Lilly Reich, designer of Bauhaus modernity
28/04/2019.
[Berlin, Germany, 1885 - Berlin, Germany, 1947] 100 YEARS OF THE BAUHAUS
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
Lilly Reich is one of the key figures, and sometimes unjustly forgotten, in modernity. Her relationship with Mies van der Rohe, her furniture designs and the incredible fabrics and curtains of her exhibitions, make it a decisive piece to understand this moment of modernity, of translating the principles of the Bauhaus to the reality and the reality converted into a Bauhaus speech.
Her time at the Bauhaus school(1) as a teacher was brief, however it is a reflection of a brilliant career during previous decades. Lilly Reich had a multifaceted career with achievements in textile design, interior design, furniture and architecture, among others. It was also a determinant as a figure of modernity, for its exhibition projects, becoming one of the driving forces of modern design in the twentieth century.
Her time at the Bauhaus school(1) as a teacher was brief, however it is a reflection of a brilliant career during previous decades. Lilly Reich had a multifaceted career with achievements in textile design, interior design, furniture and architecture, among others. It was also a determinant as a figure of modernity, for its exhibition projects, becoming one of the driving forces of modern design in the twentieth century.
Pavilion Mies van der Rohe of Barcelona. Furniture by Lilly Reich. Photograph © Rafa Vargas. Image courtesy of Fundació Mies van der Rohe.
Lilly Reich (1885 - 1947), teacher of the Bauhaus.
Chair of Barcelona made by Lilly Reich in the German Pavilion of Mies Van der Rohe of Barcelona. (Model MR90)
Chair of Barcelona made by Lilly Reich in the German Pavilion of Mies Van der Rohe of Barcelona. (Model MR90)
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Lilly Reich Die Wohnung, Weissenhofsiedlung Werkbund Exposition, Stuttgart, Germany (Plan for the Glass Industry Exhibit) 1926.
Lilly Reich Women's fashion exhibition, Berlin, Germany. View of the Velvet and Silk Café. 1927. Silver vinyl, 8 x 10 "(20.3 x 25.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mies van der Rohe Archive, courtesy of the architect.
Lilly Reich Women's fashion exhibition, Berlin, Germany. View of the Velvet and Silk Café. 1927. Silver vinyl, 8 x 10 "(20.3 x 25.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mies van der Rohe Archive, courtesy of the architect.
Lilly Reich, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Die Wohnung, Weissenhofsiedlung Werkbund Exposition, Stuttgart, Germany (View of the main hall)
Curtain noble room. "Mies on scene. Barcelona in two acts" a Fundació Mies van der Rohe and NIHAO Films production. Photograph © Fundació Mies van der Rohe / Nihao Films, 2018
Exterior view Tugendhat House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Photograph © David Židlický.
Interior view. Tugendhat House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Furniture by Lilly Reich. Photograph © Hans Jan Dürr.
Interior view. Tugendhat House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Furniture by Lilly Reich. Photograph © Libor Teplý.
Brno chair designed by Lilly Reich, 1930. Farnsworth House by Mies Van der Rohe.
Single-Person Apartment in The Dwelling of Our Time, German Building Exhibition,
Berlin, Germany (Two perspectives, cooking cupboard with side cabinet) 1931.
The Dwelling in Our time, Berlin.,1931. Design by Lilly Reich.
Above left: Man’s bedroom. Above right.- woman’s bedroom. Below left.- Living room. Below right.- Dining room. The Dwelling in Our Time. Berlin, 1931. Lilly Reich Collection, Mies van Der Rohe Archive.
Room of the Glass for the exhibition German Town, German Work, 1934.
Room of the Glass for the exhibition German Town, German Work, 1934.
Room of the Glass for the exhibition German Town, German Work, 1934.
Lilly Reich in a Bauhaus class with her students, 1932.
Lilly Reich (1885 - 1947), teacher of the Bauhaus.
Lilly Reich in the foreground. In the background, Annemarie Wilke takes a photograph on July 15, 1933.
Mies Van der Rohe sitting on the Knoll MR20 (1927), designed by Lilly Reich.
Cover of catalog exhibition dedicated to Lilly Reich in MOMA in 1996.
She began her career studying fashion in Vienna, receiving classes from architects such as Hermann Muthesius or Peter Behrens, although she finally devoted herself to furniture design. Despite not having studied architecture, she made works of other artistic disciplines strictly linked to it. Her first orders are part of the movement of the Deutscher Werkbund in 1912, such as the exhibition in a shop window of a pharmacy in Elefanten-Aotheke, in Berlin.
