt Sempach.

Citing this record

'Joseph (Josef) Anton Hodel', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib5_1208550288, accessed 01 Jun 2023]