Candelabrum 1901

This candelabrum was created by Bruno Paul, a German artist who explored new ideas about design. Paul was an influential figure in the German Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Thinkers like Paul believed that industrialization was causing a decline in the quality of design, and they looked to pre-industrial societies for inspiration. The German Arts and Crafts movement saw the applied arts as a way to improve everyday life, believing that art could and should be both beautiful and functional. Here, the candelabrum is made from brass, a relatively cheap and easy-to-work-with material, which made it accessible to a wide range of people. The simple, geometric design reflects the functionalist spirit of the Arts and Crafts movement. To fully appreciate the candelabrum, we might look at the design reform movements of the time, and how these attempted to respond to the changing social and economic conditions of early 20th-century Europe.