Applied Arts and Design
Approx. 15,000 objects document more than 200 years of design history, from Biedermeier to Bauhaus, from Braun products all the way to Italian anti-design. Works by eminent artists like Lyonel Feiniger, Erich Heckel, Lavinia Schulz and Walter Holdt are on permanent display, as are the Art Nouveau exhibits, which are famous well beyond national boundaries and can be seen on the 1st floor. The historically relevant collection serves as a platform for dialogue on the future of design, which is discussed and debated in exhibitions and projects.
Favourite objects
"Winter landscape" jewellery pendant
When the days get shorter, the temperatures drop and the first snow falls, the world freezes. The cold, deep blue lake contrasts with the landscape lying under a white veil, the trees and bare trunks nearby with the towering mountain in the distance. Nothing moves any more. The sounds fall silent. Nature holds its breath. The French jewellery and glass artist René Lalique (1860-1945) captured this mood masterfully in his small pendant. The delicate golden frame with fine leaves at the top and bottom opens up a view into another world. And yet he is unable to control the picture. On the left, a snow-covered fir tree breaks out of the picture. The blue sapphire at the bottom seems almost incidental, and yet it echoes the colour of the winter lake. In addition to the fascination for the object itself, the pendant reminds me of a trip to Cleveland to a great exhibition that honoured the artists René Lalique, Louis C. Tiffany and Peter Carl Fabergé. Here, the objects shown at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 were reunited - as far as possible. These included this pendant from around 1899. It is probably the only unbroken glass enamel pendant by René Lalique to this day - an enchanting piece!
Dr Frank Hildebrandt, Curator, Head of the Ancient Art and Antiquities Collection
Knotted Chair / Marcel Wanders
As a child, I was a big fan of the WDR television programme "Wissen macht Ah!". No matter where and with whom I was travelling, my curiosity about my surroundings seemed insatiable. Fortunately, I was able to retain this interest in adulthood. Now I work in a museum, virtually at the source of all the stories and narratives behind the objects. One of them that fascinated me most recently was the one about the making of the Knotted Chair by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders. The complex net structure combines several aspects that inspire me: for the knotting technique, he draws on the knowledge of many decades and combines this with the use of innovative high-tech materials. The aramid fibre appears delicate, but its carbon core makes it enormously resilient. After knotting, the structure is soaked in epoxy resin and suspended to harden. Gravity finally gives the chair its characteristic parabolic shape of seat and backrest - pretty cool, isn't it?
Berit Reutershan, Project Assistant Collection Applied Arts and Design
Chair SOLID / Heinz Landes
Every time I walk past this chair, I have to pull myself together not to try it out for a moment. What is it like to sit on these six bent iron rods stuck in a piece of concrete? Can a chair like this be comfortable? It certainly doesn't look like it. Perhaps the designer Heinz H. Landes was not interested in comfort, but in balancing the boundaries between art and design. He says of his furniture: "They were created out of a love of the primitive and brutal, they cause some whingeing bruises, but that's okay." The "Solid" cantilever chair, of which only around 30 were produced in the 1980s, is considered an important example of New German Design. This constructive criticism of industrial design, which was defined by the Bauhaus school for decades, is literally cast in concrete here. The brute execution makes it look like a found object from a large construction site and yet the construction appears airy in the room. The quality of solidity that gave the chair its name is suddenly called into question, even though it was one of the very first pieces of furniture to use concrete as a material. An ironic trick, I think, this idea of a chair.
Dominik Nürenberg, Communication
Toaster / Peter Behrens
I love bread, and I love toasted bread even more. However, I haven't had a toaster for some time now and often think about whether I should buy a new one. I would love to eat warm bread again, for example on Sunday mornings. Most toasters are not expensive, but I find them ugly, they take up a lot of space with their plastic casings. A beautiful toaster from the 1930s by Peter Behrens is on display in the Arts and Crafts and Design Collection. The metal shines silver and the punched-out pattern looks delicate. It is small, almost delicate. I dream of a model like this finding its way into my kitchen so that I can finally toast in style and save space. Peter Behrens is considered one of the first industrial designers. At a time when a new and contemporary way of designing industrially manufactured products was being sought, Peter Behrens, a trained painter, not only designed toasters, but also buildings, lettering, posters and other household objects. I wonder how he would design hot air fryers, power blenders and electric milk frothers today. I'm not buying a new toaster for now.
