The Deutscher Werkbund (German Work Federation) was a German association of architects, designers and industrialists, an important precursor to the Bauhaus. An architect is a person licensed in the art of planning, designing and overseeing the construction of buildings, or more generally, the designer of a scheme or plan. ... ņBauhaus is the common term for the Staatliches Bauhaus, an art and architecture school in Germany that operated from 1919 to 1933, and for the approach to design that it developed and taught. ...

It was founded in 1907 in Munich at the instigation of Hermann Muthesius, existed through 1934, then re-established after World War two in 1950. Muthesius was the author of the exhaustive three-volume "The English House" of 1905, a survey of the practical lessons of the English Arts and Crafts movement. Muthesius was seen as something of a cultural ambassador, or industrial spy, between Germany and England. Munich (German: München, (pronounced listen) is the capital of the German Federal State of Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern). ... Adam Gottlieb Hermann Muthesius (April 20, 1861 - October 29, 1927), known as Hermann Muthesius, was a German architect, author and diplomat, perhaps best known for promoting many of the ideas of the English Arts and Crafts movement within Germany and for his subsequent influence on early pioneers of German architectural... It has been suggested that Handicraft be merged into this article or section. ...

The Werkbund was less an artistic movement than a state-sponsored effort to integrate traditional crafts and industrial mass-production techniques, to put Germany on a competitive footing with England and the United States. Its motto "Vom Sofakissen zum Städtebau" (from sofa cushions to city-building) indicates its range of interest.

The organization originally included twelve architects and twelve business firms. The architects include Peter Behrens, Theodor Fischer (who served as its first president), Josef Hoffmann and Richard Riemerschmid. Peter Behrens (April 14, 1868–February 27, 1940) was a German architect and designer. ... Theodor Fischer (1862 - 1938) was a German architect and teacher who trained both German Bestelmeyer and Paul Bonatz, and belonged to the Munich School to which Paul Troost belonged. ... Josef Hoffmann (December 15, 1870 - May 7, 1956) was an Austrian architect and designer of consumer goods. ...

Other architects affiliated with the project include Heinrich Tessenow and the Belgian Henry van de Velde. The Werkbund commissioned van de Velde to build a theatre for its 1914 Cologne Exhibition in Cologne, the theatre which turned out to be his best work, and which only stood for one year before being destroyed as a result of World War I. he licks jacks balls then massages his mums feet ... Henry Van de Velde (3 April 1863 - 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect and interior designer. ...

Key dates of the Deutscher Werkbund:

• 1907 Establishment of the Werkbund in Munich
• 1914 Cologne exhibition
• 1924 Berlin exhibition
• 1927 Stuttgart exhibition (including the Weissenhof settlement)
• 1929 Breslau exhibition
• 1938 Werkbund closed by the National Socialists
• 1949 reestablishment

The Werkbund Exhibition of 1914 was held in Cologne, Germany. ...

External links

• Werkbundarchiv, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (in German)

References

• Lucius Burckhardt (1987). The Werkbund. ? : Hyperion Press. ISBN 0850721083.
• Frederic J. Schwartz (1996). The Werkbund: Design Theory and Mass Culture Before the First World War. New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press. ISBN 0300068980.