Between 1914 and 1924 she had her own studio in which she carried out interior design, decorative arts and fashion. The recognition obtained by work led her to be the first woman elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the Deutcher Werkbund in 1920.
Room of the Glass for the exhibition German Town, German Work, 1934.
Time of exceptional exhibitions
In 1926 she met Mies van der Rohe, with whom she had a professional and sentimental relationship for several years. She began working with him in the design of several exhibitions. Among them, is the design of the exhibition of the "Residential Cologne of Modern Housing Weissenhof" in Stuttgart. In this exhibition showed industrial products, glass, textiles and other textile designs of the Bauhaus. Lilly Reich proposes a space divided into exhibitors through white self-supporting panels with some labels and very pronounced graffiti.
Another exhibition in which Mies and Reich worked was the "Glass Room", in which they made a series of rooms (study, dining room and living room) with furniture designed by themselves that allowed to differentiate the use of each space, leaning on the color and textures of the pavement glass and linoleum.
An interesting third exhibition is the "Velvet and Silk Café" at the Exhibition of "Women's Fashion" in 1927. Mies and Reich propose a free-space space, creating spaces with large curtains of silk, rayon and velvet, hanging from chromed steel tubular structures, placed orthogonally.(2)
While she was a member of Mies van der Rohe, she made furniture designs of great importance, such as the two most famous chairs in the world: the German Pavilion in Barcelona and the Tugendhat House.(3) The interior design and furnishings of the Erich Wolf Brick House (1925), the Lange House (1930) or the Philip Johnson Apartment (1931).
Chair of Barcelona made by Lilly Reich in the German Pavilion of Mies Van der Rohe of Barcelona, 1929. (Model MR90).
Pavilion of the International Exhibition of Barcelona
The German Pavilion in Barcelona was designed by Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich as the German Pavilion for the Barcelona International Exhibition held in Montjuïc in 1929. It was designed to host the official reception at the inauguration presided over by Alfonso XIII King together to the German authorities.
In this symbolic work of the Modern Movement, the furniture in whose design participates in a decisive way Lilly Reich is particularly relevant, among them the Barcelona Chair is one of the most important furniture pieces of the last century. It was designed in 1929 for the Pavilion of the International Exhibition of Barcelona and has become one of the best known works of the architect Mies van der Rohe, although it was made in collaboration with Lilly Reich. It was designed to serve as a seat for the kings of Spain, Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia, at the opening ceremony of the exhibition.(4)
The original design of this furniture has a polished stainless steel structure, while the seat and backrest surfaces are made of pig leather. It also has a shape based on the chair curulis, a type of chair used by Roman magistrates. Thanks to the harmonious proportions, the form and the materials of the work, they turned Barcelona's chair into almost a sculpture.
In 1950, adjustments were made in furniture design to mass produce it. Stainless steel and seamless welding will be the new materials of the chair, as well as replacing the expensive pigskin used in the original chair with bovine leather.
Lilly Reich in a Bauhaus class with her students, 1932.
Teacher at the Bauhaus
Lilly Reich had already had offers to teach. In 1928, she rejected the proposal to run a new fashion institute in Munich, due to his professional commitments. On January 5, 1932, after the resignation of Gunta for political reasons, Mies van der Rohe (who had arrived at the address in September 1930), offers Lilly Reich to teach at the Bauhaus in Dessau, leading the carpentry workshops, metallurgy and mural painting, which later became one, the Interior Design Workshop, in which he managed to value the textile works. Reich was one of the few female teachers of this school.(5)
Architecture
The Tugendhat House was commissioned by the marriage Fritz and Grete Tugendhat to Mies van der Rohe in 1928. It is located in Brno, Czech Republic. The Tugendhat marriage gave the architect total freedom, they even entrusted him with the interior design and the furniture of the house. Therefore, Mies van der Rohe was assisted by Lilly Reich as interior designer of the house.
Lilly Reich designed the Tugendhat chair and the Brno chair for this home. They were upholstered in silver-gray, emerald green leather, ruby red velvet or white skin. It should be noted that both the Tugendhat chair and the Barcelona, despite having a merely industrial appearance are a great work of craftsmanship, they are made by hand and in very small quantities. The beauty of these chairs is still a sign of distinction, elegance and luxury.(6)
In 1937, Lilly Reich, together with Annemarie Wilke, participated in the German Pavilion led by Mies van der Rohe for the Universal Exhibition in Paris, an exhibition of the German textile and clothing industry. (7)
In 1938, Mies van der Rohe moved to Chicago while Lilly Reich remained in Germany, remaining in charge of the personal file of Mies, saving from World War II more than 2000 drawings that are currently part of the MoMA archive.
