- Museum number
- 1980,0516.1
- Description
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Candlestick; pewter, cast, with two branches issuing from a zoomorphic stem.
- Production date
- 1901-1902 (designed;circa)
- Dimensions
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Height: 36.20 centimetres
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Length: 17.40 centimetres (base)
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Width: 11.30 centimetres (base)
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Text from J. Rudoe, 'Decorative Arts 1850-1950. A catalogue of the British Museum collection'. 2nd ed. no.226.
Olbrich trained as an architect in Vienna, working initially for Otto Wagner. He was a founder member of the Vienna Seccession in 1897, and in 1899 was called to the Darmstadt artists' colony, where he designed public buildings and artists' houses, as well as rooms for several international exhibitions.
The date of design of this candlestick is traditionally given as c.1901-2 (see Zons 1978, Kreismuseum, 'Zinn des Jugendstils', Schriften des Rheinischen Museumamtes 8. no. 268; 'Architektur von Olbrich, 1901-14', Berlin, published by Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin 1902-14, reprinted 1988, 30 and pl. 284, and recent publications listed below), but there does not appear to be a contemporary illustration of it before 1904. The candlestick was shown both at the St Louis Exhibition of 1904 (L. Nachtlicht, 'Deutsches Kunstgewerbe zwischen Biedermeier und Jugendstil', Berlin 1904, pl. 43) and at the exhibition held at the Darmstadt artists' colony in the same year, where it was shown in the corner house of the 'Dreihäusergruppe' (Darmstadt 1904, Künstlerkolonie, 'Ausstellung der Künstlerkolonie', 32; 'Architektur von Olbrich, 1901 -14', reprinted 1988, pl. 71); it was also exhibited by the modern decorative arts gallery, K. Rittershaus, in Darmstadt. It was then included in an exhibition of pewter from the rival firms of Hueck and Gerhardi of Lüdenscheid organised by K.H. Osthaus in the Folkwang Museum, Hagen, in 1905 (Hagen 1984, Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum, 'Der Westdeutsche Impuls 1900-1914. Kunst und Umweltgestalung im Industriegebiet. Die Kolkwang-Idee des Karl Ernst Osthaus', 76); according to Funk-Jones (Hagen 1984, 78) there was no market for Hueck's artist-designed pewterware after about 1908.
Examples are to be found in several German museums, including the Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt (C.B. Heller, 'Kataloge des Hessischen Lansedmuseum Nr. 12. Jugendstil. Kunst um 1900', Darmstadt 1982, no.317) the Museum der Kiinsterkolonie, Darmstadt (R. Ulmer, 'Museum der Künstlerkolonie. Darmstadt. Katalog.', Darmstadt n.d. 1990, no. 313). Berlin (W. Scheffler, 'Kataloge des Kunstgewerbemuseums Berlin. Band II, werke um 1900', Berlin 1966, no. 57), Kassel (Kassel 1968, Staatliche Kunstammlungen, 'Jugendstilsammlung Dr. Gerhard P. Woekel München', G.P. Woeckel, no. 44), Hamburg, and Karlsruhe (I. Franzke, 'Jugenstil', Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe. Bestandskatalog 1987, no. 33, with further references). There are also examples in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and in the Virginia Museum, Richmond (F.R. Brandt, 'Late 19th and Early 20th Century Decorative Arts. The Sydney and Frances Lewis Collection in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Richmond', Richmond 1985, 278).
Additional text from J. Rudoe, 'Decorative Arts 1850-1950. A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection'. 2nd ed. 1994. Addenda.
Advertised in the Mode/Katalog 1903/4 issued by the Warenhaus Wertheim, Berlin. The page is described as 'modelliert von Professor Olbrich' and is the only piece credited to a designer, see S. Gronert, 'Das Schöne und die Ware - Zur Produktion von Gebrauchsgegen- ständen und Waren', in Essen 1984, 127.
Information supplementary to Rudoe 1994:
See also M. Collins, 'Towards Post-Modernism, Design since 1851', London, British Museum, revised ed. 1994, fig. 60.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated events
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Designed for: Exhibition at Darmstadt artists' colony 1904
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Designed for: St Louis Exhibition 1904
- Acquisition date
- 1980
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1980,0516.1