Tile thumbnail 1
Tile thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 140, Factory Ceramics

Tile

ca. 1903 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Villeroy & Boch (manufacturer)
Behrens, Peter (designer)
Place of origin
Mettlach (made)

The architect and industrial designer Peter Behrens produced a number of tile designs for Villeroy and Boch. Designed following Behrens’ appointment as director of the Kunstgewerbeschule in Düsseldorf in 1903, their taut geometrical patterns represent a move away from Art Nouveau towards a new vocabulary of precise abstract forms.


Object details

Categories
Access_to_Images 2003
Tiles
Ceramics
SCRAN
Object type
Tile
Materials and techniques
Stoneware, inlaid
Stoneware
Brief description
Tile, inlaid in blue, designed by Peter Behrens, Villeroy & Boch, Mettlach, Germany, ca. 1903
Physical description
Square stoneware tile, with surface layer of fine buff clay over a coarser body. Inlaid with a design in blue clay. One corner of the tile decorated with a concentric spiral pattern in buff and blue, the remainer of the tile buff edged with a blue line.
Dimensions
  • Width: 15.0cm
  • Height: 15.0cm
Marks and inscriptions
unmarked
Object history
Tiles of this design were used in Peter Behrens' scheme for the Jungbrunnen restaurant at the Kunst-und- Gartenbau-Ausstellung held in Düsseldorf in 1904.
Summary
The architect and industrial designer Peter Behrens produced a number of tile designs for Villeroy and Boch. Designed following Behrens’ appointment as director of the Kunstgewerbeschule in Düsseldorf in 1903, their taut geometrical patterns represent a move away from Art Nouveau towards a new vocabulary of precise abstract forms.
Bibliographic references
  • Graves, Alun. Tiles and Tilework of Europe. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2002, fig 5.30, p136.
  • Museum Künstlerkolonie Darmstadt. [catalogue]. Darmstadt: 1990. p. 15.
  • Keramische Monatshefte. February, 1906.
Collection
Ceramics Collection
Accession number
C.25-1998

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Record createdMarch 4, 2004
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O96245/tile-behrens-peter/
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