Passion, Function and Beauty Henry van de Veldeand his Contribution to European Modernism

24 March to 23 June 2013Neues Museum Weimar

“A line is a force.” Henry van de Velde

Van de Velde Buildings in WeimarHaus Hohe Pappeln and the Nietzsche Archive

Henry van de Velde (1863–1957) came to Weimar in 1902 as the artistic advisor to the Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst. He designed and built his home “Haus Hohe Pappeln” in 1907/08 where he lived with his wife Maria and � ve children until 1917. Only after he had � nished designing the interior of his home, did he begin with the plans for the façade. The spacious hallway on the

belétage served as a central belétage served as a central belétagepoint to which all the other rooms connected. Doing away with super� uous ornamenta-tion, the Haus Hohe Pappeln shares similarities with the modern industrial aesthetics of the times based on princi-ples of functionality. Van de Velde’s signature is inscribed in every detail of this extraor-dinary Gesamtkunstwerk. The tour takes visitors through the garden and then to the repre-sentative rooms, e.g. the salon, dining room, workroom and hallway. The furniture on dis-

play was designed by Van de Velde for the Von Münchhausen family in 1903/04. The Nietzsche Archive was founded in 1894 in Naumburg by Nietzsche’s sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. The archive was relocated to Weimar when she moved into the “Villa Silber-blick” in 1897. There she cared for her ailing brother until his death in 1900. At Harry Graf Kessler’s recommendation, she commissioned Henry van de Velde to redesign and refurnish the rooms on the ground � oor in 1902. Not only did he install new � xtures, but also designed the radiators, furniture, grand piano, upholstery, lamps, � ooring and decorative vases to give the rooms a harmonious atmosphere. The centrepiece of this Gesamtkunstwerk is the library with Max Klinger’s herm of Gesamtkunstwerk is the library with Max Klinger’s herm of GesamtkunstwerkNietzsche. An exhibition in the former dining room documents the controversial history of the Nietzsche Archive and its role in National Socialism.

Haus Hohe Pappeln | Belvederer Allee 58 Nietzsche Archive | Humboldtstraße 3624 March to 31 December 2013, Tue –Sun 11 am – 5 pm

Haus Hohe Pappeln Salon in the Nietzsche Archive

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cover Six-armed candelabra, 1898/99, Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels

Henry van de Velde, Georg Kolbe © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2013

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Passion, Function and BeautyHenry van de Velde and his Contribution to European Modernism

24 March to 23 June 2013Neues Museum WeimarWeimarplatz 5 | 99423 Weimar

Opening hoursTue–Sun 10 am – 6 pmSpecial opening hours Monday, 25 March | Easter Monday, 1 AprilPentecost Monday, 20 May | 10 am – 6 pmLong Night of Museums, 8 June | extended hours 6 pm – midnight

Admission prices (incl. audio guide)Neues Museum Weimar Adults € 5.50 | Conc. € 3.50 | Pupils* € 1.50 Haus Hohe Pappeln Adults € 2.50 | Conc. € 2 | Pupils* € 0.50Nietzsche Archive Adults € 2.50 | Conc. € 2 | Pupils* € 0.50Nietzsche Archive Adults € 2.50 | Conc. € 2 | Pupils* € 0.50Nietzsche ArchiveCombo Ticket (valid for single admission to all three museums dur-ing the exhibition period) Adults € 9 | Conc. € 6 | Pupils* € 2* Pupils (age 16–20) | free admission for children under 16 years

ToursEvery Fri 3 pm and every Sun 11 am | The exhibition is accompa-nied by an extensive lecture and event programme. For more information, see the corresponding programme � yer.

Exhibition catalogueEdited by Thomas Föhl and Sabine Walter · ca. 480 pp. · ca. 550 photos · € 39.90 funded by the Representation of the German-speaking Community, Wallonia and the Federation Wallonia-Brus-sels in Berlin (Belgian Embassy)

Visitor informationKlassik Stiftung Weimar info stand at the Tourist Information Centre Markt 10 | 99423 Weimartel +49 (0) 36 43 | 545-400 | fax +49 (0) 36 43 | 41 98 16info@klassik-stiftung.de | www.klassik-stiftung.de/vandevelde

Main sponsors of the Van de Velde Year 2013 in Thuringia

diversity of the Jugendstil period, the exhibition presents works, produced by his contemporaries at workshops in Vienna, Darm-stadt, Munich and Brussels. Visitors will clearly recognise Van de Velde’s artistic role models in comparative works from the English Art and Crafts movement.

