Tags
Architecture, Art Nouveau, Bloemenwerf, Brussels, Design, Fabric, Furniture, Henry van de Velde, Japonism, Jewellery, Jugendstil, Museum, Paul Hankar, Victor Horta
In April, I wrote about 2013 being the 150th birth year of Henry van de Velde and I listed the activities taking place in Europe to celebrate this great artists work. My post was a retrospective of the life of Van de Velde, so I am not going to write the whole story again. If you like, you can read my previous post here. However, as I finally got the chance to visit the main exhibition “Passion – Function – Beauty” in Brussels yesterday, I am excited to share my pictures with you today!
Cinquantenaire Museum at Jubelpark, Brussels
“To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Henry van de Velde, the exhibition Passion – Function – Beauty will be a chronological survey of the life and work of this multifaceted artist, based on a never previously seen assembly of works of art and a multitude of documents, including photographs and letters. It is being set up by the Royal Museums of Art and History in co-operation with the Klassik Stiftung Weimar and will be held from 13 September 2013 to 12 January 2014 at the Cinquantenaire Museum in Brussels, following a previous showing in the spring of 2013 at the Neues Museum Weimar.”
Furniture, model Bloemenwerf
What struck me the most at the exhibition, was the fact that also Van de Velde was visibly influenced by Japanese art. The furniture he designed for his house Bloemenwerf clearly shows a Japanese influence. Also pictures of his wife at Bloemenwerf proof that he loved Japanese art: there are Japanese woodblock prints in the background.
I absolutely loved the Japanese style mahogany picture frames! They were made in 1896-1897 by Société Van de Velde, the company that produced the items Henry van de Velde designed.
Frame by Henry van de Velde; Woodblock print by Kitagawa Utamaro
But there were many other items on display, also by Van de Velde’s contemporaries. So if you love Art Nouveau, you really need to visit this exhibition in Brussels while it lasts. There are only 6 weeks left!
Cinquantenaire Museum in Brussels
Fri 13-09-2013 – Sun 12-01-2014
Entrance fees: € 10.00 (26-64 yr), € 7.00 (65+ and groups), € 4.00 (6-25 yr)
Source
Audio guide to the exhibition in Weimar
Cinquantenaire Museum
Cobra.be
Henry van de Velde.com
Lannoo Publishers
Online Galerij
You can buy the book about the exhibition online, in English, Dutch or French at Bol.com
Some more videos
Ausstellung im Neuen Museum Weimar
Bauhausuniversität Weimar ehrt Universal-Künstler
Curator W. Adriaenssens in ‘De zevende dag’
Henry Van de Velde: allesontwerper
Podcast about Henry van de Velde
Spanish Video
Thueringer Allgemeine
Villa Bloemenwerf is for sale!
About Art Nouveau 
Thanks for calling my attention to this exhibition. I’ve decided just now to go and see it!
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I am very happy to hear that I could be of help! Will you let me know what you liked most?
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I hope I can keep this in mind until then 🙂 But I’m sure I’ll do a post about it on my blog.
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Very good that you were able to make pictures. I was at the Weimar expo and it was stricktly forbidden there….
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Well Jalf, I was rather confused about it at first. The website of the museum says: Geen foto met flash of statief (No photo with flash or tripod). One of the men that checked my ticket at the entrance came running after me, barking “you are not allowed to take ANY pictures! It’s on the website!” However once inside, I saw many people taking pictures, also right in front of the museum guides, so I just decided to take my chances. I didn’t use flash nor tripod; that is why they are of poor quality. But at least now others get a chance to see what’s on display… The reason why we are not allowed to take good quality pictures at museums is because they want to sell the postcards and the books. And we bought the book, so I don’t think I did anything wrong…
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