Design Museum Ghent
| Data | |
|---|---|
| place | Ghent 
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| Art |
Design museum
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| opening | 1903 |
| management |
Katrien Laporte
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| Website | |
The Design Museum Gent (spelling Design Museum Gent ) is the only Belgian museum that has an international design collection. The museum in the center of Ghent consists of an 18th century mansion and a modern extension. The museum has an extensive and authoritative Belgian collection as well as international masterpieces. The spectrum of the Belgian collection ranges from Art Nouveau by Henry van de Velde to today's avant-garde .
history
The museum has its origins in the private initiative of a group of industrialists and art lovers who united in 1903 in the art association “Union des Arts Industriels et Décoratifs” and founded a “Musée des Modèles”. The collection originally consisted of a few hundreds of exquisite furniture, which was supplemented with extensive sub-collections of ceramics, copper and bronze, pieces of furniture and a large collection of textiles. These objects were housed in the Ghent City Academy on Sint-Margrietstrasse.
Because of purchases in various pavilions at the Ghent World Exhibition in 1913 and an expansion of the collection with Art Nouveau, Asian objects, textiles and French Art Deco , new accommodation was sought. The museum opened in 1922 in the Hotel de Coninck, the eighteenth-century city residence of the family of the same name on Jan Breydelstrasse. Both the permanent collection and special exhibitions could be shown in the old hotel. In 1958 the museum was taken over by the city of Ghent, which closed the museum for restoration work between 1958 and 1973. After the reopening, an expansion plan was worked on, which led to the opening of a new wing in 1992, which houses a selection of objects from the collection of modern and contemporary design and the changing special exhibitions on two floors. In the central room of the new building there is a mobile platform that can be adjusted in height or depth with the help of a hydraulic gear and in this way the room layout can be adjusted as required.
collection
The collection has changed over the years. Modern and contemporary styles from 1860 to today complemented the applied art of the 17th and 18th centuries. Century. The objects that were made before 1860 lay the foundation for today's modern design. The “Design Museum Gent” defines design in a broader sense. When selecting the collection, design products should meet a number of special criteria: They should be contemporary, innovative (in form, function, material or manufacturing technology), ergonomic , sustainable and aesthetically relevant. Both unique items and entire series are selected according to this pattern. The new collections and exhibitions focus mainly on design from the 20th century and today.
Expansion of the collection
In the first phase from 1903 to 1930, the museum had a collection and a library that together form a “Musée des Modèles”. This offered a variety of furniture from the period 1600–1800 and some partial collections with Art Nouveau, textile or French Art Deco objects and Asian objects. Only a few objects were added in the period from 1930 to 1974 because the museum was closed between 1958 and 1973. Between 1974 and 2013, the international design collection was expanded to include various acquisitions and donations. From 1977 the curator (later director) acquired Lieven Daenen's Belgian Art Nouveau collections from Henry van de Velde , Victor Horta and Paul Hankar . In 1987 the interior and furniture designer Pieter De Bruyne bequeathed his archive as well as his extensive library and various furniture to the museum. In the same year the collector NF Havermans bequeathed his extensive collection of Art Nouveau and Art Deco glass , ceramics and silver to the museum . The collection was expanded from 1980 to 2000 to include works by national and international designers, including the radical Italian design of the designer collective Alchimia and Memphis (including Alessandro Mendini and Ettore Sottsass ). Since 2013, the new director Katrien Laporte has been relying on a considerable addition and expansion of the Belgian design collection (objects from 1970).
Profile of the collection
Since 1975 the collection has grown to around 200,000 objects. It encompasses applied art and design from 1450 to today and is very diverse regionally, nationally and internationally. However, the collection is consistent in itself, it is the only one in Belgium that shows a coherent picture of leading design since Art Nouveau. It also houses some special design classics of national and international design. The separate historical sub-collection (1450–1900) in the manor house shows a considerable range of furniture from the 18th century. The proto-design collection from 1860 onwards is the transition to the modern design collection in the extension of the building, which largely comprises Western European design with a focus on Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Scandinavia and Italy. The collection focuses in particular on the design of interiors, from private apartments to offices.
- The Protodesign : The museum has a small collection of objects designed by Christopher Dresser . The furniture of the Viennese furniture companies Thonet and Kohn are regarded as pioneers of modern design.
- Art Nouveau : The Design Museum is internationally recognized for its Belgian Art Nouveau collection, which includes objects by Victor Horta , Henry van de Velde and Alfred William Finch .
