Henry van de Velde
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Henry Van de Velde (3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect and interior designer. Together with Victor Horta he can be considered one of the main founders and representatives of Art Nouveau in Belgium.
Van de Velde studied painting in Antwerp, painting in neo-impressionist style; in 1889 he became a member of the Brussels-based artist group "Les XX".
From 1892, he abandoned painting and devoted himself to decoration and interior design. His own house, Bloemenwerf in Uccle, was his first attempt at architecture, and was inspired by the English arts and crafts movement. He also designed interiors and furniture for the influential art gallery "L'Art Nouveau" of Samuel Bing in Paris in 1895. This gave the movement its first designation as 'Art Nouveau'. The same style was also associated with Jugendstil in Vienna and Stil Liberty in Italy.
Van de Velde's design work received good exposure in Germany, through periodicals like Innen-Dekoration, and subsequently he received commissions for interior designs in Berlin. Around the turn of the century, he also designed Villa Leuring in the Netherlands, and Villa Esche in Chemnitz, two works that show his Art Nouveau style in architecture. He also designed the interior of the Folkwang Museum in Hagen (today the building houses the Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum. In 1905 he was called upon by the Garnd Duke of Weimar to establish the Grand-Ducal School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar, the predecessor of the Bauhausschool which would replace the School of Arts and Crafts after World War I, under the new director Walter Gropius.
Van de Velde, although a Belgian, would play an important role in the German Werkbund, the association founded to help improve and promote German design by establishing close relations between industry and designers. He would oppose Hermann Muthesius at the Werkbund meeting of 1914 and their debate would mark the history of Modern Architecture. Van de Velde called for the upholding of the individuality of artists while Muthesius called for standardization as a key to development.
During World War I, van de Velde left Weimar back to Belgium. He was later instrumental in founding another school, La Cambre in Brussels. He continued his practice in architecture and design, which had significantly demarcated itself from the Art Nouveau phase, which lost all its popularity by 1910.
During World War I, he lived in Switzerland and in the Netherlands, where he designed the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo. From 1926 to 1936, Van de Velde was professor at Ghent University, where he became the architect of the university library (the so-called Boekentoren or Book Tower).
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