Description
Green lacquered steel, brass, glass
l. circa 115 cm
One of the most important icons in the history of industrial design.
Peter Behrens was commissioned by AEG in 1907 to create a new
design for the historical arc lamps. There is a broad consensus that
Behren’s new arc lamp design marks the beginning of a new era
known today as industrial design.
For some reasons only a few arc lamps have survived. Only five
examples are known, four in original state in a private collection,
a fifth copy in Deutsches Technik Museum, Berlin, however, this
example is patched together from two arc lamp ruins, totally restored.
Marks
not marked
Provenance
Collection Michael Kasparek, Berlin;
private collection, Netherlands
Public collections
Deutsches Technik Museum Berlin
Literature
Tilman Budensieg, Henning Rogge, Formgestaltung für die Industrie.
Peter Behrens und die Bogenlampen der AEG, in: Von Morris zum Bauhaus.
Eine Kunst gegründet auf Einfachheit, Darmstadt 1977, pag. 124;
Tilman Budensieg, Henning Rogge, Industriekultur. Peter Behrens
und die AEG 1907 - 1914, second edition October 1880, Berlin 1880,
pag. D 140 - D 153;
Michael Kasparek/Sabine Röck, Peter Behrens’ Sparbogenlampe.
Betrachtung einer Ikone des Industriedesigns, in: unbedingt modern sein.
elektrizität und zeitgeist um 1900, Osnabrück 2001, pag. 136 - 145
Sabine Röck, Die Behrens-Lampe des Deutschen Technikmuseums
Berlin - Die Geschichte einer Odyssee, in: Sabine Röck, Die Behrens-
Lampe. Die große Sparbogenlampe der AEG, published by Deutsches
Technikmuseum Berlin 2003, pag. 36 - 42