Marianne Brandt
Paper tray1931

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 1

No image

Designer: Marianne Brandt
Germany, 1893-1983
Manufacturer: Ruppelwerk Metallwarenfabrik
Germany
Title: Paper tray
Date Made: 1931
Medium: Aluminum-maganese-iron alloy and black enamel; nickel-coated steel (ball)
Dimensions: 1 5/8 × 5 1/8 × 5 7/8 in. (4.13 × 13.02 × 14.92 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the 2024 Decorative Arts and Design Acquisitions Committee (DA²) with additional support from Suzanne Kayne
Accession Number: M.2024.105.2
Classification: Tools and Equipment
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: Marianne Brandt was one of the most important product designers in interwar Germany, and this paper tray represents her aspirations for well-designed, affordable, mass-produced goods. Brandt enrolled in 1924 at the Bauhaus, where she created one of her most famous objects, an ashtray (M.2024.105.1). Her massing of simple, geometric forms amenable to commercial production so exemplified the Bauhaus ideal of creating modern goods for a modern world that they became symbolic of the school itself. After leaving the Bauhaus in 1929, Brandt served as head designer at the metalware factory Ruppelwerk in the town of Gotha in central Germany. There she completely revamped the product line, creating, among other objects, this paper tray. Like the ashtray, it is a construction of geometric shapes in which the spherical weight contrasts with the flat planes of the tray itself. At Ruppelwerk, Brandt implemented the Bauhaus ideals of functional design accessible to a broad audience. Together, the 1924 Bauhaus ashtray and the 1931 Ruppelwerk paper tray demonstrate the theoretical and practical goals of modernist design philosophy.

Bobbye Tigerman

2024

Marianne Brandt
Paper tray1931

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 1

No image

Designer: Marianne Brandt
Germany, 1893-1983
Manufacturer: Ruppelwerk Metallwarenfabrik
Germany
Title: Paper tray
Date Made: 1931
Medium: Aluminum-maganese-iron alloy and black enamel; nickel-coated steel (ball)
Dimensions: 1 5/8 × 5 1/8 × 5 7/8 in. (4.13 × 13.02 × 14.92 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the 2024 Decorative Arts and Design Acquisitions Committee (DA²) with additional support from Suzanne Kayne
Accession Number: M.2024.105.2
Classification: Tools and Equipment
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: Marianne Brandt was one of the most important product designers in interwar Germany, and this paper tray represents her aspirations for well-designed, affordable, mass-produced goods. Brandt enrolled in 1924 at the Bauhaus, where she created one of her most famous objects, an ashtray (M.2024.105.1). Her massing of simple, geometric forms amenable to commercial production so exemplified the Bauhaus ideal of creating modern goods for a modern world that they became symbolic of the school itself. After leaving the Bauhaus in 1929, Brandt served as head designer at the metalware factory Ruppelwerk in the town of Gotha in central Germany. There she completely revamped the product line, creating, among other objects, this paper tray. Like the ashtray, it is a construction of geometric shapes in which the spherical weight contrasts with the flat planes of the tray itself. At Ruppelwerk, Brandt implemented the Bauhaus ideals of functional design accessible to a broad audience. Together, the 1924 Bauhaus ashtray and the 1931 Ruppelwerk paper tray demonstrate the theoretical and practical goals of modernist design philosophy.

Bobbye Tigerman

2024