Rheinische Glashütten-Actien-Gesellschaft

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Trademark Rheinische Glashütten AG.jpg

The Rheinische Glashütten AG (formerly Rheinische Glashütten-Actien-Gesellschaft in Ehrenfeld near Cöln ) was one of the most important glassworks in the Rhineland from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. The glassworks historicism and art nouveau glasses have been awarded numerous prizes and medals at international and national arts and crafts exhibitions and world exhibitions . Designers such as Peter Behrens , Joseph Maria Olbrich and Koloman Moser worked for Rheinische Glashütten AG .

history

Ehrenfeld glassworks 1892

Glass production was founded in Ehrenfeld at Venloer Strasse No. 356 in April 1864 by Philipp Michel. Together with glassblowers from Bohemia , he founded the Cologne Glassworks Philipp Michel in Hüttenstrasse 1–3, in the immediate vicinity of the Ehrenfeld train station, which he sold to Ernst Leybold and Julius von Holleben at the end of 1865 with economic success . The purchase agreement stipulated that Michel would leave the trade secrets to the buyers and that he undertook not to open his own glassworks. The glassworks had had its own company health insurance fund since 1864 .

On January 10, 1866, the Julius von Holleben & Co. company was converted into a general partnership . As early as June 1, 1867, the company was expanded to include the Elberfeld businessman Oskar Rauter , who subsequently took over management of the company together with von Holleben.

From 1870 onwards, von Holleben could no longer take over the management of the glassworks during the Franco-German War , and the company was dissolved. Oskar Rauter temporarily takes over the business of the now founded company Rauter & Co. , Which is transferred to the Rheinische Glashütten-Actiengesellschaft Ehrenfeld near Cöln on July 1, 1872 . At that time there were 308 employees working in the glassworks.

The following main shareholders of the newly founded corporation could be won: the Rheinische Baugesellschaft, the banking house JH Stein , trading company Leybold and building officer Julius Raschdorf.

Extensive investment activities in more modern systems started immediately . The economic upswing of the Gründerzeit was abruptly ended in May 1873 by the founder crash . Overcapacities , which could no longer be sold on the market due to the start-up crisis , led to a partial shutdown of the new production facilities in 1874.

The expansion of the sales markets for utility and table glass and the revival of construction activity helped the glassworks to regain its boom in the early 1880s. For the production of pressed glass and the mass production of hollow glasses , a Siemens gas-fired regenerative furnace was built in 1883/84 , so that 45% of the coal could be saved. For cost reasons, the furnace was switched from hard coal to Rhenish lignite in 1903 .

At the end of the 19th century, the Rheinische Glashütte mainly produced smooth, cut, etched and engraved crystal glasses as well as inexpensive, partly colored pressed glass for mass consumption. In 1888, Rauter succeeded in producing marketable gold ruby ​​glass . After managing the company's fortunes for more than 30 years, Oskar Rauter left the company in 1898. His successor Eduard von Kraliks was only able to build on the economic success of the glassworks under the management of Rauter to a lesser extent. Under his direction, artistically sophisticated Art Nouveau glasses were manufactured in Ehrenfeld, such as the glass series designed by Peter Behrens for his house in the Mathildenhöhe artists' colony in Darmstadt , which were less economically successful than Rauter's historicism glasses, but are now highly valued in terms of art history.

From 1900 a flat glass works for the production of flat glass for the construction industry was put into operation in addition to the hollow glass factory. First, the molten glass was poured onto engraved steel plates for the production of ornamented glass ; from 1910 the much more flexible and cheaper engraved rollers were used. In 1907 there were 46 ports in the Ehrenfeld plant , 14 of which were open ports . By improving the technology of the glass melting furnace , night work could be dispensed with in Ehrenfeld from 1914 . At the beginning of the 20th century, 3 to 4 glass furnaces were in operation in Ehrenfeld at the same time.

In 1913 there were three glassworks in operation in Ehrenfeld. The company employed 265 glassmakers, 120 cutters and engravers and 200 craftsmen. In addition to the crystal and hollow glass works, a second production facility produced bulk goods and pressed glass. In the first decade of the 20th century, the production of flat glass proved to be dependent on the economic situation, so that the company specialized in cathedral glass and clear glass and high-quality decorative glass was produced in the ornamental glassworks. The Rheinische Glashütten also included a large engraving company, an etching shop and a steam grinding shop.

