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PETER BEHRENS: DESIGN'S MAN OF THE CENTURY?
Philip B. Meggs
Behrcns-frastur
S
CICflro
,...
".
nr.81
franz ..Sdnibert
to significant accomplishment. As the career of the German artist, designer, and architect
Peter Behrens (1868-1940) unfolded, fate put him in the "right place" several times with
Tnitialen zur Behrens-traktur
3 CkflfO
B
IIII
JCiuro
6 Clcvro
nr. ~'2
significant results. In graphic design, Behrens recognized the need for new typographic
forms to express a new era, and he conceived and directed the first unified corporate identity
nr.80
program. His influence on product design was so significant that he has been cal.led "the first
industrial designer." His major buildings include a 1909 factory whose structure and glass
curtain wal.ls influenced the direction of architecture. The roster of architects who launched
fir. 83
their careers as Behrens's apprentices include such titans as Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Adolf Meyer.
At the beginning of the century, Behrens contributed co design curriculum reform
nr. gil
by developing new approaches to introductory visual education. As a theoretician, Behrens's
III
11,1
O~ro
Korpl)S
articles and speeches often crystallized and focused important issues about design in an
industrial society, suggesting new directions. Behrens advocated functionalism, truth to
materials, and standards of uniformity. Given the scope of Behrens's contribution, it might
be argued that he occupies a position in twentieth-century
design somewhat similar
to
the
positions of Cezanne and Picasso in painting: Behrens was a catalytic innovator whose work
~~
D~IJrvns·fr&!kltlr
Being in the right place at the right time, according to conventional wisdom, is often critical
altered the course of design in this century.
Behrens was orphaned at age fourteen and received a substantial inheritance from
his father's estate, which provided ongoing economic independence. He chose art for his
career and studies in his native Hamburg. Social realism became the focus of his early paintings which depicted poor people and the industrial landscape. In 1892, Behrens was a
founder of the Munich Secession, an organization formed by' artists who, excited by new
DllrdJrdlOrrt'lI
D~rRa6'e bemerkte, ban ber flbler ganze breinig rage iifjer [einen ei~rn bnltete. Unb
baher kommt es, ohne 3roeifel;(prad) er, ban b_ie.1ungen bes Hblers (0 a"(eiJenll unb
(tark merben, Gutillas roi" id) aud) tun. uno (eitbem brutet oer Rabe mirklid) qanze
·Ilreifi;g ;rage DIm (einen eier~; aber nod) bat er nid)ts, ·als·elenlle Raben ausgebrlitet
developments such as Impressionism and post-Impressionism,
broke with the academic tra-
dition. In Munich, a renaissance in German arts, crafts, and design was emerging. In 1897,
Behrens gave up painting for applied art and embraced the 1890s Art Nouveau movement,
called jllgcl1dJ"til (Youth Style) in Germany after the new magazine jugcnd
(Youth), whose
pages were filled with Art Nouveau designs and illustrations. Behrens began to make large
multicolored woodcuts inspired by French Art Nouveau and Japanese prints, and he became
a frequent contributor of illustrations and decorative designs to jllgcl1d and Pan magazines.
New printing and manufacturing techniques and the excitement of Art Nouveau were crear-
06
97
tremendous
interest in the applied arts, and many artists embraced
gn. Behrens's close friend Otto Eckmann
. in November
1894, auctioned
abandoned
painting
graphic and product
for design and illustration
)lished a new artists' colony in Darmstadt,
n participating
hoping
growth in light manufacturing
artists, including
'ieh, all had experience
development
"may we never meet again."
to encourage
such as nlrniture
life
together,"
sans-serif
both cultural developand ceramics. The
sans-serif
in the applied arts, Each artist was granted
A sense of urgency existed in the German
of Arts and Crafts. Innovative
A new cen-
graphic, or interior
dry was the first German
ved international
1 created
l
typefoundry
prominence
a sensation.
mental intellectual
in 1901. The Klingspor
principles
of all. form-creating
to Eckmalm's
was a conwith
)y reduce their universal character. Behrensschrift:
constructed
was an attempt
looks very calligraphic
to reduce
hand and
to the late-
Furura. However, ornate Art Nouveau
to the typographic
fashion. of the time. Behrensschrifr
ate a new typographic
Behrens combined
n inscriptions,
iphasized
geometry
such as Wand
;s feather-stroke
was an attempt
not only to
the heavy, dense feeling of black letter with the letter proportions
while standardizing
letterforrn
are completely
V. Some typographic
In the promotional
booklet
construction.
eliminated
authorities
serifs and clarity-compared
in Germany-Behrenssduift
aphy.
