he household items that he devised for manufacture by Berlin-based aeg in the period 1907–1914 were the first ever designed
by an artist. behrens was also significant as a precursor of modernist architecture. Three of the principal architects of the modern movement—walter gropius, mies van der rohe and le corbusier—worked under him. Finally, behrens was one of the age’s most important graphic designers.
T
Five assistants of peter behrens in the workplace—mies van der rohe,
meyer, hertwig, weyrather, chandler, walter gropius, 1908
p
eter behrens was born in Hamburg. Between 1886 and 1889, he studied painting successively at the hamburg school of applied arts
(kunstgewerbeschule hamburg) and at the academies of art in Karlsruhe and Dusseldorf. In 1890, after his marriage to lilly kramer, the behrenses settled in Munich, where he completed his studies the following year. In 1893 he helped found munich secession, which organized art exhibitions, including
shows of applied art (such as the furniture of henry van de velde, another outstanding designer of the period).
In 1897, together with artists and architects hermann obrist, august endell, bruno paul, richard riemerschmid and bernhard pankok,
behrens helped found the united arts and crafts workshops (vereinigte werkstätten für kunst und handwerk) in Munich, which produced furniture and other household wares along the lines of the british craft guilds and the then famous arts and crafts exhibition society shows in London. During this period, behrens was not active as an architect but chiefly worked on books. In 1898 he was active on pan, a journal of the arts. It was in that year that he made his first furniture sketches.
peter behrens.
The kiss, detail, 1898
