Biedermeier was an influential style of furniture design
from Germany during the years 1815–1848, based on utilitarian principles. The
period extended into Scandinavia, as disruptions due to numerous states that
made up the German nation were not unified by rule from Berlin until 1871.
These post-Biedermeier struggles, influenced by historicism, created their own
styles. Throughout the period, emphasis was kept upon clean lines and minimal
ornamentation. As the period progressed, however, the style moved from the
early rebellion against Romantic-era fussiness to increasingly ornate
commissions by a rising middle class, eager to show their newfound wealth. The
idea of clean lines and utilitarian postures would resurface in the 20th
century, continuing into the present day. Middle- to late-Biedermeier furniture
design represents a heralding towards historicism and revival eras long sought
for. Social forces originating in France would change the artisan-patron system
that achieved this period of design, first in the Germanic states and, then,
into Scandinavia. The middle class growth originated in the English industrial
revolution and many Biedermeier designs owe their simplicity to Georgian lines
of the 19th century, as the proliferation of design publications reached the
loose Germanic states and the Austro-Hungarian empire.
The Biedermeier style was a simplified interpretation of the
influential French Empire Style of Napoleon I, which introduced the romance of
ancient Roman Empire styles, adapting these to modern early 19th-century
households. Biedermeier furniture used locally available materials such as
cherry, ash and oak woods rather than the expensive timbers such as fully
imported mahogany. Whilst this timber was available near trading ports such as
Antwerp, Hamburg and Stockholm, it was taxed heavily whenever it passed through
another principality. This made mahogany very expensive to use and much local
cherry and pearwood was stained to imitate the more expensive timbers.
Stylistically, the furniture was simple and elegant. Its construction utilised
the ideal of truth through material, something that later influenced the
Bauhaus and Art Deco periods.
Many unique designs were created in Vienna, primarily
because a young apprentice was examined on his use of material, construction,
originality of design, and quality of cabinet work, before being admitted to
the league of approved master cabinetmakers. Furniture from the earlier period
(1815–1830) was the most severe and neoclassical in inspiration. It also
supplied the most fantastic forms which the second half of the period
(1830–1848) lacked, being influenced by the many style publications from
England. Biedermeier furniture was the first style in the world that emanated
from the growing middle class. It preceded Victoriana and influenced mainly
Germanic-speaking countries. In Sweden, Marshal Bernadotte, whom Napoleon
appointed as ambassador to Sweden to sideline his ambitions, abandoned his
support for Napoleon in a shrewd political move. Later, after being adopted by
the last Vasa king of Sweden (who was childless), he became Sweden's new king
Karl Johan. The Swedish Karl Johan style, similar to Biedermeier, retained its
elegant and blatantly Napoleonic style throughout the 19th century.
Biedermeier furniture and lifestyle was a focus on
exhibitions at the Vienna applied arts museum in 1896. The many visitors to
this exhibition were so influenced by this fantasy style and its elegance that
a new resurgence or revival period became popular amongst European
cabinetmakers. This revival period lasted up until the Art Deco style was taken
up. Biedermeier also influenced the various Bauhaus styles through their truth
in material philosophy.
The original Biedermeier period changed with the political
unrests of 1845–1848 (its end date). With the revolutions in European
historicism, furniture of the later years of the period took on a distinct
Wilhelminian or Victorian style.
The term Biedermeier is also used to refer to a style of
clock made in Vienna in the early nineteenth century. The clean and simple
lines included a light and airy aesthetic, especially in Viennese regulators of
the Lanterndluhr and Dachluhr styles.
by Amitabh Bachhawat/ http://www.artnewsnviews.com/view-article.php?article=biedermeier-style-biedermeier-furniture&iid=16&articleid=358www.