- Art Deco : In addition to French glassware, for example by Maurice Marinot and copper vases, ceramic vases and tableware, among others by Georg Jensen , are on display. The Art Deco collection also includes the furniture collection of the Ghent architect Albert Van Huffel , who also designed the famous National Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels, and the “Gioconda” coffee service that Philippe Wolfers presented in 1925 on the occasion of the Paris exhibition “ Exposition internationale des Arts Décoratifs et industriels modern ”designed.
- Modernism : This design direction is represented, for example, by Le Corbusier , Alvar Aalto , Marcel Breuer , Poul Henningsen and Wilhelm Wagenfeld or lesser-known Flemish design architects.
- Organic Design : The collection contains a selection of works of modern design from 1945 to 1965, with furniture by Belgian, American or Scandinavian designers such as Florence Knoll , Arne Jacobsen , Hans Wegner or Verner Panton . The Netherlands and Scandinavia are represented with objects from “Leerdam Glasfabrieken” ( Andries Dirk Copier ), Orrefors ( Sven Palmqvist ), Venini and Iittala ( Tapio Wirkkala ). Designs by Henning Koppel (Georg Jensen), Carlo Scarpa ( Cleto Munari ) and Lino Sabbatini (Christofle) can be seen as silverware. Objects from the Tupperware company are also exhibited.
- Antidesign : The museum owns an extensive collection of the Italian antidesign collectives Studio Alchimia and Memphis with Ettore Sottsass , Alessandro Mendini , Michele de Lucchi and Matteo Thun .
- Postmodernism : The first postmodern piece of furniture, the Chantilly cupboard from 1975 based on a design by Pieter De Bruyne . Further works are by Michael Graves , Bořek Šípek , Richard Meier , Hans Hollein and Aldo Rossi .
- International design : works by designers such as Hella Jongerius , Peter Opsvik , Marc Newson , Philippe Starck and Marcel Wanders .
- Contemporary Belgian design : The “Design Museum Ghent” houses a large selection of works by contemporary Belgian designers. Including ceramic and glass objects as well as silver cutlery by Nedda El-Asmar, among others . In addition to suitcases by Samsonite and Hedgren and Kipling, the exhibition also features works by young Belgian artists.
Exhibitions
2010
- Richard Hutten
- The Scandinavian Touch in Belgian Furniture - 1951–1966
- Transit Cases - Stoelen uit Mexico
- De best verzorgde boeken - Plantin Moretusprijs 2010
- The silence cracks from thee
- Piet (er) Stockmans - Een meesterlijk dilemma. Design in porselein
- Super normal - sensations of the ordinary
- Nilton Cunha - Good Luck!
- De stoel .03 van Maarten Van Severen - De geboorte van een designicoon
- Art nouveau en art deco uit Nederland - A selectie uit de collecties van het Drents Museum in Assen
2011
- Fantasy design
- L'Objet Sublime - Franse ceramiek 1875–1945
- De Best Vormgegeven Boeken 2011
- Esprit Porcelaine - Hedendaags porselein uit Limoges
- The essence of things - Design en de Kunst van het Vereenvoudigen
- Johanna Dahm - Wrestling
- Kaj Franck - Fins designicoon
- Coca-Cola : 125 jaar design
2012
- Dirk Wynants - Design Works?
- Eeuwige lente - Barbara Nanning
- Tafelgesprekken - Tussen Sofie Lachaert en Sergio Herman
- De Best Vormgegeven Boeken 2012
- Pieter De Bruyne (1931–1987) - pioneer of het postmoderne
- Destrøy / Design - A selectie uit de collectie van Frac Nord-Pas de Calais
- Shiro Kuramata (1934–1991) - Japanese revolutionary designer
- Schoonhoven Silver Award 2012
2013
- DESIGN
- Architects in silver
- Peter De Greef (1901–1985)
- Peter Behrens (1868-1940)
2014
- Linked: de collectie networks
- Seguso Vetri d'Arte (1932–1973)
- Brilliant by design
- Dyson design
- Finn Juhl, een Deens designicoon
- No design to waste
2015
- Plastic natuurlijk
- Lightopia
- Provinciale Prijs voor Vormgeving 2014
- Van Vlinders en Mieren
- Natuurlijk, Jong!
- De Invasie toont
- Sanny Winters - Gent Xtra Bold
- 7 cool architects
- Maarten Van Severen & Co. Over ontwerpers, kunstenaars & makers
- Design Derby BE / NL 1815–2015
