Historian of useful arts; museum director. Falke was the son of the art historian Jakob Falke. He studied art history and archeology at the University of Vienna beginning in 1881. He became a member of the Burschenschaft Libertas Wien (fraternity) and the Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, IÖGF (Austrian Institute for Historical Research). Like his father, he held a lifelong interest in the art of useful objects.