Marleen Grasse, Digital Strategy / NEO Collections Project
Chess set / Josef Hartwig
As a passionate club player, I was immediately drawn to Josef Hartwig's modern chess set on my first tour of the MK&G. For normally only the finest boards of marble with the most ostentatious pieces are found in a museum. But the figures designed by Hartwig at the Bauhaus in Weimar in 1923/24 are composed only of cubes and spheres and thus dispense with the ornate decorations of classical game pieces. The clear, Bauhaus-typical shapes indicate the respective way the pieces move on the board. I particularly like this reduction and it puts the focus on what I think is the most important thing about chess: the logic and structure of the game itself. There are certainly many great and wonderful stories to be told about the "game of kings", but I have been fascinated by the cool, calculating side ever since I learned the rules of chess. Today, a game of chess for me is an hour-long struggle to see who can stay more focused, analyse more accurately and tactic better. I recognise precisely this idea of chess in Josef Hartwig's timeless interpretation.
Marvin Müller, Voluntary Social Year Communication
Jewellery comb
The design of this unique plug-in comb takes me back to the Art Nouveau period around 1900. I imagine myself in a contemporary dress, sitting at a dressing table in Paris and fixing my hair. At first glance, the light brown comb made of horn looks very plain. Green leaves entwine through the curves and the incorporated beads represent small berries. Surely a man bought this mistletoe from the French manufacturer Vever Frères as a gift for his wife to make her happy. The piece of jewellery is passed on in the family and only worn on special occasions until it ends up in the display case in the museum and is now admired by many eyes. That's how it has remained in my memory since my first visit to the museum. Therefore, the accessory has a magical attraction for me and is not just an object. It is a handmade work that presents a deep connection to nature in a simple way.
Marie-Josephine Grund, Education Intern
Tea set
I would love to serve myself good tea with this: Created in Vienna around 1904, this service, consisting of a pot, milk jug, box and tray, still exudes timeless elegance. In its strict design, it is exemplary of the best works of the geometric phase of the Wiener Werkstätte. The black ebony handles not only protect the pot's fingers from the heat, but also accentuate the matt silver sheen of the surface. It was designed by Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956). The architect and designer was, along with Koloman Moser, a founding member and one of the main representatives of the Wiener Werkstätte. It is known that the jug and accessories came from the estate of the Austrian graphic artist and painter Carl Otto Czeschka (1878-1960), who used it throughout his life. He was also active as a designer at the Wiener Werkstätte. The absence of any signs of use testifies to the esteem of its owner, his careful handling of it, but also to the solid craftsmanship of the tea service.
Ulrike Blauth, Marketing
Table lamp "Salome"
Form Follows Function! The design by sculptor Raoul François Larche depicting the American dancer Loïe Fuller in serpentine dance embodies a symbiosis of technical craftsmanship and art. If you look closely, you can see a socket for a light bulb hidden in the dancer's upper, billowing robes. Electricity and aesthetics are united here in an impressive style that reflects the contemporary appreciation of flowing abstract line formation and decorative but sensory form; the ethereal motifs of the Art Nouveau era contrast with the rationalising world. The fascination with this piece lies in its relation to the present: the original film that can be seen in the exhibition space shows the inspiration for this piece and at the same time has the effect of breathing life into the figure. The silhouette of the dancer, the "electric fairy" - as she was also called - was symbolically translated by Larche into haptic form and with a clear function.
Shana Beims, Intern Ancient Art and Antiquities Collection
Club Chair B3 "Wassily"
The encounter with Marcel Breuer's "Wassily" club chair in the Applied Arts and Design Collection was a wonderful moment of recognition for me. This genuine Bauhaus design classic was one of the first to be produced in 1927/28 and I had previously known it in a different guise. Compared to the exhibits in its immediate surroundings, this one looks a little outdated. With its abstract construction of a frame of metal tubes and the textile strips stretched between them as a seat and backrest, it always reminds me somewhat of the prototype of an invention. The armchair seems as if you can retrace the entire process of creation from the making of the individual parts to the entire construction on the basis of this version. The "Wassily" club chairs that are sold today usually present themselves in chrome and leather, i.e. a little more dressed up than their predecessor. However, the latter is in no way inferior to them in its innovative, timeless and elegant design. With these characteristics and the reduction to the most necessary components, the armchair embodies the central ideas of modern furniture design and thus deserves a place in many a design-savvy living room, in addition to its place in the collection.
Hannah Neufang, Visitor Service
Staircase by Bruno Paul
In fact, I have known the wood-panelled staircase since I was a child. Back then, it was accessible to the museum public and I was allowed to jump up and down the creaking wooden steps. You enter a darkened room smelling of old wood - like a time capsule - and land in 1920s Hamburg, in the home of Gustav Fraenkel, owner of a Saxon cloth weaving mill. The architect and designer Bruno Paul located the panelled staircase on the garden side of the villa in Krumdalsweg. Ornaments in the form of foliage, vines and branches wind their way up the heavy banister. But how did this impressive work get into the MK&G? The history of the collection objects and how they find their way to us never ceases to amaze and delight me: in the course of a reconstruction of the villa and through the mediation of the Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments, the staircase and its wooden panelling came to the MK&G in 1964. Once in the museum, it remained hidden for about 15 years and was reconstructed by restorers in 1978/79, true to the original, in the place where it still is today. Originally, the staircase connected the Art Nouveau section on the first floor and the Modern section on the second floor of the museum. To ensure that the staircase remains open to the public for a long time to come, the passageway has since been closed.