Horizontals
was a resounding
of
and verticals
and replaced by curved strokes in
were outraged
by Behrensschrift,
to tile dense black-letter
but
typefaces then
success for both book and job-printing
faculty. Lauweriks
was fascinated
design based on geometric
Behrens
compared
reading text type
beginnings
and cultural conditions.
of forms in art
Behrens was deeply concerned
98
of this
His work from this period reveals
in graphic design, wherein
and geometric
realistic or even styl-
but more frequently, he used rectangles in ratios such a 1 square wide to 1.5
structure.
Often. Behrens used
or 2 squm'es tall.
The major event in Behrens's career occurred in 1907, when Emil Rathenau,
tor of the Allgemeine
Elekrricirats
the company. Rathenau
Gesellschaft
had purchased
(AEG),
European
appointed
manufacturing
direc-
him artistic adviser for
rights to Thomas
A.
Edison's patents in 1883, and AEG had grown into one of tile world's largest manufacturing
concerns. A visionary
products,
industrialist,
environments,
intensely
in the relationship
application
and design toward rational
square formats,
docs not observe details of their form or movement.
art critics of tile period were interested
patterns
and spatial divisions in
are replaced by an architectural
recorders
of the lines is
architecture
system for visual organization.
videocassette
Only the rhythm
dimensions,
to posters. Behrens's
twentieth-century
of constructivism
tching a bird's Hight or the gallop of a horse. Both seem graceful and pleasing, but the
f the viewer, and the same is true of a typeface."
proportions,
by geocompo-
permutations
this basic structure. The geometric
from chairs to buildings
with high technology:
sign to social, technological,
Gropius and Mies van
ized depictions
for AEG
for Behrensschrifr,
and duplicating
synonymous
German
former apprentices,
to teaching
could be used to determine
as an underlying
the tentative
pattern,
occurred in Behrens's work in 1904 after the Dutch
an approach
theory proved catalytic in pushing
image for the new century but to create a uniquely German
and diagonals
where two of Behrens's
the design of everything
forms dorni-
rather
drew and painted natural
courses were precursors of the preliminary
L. M. Lauweriks joined the Dusseldorf
thus developed
such
of form-
in the inner laws of perception,
media, then made analytical studies to explore linear movement,
made possible by subdividing
new typeface design in the early 19005, and Behrens's typeface looks very standardized
'C
J.
work," allowing "the principles
spontaneous,
structure. These introductory
metric form and had developed
eve viewing this typeface more than sixty years after Paul Renner
led his geometrically
architect
School
purpose was to go "back to the funda-
sition. His grids began with a square inscribed with a circle and the numerous
gestural vitality, Behrensschrift
roetic flourish" which would mark tile forms as the work of an individual
ieth-cenrury
pages. The popu-
Behrens's experiment.
aspects of the work." Students
der Robe, served as directors.
A dramatic transformation
1900 Eckmannschrift,
medieval and Roman attributes
and geometric
course at the Bauhaus,
new fonts from artists, and it
Drawn with a brush instead of a pen, Eckmannschrift
by combining
forms in different
Foundry, who agreed to
when it released Otto Eckmann's
attempt to revitalize typography
ofJapanese prints.
