Art and Technology (1910) PETER BEHRENS

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Art and Technology (1910) PETER BEHRENS Peter Behrens (born April 14, 1868, Hamburg died Feb. 27, 1940, Berlin) German Architect He has an influencel role to develop modern architecture in Germany.

1 Art and Technology (1910) PETER BEHRENS Peter Behrens (born April 14, 1868, Hamburg died Feb. 27, 1940, Berlin) German Architect He has an influencel role to develop modern architecture in Germany. He made a name with his works of painting, graphic design and architecture and industrial design, especially he was accepted as a pioneer of modern industrial design and modern industrial architecture. Design is not about decorating functional forms - it is about creating forms that accord with the character of the object and that show new technologies to advantage. - Peter Behrens 1

From 1886 to 1889 - Behrens studied at Hamburg Kunstgewerbeschule (School for the Applied Arts).

2 From 1886 to Behrens studied at Hamburg Kunstgewerbeschule (School for the Applied Arts). After attending the fine arts school at Hamburg, Behrens went to Munich in 1897 during the time of the renaissance of arts and crafts in Germany before attending the Kunstschule in Karlsruhe and the Düsseldorf Art Academy. In In Munich, He began to career of painter, in this period he joined a Munich s popular art movement Jugendstil (German Art Nouveau) In He was a founding member of the Munich Secession. In Behrens was invited by the Grand-duke Ernst-Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt Artists Colony, where he designed and built his own house (Haus Behrens) In He became director of the arts and crafts school in Düsseldorf. In Behrens came together with ten other artists and designers to create the Deutscher Werkbund, an organization that was deliberated to compete with the English Arts and Crafts movement and improves the status of German design and industry. In Behrens was appointed by AEG as an artistic adviser and called upon to design everything from the company s logos and typefaces to its product design. He reached his material style an became a first industrial designer. 2

Henry van de Velde - Furniture Design There were two aspects of the Jugendstil, first one decorative design dominated by floral motifs was be established in English Art Nouveau and

3 Jugendstil (German Art Nouveau) Jugendstil was a artistic style in German which intransitived during mid-1890s continued untill World War. Its name was taken from the Munich artistic journay Die Jugend (in German, means that Youth) which was focused the decorative art like other Art Nouveau style. Henry van de Velde - Furniture Design There were two aspects of the Jugendstil, first one decorative design dominated by floral motifs was be established in English Art Nouveau and Japanese arts and prints, second phrase is more abstract in the manner of the Belgian architect and designer Henry van de Velde. The floral style was basicly based on drawing on natural forms and folk art themes, art works appeared like naturulistic and sentimental. 3

Munich was a main center of Jugendstil, like other movements of the arts in Germany, it clashed with growing interests in industrial design and desire to improve German products for competing for

4 Munich was a main center of Jugendstil, like other movements of the arts in Germany, it clashed with growing interests in industrial design and desire to improve German products for competing for international markets. In the example of British Crafts movements, the approaches of William Morris were fitness for purpose and honest construction was crucial for the high standard of design. German artists did not deny mass-production trend in this period but they had tried to create appropriate designs for the development of new technologies.they led to more simplified, functional design approach with less ornamentation than that of their British counterparts, making many products affordable. Obrist, Endell, Riemerschmid, Bangkok, Paul, and Peter Behrens, they worked closely with the producers of their designs. At this time, the more abstract, geometric transformation of the floral style began to be seen in the workplace by Endell, Obrist and Behrens. 4

For example in his woodcut The Kiss the hair of two women are twisted together and transformed into The Kiss - Peter Behrens Butterflies on Water Lilies - Peter Behrens As

5 Behrens 1898 The Kiss had a similar deal with flowing in curved elements that were created in organic, ornamental and modernist style. Also, in Behrens s woodcuts, the illustration has surrounded the border. The theme of the border is always connected with the illustration in the middle. For example in his woodcut The Kiss the hair of two women are twisted together and transformed into The Kiss - Peter Behrens Butterflies on Water Lilies - Peter Behrens As stated by Schmutzler (1962, p. 205) his earliest works in Jugendstil are ornament drawings like the delicate sketch of butterflies alighting on lily pads framed by rushes and in this design his affinity with Japanese art is obvious. 5

Munich Secession Like William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain, the Munich Secession championed all types of art, including decorative art and design, and generally adopted a

6 Munich Secession Like William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain, the Munich Secession championed all types of art, including decorative art and design, and generally adopted a multidisciplinary approach to the subject. Their modernist style of painting included prototype forms of abstract art as well as more expressive styles, thus anticipating early 20th century movements like Symbolism and Cubism. 6

Darmstadt Artists Colony In Darmstadt, the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse founded the colony with a group of Jugendstil artists.

applied and decorative arts with a sense of German identity.

