DOI Heft:
Nr. 207 (June 1910)
DOI Artikel:Studio-talk
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20970#0087
Shidio-Talk
“TWO marabous” (drawing)
BY MARGARETE RABES
BERLIN.—'The chessmen of Willi
Wunderwald and the three articles by
Prof. Ernst Riegel of Darmstadt, of
which illustrations accompany these
notes, figured among other interesting examples
of modern German metal work at an exhi-
bition held not long ago at the Konigliche
Kunstgewerbe Museum. This display afforded
convincing evidence of the substantial progress
which our craftsmen have achieved in this domain.
Especially welcome were the signs it gave of the
increasing co-operation of the architect
and artist with the craftsman and the
larger share of appreciation which now
falls to the lot of the individual worker.
Commercial products are finding less
and less favour with the public, while
good handiwork and personal utterance
are preferred to machine-wrought per-
fection and the frigidity of classical
styles. But as these craftsmen are wise
enough to base their knowledge on
tradition, we are often able to admire
a happy compromise between the old
and the new tendencies. There were
a good many exhibits in the exhibition
referred to which failed to give satis-
faction through excessive elaborateness
of style and over - decoration that recalled de-
generate Gothic or Barock inventions, but on the
whole the principle of constructiveness and sim-
plicity was triumphant. Ornamentation and deco-
ration were by no means absent. On the contrary,
they were conspicuous in the contributions of
some prominent workers, but more in response
to architectural considerations, their aim being
beauty rather than display.
The chessmen of Willi Wunderwald, a Diissel-
dorf painter, embody a particularly happy solution
of the problem of combining solidity and comfort
with beauty in such articles. If we compare this
modem work with the old style of figure, the
superiority of present-day craftwork becomes evi-
dent. In the past the pieces were either so com-
plicated that their touch was disagreeable, or they
were like figures cut out of cork. Wunderwald
has for the first time made the rules of the game
determine the construction of the base of each
piece. For his king and queen this is circular, as
they can move in all directions. The base of the
bishop accentuates the diagonal line, and that of the
knight its varying movements ; the castle is mounted
on a square, and the pawn who moves straight, but
takes in the diagonal line, is on a trapezium. The
compactness and massiveness of the early middle-
age style correspond perfectly with the character
of the game. The figures are executed in silver
or silver-gilt, and they are ornamented with opal-
enamel and rubies.
Professor Riegel’s metal work betrays not only
the sterling training of the technician, but also the
imaginative faculty of the real artist. Remi-
niscences of classical styles prove that he has made
“TWO marabous” (drawing)
BY MARGARETE RABES
BERLIN.—'The chessmen of Willi
Wunderwald and the three articles by
Prof. Ernst Riegel of Darmstadt, of
which illustrations accompany these
notes, figured among other interesting examples
of modern German metal work at an exhi-
bition held not long ago at the Konigliche
Kunstgewerbe Museum. This display afforded
convincing evidence of the substantial progress
which our craftsmen have achieved in this domain.
Especially welcome were the signs it gave of the
increasing co-operation of the architect
and artist with the craftsman and the
larger share of appreciation which now
falls to the lot of the individual worker.
Commercial products are finding less
and less favour with the public, while
good handiwork and personal utterance
are preferred to machine-wrought per-
fection and the frigidity of classical
styles. But as these craftsmen are wise
enough to base their knowledge on
tradition, we are often able to admire
a happy compromise between the old
and the new tendencies. There were
a good many exhibits in the exhibition
referred to which failed to give satis-
faction through excessive elaborateness
of style and over - decoration that recalled de-
generate Gothic or Barock inventions, but on the
whole the principle of constructiveness and sim-
plicity was triumphant. Ornamentation and deco-
ration were by no means absent. On the contrary,
they were conspicuous in the contributions of
some prominent workers, but more in response
to architectural considerations, their aim being
beauty rather than display.
The chessmen of Willi Wunderwald, a Diissel-
dorf painter, embody a particularly happy solution
of the problem of combining solidity and comfort
with beauty in such articles. If we compare this
modem work with the old style of figure, the
superiority of present-day craftwork becomes evi-
dent. In the past the pieces were either so com-
plicated that their touch was disagreeable, or they
were like figures cut out of cork. Wunderwald
has for the first time made the rules of the game
determine the construction of the base of each
piece. For his king and queen this is circular, as
they can move in all directions. The base of the
bishop accentuates the diagonal line, and that of the
knight its varying movements ; the castle is mounted
on a square, and the pawn who moves straight, but
takes in the diagonal line, is on a trapezium. The
compactness and massiveness of the early middle-
age style correspond perfectly with the character
of the game. The figures are executed in silver
or silver-gilt, and they are ornamented with opal-
enamel and rubies.
Professor Riegel’s metal work betrays not only
the sterling training of the technician, but also the
imaginative faculty of the real artist. Remi-
niscences of classical styles prove that he has made