Among the Lilly Reich projects it is worth highlighting the block of minimal linear structure apartments made for the exhibition of German architecture in Berlin in 1931. It was a proposal for a minimum housing with a single space divided with furniture that allows carrying out the activities of the house and of work at a time. For example, the kitchen is a piece of furniture that meets the minimum needs through a simple wardrobe. Their projects respond to the search for maximum simplicity, efficiency and minimum daily care.
After World War II, she reopened his architecture, design and fashion studio, where she designed neon lamps for Siemens in 1946, the design of furniture for Edith Greenogh and the remodeling of apartments in the districts of Dahlem and Charlottenburg. Lilly Reich's studio was open until his death in 1947.
Between 1914 and 1924 she had her own studio in which she carried out interior design, decorative arts and fashion. The recognition obtained by work led her to be the first woman elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the Deutcher Werkbund in 1920.
Room of the Glass for the exhibition German Town, German Work, 1934.
Time of exceptional exhibitions
In 1926 she met Mies van der Rohe, with whom she had a professional and sentimental relationship for several years. She began working with him in the design of several exhibitions. Among them, is the design of the exhibition of the "Residential Cologne of Modern Housing Weissenhof" in Stuttgart. In this exhibition showed industrial products, glass, textiles and other textile designs of the Bauhaus. Lilly Reich proposes a space divided into exhibitors through white self-supporting panels with some labels and very pronounced graffiti.
Another exhibition in which Mies and Reich worked was the "Glass Room", in which they made a series of rooms (study, dining room and living room) with furniture designed by themselves that allowed to differentiate the use of each space, leaning on the color and textures of the pavement glass and linoleum.
An interesting third exhibition is the "Velvet and Silk Café" at the Exhibition of "Women's Fashion" in 1927. Mies and Reich propose a free-space space, creating spaces with large curtains of silk, rayon and velvet, hanging from chromed steel tubular structures, placed orthogonally.(2)
While she was a member of Mies van der Rohe, she made furniture designs of great importance, such as the two most famous chairs in the world: the German Pavilion in Barcelona and the Tugendhat House.(3) The interior design and furnishings of the Erich Wolf Brick House (1925), the Lange House (1930) or the Philip Johnson Apartment (1931).
Chair of Barcelona made by Lilly Reich in the German Pavilion of Mies Van der Rohe of Barcelona, 1929. (Model MR90).
Pavilion of the International Exhibition of Barcelona
The German Pavilion in Barcelona was designed by Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich as the German Pavilion for the Barcelona International Exhibition held in Montjuïc in 1929. It was designed to host the official reception at the inauguration presided over by Alfonso XIII King together to the German authorities.
In this symbolic work of the Modern Movement, the furniture in whose design participates in a decisive way Lilly Reich is particularly relevant, among them the Barcelona Chair is one of the most important furniture pieces of the last century. It was designed in 1929 for the Pavilion of the International Exhibition of Barcelona and has become one of the best known works of the architect Mies van der Rohe, although it was made in collaboration with Lilly Reich. It was designed to serve as a seat for the kings of Spain, Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia, at the opening ceremony of the exhibition.(4)
The original design of this furniture has a polished stainless steel structure, while the seat and backrest surfaces are made of pig leather. It also has a shape based on the chair curulis, a type of chair used by Roman magistrates. Thanks to the harmonious proportions, the form and the materials of the work, they turned Barcelona's chair into almost a sculpture.
In 1950, adjustments were made in furniture design to mass produce it. Stainless steel and seamless welding will be the new materials of the chair, as well as replacing the expensive pigskin used in the original chair with bovine leather.
Lilly Reich in a Bauhaus class with her students, 1932.
Teacher at the Bauhaus
Lilly Reich had already had offers to teach. In 1928, she rejected the proposal to run a new fashion institute in Munich, due to his professional commitments. On January 5, 1932, after the resignation of Gunta for political reasons, Mies van der Rohe (who had arrived at the address in September 1930), offers Lilly Reich to teach at the Bauhaus in Dessau, leading the carpentry workshops, metallurgy and mural painting, which later became one, the Interior Design Workshop, in which he managed to value the textile works. Reich was one of the few female teachers of this school.(5)
Architecture
The Tugendhat House was commissioned by the marriage Fritz and Grete Tugendhat to Mies van der Rohe in 1928. It is located in Brno, Czech Republic. The Tugendhat marriage gave the architect total freedom, they even entrusted him with the interior design and the furniture of the house. Therefore, Mies van der Rohe was assisted by Lilly Reich as interior designer of the house.
