Wolfgang Tümpel, Rare Silver Coffee Pot, Germany, 1928 Silver and ivory Halle, Germany, designed and manufactured in 1928 Wolfgang Tümpel (1903-1978) – German Bauhaus designer, goldsmith and teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg Wolfgang Tümpel workshop ‘Werkstatt für Gefäße, Schmuck, Beleuchtung’ (founded in Halle in 1927), produced in 1928 Exceptional and extremely rare coffee pot in typical Tümpel design Exhibition history: The Bauhaus-Masters and Students, Barry Friedman, New York , 1988; European Art Between The World Wars, Nassau County Museum of Art, New York, 2004. Height: 23.5 cm Very good condition Provenance: Private collection New York Works by Wolfgang Tümpel are extremely rare and – like this fantastic coffee pot – mostly unique pieces of art; creations by the designer are in the collections of major museums such as the Bröhan Museum in Berlin and the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Hamburg This silver coffee pot by Wolfgang Tümpel was created in 1928 and produced by the designer’s workshop in Halle, which had been founded a year earlier. The pot features an extraordinary design in Tümpel typical manner. The bulbous body, upon which rises a high, flared neck, rests on a round foot rim. An ivory finial crowns the flat lid. Wolfgang Tümpel has received numerous awards for his creations, which are characterized by a constantly evolving modern style. Today, works by Tümpel are a rarity. Thus the present coffee pot is also a unique piece of highest collector’s value. The silver pot has been exhibited in 1988 in the show „The Bauhaus - Masters and Students at Barry Friedman in New York, and was also shown in 2004 at the Nassau County Museum of Art in New York on the occasion of the exhibition ‘European Art Between The World Wars’. The coffee pot is in very good condition with only minor signs of use. The ivory shows minor wear consistent with age. The height is approx. 23.5 cm. Literature: The Bauhaus-Masters and Students, Barry Friedman Ltd., Exhibition Catalogue, New York , 1988, p. 102. Die Metallwerkstatt am Bauhaus, Bauhaus Archiv Museum für Gestaltung Berlin, Berlin 1992, p. 74. European Art Between The World Wars, Nassau County Museum of Art, Exhibition Catalogue, New York, 2004, p. 72. Wolfgang Tümpel (1896-1944) Wolfgang Tümpel (1896-1944) After training as a goldsmith in Bielefeld while studying at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Wolfgang Tümpel switched to the Bauhaus in Weimar in 1922. When the Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau, Tümpel, along with Wilhelm Wagenfeld and others, left the school. He followed his teacher and friend Gerhard Marcks to Halle/Saale, where he continued his training as a silversmith at the Burg Giebichenstein Kunstgewerbeschule. Being both a goldsmith and silversmith, he was also a pioneering industrial designer, offering standardized designs for mass production. Wolfgang Tümpel's elegant and functional designs unite the formal language of Bauhaus with the standardization principles advocated by Burg Giebichenstein. Living by the slogan 'modern but not modish', he never settled on a single style but rather created functional designs often based on volumetric forms that were suitable for industrial mass production. Bauhaus The 'Staatliches Bauhaus', generally known as Bauhaus, was an influential avant-garde art school of the decorative arts and design as well as fine arts, architecture and theater that existed in Germany between 1919 and 1933. The founder Walter Gropius believed that the foundation for any form of art was to be found in handcraft, ultimately aiming to remove any distinction between fine arts and applied arts. However new demands arose that could not be satisfied solely with handcraft. Walter Gropius recognized the need to divert the attention towards mass production and thus the Bauhaus changed its program in 1923 to art and technology, which later became the school’s image. The school was situated in three different cities: Weimar from 1919 to 1925, Dessau from 1925 to 1932 and Berlin 1932 to 1933 under the leadership of three different directors: Walter Gropius the founder, in Weimar and partly in Dessau 1919 to 1928, Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930 in Dessau and Mies van der Rohe 1930 to 1933 partly in Dessau and later in Berlin. The three different locations also represent three different stages in the development of the Bauhaus. Founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919 the foundation of the school was very much based on arts and crafts and applied arts mixed with fine arts and theater. Important artists from this period were Josef Itten, Lyonel Feininger, Gerhard Marcks, Oskar Schlemmer, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. In 1922 the de Stijl movement entered into the life of the Bauhaus with influential leaders of the movement such as the Dutch painter Theo van Doesburg and the Russian constructivist El Lissitzky. From 1919 to 1922 Josef Itten taught the “Vorkurs” (Germany for ‘preliminary course’) introducing the new students to the concept of the Bauhaus. Itten was strongly influenced by the Blaue Reiter group in Munich. After his resignation the Hungarian designer Laszlo Moholy-Nagy continued teaching the Vorkurs, as well as operating as leader of the metal workshop. Later in 1928 Moholy-Nagy’s most talented student Marianne Brandt took over the metal workshop. In the tradition of the school’s variety there were many different workshops which were run by former students who became junior masters. Herbert Bayer was in charge of the typography workshop, Marcel Breuer of the joinery workshop, Hinnerk Scheper was head of the mural painting workshop, Joost Schmidt taught the sculpture workshop and Gunta Stoelzl ran the weaving workshop. Another important and one of the Bauhaus’s first workshops was the ceramic workshop which started out in Dornburg at the workshop of the master potter Max Krehan. Theodor Bogler was instrumental when the pottery workshop made a technological leap in 1923 by moving from the potters wheel to ceramic casting, prototypes for serial production were being made here. Bogler’s famous “Kombinations Teekanne” (German for ‘combination teapot’), which was based on the modular design principle, represents the ultimate example of the industrial approach to pottery at the Bauhaus. Other workshops at the Bauhaus were the theater workshop; stone and wood sculpture workshop and the carpentry workshop. In 1925 the Bauhaus moved to Dessau. This signified a radical change in style moving towards a futuristic international style. New workshops were formed here such as the photographic workshop taught by Walter Peterhans, which formed part of the advertising workshop. The Bauhaus wallpapers were designed in the mural paintings workshop and were an important commercial success for the Bauhaus. After Gropius’ resignation in 1928 Hannes Meyer, a radical functionalist, became the new Bauhaus director. The school was forced to close and moved to Berlin in 1932. After a short existence inBerlin from 1932 to 1933 the artistic output of Bauhaus was declared as ‘degenerate art’ by the Nazis and forced to close. The director Mies van der Rohe as well as many other Bauhaus students and teachers immigrated to America where the philosophy of the Bauhaus continued to spread and the influence of the short-lived establishment is still strong today. The objects are located in the United States. Please be aware that the export can only be done after the sale, the shipping can take up to four months. EN Export: “Shipping costs excl. statutory VAT and plus 2,5% (+VAT) shipping insurance” Strarting Bid: 10000