Vivian Michalski, Curator, Exhibitions and Projects
Sugar bowl
The sugar bowl from the "Melon" mocha set reveals how the service got its name. The yellow stripes and the small handle on the lid show the design's reference to a melon. The reference to nature and the simple design are exemplary of Art Nouveau. Art should find a place in everyday life in functional objects; the reference to nature and the slow production document the aversion to industrialisation. The service was produced in 1929, but it could also sell today. Pop-cultural aesthetics such as cottagecore promote idyllic country life, the followers want to do more themselves and live more sustainably. Flowers and fruits play a big role in fashion and interior design. Cottagecore sees itself as a counter-movement to capitalist productivity and digital presence and thus resembles the ideas of Art Nouveau. For me, the Melon mocha set seems like the perfect tableware for picnicking in a meadow and escaping the daily grind with cupcakes and tea - whether now or in Art Nouveau.
Merit Meurers, Trainee Education Department
Statuette of the "Seasons" (Spring)
Tarte au citron! The delicate yellow French lemon tart is the first thing I think of when I see the elegant lady made of earthenware. I wonder if she's dreaming of it too? As the embodiment of spring, she stands somewhat shyly in the display case next to her sisters summer, autumn and winter, whose dresses each vie for attention in a different colour. Although her look with bonnet and fan is reminiscent of the early 19th century, the figure dates from the heyday of the Wiener Werkstätte around one hundred years later. The reduced choice of colours with a touch - or rather dabs - of black points to the graphic design power of the time. I like the simplified but not abstract form, seemingly on the verge of kitsch. Its creator, the sculptor Johanna Meier- Michel, may even have shown it in the 1910 show "The Art of Women" at the Vienna Secession. For this first exhibition of the Austrian Association of Female Artists, Meier-Michel designed the flowery, sparkling advertising poster that you should take a look at in the MK&G Collection Online. Accompanied by a tarte au citron - right near us in the café of the Central Library?
Friederike Fankhänel, Education
Wiener Werkstätte showroom
Practical, square, good: if a chocolate manufacturer hadn't chosen this advertising slogan, it would have been tailor-made for the objects of the Wiener Werkstätte (founded in 1903). Because one of its founding members, Josef Hoffmann, literally took this to the extreme with the squares. In our first exhibition room on Art Nouveau, this design principle is consistently followed through: From the floor with square tiles in black and white, to the furniture with square details, to service components known in new German as tableware, which catch the eye with a timelessly modern-looking grid pattern. The background to this minimalist design is Hofmann's and his fellow campaigners' demand that all objects of daily use should be beautifully designed and fit together. They gave craftsmen a guiding principle: "It is better to work ten days on one object than to produce ten objects in one day! This formal preference incidentally earned the architect and designer Hoffmann the nickname "Quadratl-Hoffmann". Unjustly so: for Hoffmann could also do things differently - as the decorative opulence of the Palais Stoclet in Brussels shows.
Dr Manuela van Rossem, Education Department
Wiggle Side Chair / Frank Gehry
This special chair by Frank Gehry gives the word "corrugated cardboard" a completely different meaning! The "Wiggle Side Chair" is part of the "Easy Edges" series, which the architect and designer created in cardboard in 1969-1972 and which is still being produced today. Before I came across the "Wiggle Side Chair", I associated the name Frank Gehry with something completely different: the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The museum is perhaps one of the most famous buildings that he designed as an architect. The huge museum building is characterised by a curved façade clad in metal panels. The whole complex is reminiscent of a monumental, dazzling sculpture. The Wiggle Side Chair also has the appearance of a sculpture full of fascinating tension, only in a slightly smaller format. The brown cardboard looks as if it has softened and laid down in these waves, which are so unusual for the material. The small gaps between the individual sheets give the impression that the chair springs when you sit on it. I haven't been able to test it yet, but the Wiggle Side Chair is certainly quite stable, contrary to what its shape and name might suggest.
Hannah Neufang, Working Student Communications
Felt stool / Frank Schreiner
I had to look twice at this stool: in 1992, Frank Schreiner, who is considered one of the representatives of New German Design, produced the "Felt stool" under the name Stiletto Studios. It is made of thick, rolled-up needle felt held together at the top and bottom by steel bands. The steel bands form an exciting contrast to the rough texture of the felt. Both the machine-made needle felt and the steel band speak of industry and craftsmanship, although the roll appears barely worked. The use of objects that are hardly manipulated by the respective artists, so-called readymades, has been encouraging people to question what they see since the early 20th century. In 1983, Stiletto Studios made a similar reference to design classics such as the "Wire Chair" by Charles and Ray Eames or the "Diamond Chair" by Harry Bertoia with a bent, metal shopping trolley, the "Consumer's Rest Lounge Chair". The "Felt Stool" also succeeds in provoking thought. Because if it wasn't called that, I'm not so sure I would have recognised it as a stool.