  • Announcement of the company foundation (1872)

  • Glashütte, 1872

  • Etched mark of the glassworks on a punch bowl

  • Advertisement by Rheinische Glashütten AG (1905)

  • Company advertisement (1907)

Before the First World War, the goods of the glassworks raging found sales , the products were most exported and was erected their own showrooms in prestigious business situations, for example in Cologne Breite Straße 83. On the premises were showrooms and sample rooms decorated where customers the products of the company were presented.

The First World War, the economic consequences of the Allied occupation of the Rhineland , hyperinflation and increasing national and international competition led to an economic decline in the course of the 1920s. In August 1928, operations in the glassworks ceased. On November 8, 1929, Louis Bukowski, who had headed the glassworks since the beginning of the 20th century, left the company. The Cologne merchant and sand pit owner Heinrich Wolf tried to revive production. In 1930, glass production began again, initially with 25 workers, and Wolf invested again in new glass furnaces. He was able to increase the workforce to 200 workers in a short time. The upswing was short-lived, however. On December 31, 1937, the company was finally dissolved. The sale of the conveniently located properties on Subbelrather Straße, Ehrenfeldgürtel and Glasstraße to the city ​​of Cologne immediately begins . The company was removed from the commercial register on October 2, 1944.

The last buildings on Subbelrather Strasse were demolished after the Second World War .

Company products

Sample sheet of the Rheinische Glashütte (1888)
Drinking glass series with ruby ​​red feet , designed by Peter Behrens , 1900/01

By the end of the 19th century, Oskar Rauter was to have a significant influence on the company's product range. In the first few years, the production of the glassworks concentrated on the production of industrial and pressed glass in large numbers. At the end of the 1870s to the beginning of the 1880s, attempts were made to analyze old glass techniques, to improve them and to adapt them to modern production conditions. An attempt was made to produce glassware using the method of A. de la Bastie for the manufacture of hard glass . The glasses made with this process were only sold for a few years.

In the 1880s, Oskar Rauter concentrated on designing glass series based on traditional models. On study trips through the arts and crafts museums in Europe, he made sketches of historical models, preferably of Roman , Venetian and old German glassware. His designs were partly replicas , partly reinterpretations of the "blooming periods of earlier times, namely the Roman, Venetian and old German glass styles". As early as 1881 he presented 200 Roman designs , beakers, tankards and goblets as well as the first complete series of glasses. At the Düsseldorf trade exhibition in 1880, the Rheinische Glashütte Ehrenfeld wins the Great Silver Medal with its glass collection. The German imperial family was also one of the customers of the glassworks . On the occasion of Prince Wilhelm II's wedding in the Ehrenfeld glassworks, the German cities had a crystal glass set made as a wedding gift.

Rheinische Glashütten AG mainly supplied bourgeois households with high-quality glassware. In the 1880s, however, the glasses were also exported across Europe. Oskar Rauter preferred simple shaped glasses, from 1893 also diamond-engraved glasses. In contrast to the enamelled glasses that were widespread at that time, only a few designs by the Rheinische Glashütte are known that were designed in color. In his designs, Rauter resorted to the traditional coloring of forest glass and used various shades of green to color the entire glasses or, alternatively, the stems or the cup . At first the glasses were colored antique green, moss green, apple green, yellow green, olive green, sea green, from 1886 also fir green and blue green. Rauter's attention to detail in relation to traditional glass production was also expressed in the refusal to have the demolition of the staple iron ground on the bottom of the glasses. The demolition was only ground after criticism from customers.

Some glass objects and pressed glasses are also colored, mostly opaque . In the 1880s, Oskar Rauter succeeded in analyzing and further developing the process for the production of solid-colored gold ruby ​​glass , which attracted great attention at the arts and crafts exhibition in Munich in 1888, because in the German Empire, in addition to the Ehrenfeld glassworks, only the Josephinenhütte in Schreiberhau (Silesia) in was able to produce hollow glasses from gold ruby ​​glass. On the initiative of Director Rauters, the arts and crafts museum, founded in Cologne on July 16, 1888, showed a retrospective of the products of the Rheinische Glashütte Ehrenfeld just two months after its opening . A special attraction was the exhibition of a large number of ruby ​​glasses from the Cologne glassworks.

