COLENBRANDER, Theodoor Christiaan Adriaan
Dutch decorative artist. He trained as an architect in Arnhem. From c. 1867 to 1870, he lived in Paris, where he was involved in the preparations for the Exposition Universelle of 1867. After returning to the Netherlands, he concentrated increasingly on the applied arts. From 1884 until 1889, he was the artistic director of the Rozenburg delftware factory in The Hague, established in 1883. It was not only Colenbrander’s designs of ornamental china that were revolutionary but also the asymmetric, whimsical, but at the same time elegant, decorative patterns, which were applied in bright, transparent colours. His motifs seemed to indicate an awareness of oriental decorations, which he may have seen at Expositions Universelles, although, for the most part, they were original. After a disagreement with the management, he left Rozenburg in 1889 and spent several years working in different fields within the applied arts, including interior design and textiles.
In 1895, Colenbrander was asked to take over the artistic direction of the Amersfoortse Tapijtfabriek, a firm that had executed some of his carpet designs. The patterns of these colourful Smyrna carpets bear a similarity to his ceramic decorations. Unlike his ceramic decorations, his carpet designs are always symmetric. When the factory was taken over by the Koninklijke Deventer Tapijtfabriek, he became an aesthetic adviser at this large, reputable company, where his Smyrna carpets were hand-knotted until well into the 20th century. At several national and international exhibitions, the firm won considerable praise with its ‘Colenbrander carpets’.
The extent of admiration for Colenbrander is clear from the foundation by some of his wealthy friends of a delftware factory in 1920, especially for him. At this firm, Ram in Arnhem, the designs used were exclusively his until 1924. Many works from this period were executed in enamel so that the areas of colour could be filled in completely, and so that it was possible to make two areas meet precisely. The five-piece decorative vase set, called ‘Cathedraal’, was made with this technique (1922); examples are at the Museum Boymans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam and one at the Gemeentemuseum in Arnhem. At the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes in Paris in 1925, this design won a gold medal.
Both Colenbrander’s ceramics and his carpet designs hold a special place within the development of applied art in the Netherlands. His patterns, often classified as ‘expressionistic’, are always composed of broad areas of colour and usually derive from nature, but otherwise differ vastly from the decorations used on the products of the Nieuwe Kunst in the Netherlands.