It was through a political caricature appearing in a German
newspaper in the late 1840s who typified a well to do middle class man without
culture, the term Biedermeier originated. Two German writers, Ludwig Eichrodt
and Adolf Kussmaul named it after the typically bourgeois style of the period -
Gottfried Biedermeier - with Gott meaning God; fried meaning peace; Bieder
meaning commonplace and meier meaning steward. It wasn't called Biedermeier
until 1886, when Georg Hirth wrote a book about 19th-century interior design,
and used the word Biedermeier to describe domestic German furniture of the
1820s and 1830s. Like most styles, it did not have a name while it was being
made, but was only given one after it had been and gone. The term Biedermeier
is often wrongly assumed to be the name of a cabinetmaker or designer of the
period. During the late 1840s in Austria and Germany, the preceding era
(1815-1848) was subject to a barrage of satire, which finally led to the very
furniture being mocked.
Biedermeier refers to work of literature, music, the visual
arts and furniture in the period between the years 1815 (Vienna Congress), the
end of the Napoleonic Wars, and 1848, the year of the European revolutions and
contrasts with the Romantic era which followed it. It was the age of the
Austrian Chancellor Metternich Prince Metternich, whose diplomacy and influence
dominated much of the post-Napoleonic period. It was a period of conservative
politics in reaction to the horrors and chaos of the French Revolution and
Napoleons wide-reaching conquests. Liberalism and popular movements were
suppressed. It was the heyday of the secret police. But it was also a time of
great creativity. Great names like Beethoven, Schubert, Johann Strauss the
Elder and Joseph Lanner dominated the Viennese music scene. Despite censorship,
theatre and literature flourished. [1] It saw growing industrialization and the
resulting migration from rural to largely urban life. How furniture design can
reflect great historical events is provided by the emergence of the Biedermeier
style after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815. The mood of the people of
Europe changed - and the style of the furniture altered dramatically to match
this mood. As Napoleon had conquered most Europe, the pompous, magnificent
Empire style with its grand, monumental mahogany furniture had become extremely
fashionable, and palaces and houses were accordingly redecorated throughout the
continent. But after Napoleon's final defeat, Europe settled down to a long
period of peace. The middle classes, who were prospering, wanted a simpler
style, which could be functional as well as beautiful. This style, later known
as Biedermeier, is essentially Empire furniture shorn of its ormolu mounts,
excessive gilding and aggressive self-importance. Its original geometric shape
often leads it to being described as the forerunner of modern furniture.
The Biedermeier furniture style is inspired by the French
Empire style with modification by incorporating local German traditions
particularly old peasant furniture. It is simple and elegant, consisting of
clean smooth lines and honest, functional form. The pieces are generally
designed on a small scale with graceful and elegant forms, devoid of
unnecessary embellishment. Biedermeier furniture craftsman eschewed most forms
of ornament, preferring simplicity. When there is ornamentation such as carving
there is little detail in the work, although by around 1830 more detailed
carving became prevalent. The main decorative motifs employed by the
Biedermeier era craftsmen included simple forms of swans, sphinx, dolphins,
lion paws, acanthus, lyres, and garlands. Early pieces were traditionally
crafted from dark mahogany woods with a tendency towards Empire styling. In
later years, Biedermeier furniture was generally fashioned from lighter woods
such as birch, grained ash, pear and cherry, and exhibited a clearly more
whimsical styling. In the middle class homes the furniture was designed
according to the uses of day to day activities like writing, sewing and music,
--each characterized by a different furniture, and quite deliberately separated
from the others. This furniture was placed in the same living room in different
corners or even the same furniture had a multi use, this concept created the
Wohninsel, or the 'living island'.
Prior to 1830, mahogany appeared in Biedermeier furniture
and gradually replaced walnut. The adoption of this imported wood, which was
often given a light finish, caused some craftsmen to apply matching stains and
finishes to pieces made in walnut, pear wood, and Hungarian 'watered' ash. The
Viennese craftsmen no longer relied on the French, German and Italian designers
for inspiration.
