How does one live in Art Nouveau style?
Transkript
How does one live in Art Nouveau style?
Dolls’ houses and rooms Dolls’ houses began to be produced in roughly the 17th century. They were handmade, and mostly were not intended for children’s play. As the replica or reduced copy of an estate, they served to demonstrate the owner’s wealth and social status. Alternately, they served as an instructional tool for girls in aristocratic families who in future were to run the household with its complexities, numerous strict social conventions and multitude of servants. These little houses were mostly of the “cabinet” type with opening doors simulating the house’s façade. Houses constructed in the form of open interiors of rooms were intended for children’s play. In their development, one can trace the history of interiors relating to changing lifestyles. Later, some of these little houses were even electrified and had running water in the bathrooms. With the arrival of artificial materials, there appeared plastic furniture and the like. Despite the expansion of factory production, the tradition of handmade doll houses produced at home never completely disappeared. Today, little rooms appear, for example, as accessories for dolls or as separate furniture sets. Mostly, however, they do not copy a specific historical style or contemporary trend. Marie Míčová curator of the toy collection, UPM Literature: Clifton-Mogg, Caroline, The Dollhouse Sourcebook, Abbeville Press Publishers, New York – London 1993. Pasierbska, Halina, Dolls’ Houses, V & A Publishing, London 2008. Models of furniture The existence of models of architecture, interiors, ecclesiastical and profane structures, their statuary, and even furniture and interior furnishing accessories has a long tradition. The conception of these structures and their interiors reflected the period style and its index of decorative elements.1 Three-dimensional models of interiors and furniture were used by architects in the 20th century in order to verify their ramifications in the given interior, but also to present their idea to the client 1) During the Baroque period, models or modelletta of church altars and their statuary (individual sculptures or groups) were made by sculptors and builders themselves to test their impact on the given interior. and thus to win the contract.2 Especially after the shift to mass machine production at the turn of the 20th century, the path from a design to the definitive form of an object for production was long, and the model underwent a complicated course of development. At the beginning of this path was a miniature model on a scale of 1:20, for example; at the end was a 1:1 model – or, rather, a prototype of the object. Sometimes it remained merely a prototype. During the production of test series, the model was then further refined to a greater or lesser extent.3 Models of furniture in and of themselves can be of great significance for studying the work of architects and designers, and are also of interest to collectors.4 With the advent of digitisation, which makes possible the simulation of a three-dimensional representation, the demanding production of three-dimensional models has receded into the background. Yet virtual space remains virtual, and working with a real miniature model, its construction and materials cannot be replaced by virtual reality. How does one live in Art Nouveau style? Daniela Karasová curator of the furniture collection, UPM Literature: Karasová, Daniela, The History of Modern Furniture Design, UPM and Arbor vitae, Prague 2012. 2) The model of an Art Nouveau dining room from 1908 is reminiscent of the furniture sets designed by Jan Kotěra, but also those by other Art Nouveau architects (the horseshoe armchairs by the dining table are similar to the armchairs from the dining room for publisher Jan Laichter, while the folding serving table is similar to part of the interior for Karel Hoffmeister, which is deposited at the Museum of Applied Arts in Brno). The two sideboards also have analogous features. The alcove window connecting the interior with the garden was a characteristic feature of Kotěra’s villa designs (e.g. Trmal’s Villa, Sucharda’s Villa, Mácha’s Villa). 3) The resulting changes could be significant, as was often the case in the large-scale mass production of the enterprises of Socialist Czechoslovakia. Sometimes, the designer could hardly recognise his own design in the final form. During the 1980s at the Institute of Interior and Fashion Design in Prague (ÚBOK), work was performed on a state task involving the model design and comprehensive colour schemes of residential interiors. The contents were schematic models of furniture and their integration into the rooms of apartments in panel housing estates, including the colour schemes of individual parts of the apartment, the extent to which they could be combined and their mutual influence. 4) Fragile wire models of the furniture executed by Jan Rothmayer owned by the Archive of Architecture of the National Technical Museum in Prague are, in addition to sketches, original evidence of the author’s work. International companies which have focused on reproductions of top furniture designs by leading designers (e.g. Cassina, Vitra Design Museum and others) produce and successfully sell models of furniture icons. Dear visitors, Take a seat at a school desk where pupils were taught circa 1900 and do a bit of detective work. Have a thorough look at the object in the large vitrine. What do you think? Is it a model furnished interior for special-order production or a little room for dolls? We’ll give you a little hint – turn the page. © Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, 2014 ISBN 978-80-7101-139-2 model × toy FUNCTION Other furnishings: Home textiles Mark the kind of textile that you would not find in today’s interiors. Indications – indications for a dining room: sideboard, serving table – indications for a salon: alcove window, flower stand, longcase clock Type of room: combination of a salon (representative room) and a dining room 2) What kind of activities was the room used for? (For a hint, see the photographs of the inhabited room.) drapes, curtains, pillows, carpets, rugs, tablecloths, doilies… Lighting fixtures What kinds of lighting fixtures are missing here? Flowers What kinds of indoor flowers were cultivated? (you will find them in the interior) Write them down or draw them. waxflowers, gardenias, asparagus fern, cyclamen 1) What kind of room is it? 3) What social status did a family that could order such an interior have? 4) Carefully examine the individual furnishings: LIFESTYLE Furniture Write down or draw the individual types of furniture and compare them with the objects in the exhibition. Where do you see the greatest difference between them? dining table serving table flower stand cupboard sideboard longcase clock chairs Which of these would you procure for your home today? Indications functionality of folding parts Examine the large table and folding nested table. What do they have in common? Decorative objects and family memorabilia Write down those objects which you have discovered in the interior, and add those which are missing. What have you discovered? Is it a model furnished interior or a little room for dolls?