A Fleming in Germany – Henry van de Velde’s impact in Europe and the World
Public Conference
Wednesday, 11 December 2019, 9 am – 6 pm
Villa Esche, Chemnitz
»I will leave it to art history to clarify which institute was the first citadel, and where the flame that carried the fire of the new artistic convictions out into the wide world was ignited«, wrote Henry van de Velde in retrospect and with reference to Bauhaus, which in 2019 celebrated the 100th anniversary of its inception and whose influential pioneer Henry van de Velde is considered to be. For with the foundation in Weimar of the Kunstgewerbliches Seminar in 1902 and the Großherzogliche Kunstgewerbeschule it gave rise to in 1908, van de Velde laid one of the decisive foundation stones for both the State Bauhaus, generally known simply as Bauhaus, and for Modernism.
On the occasion of the Bauhaus anniversary, on 11 December 2019 a conference was held devoted to the Bauhaus trailblazer and entitled Ein Flame in Deutschland – Henry van de Veldes Wirken für Europa und die Welt (A Fleming in Germany – Henry van de Velde’s Impact in Europe and the World). That one-day event with top-class lectures took place in Villa Esche, which van de Velde built for the Chemnitz textile manufacturer Herbert Esche and his family as an artistic synthesis based on his own designs. At the conference, experts from the United States, Belgium, Ireland, Germany, and the Netherlands presented their latest research findings and provided some exciting insight into the work of the Flanders-born artist.
Words of Welcome
Dr Frédéric Bußmann, Director General of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz
Simone Kalew, Executive Director of Grundstücks- und Gebäudewirtschafts-Gesellschaft m.b.H., Chemnitz
Greeting
Nic Van der Marliere, General Delegate of the Flemish Government
Introduction
Dr Antje Neumann-Golle, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz
Von Brüssel zum Bauhaus: Ursprung und Wirkung von Henry van de Veldes Werk und Schriften, 1889–1914
Prof Dr Katherine M. Kuenzli, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut
»Tous les métiers de lʼart« – Henry van de Velde: Das Schreiben als Kunsthandwerk und die Herausforderungen der Sprache
Elizabeth Tucker MA, translator and editor, Sleepy Hollow, New York
Eine ästhetische (R)Evolution – Die erste Brüsseler Periode von Henry van de Velde (1893–1900)
Prof Dr Werner Adriaenssens, Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels
Ein Flame im Kannenbäckerland – Auf der Suche nach Henry van de Veldes Wirken im Nachlass Hanke
Dr Nele van Wieringen, Keramikmuseum Westerwald, Höhr-Grenzhausen
Das Weimarer Nietzsche-Monument von Henry van de Velde – Projekt für Körper und Geist der »Neuen Europäer«
Prof Dr Ole W Fischer, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Henry van de Velde und Frank Lloyd Wright: Parallele Leben
Prof Dr Kathleen James-Chakraborty, University College Dublin
Henry van de Veldes zweite belgische Periode – Dr. Adriaan Martensʼ Villa Landing und Poliklinik für Innere Medizin: Eine Fallstudie
Benoît Vandeputte, Van Damme – Vandeputte Architecten, Ghent
Eine internationale Familie – Henry van de Veldes Erbe
Mathijs van Houweninge, Utrecht
In conversation
Presentation of the book by Katherine M. Kuenzli: Henry van de Velde. Designing Modernism, Yale University Press, 2019
Final discussion followed by a tour of Villa Esche with Ingo Esche
The conference was supported by:
The General Delegation of the Government of Flanders in Germany
The company Grundstücks- und Gebäudewirtschafts-Gesellschaft m.b.H. Chemnitz