Lilly Reich designed the Tugendhat chair and the Brno chair for this home. They were upholstered in silver-gray, emerald green leather, ruby red velvet or white skin. It should be noted that both the Tugendhat chair and the Barcelona, despite having a merely industrial appearance are a great work of craftsmanship, they are made by hand and in very small quantities. The beauty of these chairs is still a sign of distinction, elegance and luxury.(6)
In 1937, Lilly Reich, together with Annemarie Wilke, participated in the German Pavilion led by Mies van der Rohe for the Universal Exhibition in Paris, an exhibition of the German textile and clothing industry. (7)
In 1938, Mies van der Rohe moved to Chicago while Lilly Reich remained in Germany, remaining in charge of the personal file of Mies, saving from World War II more than 2000 drawings that are currently part of the MoMA archive.
Among the Lilly Reich projects it is worth highlighting the block of minimal linear structure apartments made for the exhibition of German architecture in Berlin in 1931. It was a proposal for a minimum housing with a single space divided with furniture that allows carrying out the activities of the house and of work at a time. For example, the kitchen is a piece of furniture that meets the minimum needs through a simple wardrobe. Their projects respond to the search for maximum simplicity, efficiency and minimum daily care.
After World War II, she reopened his architecture, design and fashion studio, where she designed neon lamps for Siemens in 1946, the design of furniture for Edith Greenogh and the remodeling of apartments in the districts of Dahlem and Charlottenburg. Lilly Reich's studio was open until his death in 1947.
NOTES.-
(1) Jeannine Fiedler, Peter Feierabend. "Bauhaus". Barcelona: Könemann, 2000, p. 355
(2) Carmen Esteso Buedo. “Mujeres, arquitectura y construcción”. Doctoral thesis of the "Escola Tècnica Superior D'Arquitectura" of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. September 2017, pp. 67-69.
(3) Josenia Hervas and Heras. Las mujeres de la Bauhaus: de lo bidimensional al espacio total. Madrid: Diseño Editorial, 2015, pp. 136-139.
(4) Lizondo Sevilla, L. (2012). «¿Arquitectura o exposición? Fundamentos de la arquitectura de Mies Van Der Rohe». Universitat Politècnica de Valencia.
(5) Jeannine Fiedler, Peter Feierabend. "Bauhaus". Barcelona: Könemann, 2000, p. 412.
(6) José Juan Barba. "Tugendhat House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe". Madrid: METALOCUS, October 7, 2016. https://www.metalocus.es/es/noticias/casa-tugendhat-por-ludwig-mies-van-der-rohe
(7) Speer, Albert: Memories. The Cliff, Madrid 2008, pp. 150-151.
(2) Carmen Esteso Buedo. “Mujeres, arquitectura y construcción”. Doctoral thesis of the "Escola Tècnica Superior D'Arquitectura" of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. September 2017, pp. 67-69.
(3) Josenia Hervas and Heras. Las mujeres de la Bauhaus: de lo bidimensional al espacio total. Madrid: Diseño Editorial, 2015, pp. 136-139.
(4) Lizondo Sevilla, L. (2012). «¿Arquitectura o exposición? Fundamentos de la arquitectura de Mies Van Der Rohe». Universitat Politècnica de Valencia.
(5) Jeannine Fiedler, Peter Feierabend. "Bauhaus". Barcelona: Könemann, 2000, p. 412.
(6) José Juan Barba. "Tugendhat House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe". Madrid: METALOCUS, October 7, 2016. https://www.metalocus.es/es/noticias/casa-tugendhat-por-ludwig-mies-van-der-rohe
(7) Speer, Albert: Memories. The Cliff, Madrid 2008, pp. 150-151.
More information
LILLY REICH
Lilly Reich (b. Berlin, Germany, 16 June 1885 - d. Berlin, Germany, 14 December 1947). In 1908 she moved to Vienna, where she worked at the Wiener Werkstätte, an association of artists, architects and designers who prusued the integration of all the arts in a common project, without distinction between major and minor arts, after training to become an industrial embroiderer, Lilly Reich began working briefly at the Viennese studio of architect, Josef Hoffmann. In 1911, she returned to Berlin and met Anna and Hermann Muthesius.
In 1912, she became a member of the Deutscher Werkbund (German Work Federation, an association founded in 1907 formed by industrialists, architects and artists that defined the German industrial design). In 1920, she became the first female member of its board of directors. She was also a member of the Freie Gruppe für Farbkunst (independent group for colour art) in the same organisation.
