Richard Riemerschmid is regarded as one of the greatest German designers of the twentieth century. Trained as a painter and architect, he became known for the inventiveness and versatility exhibited in his designs for metalwork, furniture, glass, ceramics, textiles, and interior decoration. Riemerschmid designed his first piece of furniture in 1895, about two years before he cofounded the Vereinigte Werkstätten für Kunst im Handwerk (United Workshops for Art in Handcrafts) in Munich. The group was known for producing individual pieces by in the Arts and Crafts and Jugendstil (the German expression of Art Nouveau) styles. Riemerschmid’s first forays into furniture design were also greatly influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement, with an emphasis on a clarity of construction and simple, functional forms. His later designs followed the German view that good work did not have to be anti-technology and were largely designed and produced with industry. In addition to the Vereinigte, Riemerschmid also cofounded the Deutscher Werkbund (German Association of Craftsmen) in 1907 and became director of the Munich Kunstgewerberschule (School of Applied Arts) in 1913. These associations allowed him to remain a principal figure in German design of the period.

In 1898 Riemerschmid received an opportunity to design a complete room for the following year’s Deutsche Kunst-Austellung exhibition in Dresden. Riemerschmid designed the complete furnishings for the music room (except for the piano), including two different chairs. Both chairs had been originally commissioned from the Vereinigte Werkstätten by the royal Bavarian court piano factory J. Mayer & Co., which wanted to install its modern piano in a room at the Dresden exhibition. Riemerschmid designed this chair as a musician’s seat. Its diagonal, sloping side braces provide structure as well as a sense of movement. In addition, the functionality of the design ensures that the braces do not interfere with a musician’s arms while playing. A review in the 1899 Dekorative Kunst journal singled out the chair’s design by praising Riemerschmid’s “original ideas of construction which, in his hands, become lines of decoration.”¹ Indeed, the gentle curves of the seat rails and sweep of the side braces speak to the linearity of the German Art Nouveau style. The music room was received with great acclaim, and the following year, at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, Riemerschmid participated in another complete interior, “Room of an Art Lover,” which again featured the chair. This design for the music-room chair was such a public success that it established the reputation of Riemerschmid as a designer of furniture.

Riemerschmid’s designs for private commissions, like this chair, were mostly made in the Vereinigte Werkstätten by master craftsmen such as Wenzell Till and Johann Zugschwert.² However, the chair proved so popular that the Vereinigte Werkstätten put it into production. After 1900, a slightly altered version of the chair, as well as one with chamfered legs, was produced by Liberty & Co. in London. Liberty had purchased a number of chairs about 1900 for use in its stores. They remained in use until the 1950s, proving that their functionality and simplicity of line continued to resonate a half-century beyond their creation. In fact, Riemerschmid became an influential figure in the development of Modernism. —Christine Gervais