The Weimar period from 1902 to 1917In founding the Arts and Crafts Seminar in 1902, Henry van de Velde � nally succeeded in uniting art, industry and handi-crafts in practice and theory. The exhibition features a large number of student artworks, designs and Thuringian-made handcrafted works which have never been shown before in pub-lic. Van de Velde went on to establish workshops and implement an educational concept which later served as the basis of the State Bauhaus in Weimar. Defamed as a “foreign enemy” during World War I, he resigned his post in 1915 and recommended Walter Gropius to succeed him as director of the School of Arts

he called a “rationally-based” concept of design. He ignored the boundary separating “art” and “handicrafts” and helped shape prac-tically every aspect of life: he constructed houses, designed interiors, clothing and jewellery, and transformed everyday objects into works of art – from lamps to furniture to walking sticks. In an e� ort to promote his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk, Van de Velde often played the role of art collector and agent, and would introduce his customers to other important proponents of modernism. For this reason, the exhibition includes a number of paintings by Paul Signac, Théo van Rysselberghe, Louis Valtat and Henri Manguin and sculptures by Georges Minne, Aristide Maillol and others, which he had once displayed in his own rooms.

In� uences of Jugendstil around 1900Henry van de Velde never regarded himself as a “Jugendstil artist”. To gain a better understanding of his particular style and the sheer

and Crafts. Henry van de Velde was open to new artistic devel-opments, as his friendship to Ernst Ludwig Kirchner demon-strates. Kirchner’s expressive portraits of his fatherly friend, painted while in exile in Switzerland, re� ect an unfamiliar side of this artist, who was neither welcome in Belgium nor Germany at the time.

Holland and Belgium from 1920 to 1947Van de Velde’s works of the 1920s are marked by a monumental, expressive design style. This transition is evident in the represent-ative works he made for the German-Dutch couple Kröller-Müller. In the former abbey of La Cambre in Brussels, Henry van de Velde established a new school of art and design in 1926/27 to advance and disseminate his ideas to a new generation of designers. In addition to a partnership-oriented edu cation, he also advocated the “International Style”, which, up until that time, had gained only limited acceptance in Belgium.

Late worksHenry van de Velde’s late works – e.g. the university library in Ghent and the two pavilions for the World Expositions in Paris (1937) and New York (1939) – are distinctive for their simple practicality. Now over seventy years old, van de Velde experi-mented with new technical processes and building materials, designed the interiors of modern ferryboats and the wagons of the Belgian State Railway. He moved back to Switzerland in 1947 where he remained until his death in 1957, writing his memoires and keeping in close contact with old artist friends, as well as young architects and designers.

This exhibition is made possible through the cooperation of the Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire in Brussels and is under the joint patronage of His Majesty King Albert II of Belgium and the German Federal President Joachim Gauck.

The virtual reconstructions of the rooms in the Neues Museum Weimar which Henry van de Velde designed in 1908, as well as the models of the four homes which he built for his family were developed in close cooperation with the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

Passion, Function and BeautyHenry van de Velde and his Contribution to European Modernism

In 2013 we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Belgian architect and designer Henry van de Velde. For the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, it is an opportunity to present the pioneering achievements of this “all-round artist”. Featuring some 700 pieces from international museums and a large number of exquisite works from private collections never shown before, the exhibition reveals how this industrious Flemish artist became one of the most in� uential designers of modern times.

The GesamtkunstwerkThe exhibition introduces Henry van de Velde, an avowed Euro-pean and paci� st, as well as the various stations and artistic phases of his life between 1890 and the late 1930s. An important focus of the exhibition is the concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk – a com-Gesamtkunstwerk – a com-Gesamtkunstwerkprehensive work in which every artistic detail harmonises with its surroundings. In his constant struggle against historicism, which many associated with decay, Van de Velde adhered to what

Armchair, around 1897, private collection Düsseldorf · Six-armed candelabra, 1898/99,

Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels · Abstract plant composition, around 1893,

Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo, Netherlands

Chair from the Bloemenwerf house, around 1895, Klassik Stiftung Weimar · Large fl oor

vase, 1901/02, Klassik Stiftung Weimar · Cuff link, 1903, Klassik Stiftung Weimar,

privately owned loan

Dinner fork, Model I, 1903, SAM Collection · Ceiling lamp, 1906, Museum für Kunst

und Gewerbe, Hamburg · Pendant with DB monogram, 1897/98, Museum für Kunst und

Gewerbe, Hamburg

Dessert plate, ca. 1903, SAM collection· The Book of “Ruth”, 1914, German Literature

Archive in Marbach · Desk lamp, 1906, Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart

Desk, 1899, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg · Die Engelwache, 1893,

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Applied Art Collection · Tea gown, around 1895 (copy

1964), Design museum Gent