Henri van de Velde

Dutch family of artists. (1) Esaias van de Velde was the second son of Cathalyne van Schorle and the painter and art dealer Hans van den Velde (1552-1609), a Protestant who fled religious persecution in Antwerp and settled in Amsterdam in 1585. On his father's death, Esaias, a painter, draughtsman and etcher, moved to Haarlem with his mother, and the same year he married Katelyna Maertens, with whom he had four children: Jan (b 1614), Esaias the younger (b 1615), Anthonie the younger (1617-72) and a daughter, Jacquemijntgen (b 1621). Both Esaias the younger and Anthonie the younger became artists, the latter a still-life painter named after his uncle, the Antwerp painter Anthonie van den Velde the elder (b c. 1557). Esaias's older brother, Jan van de Velde I (1568-1623), was a famous calligrapher, who moved from Antwerp to Rotterdam after his marriage in 1592. His eldest son, (2) Jan van de Velde II, was a painter, draughtsman and printmaker, like his uncle. He had a son, Jan van de Velde III (1619/20-62), who became a still-life painter. Both (1) Esaias and (2) Jan played an important role in the development of naturalistic Dutch landscapes in the 17th century.

The following members have entries:

• Esaias [Esias] van de Velde
• Jan van de Velde II

See the Abbreviations for further details.

A leading architect, designer, theorist, and educator in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Belgian-born Henry van de Velde was an influential figure in progressive circles. Although he first practised as a painter in Paris in the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist styles, in 1892 he abandoned painting to concentrate on architecture and design, fields in which he was strongly influenced by the writings of British design reformers John Ruskin and William Morris. His early design work was in the Art Nouveau style across a wide range of media including graphics, interiors, furniture, wallpapers, textiles, ceramics, and metalware, reflecting a belief in the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). Such an outlook was epitomized in the arts and crafts-influenced Villa Bloemenwerf in Uccle in Belgium, which he built for his family in 1895, his designs embracing all aspects of the project, even to the extent of clothing for his wife. Van de Velde's work soon became increasingly widely known, earning commissions for work in fashionable Parisian circles, including that of the art dealer Samuel Bing. He also came into contact with Julius Meier-Graefe, proprietor of the gallery La Maison Moderne and co-editor of the periodical Dekorative Kunst, the first issue of which was dedicated to van de Velde. After moving to Berlin in 1900, he was invited two years later to establish a new School of Applied Arts in Weimar, constructed between 1904 and 1911 and a predecessor of the Bauhaus. He was a founding member of the Deutscher Werkbund (DWB) in 1907 and subscribed to its mission of improving standards of design in German industry. However, van de Velde's commitment to the concept of individual artistic creativity was in distinct opposition to the more radical beliefs of fellow DWB member Hermann Muthesius, who sought to promote standardization as a key to the production of modern, economic quality design, their differences coming to a head in the ‘Standardization Debate’ at the 1914 DWB exhibition in Cologne for which van de Velde designed a theatre. On the outbreak of war in 1914 he resigned his post at the Weimar School of Applied Arts, moving to Switzerland in 1917 and then to Holland in 1920 where he carried out a number of commissions for the Kröller-Mullers, including the Kröler-Muller Museum at Otterloo (1936-8). In 1926 he had returned to Belgium where he held a number of educational posts. His later design projects included the interior design of the steamer Prince Baudouin (1934-6).