In 1898 Oskar Rauter handed over the management of the company to his colleague Eduard von Kralik, who realigned the company and the product range. However, due to their popularity, some of Oskar Rauter's designs continued to be produced until 1910. Glass forms by Oskar Reuter are preserved today in the Cologne City Museum . The designs of the Rheinische Glashütte received gold medals at the world exhibitions in Antwerp (1885), Chicago (1887) and Paris (1900), and the gold exhibition and state medal at the industrial and commercial exhibition in Düsseldorf.

Von Kralik offered freelance workers and artists such as Peter Behrens or Erich Kleinhempel the opportunity to realize their designs in Ehrenfeld. With the collaboration of these artists, Rheinische Glashütte AG became one of the leading Art Nouveau glassworks in the German Empire.

In 1900/01 Peter Behrens designed a series of drinking glasses for his house in Darmstadt - Mathildenhöhe with a shaft made of ruby ​​glass with an attached colorless cup. In 1904, the Behrens design as the modern Aegir crystal drinking set began to be produced in small series in Ehrenfeld .

But von Kralik also designed glasses and glass services for the glassworks, such as the Excelsior dinner service. Well-known designs at the beginning of the 20th century include Moritz Wentzel's wedding service and a glass series by Erich Kleinhempel from 1906, which are twisted into the handles is marked.

  • "Wilhelm" series (1888)

  • Gold ruby ​​glass (late 19th century)

  • Bowling glass (late 19th century)

  • Drinking glass with colored overlay (around 1902)

  • Liqueur glass (around 1905)

  • Liqueur glass (around 1905)

Today's meaning

“Design in Germany” stamp pad with a motif from Peter Behrens' glass series
Memorial plaque at the Ehrenfeldgürtel post office

Numerous arts and crafts museums around the world exhibit exhibits that were produced in the Rheinische Glashütte AG Ehrenfeld, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the Museum of Applied Arts Cologne , the Museum of Art and Crafts Hamburg , the Corning Museum of Glass or the Bröhan Museum .

Some glass objects, such as those by Peter Behrens, fetch several thousand euros per object at art auctions today.

In 1998, the Deutsche Bundespost published the postage stamp pad Design in Germany , on which, in addition to the Wagenfeld lamp , the Wassily chair No. B 3 by Marcel Breuer and the tea extract jug by Marianne Brandt, also the glass series with the ruby ​​red feet by Peter Behrens was depicted.

In May 2014 , a memorial plaque was installed at the location of the former glassworks on the Ehrenfeldgürtel, near the Ehrenfeld train station , which also commemorates the former director of the glassworks, Oskar Rauter .

literature

  • Werner Schäfke : Ehrenfeld Glass of Historicism - The Prize Courants of the Rheinische Glashütten-Actien-Gesellschaft in Ehrenfeld near Cöln. Department for art products. 1881 and 1886, addenda 1888 and 1893 , Walther König Köln 1979, ISBN 3-88375-005-0 , 203 pp.
  • Arthur Pabst: The Rheinische Glashütte Köln-Ehrenfeld , Kunstgewerbeblatt NF, 1892, pp. 125–132
  • Christian Eckert : Rheinische Glashütten-Aktiengesellschaft Cologne Ehrenfeld 1872-1922. Commemorative sheets for the 50th anniversary of the stock corporation . Cologne 1922
  • Bruno Kuske : The economic development of the glass industry in the Rhineland since ancient times . Glass technical reports 4, 1926/27, pp. 249-260.
  • Barbara Mundt: Historicism - arts and crafts and industry in the age of world exhibitions . Catalogs of the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, Volume VII, State Museums of Prussian Cultural Heritage
  • Werner Neite: The Ehrenfeld glassmakers and their "artifacts" . Bull. Of the museums of the city of Cologne, 9, Cologne 1970, p. 830ff.
  • Gerhard Wilcek: Ehrenfeld then and now , Cologne 1967
  • World Exhibition in Paris 1900. Official catalog of the German Empire.
  • Catalog of the trade and art exhibition in Düsseldorf in 1880 and 1881

