Belgium and the netherlands Meinke SiMon ThoMaS DESIGN-english 2.indd 511 5/9/14 12:22 PM preceding page righT 636. Maarten Van Severen 637. Henry van de Velde (1956–2005) (1863–1957) MVS chaise longue, 2000 Bloemenwerf chair, c. 1898 Made by Vitra (Switzerland) Made by Van de Velde & Co See plate 678. (Belgium) Elm, leather, nails Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany oppoSiTe 638. Hendrik Petrus Berlage (1856–1934) Dressing table, 1896 Oak, white metal Gemeentemuseum, The Hague As yet there is no book that traces the development of Belgian and Dutch design together. Moreover, existing histories of design almost always devote more space to the Netherlands than to Belgium. This is remarkable. These are two small European countries that share a long border and even, in part, a common language. So why should there be such a disparity? In fact, industry developed quite differently in each country. After Great Britain, Belgium was the first Eu- ropean country to industrialize—starting in the late eighteenth century—and it soon became a truly indus- trial state. In the Netherlands, the process began more than half a century later and progressed more gradu- ally. Around 1900, however, industrial development in the two countries started to move along slightly more parallel lines. A brief description of the first half of the twentieth century in both places is essential to under- standing the design sector that was established after 1945. art nouveau and nieuwe Kunst At the beginning of the twentieth century, the most famous designers in Belgium and the Netherlands, Henry van de Velde and Hendrik Petrus Berlage respectively, were also fierce rivals. This is interesting, because both were driven by the same social commit- ment, namely the creation of a new concept of design to suit modern times, one that was affordable for all and would contribute to a better society. In addition, both claimed to pursue a logical, constructivist style, and their common source of inspiration was the Brit- ish Arts and Crafts movement. glassware, and ceramics. The dressing table he de- Originally a painter, Van de Velde soon evolved into signed for the Fentener van Vlissingen family in 1896 an all-around architect and designer with many inter- exemplifies his ideals (plate 638). It is a sturdy piece of national contacts. In the milieu of Belgian art nouveau, furniture in locally harvested oak, with restrained dec- where Van de Velde was a central figure, the removal of oration and a construction based on traditional Dutch traditional boundaries was a central tenet. The turn-of- furniture, including metal fittings that explicitly pro- the-century Belgian style was rich in organic and asym- claim their process and function. metrical elements, as can also be seen, for example, in It became fashionable to refer to this specifically Victor Horta’s interior designs and Philippe Wolffers’s Dutch version of art nouveau as Nieuwe Kunst (New silver. Art). In response to the Arts and Crafts gallery in the Berlage disliked the international art nouveau Hague, Berlage founded the ’t Binnenhuis showroom movement. When the Arts and Crafts gallery, founded in Amsterdam. Here on display—in addition to Ber- in The Hague in 1898, began to sell Van de Velde’s grace- lage’s own work—were pieces by Jac. van den Bosch, ful yet simple chairs (plate 637), along with the work of Willem Penaat, Jan Eisenloeffel, Chris van der Hoef, other Belgian designers, Berlage made no attempt to and Chris Lebeau. Their designs focused on simplicity, hide his displeasure. He had studied architecture and affordability, and reliability and were decorated—al- would always continue to exercise that profession, but most reluctantly—with highly abstract or geometric his talents extended well beyond, to furniture, textiles, ornaments. 512 belgiuM and The neTherlandS DESIGN-english 2.indd 512 5/9/14 12:22 PM DESIGN-english 2.indd 513 5/9/14 12:22 PM oppoSiTe 639. Gerrit Rietveld (1888–1964) Beugel chair, 1927 Made by Metz & Co (Netherlands), 1930 Plywood, steel Victoria and Albert Museum, London the amsterdam school and de stijl Before World War II, strong ties existed in the Neth- Another noteworthy initiative of A et A was the erlands between the world of design and that of art magazine Wendingen (Turnings), whose motivating and architecture. The Vereeniging voor Ambachts- en force was the architect H. T. Wijdeveld. This widely Nijverheidskunst (VANK; Association for Craft and informed magazine, with its exceptionally beautiful Industrial Art), founded in 1904, was the first profes- layout and Wijdeveld’s distinctive typography, was sional association of Dutch designers. It is significant published monthly from 1919 to 1932, each cover being that, along with “art,” this organization included the designed by a different artist. words “craft” and “industrial” in its name. In principle, The Netherlands were represented in the Amster- it