Side Chair
Design Date 1902
Designer Peter Behrens (1868–1940, German)
Manufacturer Anton Blüggel, Berlin, Germany
Media black-stained oak frame with cane seat
Dimensions 39 x 17 3/4 x 21 1/4 inches
Peter Behrens was one of Germany’s most important architects and designers. He was a painter, an architect, an industrial designer and graphic designer. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius all worked for Behrens at the beginning of their careers around 1910. This chair was designed for an exhibition of “modern interiors” at the Wertheim Department Store in Berlin in 1902. Wertheim department store was one of the first to expose the public to modern design in Germany. Everything in Behrens’ dining room in the exhibition had a linear Art Nouveau aesthetic, like this chair’s cut outs and rectangular accents on the seat back. A year after this chair was designed Behrens became director of the arts and crafts school in Düsseldorf.
ON VIEW in Arts & Crafts Gallery 3
Markings unmarked
Credit Line Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
Accession Number 2006.1312