Several artists of the Art Nouveau in Darmstadt: Peter Behrens, Paul Bürck, Rudolf Bosselt, Hans Christiansen, Ludwig Habich, Patriz Huber and Joseph Maria

7 Darmstadt Artists Colony In Darmstadt, the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse founded the colony with a group of Jugendstil artists. His aim was made Darmstadt leading center of architectural, design, and decorative arts practice for improving German public taste and enriching the contemporary applied and decorative arts with a sense of German identity. This conjunction of national identity, design reform and economic success was consistent with the idea of contemporary progressive design. Several artists of the Art Nouveau in Darmstadt: Peter Behrens, Paul Bürck, Rudolf Bosselt, Hans Christiansen, Ludwig Habich, Patriz Huber and Joseph Maria Olbrich were brought together. Ernst Ludwig provided financial opportunities to artists for designed their own houses that were exhibited. However, the exhibition made a financial loss and drew some negative criticism. Wedding tower in Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt Peter Behrens House Interior Plate designed by Peter Behrens 7

Peter Behrens House In the colony, Behrens who was originally trained as a painter turned to architecture and built his first house.

The house receiving widespread critical attention at the 1901 Darmstadt Exhibition for his furniture, fittings, and interiors which, although

8 Peter Behrens House In the colony, Behrens who was originally trained as a painter turned to architecture and built his first house. He conceived all the interiors including furniture, towels, paintings, pottery, etc. The house receiving widespread critical attention at the 1901 Darmstadt Exhibition for his furniture, fittings, and interiors which, although moving away from the more flowing Art Nouveau forms that had characterized much of his earlier design output, utilized expensive materials, and finishes. The resulting building - Behrens first work of architecture - is indebted to Art Nouveau in some of its features, but it is more remarkable for the way in which it deviates from Art Nouveau norms. Many consider its more austere, stripped down style to be Behrens first step away from decorative styles and towards the modernism that he eventually helped to inspire. 8

Red House - William Morris EVERYTHING THAT BELONGS TO LIFE MUST ATTAIN BEAUTY.

internal and external expression was unusual, particularly for its combination of

..with elements such as the high-pitched roof drawn from the German vernacular.

9 Red House - William Morris EVERYTHING THAT BELONGS TO LIFE MUST ATTAIN BEAUTY. Peter Behrens While this format was quite typical for a small bourgeois house, its internal and external expression was unusual, particularly for its combination of features drawn from the English Arts and Crafts movement...with elements such as the high-pitched roof drawn from the German vernacular. Clearly seems to Behrens was initially an art student, influenced and attracted by the work and teachings of William Morris. 9

The Deutscher Werkbund Deutscher Werkbund, greater efficiency in the craft industry, to better design and architecture industry was born with the desire for a more modern approach.

10 The Deutscher Werkbund Deutscher Werkbund, greater efficiency in the craft industry, to better design and architecture industry was born with the desire for a more modern approach. The myriad Jugendstil workshops established are built on the belief that the art of high quality (and also folk art) will improve the quality of life and international economic standing of the nation. The goal of the Deutscher Werkbund was the improvement of professional work through the cooperation of art, industry and the crafts, through education, propaganda, and united attitudes to pertinent questions. The group s intellectual leaders, architects Hermann Muthesius and Henry van de Velde, were influenced by William Morris. In his book The English House (1904-5), Muthesius believed the way forward for German design lay in high-quality, machine-made products that were at once recognizably German and modern. 10

AEG In the same year as the formation of the Deutscher Werkbund, Peter Behrens was employed an artistic director of the firm AEG.

Behrens designed daily used electrical products and buildings, advertising and logos. Behrens masterminded AEG s complete corporate identity.

His commission for AEG allowed him to make the transition from applied arts to industrial design, and from decoration to functionalism.

11 AEG In the same year as the formation of the Deutscher Werkbund, Peter Behrens was employed an artistic director of the firm AEG. AEG produced a broad range of devices such as generators, appliances, and light bulbs. Behrens designed daily used electrical products and buildings, advertising and logos. Behrens masterminded AEG s complete corporate identity. AEG was the first firm to invest in the art of industrial design. His commission for AEG allowed him to make the transition from applied arts to industrial design, and from decoration to functionalism. His work in AEG could be assumed first connection art and industry. For Behrens, form and function were of equal importance: Don t think that even an engineer, when he buys a motor, takes it to bits in order to scrutinize it. Even he buys because of the external appearance. A motor ought to look like a birthday present. 11

Behrens succeed to combine functionality and elegance, matching the use of modern materials and building techniques to classical proportions.