Web links

Commons : Ehrenfelder Glas  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kurt Düwell, Klaus Goebel, Eduard Hegel: Rhenish history in three volumes, Volume 3, economy and culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. Volume III, Schwann Düsseldorf 1979, ISBN 978-3-5903-4203-3 , p. 100
  2. ↑ The glassworks (ed.): Germany's glass industry. Address book of all German glassworks, with details of their geogr. Location, makes and statistical notes , Verlag Die Glashütte Dresden 1907, p. 121
  3. ↑ Johannes Maubach: In the footsteps of the old Ehrenfeld industry , Flock, Cologne 2005, p. 143ff.
  4. ↑ Gerhard Wilczek: Ehrenfeld then and now . Contribution z. Cologne History, Language, Eigenart, Volume 48, Cologne 1967, p. 87
  5. ↑ The glassworks (ed.): Germany's glass industry. Address book of all German glassworks, with details of their geogr. Location, makes and statistical notes , Verlag Die Glashütte Dresden 1907, p. 121
  6. ↑ Gerhard Wilczek: Ehrenfeld then and now . Contribution z. Cologne History, Language, Eigenart, Volume 48, Cologne 1967, p. 87
  7. ↑ The glassworks (ed.): Germany's glass industry. Address book of all German glassworks, with details of their geogr. Location, makes and statistical notes , Verlag Die Glashütte Dresden 1907, p. 121
  8. ↑ Central Bureau of the German Hard Glass Industry Steel: Illustrations and price list of hard glass products based on the A. de la Bastie method , Berlin 1877, 23 pp.
  9. ^ Pressed glass correspondence: A rediscovered price list from Rheinische Glashütten AG Ehrenfeld near Cologne from 1877 - hard glass according to the A. de la Bastie method , accessed on February 15, 2014
  10. ↑ Werner Schäfke: Ehrenfeld Glass of Historicism - The Prize Courants of the Rheinische Glashütten-Actien-Gesellschaft in Ehrenfeld near Cöln. Department for art products. 1881 and 1886, supplements 1888 and 1893 , Walther König Köln 1979, ISBN 3-88375-005-0 , pp. 39, 90
  11. ↑ A celebration of work . In: Kölnisches Tageblatt, No. 122 of May 30, 1892
  12. ^ Gerhard Dietrich: Museum of Applied Arts Cologne - Chronicle 1888 - 1988 . City of Cologne (Ed.), Cologne 1988, p. 22
  13. ↑ Werner Schäfke: Ehrenfeld Glass of Historicism - The Prize Courants of the Rheinische Glashütten-Actien-Gesellschaft in Ehrenfeld near Cöln. Department for art products. 1881 and 1886, addenda 1888 and 1893, Walther König, Cologne 1979, ISBN 3-88375-005-0 , p. 32
  14. ↑ Alexandre Noll: Die Weltkunst , Volume 70, Issue 7-10, 2000, p. 1378
  15. ↑ Torsten Bröhan (ed.): Modern glass art. From Josef Hoffmann to Wilhelm Wagenfeld , Klinkhardt & Biermann 2000, ISBN 978-3-7814-0313-0 , pp. 199f.
  16. ^ Tilmann Buddensieg, Bernward Deneke, Hermann Glaser: Peter Behrens and Nuremberg. Changes in taste in Germany. Historicism, Art Nouveau and the beginnings of the industrial form , Prestel 1980, ISBN 978-3-7913-0527-1 , p. 264
  17. ^ Eduard Trier, Willy Weyres: Art of the 19th century in the Rhineland: applied arts . Schwann, Düsseldorf 1979, ISBN 978-3-5903-0255-6 , p. 236
  18. ↑ Torsten Bröhan (ed.): Modern glass art. From Josef Hoffmann to Wilhelm Wagenfeld , Klinkhardt & Biermann 2000, ISBN 978-3-7814-0313-0 , pp. 203f.
  19. ↑ Metmuseum: Deckelpokal from Cologne-Ehrenfeld, 1893-1900 , accessed on February 14, 2014
  20. ↑ Dr. Fischer Art Auctions, 2010, http://www.auctions-fischer.de : 196-I: European Glass & Studio Glass - Dr. Fischer Kunstauktionen - auction house for art, glass and antiques. Retrieved March 30, 2018 .