The chair shown here was designed by Peter Behrens in 1902 for the sales exhibition 'Moderne Wohnungs-Kunst' at the Wertheim department store in Berlin. The Wertheim brothers knew how to exploit the ‘publicity value of well-known artists’: each room for the exhibition was designed by one of eleven artists, which included August Endell, Richard Riemerschmid, and Ludwig Paul Troost alongside Behrens.
In his chair for the Wertheim dining room, Behrens chose to accentuate the broad boards of the apron and the crest of the backrest as horizontal rectangles. In the upper segment of the backrest is a slot, also rectangular, with which one can lift the heavy oak piece. This linear structure made of parallel strips repeats not only in the double stretchers between the chair legs, but also in other elements in the dining room.
The Wertheim dining room is thus an early example of his use of a basic pattern to create a harmonious total plan – a method that influenced the development of his architecture in subsequent years. Another convincing aspect was that his furniture was suitable for industrial production, even if this furniture ensemble was never mass-produced. Contemporaries reported that the dining room was purchased five times.
Behrens’ style is regarded as a forerunner of the Bauhaus movement. The fact that the furniture was introduced in a department store rather than in a classical applied arts exhibition, was likewise trendsetting.
Text: Tilo Richter
