Projects of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Free State of Thuringia, represented by the State Chancellery of Thuringia, Department of Culture and the Arts.
The culmination of the Van de Velde Year 2013: The exhibition “Passion, Function and Beauty” presents Henry van de Velde and his entire range of works
Press photos: <link http: svdmzweb01.klassik-stiftung.de en service>svdmzweb01.klassik-stiftung.de/en/service/press
More information about the exhibition: <link http: svdmzweb01.klassik-stiftung.de en vandevelde>svdmzweb01.klassik-stiftung.de/en/vandevelde
From 24 March to 23 June 2013, the Klassik Stiftung Weimar presents one of the most influential designers of modernism, the Flemish architect and designer Henry van de Velde (1836–1957), with more than 700 works in 1,400 square metres of exhibition space. Thanks to a large number of exquisite pieces on loan from private German and Belgian collections and museums, many of which have never been displayed in public before, visitors have the opportunity to experience the many creative phases of Van de Velde’s life from 1890 to the late 1930s. According to curator Thomas Föhl, Van de Velde’s extensive oeuvre evolved from his first Jugendstil adaptations to a pure simplicity of form in his later works.
Thuringian State Minister of Education, Science and Culture Christoph Matschie describes the Van de Velde exhibition at the Neues Museum as the culmination of this year’s theme-based events commemorating the Belgian all-round artist. According to Matschie, “visitors can expect Van de Velde in all his diversity. This exhibition presents Van de Velde’s contribution to European modernism. We look forward to viewing these extraordinary works. I hope that the public will be extremely interested.”
Henry van de Velde was one of the most illustrious designers of his time in the areas of art and architecture. In 1902, Harry Graf Kessler arranged Van de Velde’s appointment in Weimar as the artistic advisor to the Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst. It was here that Van de Velde established the School of Arts and Crafts and produced many of his most important works, including the interior design of the Nietzsche Archive and his home “Haus Hohe Pappeln”. In his unwavering rejection of the conventions of his time, Van de Velde removed the boundary separating art and the handicrafts. With his “New Style”, derived from a “rationally-based” concept of design, Van de Velde offered a stark alternative to the antiquated style of historicism. He strongly believed that an object’s design approaches perfection the more exactly it fulfils its purpose. Through his work in the Arts and Crafts Seminar, he succeeded in uniting art, industry and handicrafts in both practice and theory. Defamed during the First World War as a “foreign enemy”, he recommended Walter Gropius to continue his work as director of the School of Arts and Crafts, which ultimately set the stage for the establishment of the State Bauhaus in Weimar in 1919. One of the prominent themes of the exhibition is Van de Velde’s concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk, in which every artistic detail harmonises with its surroundings. Van de Velde designed all areas of life – house construction, interior design, clothing, jewellery and objects of daily use – from lamps to furniture to walking sticks. The exhibition places particular emphasis on reconstructing specific examples of his interior designs – from the wallpaper down to the doorknobs.
The exhibition also features exemplary works by Van de Velde’s earlier role models, such as William Morris, Christopher Dresser and contemporary artists and competing designers from Belgium like Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, Victor Horta and Paul Hankar. The exhibition also highlights the important centres of early modernism in the German-speaking countries, such as Darmstadt, Munich and Vienna, and contrasts Van de Velde’s works with those produced around the same time by Richard Riemerschmid, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann. These are supplemented by paintings by the Neo-Impressionists Théo van Rysselberghe and Paul Signac.
This exhibition is part of a cooperative venture between the Klassik Stiftung Weimar and the Impulse Region of Erfurt-Weimar-Jena. The show will also be held in Brussels in cooperation with the Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire and is under the joint patronage of His Majesty King Albert II of Belgium and the German Federal President Joachim Gauck. The exhibition in Brussels will run from 13 September 2013 to 12 January 2014.
The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Hessen-Thüringen is one of the main sponsors of the Van de Velde Year 2013 and is funding 13 exhibitions and numerous events in Apolda, Bürgel, Erfurt, Gera, Jena and Weimar. The commemorative year events are supported by the Sparkasse Mittelthüringen, Sparkasse Jena-Saale-Holzland, Sparkasse Gera-Greiz and the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen. Even in economically difficult times, the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe is committed to maintaining its reputation as the largest, non-governmental, cultural sponsor in Germany.
The Klassik Stiftung also appreciates the generous support provided by the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung. The exhibition catalogue was funded by the Diplomatic Mission of the German-speaking Community, Wallonia and the Federation Wallonia-Brussels in Berlin (Belgian Embassy).
For further information, please contact:
Timm Nikolaus Schulze | Spokesperson
+49 (0) 3643-545 113 | +49 (0) 172-799 99 59
<link>timm.schulze@klassik-stiftung.de