In contrast
to commission
unsuccess-
type founder. Then he came
ifacrure and release Behrens's first typeface, Beluensschrift,
book text. All-capital
courses preceded study in specific disciplines
design. Behrens's
than directly in the mechanical
Dr. Karl Klingspor, of the Klingspor
in tile 1920s that
type as running
century vindicated
preparatory
's, Typographic
for a time to develop a new typeface with a conservative
of Life and Art ... " in
suggested
way on the ti tie and dedication
types in the twentieth
making to be rooted in the artistically
contact with 32-year-old
Hans Loubier
In 1903, Behrens moved to DUsseldorf to become director of the Dusseldorf
to cutlery
major interests and he struggled
booklet, "Celebrations
historian
was at hand, and the need to create new forms for a new era weighed heavily upon
refo'rm was one of Behrens's
provided "tile most char-
of the spiritual progress [and]
to express the spirit of the new era occurred in
type is used in an unprecedented
as architectural,
art and design community.
typographic
typography
testimonial
might contain the first use of sans-serif
larity of sans-serif
land to build a
from furniture
attempt
set his twenty-five-page
type. German
this document
Behrens and Vienna Secession architect Joseph Maria
e, ~U1dBehrens designed his own house and all its furnishings,
china.
of a people." Another
1900 when Behrens
In 1900, the Grand Duke of Hessen, who sought to "fuse art and
t and economic
bid his
all his pain.tings. His letter to the auctioneer
tings a "cordial farewell" and concluded,
about these issues and believed that, after architecture,
acteristic picture of,a period, and the strongest
Rathenau
sensed the need for a unified visual character
and communications.
Electric
teakettles
In 1907, the electrical industry was
were as advanced as computers
are today. As design adviser to the concern, Behrens
upon the design needs of industry, with design responsibility
buildi ngs to stationery.
Otto Eckmann
had been a designer and consultant
culosis in 1902 at age 37. Behrens
99
and
began to focus
ranging from large
for AEG, but be died of tuber-
executed several graphi.c designs for AEG
in 1906; then,
907, was commissioned
)building Exhibition.
to design an important
of Craftsmen),
in Munich of the Deutscher
which advocated "a marriage
-ens played a major role in this first organization
:ured goods and architecture.
but with significant
ucts of the machine
age and advocated
·st against the industrial
revolution,
a return to medieval craftsmanship
embraced
in romantic
new technology
and advo-
members
advanced
Design was
as the engine which could propel society forward to achieve Gesamkultur. Soon after it
rd, the Werkbund
split into two factions. One, headed by Muthesius,
:ncy.Its
adherents
'd to eliminate
of individual
manunlcturing
and standardization
solely by function
is merely
:U1
members
represents
a synthesis
and Sachlichkeit (loosely translated,
of two seemingly
"commonsense
contradictory
objectivity").
ssicism grew from a careful study of the art and design of ancient
Con-
Greece and Rome.
pragmatic
and proportion
emphasis
ts and questions
Behrens
to achieve a unity of the parts with the whole. Sachlichkeit
upon technology,
mrulufacturing
of style were subordinate
processes, and function.
to purpose.
Artistic
In concert, these two concepts
in his quest for forms to achieve Gesamkultur.
The AEG graphic identity program
t io corporate
identity programs
·e, and consistent
ace for AEG's
made consistent
as the genre evolved a half century later: a logo, a
layout of elements
following standardized
exclusive use to bring unity to its printed
: design in Germany
was dominated
an and Art Nouveau
styles, Behrens designed
I Roman inscriptions.
irinted graphics was hanclJettered.
materials.
Behrens designed
At a time when
black letter and decorative
a Roman-style
letterform
In 1908, a typeset variation
goals in designiog
by
from all other printed
then later,
this new type: It differenti-
matter; its forms were universal rather
by the touch of an artist's hand; and it strove for a monumental
universal and
publication
pace by a medium-weight
Behrens-Antigua
This pictographic
of a twentieth-century
to
are one unify-
designs.
rule; central placement
a consistent
appearance.
grid, these included:
of static elements;
In
framing the
exclusive use of
colors, often two or three sequential
color wheel; and simple, objective photographs
as a visual
corporation
grid structures
devices gave AEG materials
type; use of analogous
honeycomb
order while functioning
colors on the
and drawings with subjects isolated from
their environments.
as teakettles
products
designed
the painter and the structural
work for AEG
by Behrens ranged from electric household
and fans to streetlamps
approach
and electric motors. I-Ie brought
and professional
ethi.cs of the architect
of visual form, working method,
products
enabled
the "first industrial
teakettles
and functional
with interchangeable
hammered,
three sizes of teakettles,
teakettles,
or rippled. All these elements
components
and nickelplate;
in early 1907, Behrens designed
and
were available to assemble
made it possible to configure
though only thirty were actually brought
Beginning
is seen in the
use of standardization
parts: three basic kettle forms, two lids, two
and all the kettles used the same heating elements
system of interchangeable
to product
concern in his
him to produce a body of work which has led to his being
designer." An innovative
handles, and two bases. Three materials were used: brass, copperplate,
three finishes: smooth,
products
the formal eye of
and plugs. This
eighty-one
different
to market.
