Bruno Paul

Biography

Posters, illustrations, publicity, architecture, industrial design, interior design, tapestries. Born 19 January 1874 in Seifhennersdorf, Saxony. 1886-94: trained at Dresden Kunstgewerbeschule. 1894-7: trained at the Munich Akademie under Paul Höcker and Wilhelm von Diez. 1896-1900: drawings published in the journal Jugend. 1897-1907: drawings published in the satirical journal Simplicissimus. 1898: co-founded the Vereinigte Werkstätten für Kunst im Handwerk (United workshops for art in crafts) with Peter Behrens, Richard Riemerschmid, Hermann Obrist and Bernhard Pankok; influenced by English Arts and Crafts movement. By 1904: working as architect and interior designer. 1907: one of the founders of the Deutscher Werkbund; appointed head of the Teaching Institute of the Staatliche Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin (Arts and Crafts Museum School), continuing to practice privately (one of his young employees was Mies van der Rohe). By 1907: member of the Berlin Akademie der Künste, department of fine arts. 1910: designed conservatory (‘Gartenhaus’) for the Brussels World’s Fair (with murals by Emil Rudolf Weiss). By 1914: designed buildings for the Werkbund Exhibition. April 1915-October 1920: major contributor to Wieland, a weekly art and literary journal (profits to the German Red Cross) with many illustrations and stories ranging from ladies’ fashions to the German soldier in combat: contributors included Weiss, Behrens, Lyonel Feininger, Hermann Hesse, Emil Orlik, Hermann Bahr, among others; Paul was initially the Editor. 1924-33: founder and director of the Berlin Vereinigten Staatsschulen für freie und angewandte Kunst (Union of National Colleges for Free and Applied Art; now Universität der Künste) where the study of all the visual arts were available to every student. By 1926 he had designed room interiors for Macy’s department store, New York, and, by 1929, the thoroughly modern department store, Kaufhaus Sinn, in Gelsenkirchen.

November 1933: ordered to retire by the Nazis, he then concentrated on interior decoration and furniture design, and worked as a private architect, designing luxurious interiors for ocean liners, castles, company headquarters. July 1937: forced by the Nazis to give up his membership of the Prussian Academy of Arts of which he had been a member for 30 years.

Awards: Grand Prix, Paris International Exhibition, 1900; Grand Prix, St Louis Exhibition, 1904; Gold Medal for Art, Dresden, 1906; Commander’s Cross, Order of Merit, Federal Republic of Germany, 1954; Honorary Member, Akademie der bildenden Künste, Berlin. Paul was a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts, Berlin, and the Academy of Arts, Berlin. Died 17 August 1968 in Berlin.

Writings by

  • ‘Über Dekorationsmalerei’ (on the work of E.R. Weiss at the ‘Gartenhaus’, 1910), Wasmuths Monatshefte für Baukunst, April 1914, pp. 27-30
  • ‘Passagierdampfer und ihre Einrichtungen’, in Der Verkehr. Jahrbuch deutschen Werkbundes 1914, Jena: Diederichs, 1914, pp. 55-8
  • ‘Architektur und Kunstgewerbe nach dem Kriege’, Wieland, May 1917, pp. 17-18
  • ‘Kriegergräber im Osten’ (war graves), Jahrbuch des Deutschen Werkbundes, 1917, pp. 9-10 (repr. from Wieland)
  • Erziehung der Künstler an staatlichen Schulen, Berlin, 1919
  • contribution in Alexander Koch (ed.), Handbuch neuzeitlicher Wohnungskultur, Darmstadt, 1921
    • ‘Reise-Bericht über New York’, Die Form, 1928, v. 8, pp. 247-53 ‘Schwimmende Hotels’, Die Form, 1928, v. 14, pp. 400-4 (interiors)
  • Walter Amstutz (ed.), Who’s Who in Graphic Art, Zurich: Amstutz & Herdeg Graphis Press, 1962. , 1962, see also p. 569.

