Vereniging voor Nijverheids- en Decoratieve Kunsten | |
Established | 1903 |
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Location | Ghent, Belgium |
Coordinates | 51°03′21″N3°43′13″E / 51.055833°N 3.720139°E |
Director | Katrien Laporte |
Public transit access | Korenmarkt Gravensteen |
Website | designmuseumgent.be/en |
Design Museum Gent is a museum in Belgium with an international design collection. The museum complex is located in the tourist centre of Ghent and comprises an 18th-century mansion and a modern wing. The museum holds a collection of Belgian design, supported by international objects.
Design Museum Gent originates from a private initiative of a group of industrial design and art lovers who united in 1903 as the Union des Arts Industriels et Décoratifs (Association of Industrial and Decorative Arts) and created a ‘Musée des Modèles’. Initially, the collection consisted of some hundred examples of furniture, complemented by subcollections of ceramics, copper and bronze, furniture fragments and a large textile collection. These models were housed in the Ghent municipal academy, situated in the Sint-Margrietstraat.
As the collection grew with purchases in the various pavilions during the Ghent 1913 World Exhibition and further extension of the collection, the union sought larger quarters. In 1922 the museum moved to Hotel de Coninck on the Jan Breydelstraat, which the city of Ghent had bought a couple of years earlier. In 1951, under the leadership of a new director, Adelbert Van de Walle, three shows called the National Salons for Modern Social Furniture were organised. These took place in 1955, 1956, and 1957. [1] They invited local manufacturers to exhibit their furniture showcased in rooms as staged domestic environments and to take orders placed by visitors, thus facilitating the distribution of modern, affordable design. [1]
By 1958, the financial burden had become too much for the Association of Industrial and Decorative Arts, and the city of Ghent took over the administration and management of the museum. Between 1958 and 1973, the museum was closed for renovations. Its reopening was followed by an expansion plan, resulting in the inauguration of a new wing in 1992, which accommodates both a selection from the modern and contemporary design collection and temporary exhibitions. The extension was designed by architect Willy Verstraete and was opened in May 1992. In the modern part of the building, a hydraulic lift in the central section can be used to adapt the height of the floors. The current policy of the museum puts greater focus on Belgian design from 1970.
The museum currently closed and is scheduled to reopen in autumn 2024 after renovation and the construction of a new wing called "DING". The project is being led by architects TRANS, Carmody Groarke, and RE-ST. [2] The new space will improve the museum's capacity to host lectures, debates, design courses, as well temporary small exhibitions, product launches, workshops, and other activities. The underground floors of the new wing will house art handling and restoration activities, as well as rest rooms and a cloakroom. [3]
The museum collection has evolved from 17th and 18th century applied arts towards modern and contemporary design from 1860 to the present. The objects from before 1860 provide the historic basis for the modern and contemporary design. Design Museum Gent applies a broad definition of design, based on a series of criteria that can be found in a product: contemporaneity, innovation, ergonomics, durability and aesthetic relevance. Both serial products and unique objects can comply with these requirements. Innovation can relate to form, function, material and production techniques. Purchases and exhibitions are focused on 20th century and contemporary creations.
The collection of Design Museum Gent took shape in three phases:
The collection now holds nearly 22,000 objects. It mainly includes Western European design, with a distinct presence of Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Scandinavia and Italy. The collection focuses especially on interior-oriented design from private residences and offices. It includes applied arts and design dating from 1450 to present and is regionally, nationally and internationally diversified. It features comprehensive coverage of trend-setting design starting from Art Nouveau and hosts several notable unique objects of national and international design. The historic subcollection (1450–1900) covers a broad range of 18th century furniture. The proto-design objects from 1860 onwards form an entree to the modern design collection, which is initiated by the Art Nouveau collection and continues till today.
The museum possesses a small collection of objects designed by Christopher Dresser. The furniture of the Vienna furniture companies Thonet and Kohn are at the dawn of modern design as well.
Design Museum Gent is known for its collection of Belgian Art Nouveau made by Paul Hankar, Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, Victor Horta, Henry van de Velde, Philippe Wolfers and Alfred William Finch. These Belgian designers are accompanied by foreign top designers such as Louis Majorelle, Emile Gallé, René Lalique, Daum, Richard Riemerschmid, Josef Hoffmann, Otto Wagner and Georg Jensen.
The collection features French glassware by Daum, Lalique, Marcel Goupy, Maurice Marinot, Jean Sala, Charles Schneider, Gabriel Argy-Rousseau, and copper vases by Jean Dunand and Claude Linossier. The museum also possesses ceramic vases of Llorens Artigas, Fernand Rumèbe and services by Jean Luc and Georg Jensen. An idiosyncratic furniture collection was assembled by the Ghent architect Albert Van Huffel, designer of the Koekelberg Basilica. The museum also holds his archives. Another notable item is the ‘Gioconda’ service designed by Philippe Wolfers in 1925 for the exhibition ‘Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et lndustriels’ in Paris. Services from the companies Wolfers and Delheid represent Belgian Art Deco silverware.
