Peter Behrens is considered one of the most significant architects and designers of the early twentieth century. He had a prominent role in shaping German architecture, industrial, and graphic design in the Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) style and International Style, both through his own work as well as through his mentorship of Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Behrens studied painting in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, and Karlsruhe before moving in 1890 to Munich, where he worked as a graphic designer and painter. Behrens exhibited his designs in Berlin and Munich, and their success earned him an invitation to join the artists’ colony founded at Darmstadt in 1899 by Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse.

 

The Darmstadt colony’s ethos was that life and art were intertwined. The colony initially comprised a workshop, exhibition hall, and seven houses. The houses were mostly designed by the architect Joseph Maria Olbrich, except for Behrens’s own home, which he designed himself. As his first architectural project, it is recognized as a turning point in his career due to its structure and Gesamptkunstwerk (total work of art) interior. The dining room was particularly celebrated for its Jugendstil style. In many respects, it served as a model for Behrens’s dining room submission to the exhibition Austellung für Moderne Wohnung Kunst (Exhibition of Modern Apartment Art), held at the Wertheim department store in Berlin in 1902.

                                                                                                                                          

The Wertheim exhibition aimed to show current trends in modern living through specific rooms designed by eleven notable architects, artists, and designers, including August Endell, Richard Riemerschmid, Hugh Baillie Scott, Paul Ludwig Troost, and Behrens. All of the objects and furnishings were for sale. As with the dining room in his Darmstadt home, Behrens’s contribution was a Gesamkunstwerk that included a carpet, ceramics, furniture, glassware, lighting, linens, metalwork, patterned walls and ceiling, and works of art (fig. 6.1). Each form reflected an overall design program of abstract ornament and interlocking geometric forms, specifically squares and rectangles.

 

The geometry of the Dining Chair can be seen in the pierced crest rail, the back splat, and the woven seat. The design featured two distinctive elements: an arched back with curved side rails and tapered legs that recall Behrens’s Darmstadt dining chairs, albeit in a more linear form. Eight of these dining chairs are pictured in the room, with four at the table, two flanking the sideboard, and two along a wall. The furniture was sold five times according to an account relayed by Alfred Lichtwark, then director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle, who visited the exhibition.¹ The furniture set was shown again in 1908, indicating that more than five sets were made during the period.² Extant examples can be found in major American and European museums and private collections. Approximately twenty-five chairs are known today. —Cindi Strauss