a series of AEG arc lamps that pro-
duced intense light by means of passing an electrical current between
two carbon electrodes.
used less energy, and were safer than the gaslamps
of the
time. Because the carbon rods had to be replaced every eight to twenty hours, Behrens
designed convenient
exterior clips for dismantling
tions suggest Lauweriks's
them quickly, Their forms and propor-
grid, while the overall shapes evoke the harmonious
graceful curves of Greek vases. The arc lamps were widely used in factories,
design and
railway stations,
and public buildings.
inspired
named Behrens-
Foundry, first for the exclusive use of AEG,
had three important
~G communications
dividualized
by traditional
formats.
Initially, this was not available in type, so display type on all
a was released by Klingspor
eral usc. Behrens
elements
trademark.
to modular divisions of space using Lauweriks's
These were 300 times brighter,
use of three linchpin
AEG
and orgrulization
theme of Behrens's AEG
design of AEG
r than merely copying the stylistic aspects of this work, he found a new formal Ianof harmony
ing graphic
proclaimed
His
by the rhythm
could make ornamentation
spatial divisions based on Lauweriks's
design. The combination
ously sought a new design language to realize their goals. Behrens's work for AEG
re an early manifestation of We rkb und ideals.
Behrens's work for AEG
a beehive. Geometrical
SLlCh.
idle vision until
me creates artifacts which make it a real force in the world. Thus, Werkbund
the hexagonal
that relates the complexity
Industrial
and
The other faction, led by van de Velde, argued for the pri-
artistic expression. A design philosophy
neoclassicism
metaphor
of design for industrial
believed that form should be determined
all ornament.
argued for the
Behrens-Autiqua
tempered
Roman brasswork, whose geometric
the firm's initials signifies mathematical
The use of various graphic
of Gesamkultllr, a
environment.
satisfied Behrens's belief that geometry
design containing
things, including
a philosophy
man-made
letterforms,
impersonal.
addition
.iniversal culture existing in a totally reformed
num use of mechanical
properties
of quality and performance.
quality of Roman
were inspired by ancient
In 1908, he designed
Arts
Morris was repelled by the
to all machine-made
of the serifs. The ornaments
Muthesius,
Morris and the English
While
the Werkbund
zeal, Werkbund
of art with technology."
Hermann
by William
differences.
design as a way to give form and meaning
tine-made buildings.
With visionary
Werkbund
created to inspire good design in man-
The group's leaders, including
ry van de Velde, and Behrens, were influenced
Crafts Movement,
ter which could evoke positive connotations
possessed the solemn, monumental
The year 1907 also marked the founding
'man Association
AEG pavilion for the 1908 German
charac-
100
Behrens believed neutrality
created for machine
manufacture.
forms shorn of decoration,
these products.
Behrens stripped
His work pointed
the 1920s. This rational
and standardization
By designing
approach
were appropriate
srreerlamps
connotations
and teakettles
in product
designs
using simple
of social class and wealth from
toward a new sensibility about design, which matured
decreed the need for form to emerge from function
in
rather
than being an added embellishment.
Between
101
1909 and 1912, Behrens directed the design for the AEG
factory complex
in. The Turbine
Hall, designed
by Behrens
ernhard, is one of the most influential
lace is formed by twenty-two
d 49 feet high. In addition
with structural
of the early twentieth
giant girder frames enclosing
engineer
by Behrens. Nazi cultural watchdogs
century. A vast
an interior
space 401 feet
to the roof and glass walls, these girder frames support
veling gantry cranes, each with a 50-ton
onstruction.
in collaboration
buildings
The huge window
areas are "curtain walls" floating
concrete columns at the corners are non-load-bearing.
Behrens
Except for the identifying
suggests a massive industrial
earn turbines. This major architectural
factory engineered
.e for future design evolution.