The modernism of Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto, Marcel Breuer, Mies van der Rhoe and Lilly Reich (Knoll collection), [4] Christa Ehrlich, Poul Henningsen and Wilhelm Wagenfeld contrasts with the sumptuous Art Deco. The Flemish architect-designers Gaston Eysselinck and Huib Hoste are featured.
The collection also includes a selection of modern design dating from the period 1945–1965 with furniture of Belgian designers such as Willy Van der Meeren, Alfred Hendrickx, Emiel Veranneman, Pieter De Bruyne, Jules Wabbes, Léon Stynen, [5] and Christophe Gevers; American designers Florence Knoll, Charles and Ray Eames; Scandinavian designers Arne Jacobsen, Hans Wegner, Verner Panton, Yrjö Kukkapuro, Tapio Wirkkala, and Kristian Vedel; and Italian designers Joe Colombo, Carlo Scarpa (Cleto Munari). The Netherlands and Scandinavia are represented by glassware of the companies Royal Leerdam Crystal (Andries Dirk Copier), Orrefors (Sven Palmqvist), Venini and Iittala, and silverware from Henning Koppel (Georg Jensen) and Lino Sabattini (Christofle). The Belgian headquarters of Tupperware Europe, with chief designers Bob Daenen and Vic Cautereels, contributes familiar kitchen objects.
The museum possesses an ensemble of the Italian Anti-Design collectives Studio Alchimia and Memphis, represented by Ettore Sottsass, Alessandro Mendini, Michele de Lucchi, Matteo Thun, Marco Zanini and Nathalie Du Pasquier.
An early postmodern piece of furniture, the 1975 Chantilly cupboard designed by Pieter De Bruyne, leads off the Belgian design collection. Foreign designers such as Michael Graves, Bořek Šípek, Richard Meier, Hans Hollein and Aldo Rossi are also featured.
International designers include Ron Arad, Toyo Ito, Hella Jongerius, Peter Opsvik, Barbara Nanning, Marc Newson, Philippe Starck, Michael Young, Marcel Wanders, and Frantisek Vizner.
Design Museum Gent features more recent and contemporary Belgian designers such as Maarten Van Severen, Hans De Pelsmacker, Lachaert & d'Hanis, Marc Supply, Xavier Lust, Pol Quadens, Quinze & Milan, Fabiaan Van Severen, Weyers & Borms and Dirk Wynants. Ceramics in the contemporary collection are by Piet Stockmans, Tjok Dessauvage, Arthur Vermeiren, Rik Vandewege and Ann Van Hoey. Glassware comes from the ovens of the Antwerp collective L'Anverre and Carine Neutjens. Silverware is designed by Jean Lemmens and Siegfried De Buck, Nedda El-Asmar and David Huycke. Samsonite (designer Erik Sijmons), Hedgren and Kipling (designer Xavier Kegels) luggage is also included in the collection. Recent acquisitions of the younger Belgian generation, represented by Muller Van Severen, Maarten De Ceulaer and Ben Storms, look to the future.
The collection of Spanish diplomat Antonio Alonso Madero comprising about 300 works in glass is held at the museum. [6] The collection includes pieces by Tapio Wirkkala, Strömbergshyttan, Léon Ledru, Auguste Jean, Emile Gallé, Josef Hoffmann, and other notable glass artists. [7]
Art Deco, short for the French Arts Décoratifs, , is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in Paris in the 1910s, and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920s to early 1930s. Through styling and design of the exterior and interior of anything from large structures to small objects, including how people look, Art Deco has influenced bridges, buildings, ships, ocean liners, trains, cars, trucks, buses, furniture, and everyday objects including radios and vacuum cleaners.
Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and flowers. Other characteristics of Art Nouveau were a sense of dynamism and movement, often given by asymmetry or whiplash lines, and the use of modern materials, particularly iron, glass, ceramics and later concrete, to create unusual forms and larger open spaces. It was popular between 1890 and 1910 during the Belle Époque period, and was a reaction against the academicism, eclecticism and historicism of 19th century architecture and decorative art.
Jugendstil was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of Art Nouveau. The members of the movement were reacting against the historicism and neo-classicism of the official art and architecture academies. It took its name from the art journal Jugend, founded by the German artist Georg Hirth. It was especially active in the graphic arts and interior decoration.