Writings about

  • Munzinger Archiv [QUERY]
  • www.museumderdinge.de/werkbund_archiv.
  • Paul’s work frequently appeared in Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, journal of art, architecture, interior decoration.
  • A comprehensive reference is Ziffer and Drebusch, 1992 (see below). Examples of Paul’s architecture (at the Brussels World’s Fair and at the Werkbund Exhibition) can be found in Wasmuths Monatshefte für Baukunst, April 1914.
  • 1901-69: Otto Grautoff, Moderne Buchkunst in Deutschland, Leipzig: Seeman, 1901, esp. pp. 41, 44, 61
  • Kunstgewerbeblatt, 1907, pp. 3-7 (architecture), 234, 237, 240 (interior design for the ‘Kronprinzessin Cecile’)
  • Joseph August Lux, ‘Bruno Paul’, Das neue Kunstgewerbe in Deutschland, Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1908, pp. 137-43
  • Moderne Schiffsräume des Norddeutschen Lloyd. Nach Entwürfen von Bruno Paul, RAS und F.U.O. Krüger, Munich: Bruckmann, 1908 (repr. in Dekorative Kunst, Jan. 1908, pp. 145-8)
  • Aloys Fischer, ‘Das Musikzimmer’ (music room), Kunstgewerbeblatt, 1910-11, pp. 181-91
  • F. Hellwag, ‘Berliner Schmiedarbeiten (metalwork exh.), Kunstgewerbeblatt, 1911-12, pp. 125-7
  • Sonja Günther, ‘Bruno Paul und Köln 1914’, in Der westdeutsche Impuls 1900-1914 Die Deutsche Werkbund-Ausstellung, Cöln 1914, Cologne: Kölnischer Kunstverein, 1984, pp. 169-73
  • photos of the Gelben (Yellow) Hause, Kunstgewerbeblatt, 1915-16, pp. 21, 23, 25, 37, 53, 55
  • Josef Popp, Bruno Paul (designs for houses and interiors), Munich: Bruckmann, 1916
  • F.H. Ehmcke, ‘Wahrzeichen – Warenzeichen’ (trademarks), Das Plakat, Feb. 1921, pp. 69-100
  • article in Handbuch neuzeitlicher Wohnungskultur, Darmstadt, 1921
  • ‘Neue Baukunst im Industriegebiet’, Das Kunstblatt, Oct. 1929, pp. 300-311 (includes Kaufhaus Sinn)
  • Die Form, 1932, p. 318 (tram design)
  • Das Bayerland, 1935
  • F. Ahlers-Hestermann (introduction), Bruno Paul oder die Wucht des Komischen, Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1960 (Simplicissimus illustrations 1897-1906)
  • Dagny Gulbransson-Björnson, Olaf Gulbransson. Sein Leben, Neske, 1967
  • 1970-present: S. Günther, Interieurs um 1900/Bernhard Pankok, Bruno Paul und Richard Riemerschmid als Mitarbeiter der Vereinigten Werkstätten für Kunst im Handwerk, Munich: Fink, 1971 (includes chronological biography, exhibitions)
    • Lothar Lang, ‘Bruno Paul als Buchgraphiker’, Marginalien, 1974, no. 54, pp. 34-41 (includes bibliography of illustrated books, 1897-1910)
  • Carla Schulz-Hofmann, Bruno Paul. Ein Zeichner des Simplicissimus, Tegernsee: Olaf Gulbransson Museum, 1980
  • Alfred Ziffer, Thomas Drebusch and others, Bruno Paul. Deutsche Raumkunst und Architektur zwischen Jugendstil und Moderne (exh. cat.), Munich: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1992 (includes bibliography and list of exhibitions)
  • S. Günther, Bruno Paul, Berlin: Mann, 1992 (includes writings, and extensive Lit.)
  • A. Ziffer, C. De Rentils, Bruno Paul und die Deutschen Werkstätten, Hellerau-Dresden, 1993
  • Sabine Röder, Moderne Baukunst 1900-14 (exh. cat. of architectural photo collection), Krefeld: Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Hagen: Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum, Berlin: Werkbund-Archiv, 1993, esp. photos 184-91
  • Helga Gutbrod (and others), 100 Jahre Simplicissimus (exh. cat.), Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen and Olaf Gulbransson Museum, 1996 (Paul: pp. 96-7
  • includes history and biblio. on Simplicissimus)
  • Andreas Strobl, Barbara Palmbach, Bruno Paul: Simplicissimus (exh. cat.), Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich, 2002
  • Benezit, 2006 (includes auction records, 1976 and 1982)
  • Michael Fehr and Gerhard Storck, Deutsches Museum für Kunst in Handel und Gewerbe 1909-1919 (exh. cat.), Kaiser Wilhelm Museum Krefeld and Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum der Stadt Hagen, publisher: Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon, Ghent, 1997., 1997 (see ‘Buchgewerbe’ index)
  • Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie, Munich, London, New Providence: K.G. Saur 1995- (from 1997: Munich only)., 1998

Exhibitions

  • (see Günther, 1971, and Ziffer, 1992, for full list)
  • Paris International Exhibition, 1900
  • St Louis Exhibition, 1904
  • Wilhelm Busch Museum, Hannover, 1964 (group)
  • Stadtmuseum, Munich, 1992
  • Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, 2002.