Behrens's philosophy
ely a wellspring of ideas for his apprentices
e Corbusier, and Meyer.
At the 1914 Werkbund
d standardization
the Muthesius
annual conference,
approach.
the debate between Muthesiuss
cared a spartan approach,
stripped
of both historicism
of decoration.
extension
Behrens began to accept architectural
although
he continued
The austere orthodoxy
commissions
in 1940, Behrens's design practice centered
iportance
immediately
design. Perhaps
my of Europe's leading modern
from the continent
simplicity
re, they established
architecture.
architectural
or even lionized
fact in the
rise to power during the 1930s
to join the flight of scientific
States. When
and educational
were
and white stucco walls
the answer is yet another
artists and designers
to the United
projects. Until
His buildings
after World War I to modernist
'g impact of Adolf Hitler upon the century. Hitler's
:alleaders
contract with AEG
has not been more widely recognized
to twentieth-cennuy
of the
from other clients in 1911;
upon architecture.
the late 1920s and early 19305 whose geometric
the influence of Gropius and Mies.
:::>nemay ask why Behrens
programs
However, the aging Beru'ens remained
Gropius
and Mies
that transformed
in Germany.
During
his final
itruggled to come to terms with the New Order and even signed correspondence,
l~r?l?oni~hlly, he was shunned
~;'W~~
..15~iii.~,
inye~jigated
by some longtime
and attacked
~#i:in:g~e,'lifteiJtrJ@.~;J-i~t1er:s',architect,
and Jews, including
Albert Speer, planned
'iAte"~,lln:P%j)iilji13i.1iY'JK~hel1&lii.rd
Reich designed
.r.. 1i: , ....
I·
.II~~
"".
~
associates for his efforts to adapt
by the Nazis for his artistic and political
~~,~L!(li)B:t'ror
.aiis.otia1ion with Communists
~,',
Albert Einstein.
the transformation
in a monumental
~e~{JIl\!l_lfl&S;.~l~~ned!:r(,,-J.\~t~~ig.;~iia!.!>oulevard
stretching
.
Empire
Style
from a proposed Arch of
Ita:a rcif0Imi'ciIG!eaT,W:{]:hwas
,a:~e»f"a-dlfiinlst'[ative building for AEG
t~
his earlier importance.
Stalin have warped
our perceptions
Originally published in PRINT,
of these beliefs.
to work from time to time on AEG
ssive and ranged from expressionism
Perhaps his drift away from Modernism
to be designed
I
102
•
and he died of
nor the news-
design, at least in rile
in the later 19305 fueled the failure to
Over the past half century, the legacies of Hitler
of the human condition.
culture hopefully
of Peter Behrens's
in
and Art Nouveau design
design occupied less of his time. In 1914, Behrens's
nd product
fully recognize
crumble and a new era of international
Behrens played a key role
the design professions
may relate to factors other than the taint of his accommodation
ration-
was soundly determined
Up until. this 1914 meeting,
onal Style was the evolutionary
Mies van der
II.
27, 1940, at age 72. Neither
will be a greater acknowledgment
versus van de Velde's expressionism
esigners who rejected the ornament
inated,
of this period: Gropius,
with Nazism.
a
and the usual studio shop talk
backed
1939, but it was never executed, as the grand scheme for
The neglect of Behrens's pivotal role in twentieth-century
United States and England,
its exposed exterior
by fi.lIlction-becarne
Hitler
The design for the AEG
papers took much notice of his passing.
for the assembly of
design by Behrens--with
ders along the sides, glass curtain walls, and form determined
of architectural.
avenue."
had been plagued with heart trouble since his mid-thirties,
a heart attack on February
:I name on the end of the roof, there is neither ornament nor embellishment. The
e and proportions of functional elements are designed to convey the aesthetic of the
;. Its appearance
in October
Berlin became an early casualty of World War
in the space. The
"that this forerunner
on 'the Fuehrer's
Speer in his decision to use Behrens, quelling the opposition.
building was completed
lifting capacity for moving giant turbines'
were outraged
radicalism should be allowed to win immortality
Mtlrcb/April1991
and
But as the walls of the past
emerges, perhaps one small result
impact upon design in this century.