Collection

Milan Triennale

  • Date 1957
  • Address Milan (Italy)

Charles Vandenhove and Lucien Kroll’s participation in the 11the Milan Triennale marked the last collaboration between the two architects. Since their training, the two men had developed a keen interest in industrial design, which had led to them being appointed to oversee the Industrial Design exhibition at the Liège Fair in 1956. That exhibition had turned Charles Vandenhove’s life on its head when he met Jeanne, his future wife, who was then working as a secretary at the Fair. It was on the strength of this highly acclaimed contribution that the two architects were warmly recommended to be the architects for the 11th Milan Triennale. The exhibition space, a quarter-circle, is organised into different sections. The architects establish links between architecture and natural forms. As Lucien Kroll points out: ‘To analyse the fundamental principles of architecture or industrial design, one must show that form is merely the outward manifestation of an internal and external organisation, and first and foremost present the forms found in nature. ’ X-rays of a flower and its stems by Kessel thus accompany a selection of objects such as furniture by Jules Wabbes, designs by Pierre Caille and Val Saint-Lambert, and Olivier Strebelle’s sculpture of the Bayard Horse. Another highlight of the exhibition is the column that the architect first installed in Eupen, then reproduced for the Liège exhibition, and which now features once again in Milan.

  • Description of the collection

    Correspondence, Roger Bastin’s CV, 1 plan, a collection of photographs…
  • Volumetry 1 bundle
  • Bibliography

    BEKAERT, Geert, VERSCHAFFEL, Bart, DERCON, Chris, Charles Vandenhove : art et architecture, Tournai, La Renaissance du Livre, 1998, p. 26.

    FLOUQUET, P.-L., « La section belge à la XI Triennale de Milan » in La Maison, n° 9, September 1957, p. 273.

    STRAUVEN, Iwan, « ‘Le mobilier VK’ van Lucien Kroll en Charles Vandenhove (1927) » in DE KOONING, Mil, FLORÉ, Fredie et STRAUVEN, Iwan, Het Mechelse Meubel 1500-2000. Hedendaags design, Alfred Hendrickx et het fifties-meubel in Belgïe, s.l., Openbaar Kunstbezit in Vlaanderen, 2000, p. 137-144.
  • AUTHOR AND DATE OF THE ENTRY Sébastien Charlier, 2021