Reform of Life

Reform of Life
& Henry van de Velde mittendrin

When Henry van de Velde was born in 1863, historicism, with its mixture of styles, prevailed in Europe. Artists and industry had hardly any points of contact. When van de Velde died almost a century later, the collaboration between art and industry had a name: »product design«. In the intervening period came several generations of artists and designers who wanted to revisit the form and function of everyday objects – and Henry van de Velde was one of them. He was inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, became an important exponent of Art Nouveau, laid the foundations for the Werkbund and the Bauhaus movements, headed the La Cambre School of Visual Arts in Brussels and recognised the importance of the Ulm School of Design.

In Chemnitz, Henry van de Velde designed two villas, a tennis club and several interiors. Today Villa Esche is home to the Henry van de Velde Museum of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. With over 130 works, it houses a significant portion of van de Velde’s oeuvre. At the same time, the Textile and Decorative Arts Collection has been acquiring contemporary European decorative arts and textiles since its foundation in 1898. Taking Henry van de Velde’s role as an artist, architect, teacher and author as its basis, the exhibition presents the network of visionaries, producers and dealers he worked with between 1880 and 1950, including William Morris, Richard Riemerschmid, Marianne Brandt, Otti Berger and Max Bill.

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