was open to cooperation with industry, but in fact dam school style at the 1925 Exposition des Arts Dé- “industrial design” was barely known before 1945. coratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris. Only a single At the same time, the Amsterdam architects’ asso- item from the Dutch display belonged to the now much ciation, Architectura et Amicitiae (A et A), was active better known De Stijl movement, which takes its name in the field of design. Around 1915, a group of young A from a magazine published between 1917 and 1931. The et A members voiced their opposition to the extremely founder and driving force behind this publication was sober and—in their eyes—unimaginative style of Ber- the artist Theo van Doesburg, while Piet Mondrian was lage and his followers. Their number included Michel its theorist, an advocate of the unification of painting de Klerk, Piet Kramer, and Jo van der Meij, who were and architecture in the “Nieuwe Beelding,” or neo- working at that time on the construction and decora- plasticism. (It should be noted that De Stijl was not an tion of the Scheepvaarthuis in Amsterdam. This large actual group or association; many of the artists and ar- office building is considered the first typical example chitects who wrote for the magazine did not even know of the style of the Amsterdam school, with its expres- each other.) Gerrit Rietveld (plate 639), J. J. P. (Bob) Oud, sive forms and innovative sculptural ornament. Vilmos Hus´zar, and Van der Leck were the other key De Klerk continued to exercise his remarkable tal- contributors, covering either design or architecture. ent not only in architecture and interior decoration Rietveld designed his red-blue chair (plate 640)—ini- for wealthy private clients but also for the new work- tially without color—in 1919 and published it that same ers’ homes that were being built under the Socialist- year in De Stijl. This was a materialization of Mondri- led Amsterdam City Council. The varied and fanciful an’s theories, a chair in which you really could sit, yet architecture of the “workers’ palaces” in Amsterdam- at the same time a spatial, visual, and conceptual ob- Zuid still bears witness to this period. ject. In 1924, there appeared in Utrecht the asymmet- The work of Jaap Gidding, a Rotterdam-based de- rical white faces and red-, blue-, and yellow-painted signer of ceramics, glass, mosaics, and tapestries, also woodwork of the Rietveld Schröder House, one of the reflected this new expressive style. In 1921, Gidding best-known examples of the De Stijl in the Netherlands orchestrated the exuberant and colorful interior of the (plate 641). Tuschinski Theater in central Amsterdam, which, vir- tually unchanged, is still a popular movie house. 514 belgiuM and The neTherlandS DESIGN-english 2.indd 514 5/9/14 12:22 PM DESIGN-english 2.indd 515 5/9/14 12:22 PM DESIGN-english 2.indd 516 5/9/14 12:22 PM oppoSiTe below 640. Gerrit Rietveld 641. Gerrit Rietveld (1888–1964) (1888–1964) Red and blue armchair, 1918 Interior of the Rietveld model Schröder House in Utrecht, Painted wood 1924 Museum of Modern Art, New York DESIGN-english 2.indd 517 5/9/14 12:22 PM below oppoSiTe 642. Willem Gispen 643. Mart Stam (1899–1986) (1890–1981) B33 chair, c. 1926 Desk lamp, 1928–38 Made by Thonet (Germany) Made by W.H. Gispen & Co Chrome-plated tubular steel, (Netherlands) leather Nickel-plated brass Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Los Angeles County Museum Paris of Art modernism and art deco Oud and Rietveld distanced themselves from the De Stijl after just a few years and became involved in the more socially conscious movement known as Nieuwe Zakelijkheid (New Objectivity) or Nieuwe Bouwen (New Architecture). In 1927, together with the architect Mart Stam and the designer-manufacturer Willem Gispen, they contributed to the exhibition of model homes at the Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart, an initiative of the Deutscher Werkbund. This was the first time that Stam exhibited his revolutionary cantilevered chair in tubular steel (plate 643), and Gispen also presented his innovative lamps (plate 642). Also in 1927, the group known as De 8 was founded by progressive architects in Amsterdam who also re- sisted the artistic and elitist forms of the Amsterdam Belgian designers emerged so soon after the war. In ad- school and wanted to promote a modern, technocratic dition to Van de Velde, who had returned to Belgium in mode of building. Their bright, open, functional interi- 1924, after an absence of more than twenty years, the ors were intended as the first step toward an ideal they silversmith Philippe Wolffers is a good example of a de- called the Nieuwe Wonen (New Living). signer whose style evolved over a quarter-century from Two years later, the Opbouw association was the most characteristic art nouveau to the finest art founded in Rotterdam, leading to some interesting col- deco.