In 1914, she collaborated on the interior design of the Haus der Frau (woman’s house) at the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition in Cologne. She managed a studio for interior design, decorative art and fashion in Berlin until 1924. In the same year, she travelled to England and Holland with Ferdinand Kramer to view modern housing estates. Until 1926, she managed a studio for exhibition design and fashion in Frankfurt am Main and worked in the Frankfurt trade fair office as an exhibition designer.
Reich met Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1926 and collaborated closely with him on the design of a flat and other projects for the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition held in Stuttgart in 1928. In 1927, she moved into her own studio and apartment in Berlin. In mid-1928, Mies van der Rohe and Reich were appointed as artistic directors of the German section of the 1929 World Exhibition in Barcelona, probably owing to their successful collaboration on the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition in Stuttgart. In late 1928, Mies van der Rohe began to work on the design for the Tugendhat House in the Czech town of Brno. This was completed in 1930 and, alongside the Barcelona Pavilion, it is considered to be a masterpiece of modern architecture. The interior design for Tugendhat House was created in collaboration with Lilly Reich.
In 1932, Lilly Reich played an important role at the Bauhaus in Dessau and Berlin. In January 1932, the third Bauhaus director, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, appointed her as the director of the building/finishing department and the weaving workshop at the Bauhaus Dessau. She also continued to serve in this capacity at the Bauhaus Berlin, where she worked until December 1932.
In 1934, Reich collaborated on the design of the exhibition Deutsches Volk – Deutsche Arbeit (German people – German work) in Berlin. In 1937, Reich and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe were commissioned to design the German Reich exhibition of the German textile and clothing industry in Berlin. This was subsequently displayed in the textile industry section of the German Pavilion at the Paris World Exhibition of 1937. In 1939, she travelled to Chicago and visited Mies van der Rohe there. Following her return to Germany, Reich was conscripted to the military engineering group Organisation Todt (OT). After the war (1945/46), she taught interior design and building theory at Berlin University of the Arts. Reich ran a studio for architecture, design, textiles and fashion in Berlin until her death in 1947.
In 1912, she became a member of the Deutscher Werkbund (German Work Federation, an association founded in 1907 formed by industrialists, architects and artists that defined the German industrial design). In 1920, she became the first female member of its board of directors. She was also a member of the Freie Gruppe für Farbkunst (independent group for colour art) in the same organisation.
In 1914, she collaborated on the interior design of the Haus der Frau (woman’s house) at the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition in Cologne. She managed a studio for interior design, decorative art and fashion in Berlin until 1924. In the same year, she travelled to England and Holland with Ferdinand Kramer to view modern housing estates. Until 1926, she managed a studio for exhibition design and fashion in Frankfurt am Main and worked in the Frankfurt trade fair office as an exhibition designer.
Reich met Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1926 and collaborated closely with him on the design of a flat and other projects for the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition held in Stuttgart in 1928. In 1927, she moved into her own studio and apartment in Berlin. In mid-1928, Mies van der Rohe and Reich were appointed as artistic directors of the German section of the 1929 World Exhibition in Barcelona, probably owing to their successful collaboration on the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition in Stuttgart. In late 1928, Mies van der Rohe began to work on the design for the Tugendhat House in the Czech town of Brno. This was completed in 1930 and, alongside the Barcelona Pavilion, it is considered to be a masterpiece of modern architecture. The interior design for Tugendhat House was created in collaboration with Lilly Reich.
In 1932, Lilly Reich played an important role at the Bauhaus in Dessau and Berlin. In January 1932, the third Bauhaus director, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, appointed her as the director of the building/finishing department and the weaving workshop at the Bauhaus Dessau. She also continued to serve in this capacity at the Bauhaus Berlin, where she worked until December 1932.
In 1934, Reich collaborated on the design of the exhibition Deutsches Volk – Deutsche Arbeit (German people – German work) in Berlin. In 1937, Reich and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe were commissioned to design the German Reich exhibition of the German textile and clothing industry in Berlin. This was subsequently displayed in the textile industry section of the German Pavilion at the Paris World Exhibition of 1937. In 1939, she travelled to Chicago and visited Mies van der Rohe there. Following her return to Germany, Reich was conscripted to the military engineering group Organisation Todt (OT). After the war (1945/46), she taught interior design and building theory at Berlin University of the Arts. Reich ran a studio for architecture, design, textiles and fashion in Berlin until her death in 1947.
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