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Henry van de Velde | |
|---|---|
 Henry van de Velde; portrait by Nicola Perscheid (1904) | |
| Born | Henry Clemens van de Velde (1863-04-03)3 April 1863 Antwerp, Belgium |
| Died | 15 October 1957(1957-10-15) (aged 94) Oberägeri, Switzerland |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Spouse | |
| Buildings |
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Henry Clemens van de Velde (DutchDutch:[ˈɦɛnrivɑndəˈvɛldə]; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957)[1] was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together withVictor Horta andPaul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders ofArt Nouveau in Belgium.[2] He worked inParis withSiegfried Bing, the founder of the first gallery of Art Nouveau in Paris. Van de Velde spent the most important part of his career in Germany and became a major figure in the GermanJugendstil. He had a decisive influence on German architecture and design at the beginning of the 20th century.
Henry Van de Velde was born inAntwerp, Belgium, where he studied painting underCharles Verlat at the famousRoyal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp. He then went on to a year's study with the painterCarolus-Duran in Paris.[3] As a young painter he was strongly influenced byPaul Signac andGeorges Seurat and soon adopted aneo-impressionist style, andpointillism. In 1889 he became a member of the Brussels-based artist group "Les XX". AfterVincent van Gogh exhibited some work on the yearly exhibition ofLes XX, Van de Velde became one of the first artists to be influenced by the Dutch painter. During this period he developed a lasting friendship with the painterThéo van Rysselberghe and the sculptorConstantin Meunier.
In 1890, Van de Velde wrote that "there will be no place in the society of the future for anything which is not of use to everyone."[2]
In 1892, he abandoned painting, devoting his time to the arts of decoration and interior design (silver and goldsmith's trade, chinaware and cutlery, fashion design, carpet and fabric design). His meeting with Maria Sèthe, his future wife, was instrumental in this change.[4] They collaborated on a number of projects together, including designing wallpapers and female clothing.[5] Their first house, theVilla Bloemenwerf inUccle, was Van de Velde's first attempt at architecture and was inspired by the BritishArts and Crafts Movement. Its exterior closely resembled theRed House ofWilliam Morris. Maria Sèthe designed the garden surrounding the house.[6]
Van de Velde also designed interiors and furniture for the influential art gallery "L'Art Nouveau" ofSamuel Bing in Paris in 1895, the shop from whichArt Nouveau took its name. He participated in Bing's pavilion at theParis Universal Exposition of 1900 and showed his own work.
Van de Velde was strongly influenced by John Ruskin and William Morris's English Arts and Crafts movement[2] and he was one of the first architects or furniture designers to apply curved lines in an abstract style, rather than based on nature.
Van de Velde's design work became known in Germany through periodicals such asInnen-Dekoration. As a result, he received commissions for interior designs in Berlin. Around the turn of the century, he designed Villa Leuring in the Netherlands, and Villa Esche inChemnitz, two works that show his Art Nouveau style in architecture. He also designed the interior of theFolkwang Museum inHagen (today the building houses theKarl Ernst Osthaus-Museum) and theNietzsche Archive in Weimar.
In 1899,[citation needed] he settled inWeimar, Germany, where he was employed as artistic advisor toWilliam Ernest, Grand Duke Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. In 1907, he established the Grand-Ducal School of Arts and Crafts, under the patronage of the Grand Duke. Van de Velde designed the school's building and was the school's first director. He stepped down duringWorld War I due to his Belgian citizenship and suggested that architectWalter Gropius succeed him. In 1919, the School merged with the Weimar Art Academy to form the famous modernist art school,Bauhaus.[2]
Although a Belgian, Van de Velde played an important role in the GermanJugendstil.
In 1907, he co-founded theGerman Werkbund, an association to help improve and promote German design by establishing close relations between industry and designers.[2] He would opposeHermann Muthesius at the Werkbund meeting of 1914 and their debate would mark the history of Modern Architecture. Van de Velde called for the upholding of the individuality of artists while Hermann Muthesius called forstandardization as a key to development.[citation needed] Van de Velde was a proponent of incorporating logic into all facets of design, taking inspiration from engineers application of reason and calculation.[2]
During World War I, Van de Velde, as a foreign national, was obliged to leaveWeimar (although on good terms with the Weimar government) and returned to his native Belgium. Later, he lived inSwitzerland and in theNetherlands where he designed theKröller-Müller Museum inOtterlo. In 1925 he was appointed professor at theGhent University Institute of Art History and Archaeology, where he lectured architecture andapplied arts from 1926 to 1936. He was instrumental in founding in Brussels, in 1926, today's renowned architecture and visual arts schoolLa Cambre, under the name of"Institut supérieur des Arts décoratifs."
Van de Velde continued his practice in architecture and design, which had demarcated itself significantly from the Art Nouveau phase, whose popularity was by 1910 in decline. During this period, he mentored the great Belgian architect,Victor Bourgeois. In 1933, he was commissioned to design the new building for the university library (the renownedBoekentoren). Construction started in 1936, but the work would not be completed until the end of theSecond World War. For budget reasons, the eventual construction did not entirely match the original design. For instance, the reading room floor was executed inmarble instead of the black rubber Van de Velde originally intended. He was also involved in the construction of theGhent University Hospital.
He died, aged 94, inZürich.
On 12 October 2005, a teapot designed by Van de Velde made €170,000 at a public auction at the Brussels Beaux-Arts auction house – eleven times the opening bid. It is a teapot on a chafing dish, with a wooden handle, resting on an oval basis and made of silver-plated brass. During an Art Nouveau and Design exhibition at Brussels'Cinquantenaire Museum in 2005, Van de Velde's tea set, two china plates and a silver dish were badly damaged in an unfortunate accident. The silver candle stand remained unharmed. The pieces had been given on temporary loan by theKaiser Wilhelm Museum inKrefeld, theMuseum für Angewandte Kunst inCologne and a private collector.[7]
Van De Velde played the role in elaborating an aesthetic theory a synthesis of the two opposite poles of rational conception associated with particular understanding of the ornamental function.[8]The Manuscript on Ornament sheds further light on this aesthetic theory, and the role played therein by the notion of ornament. It constitutes an important document in the sequence of his intention of publishing a "historical—theoretical" treatise on design.
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