Hannah Neufang, Working Student Communication
Bronze figure horse
As a teenager I had a brief horse-girl phase. These sublime animals fascinate me to this day. What I like about the bronze figure "Horse, biting itself" by Gustav Heinrich Wolff (1886-1934) is the casualness of the movement. This specific moment, the agile turn that contrasts with the abstracted figure - for me, this is the beauty of this small sculpture. It is also reminiscent of the blue, red or yellow horses by Franz Marc, one of the most important German Expressionists and a contemporary of Gustav Heinrich Wolff, whose paintings seem like precisely composed studies of movement. Gustav Heinrich Wolff's horse is exhibited on the 2nd floor. The MK&G houses the artist's largest coherent body of work with drawings, sculptures and prints. In 1937, 17 of Wolff's works were removed from the collection by the National Socialists as "degenerate art"; 20 years later, the museum showed the artist's first retrospective.
Gudrun Herz, Press Officer
Salt Vessel Octopus
The silver salt vessel by Alexander Schönauer from 1902 reminds me that before the advent of the salt shaker, it was common to grab the spice from a bowl with one's fingers. This is also referred to by the indication "a pinch of salt", which means the amount that can be grasped between thumb and forefinger. The groping tentacles of the octopus entwining Schönauer's bowl make me think of the fingers of a hand reaching into a mass of countless granules and feeling their structure. It is not only linguistically a short way from grasping to grasping. New tools, such as the salt shaker, always change the way we experience and understand our environment. They mediate between us and the environment and influence how our body relates to the matter around us. The octopus, as a creature whose thinking and sensory apparatus is very different from mine, stands for me as a symbol of the fact that the world is perceived very differently. It invites me to physically grasp the materiality that surrounds me, keeping in mind how much my experience is shaped by my perceptual apparatus as well as the things in my environment.
Anna Gröger, Working Student Applied Arts and Design Collection
Bracelet
This bracelet from 1931 is displayed in one of the historic wooden showcases of the "Hamburger Moderne". How novel and progressive it appears in its high-gloss finish and cool aesthetics! Eight rectangular metal plates are movably joined together by wires and tubes - resulting in a prism-shaped structure with a button closure. Decorated with a punched hole pattern, it is reminiscent of a lantern and yet designed as a piece of jewellery. The goldsmith and lighting architect Naum Slutzky, who was born in Kiev and lived in Hamburg from 1924 to 1933, designed this bracelet and made it from chrome-plated brass parts using a simple assembly technique. As an extravagant accessory, it is aimed at the modern woman of the 1930s who stands for technical progress and social change and recognises the ignoble avant-garde jewellery in its own beauty. For me, the bracelet, along with all the other Slutzky works, is a fine example of the special creativity of the artist, who worked for the Wiener Werkstätte and the Weimar Bauhaus before his time in Hamburg. With his designs, he questioned traditional ways of designing and making jewellery and showed new ways.
Susanne Sauerbrunn, Digital Inventorisation
Point table
The Hamburg cabinetmaker Carl Friedrich Heinrich Plambeck received a prize at the World's Fair in London for his showpiece table made in 1851. The elaborately designed table was even described as one of the "most beautiful works" shown there. To demonstrate his skill, Plambeck used thinly cut mother-of-pearl, ivory and metal for ornate surface decoration in addition to exotic woods. What is special for me, however, are the coloured inlays. They form backgrounds, flower garlands as well as clothing in strong colours. What kind of material is this, I have always asked myself. The former MK&G furniture restorer Horst Krause restored this table in the early 1980s and, as a trainee at the time, drew my attention to the remarkable technique. Animal glue, mixed with blue, red, yellow or green pigments, has been poured out as a thin slab and sawn out like veneer. In a relatively short period around the mid-1850s, this colourful technique was used on furniture throughout Germany.
Carola Klinzmann, Conservation Furniture and Wooden Objects
Art Nouveau Webjournal
Exciting Years. In the Footsteps of the Visionaries
In the web journal "Exciting Years. In the Footsteps of the Visionaries" (only available in German) you accompany the fictional reporter Christian Heller during his encounters with real artists, visionaries, and reformers. In his travel diary he draws a lively picture of the Art Nouveau epoch. Numerous original photos and documents provide insights into studios, workshops and residential buildings of the leading actors. From Hamburg via Paris and Vienna to Glasgow and Ascona – get together with Christian Heller! In 2018, the web journal is awarded with the Grimme Online Award.