Tea table Curt Herrmann
Design 1902 (Cat. rais. 1328)
Like the piano bench ‘Maria van de Velde’, the tea table or occasional table ‘Curt Herrmann’ was first verifiably commissioned in 1902 for the flat Karl Ernst Osthaus kept for his own use in the ‘Folkwang’ Museum he had founded. It was also delivered at the same time to the Berlin flat of the painter Curt Herrmann, a friend of Henry van de Velde’s. The two first exemplars were made in Hagen by Lösse, Carpenters and Joiners, and by Scheidemantel in Weimar.
| Numerous orders were received for this graceful and reasonably priced practical little piece, which was executed with diverse modifications as specified. Van de Velde’s Weimar partner, under contract with him since 1902, Scheidemantel, Furniture-Makers, would deliver the piece in natural finish and hardwoods as well as lacquer in white, black or dark blue. |
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Drawing-room in Henry van de Velde's house 'Hohe Pappeln', Weimar, 1912 |
Henry van de Velde modified many of the revolutionary furniture designs created after he and his family had moved from Berlin to Weimar. To meet client specifications, he did the same with this piece, which he had originally designed in 1902. It figured prominently as a drawing-room table at ‘Hohe Pappeln’, his own house in Weimar, as well as in Osthaus’ new villa in Hagen, ‘Hohenhof’. In 1907/08 the model was redesigned in a larger size, with stretchers and a larger top, which was protected from wear and tear by a brass fitting.
A few exemplars of this model have survived. They include a piece from the Curt Herrmann estate (executed in waxed oak: private collection) and one in the Ghent Museum for the Applied Arts (executed in black lacquer; originally finished in white lacquer; from the Henry van de Velde estate).
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