Native products based upon Directoire and Empire designs
were highly original, showing a good understanding of form, balance and the use
of ornament in gilded bronze. Local timber was used for economy, especially
walnut veneer over a soft wood frame. Inlay served as the main decorative
element, featuring the patterned graining of walnut and often reduced to a
light-colored border. Sometimes, craftsmen used black poplar or bird's eye
maple and colored woods such as cherry and pear became popular. Cabinetmakers
decorated their furniture with black or gold paint, and often employed less
expensive stamped brass wreaths and festoons rather than bronze for decorative
effect and gilded wooden stars instead of the elaborate metal ornaments of the
Empire style. Sometimes, they chose cheaper, new materials such as pressed
paper. The Biedermeier era produced a wealth of different types of seating,
with a myriad of variations on the basic scheme of four legs, a seat, and a
back. From 1815-1835, Biedermeier craftsmen discovered that a chair could be
given literally hundreds of different shapes. Upholsterers padded their
creations with horse-hair and covered them with brightly colored velvet and
calico. Pleated fabrics covered furniture, walls, ceilings, and alcoves. By the
1840s the Biedermeier style became romanticizedstraight lines became curved and
serpentine; simple surfaces became more and more embellished beyond the natural
materials; humanistic form became more fantastic; and textures became
experimental.
The most prominent furniture designer of the Biedermeier
period was Josef Dannhauser (d1830) who produced important pieces of the same
style. He had a factory in Vienna (from 1804) with nearly 350 workers producing
furniture, sculpture and interior decoration. He made some remarkable Empire
furniture for the Austrian Imperial family. For the middle classes he produced
many pieces in the Biedermeier style; there are about 2,500 drawings in the
Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst (the Museum of Applied Arts), as
well as numerous printed catalogues with his furniture designs. Biedermeier
furniture is not an individual movement, but rather as a series of ideas
stretching from Vienna to Stockholm, encompassing most of the German speaking
lands, Scandinavia, Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. There was at
tradition in the early nineteenth century that the craftsmen travelled around
Europe seeking work, which greatly facilitated the spread of ideas.
These ideas combined with regional variation produced some
interesting examples of furniture in the same style. South Germany and Austria
produced pieces quite unlike those made in Berlin after the designs of Karl
Friedrich von Schinkel (1781-1841), the great Prussian architect and designer.
North Germany and Denmark were different again. Hamburg in North Germany,
Copenhagen in Denmark and Gothenburg on Sweden's west coast all had close
trading links with Britain, so the furniture in these regions often shows the
strong influence of the English Regency style. In Sweden this furniture is
usually known by the name Carl Johan after the monarch of the time, Carl XIV
Johan (1818-1844). The term Biedermeier is less frequently used in Sweden. One
noteworthy Swedish feature is the popularity of the native Scandinavian blond
woods, especially birch. After the World War II, there was an upsurge in the
popularity of the Biedermeier furniture in Britain and America. In continental
Europe, however, they have exerted a virtually continuous influence upon
architects and designers since their rediscovery at the end of the nineteenth
century. During this period, the furniture came back into fashion throughout
Germany, Austria and Scandinavia and considerable quantities of Biedermeier
Revival furniture was made. -
In the early years of twentieth's century it began to
influence Josef Hoffmann, the Bauhaus school, Art Deco, Le Corbusier and
others. In 1979 the Victoria and Albert Museum staged an important exhibition
called Vienna in the Age of Schubert, which introduced the British public to
the specific style. Biedermeier today in the US and Britain is an urban style
for modern people. New York designers and decorators led the trend before the
Europeans rediscovered the style: New York and Chicago are the main centers for
the style today. In Britain the Biedermeier furniture is majorly found in
London. Biedermeier's subtle appeal lies in its simplicity, which is so easily
combined with both Art Deco and contemporary furniture, creating a relaxed mood
and informal atmosphere, unlike the many antique styles, which demand a more
formal setting. Today, the style is increasingly popular. The world's renowned
architects such as Robert Venturi, Charles Jenks, Michael Graves and Milo
Baughman have rediscovered its beauty. As a result, these architects are using
Biedermeier design as the inspiration for their own lines of contemporary
furniture. "Biedermeier furniture is gaining a greater appreciation among
today's interiors, as these pieces are especially well suited for our modern
homes. With petite proportions, Biedermeier work well in small spaces and
fulfill our desire for furniture that is both functional and beautiful." -
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