Victor Pierre Horta was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. He was a fervent admirer of the French architectural theorist Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and his Hôtel Tassel in Brussels (1892–93), often considered the first Art Nouveau house, is based on the work of Viollet-le-Duc. The curving stylized vegetal forms that Horta used in turn influenced many others, including the French architect Hector Guimard, who used it in the first Art Nouveau apartment building he designed in Paris and in the entrances he designed for the Paris Metro. He is also considered a precursor of modern architecture for his open floor plans and his innovative use of iron, steel and glass.
Henry Clemens van de Velde was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium. He worked in Paris with Siegfried Bing, the founder of the first gallery of Art Nouveau in Paris. Van de Velde spent the most important part of his career in Germany and became a major figure in the German Jugendstil. He had a decisive influence on German architecture and design at the beginning of the 20th century.
The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts was a specialized exhibition held in Paris, France, from April to October 1925. It was designed by the French government to highlight the new modern style of architecture, interior decoration, furniture, glass, jewelry and other decorative arts in Europe and throughout the world. Many ideas of the international avant-garde in the fields of architecture and applied arts were presented for the first time at the exposition. The event took place between the esplanade of Les Invalides and the entrances of the Grand Palais and Petit Palais, and on both banks of the Seine. There were 15,000 exhibitors from twenty different countries, and it was visited by sixteen million people during its seven-month run. The modern style presented at the exposition later became known as "Art Deco", after the exposition's name.
Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from the two most important collectors of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. It is located at the Museumpark in the district Rotterdam Centrum, close to the Kunsthal and the Natural History Museum.
The Musée des Arts Décoratifs is a museum in Paris, France, dedicated to the exhibition and preservation of the decorative arts. Located in the city’s 1st arrondissement, the museum occupies the Pavillon de Marsan, the north-western wing of the Palais du Louvre. With approximately one million objects in its collection, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs is the largest museum of decorative arts in continental Europe. It is one of three museums operated by the non-profit arts association MAD, founded in 1882.
Maarten Van Severen was a Belgian furniture designer and interior architect. He came from an artistic family: his father was the abstract painter Dan Van Severen while his brother, Fabian Van Severen, is also a designer. Maarten Van Severen started out studying architecture in Ghent, designing furniture from 1986 onward. He is considered one of the few Belgian designers who have achieved international success.
The Art & History Museum is a public museum of antiquities and ethnographic and decorative arts located at the Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark in Brussels, Belgium. The museum is one of the constituent parts of the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH) and is one of the largest art museums in Europe. It was formerly called the Cinquantenaire Museum until 2018. It is served by the metro stations Schuman and Merode on lines 1 and 5.
Danny Matthys is a Flemish - Belgian visual artist, which was originally known as conceptual artist of international reputation. In the beginning of his career in the 1960s, he was a pioneer in Polaroid art and Video art.
Adelbert Van de Walle (1922–2006) was a Flemish-Belgian architect, art historian and professor in the History of Art and Archaeology at the University of Ghent (UGent).
Catherine de Zegher is a Belgian curator and a modern and contemporary art historian. She has a degree in art history and archaeology from the University of Ghent.
The Ghent City Museum is a museum in the Belgian city of Ghent. The museum exposes the city history and opened its doors on 9 October 2010. With respect to the collection that is shown, the history of this museum goes back to 1833, the year in which the Oudheidkundig Museum van de Bijloke in Ghent was founded. In 1928 the museum was situated in the Bijloke abbey - this led to the name Bijlokemuseum.
The Art Deco Museum is a museum in Moscow, Russia which opened in 2014.
The Art Nouveau movement of architecture and design first appeared in Brussels, Belgium, in the early 1890s, and quickly spread to France and to the rest of Europe. It began as a reaction against the formal vocabulary of European academic art, eclecticism and historicism of the 19th century, and was based upon an innovative use of new materials, such as iron and glass, to open larger interior spaces and provide maximum light; curving lines such as the whiplash line; and other designs inspired by plants and other natural forms.
Geo (Georges) Verbanck was a Belgian sculptor and medalist.
The Art Deco movement of architecture and design appeared in Paris in about 1910–12, and continued until the beginning of World War II in 1939. It took its name from the International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held in Paris in 1925. It was characterized by bold geometric forms, bright colors, and highly stylized decoration, and it symbolized modernity and luxury. Art Deco architecture, sculpture, and decoration reached its peak at 1939 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, and in movie theaters, department stores, other public buildings. It also featured in the work of Paris jewelers, graphic artists, furniture craftsmen, and jewelers, and glass and metal design. Many Art Deco landmarks, including the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Palais de Chaillot, can be seen today in Paris.
Pieter De Bruyne was a Flemish artist, designer and interior architect.
The Berardo - Art Deco Museum (B-MAD) is an Art Deco museum in Lisbon, capital of Portugal, that also displays Art Nouveau pieces that contribute to the understanding of Art Deco. It is an initiative of the Associação de Colecções, established by the Portuguese businessman, Joe Berardo. The museum opened to the public on 24 April 2021.