Press release April 5, 2022
Exhibition about design pioneer Christa Ehrlich at Museum De Lakenhal
From 13 May – 28 August 2022, the exhibition *Christa Ehrlich – Pioneer of Design *will be on view at Museum De Lakenhal. This exhibition will introduce visitors to designer Christa Ehrlich, who one hundred years ago moved from Austria to the Netherlands and has enriched the history of Dutch design. In 1927, she moved to the Netherlands and designed pioneering modern silverware at the Zilverfabriek Voorschoten. In the years that followed, she created an oeuvre all of her own, with Viennese influences. The recent discovery of her private archive is the impetus for the exhibition.
Experimental and versatile
Designer Christa Ehrlich (1903-1995), who was born in Vienna, became well-known in the 1920s and ’30s for her striking, elegant silverware. In her twenties, she quickly made a name for herself in Vienna before moving to the so-called Zilverfabriek (Silver Factory) of Van Kempen, Begeer & Vos (K.N.E.B.) in Voorschoten. There she experimented with modernist design and the language of the machine, creating objects that offered a striking contrast to the classic silverware being produced at that time.
Christa Ehrlich was versatile. In other designs, she incorporated lush decorative forms and motifs. Here one can see the influence of her time at the Wiener Werkstätte, a production community of visual artists in Vienna.
Besides silver objects - from croquette spoon to coffee pot - fashion drawings, wallpaper and ceramics by her hand can be admired in this exhibition. Attention is also paid to the two worlds in which she worked: the creative climate in Vienna and Zilverfabriek Voorschoten.
Special discovery
The impetus for the exhibition is the recent discovery by guest curator Annemieke Houben of Ehrlich’s personal archive , including designs, photographs and documents. These shed new light on Ehrlich’s network and working methods. Houben also found objects from the Wiener Werkstätte in the estate of Carel Begeer, general manager of the company behind the silver factory.
In this exhibiton, the recently discovered archive and works from the other collections, such as that of the Dutch Silver Museum Schoonhoven form an important addition to Museum De Lakenhal’s collection. This already contains several works produced at the Zilverfabriek in nearby Voorschoten, the place where Ehrlich’s experimental designs were put into production.
Woman in a man’s world
Tanja Elstgeest, Director of Museum De Lakenhal, explains how Ehrlich’s life story provides a wonderful insight into developments in design in the first half of the twentieth century: ‘She is representative of the pioneering and experimental spirit that contributed to what we now call the creative industries. This makes Ehrlich, who didn’t shy away from climbing ladders in overalls, an inspiring role model – both as a designer and as a woman in a man’s world.’
NOTE FOR THE PRESS, NOT FOR PUBLICATION For more information, contact Harriot Voncken, PR & Online Communication, via h.voncken@lakenhal.nl or +31 (0)6-34 36 41 91.
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