12 AEG Turbine Factory In 1909, Behrens designed his first factory building. The design does not completely abstain traditional architecture, with solid gable ends and corner walls recalling an abstracted classical temple. Behrens succeed to combine functionality and elegance, matching the use of modern materials and building techniques to classical proportions. Also, the facade of the iron-and-glass structure is given extra solidity by the addition of masonry pylons, steel columns and a polygonal tympanum, all of which give the building a classical feel. As a result, Behrens points that a functional modern industrial building can still have a connection with the architecture of the antiquity. A structure completely made of iron, glass and concrete. The design of the factory is based on rectangular and circular forms and the essential outline of the factory a steel-frame rectangular structure, approximately 122 meters long, 40 meters wide and 26 meters tall. The window design has enabled the interior to be illuminated with all natural light. This monumental was designed in collaboration with the structural engineer Karl Bernhard. He wanted to make interior and exterior spaces as simple as possible and cooperated with engineers to use less, but larger beam frames than those widely used in such a large building. As a successful architect, he was also an untrained engineer so he relied on engineers about materials and structural aspects. The AEG Turbine Hall point the beginning of the new industrial aesthetics of minimalistic designs. It had a completely new concept in where the neo-gothic and neo-classical design was considered appropriate style. 12

Other Works The Small Motors Factory (1910-1911) The Large Machine Assembly Hall (1911-1912) The Schröder House (1908-1909) The Cuno House (1909-1910) The German Embassy in Leningrad (1911-1912)

13 Other Works The Small Motors Factory ( ) The Large Machine Assembly Hall ( ) The Schröder House ( ) The Cuno House ( ) The German Embassy in Leningrad ( ) (redesigned) I. G. Farben Company Building at Höchst ( ) Office building of the Hoechst AG, Frankfurt,Germany, ( ) Winarsky-Hof (with J. Frank, J. Hoffmann, O. Strnad, Wlach), Vienna, Austria, 1924 Franz-Domes-Hof, Vienna, Austria, 1928 Tobacco Factory. Linz, Austria, ( ) The Mannesmann-Werke in Düsseldorf ( ) Farbwerke at Höchst ( ). From 1922 to 1927 he was professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. His later buildings demonstrated his belief that a building complex must have a heavy massiveness. 13

14 Art and Technology Technology cannot permanently be understood as an end in itself, but gains in value and significance just at that point at which it is recognized as the most refined means of achieving a culture. A mature culture, however, speaks only through the language of art. He defended the idea that technology should be integrated culture. Maybe in this time technology, became an understandable and controversial issue. Our most serious task, therefore, is to help technology to achieve artistic quality, at the same time helping art to great achievements though contact with technology. By their nature, art and technology are quite different, this in no way lessens the legitimacy of the view that they still belong together. Nor, however, do we want a technology that goes its own way, but one that is receptive to the artistic will of the age. In this way, German art and technology will work toward a goal: toward the power of the German nation, which reveals itself in a rich material life ennobled by intellectually refined design Although the difference between art and technology (not a problem for their togetherness), technology should not be unaffected, especially for art it should be transformed easily. As a nationalist, he expected Germany developed with these ideas -technology and art-. 14

15 Behrens - rather like his pupils Gropius, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe - was a pioneer of modernist architecture: that is, architecture designed for the modern age, free of historical elements and associations. In fact, as mentioned above, he retained a number of historical motifs in his designs, but otherwise his monumental industrial designs incorporated numerous modernist features and made full use of new materials like steel and glass. But his modernist vision was only properly implemented by the International Style of his disciples, Gropius and Le Corbusier and by the skyscraper architecture of his pupil Mies. Şeyma Akcan 15

The Bauhaus. 1 The Bauhaus 1. 2 German workshops 5. 3 The Weimar Location The Dessau Location New Faculty The Epoch Closes 66

The Bauhaus. 1 The Bauhaus 1. 2 German workshops 5. 3 The Weimar Location The Dessau Location New Faculty The Epoch Closes 66 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / THE BAUHAUS / Overview i / lxxii The Bauhaus 1 The Bauhaus 1 2 German workshops 5 3 The Weimar Location 23 4 The Dessau Location 44 5 New Faculty 53 6 The Epoch Closes