Henry Van de Velde

(1863-1957)
Belgian designer and architect

Van de Velde is the most international artist of the Art

Nouveau movement and one of the major. Born in
antwerpen, he started as a painter influenced by
divisionnism. He built his first house for himself in
Brussels ("Bloemenwerf"). He designed every detail :
when I visited it in the early 1990ies, I could still see
the heater in an original Van de Velde Art Nouveau
style. As he never studied architecture and he was
paying for his house, he could feel free from the old
styles more than other architects. He gain a large
succes in Berlin from 1900 for he interior designs.
And then he was one of the founders of the decorative arts shool of Weimar in 1902. This school was
later called the "Bauhaus" when it was directed by Gropius. In 1910-11, he tried to establish in Paris
with no success. He left Weimar in 1917 for Swidzerland during 2 years and then 6 years in Holland
but without any architectural success. In the 1920ies his architecture turn to functionalism and had a lot
of influence on other mosern architects. He got an other period of success from 1926 when he returned
to Brussels. He spent his last ten years in Switzerland, far from the spotlights.

His Art Nouveau designs, always bent with dynamic curves, are
some of the most typical of the period. They often turn to
abstraction like in the placard for the Tropon firm or the book
cover for "Ecce Homo" by Nietzche.

His Art Nouveau furniture often opposed these dynamic lines with
massive shapes so as his buildings. He was reproached to build his
buildings like furniture. Nevertheless, Henry Van de Velde is one
of the Art Nouveau architects who makes most the shapes give an
emotion.

Main buildings

• Bloemenwerf in Brussels in 1895

• Folkwang Museum in Hagen in 1901
• Werkbund Theatre in Koln - 1914
• Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller at Otterloo
(Netherlands) - 1936-38