Coming next year at the Cinquantenaire Museum : a full-scale ‘Henry van de Velde’ retrospective
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Henry van de Velde, a retrospective of his works will be mounted in the autumn of next year at the Cinquantenaire Museum in Brussels.
The exhibition Henry van de Velde – Passion, Function and Beauty will be a chronological survey of the life and work of this multi-facetted 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. Numerous other activities to do with Van de Velde and organized by other bodies will be taking place in the margins of this retrospective.
Van de Velde (1863-1957) was trained as painter, but developed further as an architect, interior designer, designer, teacher and artistic adviser. He left an impressive oeuvre and built up an international career, boasting a great number of creations in Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands and France. Among his best-known buildings are the villa Bloemenwerf in Ukkel, various Art Nouveau residences in Weimar, the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo and the modernist Boekentoren of the University of Ghent. He was one of the originators of the school of art that gave rise to the Bauhaus and founded the Ter Kameren school of art in Brussels. In his furniture, silverware, porcelain, jewellery, book bindings and other creations, he proved able, as no other, to combine practical utility with elegant sturdiness, thereby gaining international renown.
Henry van de Velde – Passion Function and Beauty
13 September 2013 – 12 January 2014
Cinquantenaire Museum
Jubelpark 10
B-1000 Brussels
www.mrah.be – info@mrah.be
Curators
Dr. Thomas Föhl, Head Curator
Sabine Walter, Curator (Weimar)
Prof. Dr. Werner Adriaenssens, Curator (Brussels)
Co-ordination
Karin Theunis, Head, Temporary Exhibitions
Further information for journalists
Bart Suys, Head of Communication
+32 (0)2 741 73 00 – b.suys@mrah.be
