August Endell (1871–1925) was perhaps the most radical, poetic theorist of German Jugendstil. Untrained in traditional academic architecture, he approached building through the prism of philosophy, psychology, and marine biology. His scandalous 1897 facade for the Atelier Elvira in Munich became the defining emblem of abstract German modernism, and his profound intellectual kinship with Henry van de Velde was so deep that Van de Velde personally recommended Endell to succeed him as director of the Weimar Arts and Crafts School in 1915.
1. Psychological Aesthetics: The Empathy Theory (Einfühlung)
Before designing a single building, Endell studied philosophy, psychology, and aesthetics at the University of Munich under Professor Theodor Lipps, the originator of Einfühlungstheorie (empathy theory). Lipps posited that when a human observer gazes upon a curved line, a rising vertical column, or an expanding spatial vault, the human mind internally reproduces the physical muscular forces, experiencing emotional sensations of tension, release, lightness, or heaviness.
In 1898, Endell published his manifesto, "Um die Schönheit" (Around Beauty), declaring:
"We stand at the threshold of an entirely new art—an art of forms which signify nothing, represent nothing, and recall nothing, yet which move our souls as deeply and power-fully as only the tones of music have ever done."
This pure non-objective formulation directly mirrored Henry van de Velde's contemporaneous doctrine of Linienkunst (the dynamic line as kinetic energy).
2. Atelier Elvira, Munich (1897): The Oceanic Dragon Wave
In 1897, feminist pioneers Sophia Goudstikker and Anita Augspurg commissioned Endell to remodel an 18th-century residential townhouse at Von-der-Tann-Straße 15 in Munich into a modern photography studio. The result shocked the Bavarian capital:
Tectonic Anatomy of the Facade
- The Stucco Dragon Relief: Dominating the windowless upper facade was a colossal 13-meter high, high-relief sculpted plaster organism painted in shimmering turquoise, gold, and coral against a sea-green and violet wall. Variously interpreted as an oceanic cresting wave, an undersea dragon, or a mythical sea creature, it had no figurative eyes or head—it was pure kinetic energy frozen in plaster.
- Asymmetrical Openings: The ground entrance was sculpted as an organic cave-like mouth, flanked by tiny asymmetrical observation apertures and a wrought-iron gate resembling swaying underwater kelp.
- The Interior Studio: Inside, Endell created a staircase handrail that coiled upward like an electric whiplash, leading to photography salons bathed in diffused northern skylight.
Traditionalists were horrified; avant-garde writers and artists, including Thomas Mann and Rainer Maria Rilke, hailed it as a revelation. Tragically, the relief was hacked off by Nazi authorities in 1937 as "degenerate art," and the building was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1944.
3. Berlin Masterworks: Buntes Theater & Hackesche Höfe
Following his Munich triumph, Endell relocated to Berlin, where he embraced the dynamic energy of the industrial metropolis:
Buntes Theater / Überbrettl (Berlin, 1901)
Designed for Ernst von Wolzogen's avant-garde cabaret theater, Endell transformed an ordinary commercial hall into an enchanting jewel box. The stage proscenium undulated in sculpted gold and turquoise ribbons, while the auditorium seating was upholstered in deep indigo velvet, prefiguring modern cinema and theatrical design.
Hackesche Höfe (Courtyard I, Berlin-Mitte, 1906)
Endell was commissioned to design the primary courtyard of this monumental mixed-use residential and commercial complex. Departing from the drab gray brick common to Berlin tenements, Endell clad the entire four-story courtyard facade in polychrome glazed ceramic tiles. White, blue, yellow, and deep brown bricks form geometric Moorish interlacings, checkerboards, and stylized rising floral ribbons, reflecting maximum daylight down into the pedestrian plaza.
4. The Van de Velde Recommendation & Pedagogical Leadership
The bond between Endell and Henry van de Velde was cemented during their collaborative leadership within the Deutscher Werkbund.
In 1915, when World War I broke out and xenophobic sentiment in Germany forced Belgian national Van de Velde to resign as Director of the Grand Ducal Arts and Crafts School in Weimar, Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst asked Van de Velde for a confidential list of worthy successors. Van de Velde submitted three names:
- August Endell (Munich/Berlin Jugendstil theorist and architect)
- Hermann Obrist (Munich sculptor and whiplash tapestry creator)
- Walter Gropius (Young Berlin architect and Peter Behrens protégé)
While Gropius was ultimately chosen (later founding the Bauhaus on the campus in 1919), Endell was appointed director of the prestigious State Academy of Art and Applied Arts in Breslau in 1918, where he implemented progressive workshop reforms until his death in 1925.
5. Architectural Comparison: August Endell vs. Henry van de Velde
| Design Dimension | August Endell (Munich Jugendstil & Psychology) | Henry van de Velde (Belgian Vanguard & Werkbund) |
|---|---|---|
| Inspiration Source | Psychological empathy (Lipps), marine biology, oceanic waves, coral, and non-figurative emotional forms. | Tectonic structural mechanics, engineering velocity, tool efficiency, and material honesty. |
| Surface vs. Structure | Sculptural stucco relief applied to masonry walls; dynamic bas-relief skins transforming facades. | Exposed honest timber and steel joints; the form of the chair or beam *is* the aesthetic statement. |
| Urban Theory | Celebrated the modern metropolis (*Die Schönheit der großen Stadt*, 1908); industrial smoke and night lights. | Suburban total-work-of-art sanctuary (Bloemenwerf) evolving into civic monuments (Boekentoren). |
"The human eye has an appetite for form as the ear has for sound. Form must not be a mere copy of nature; it must be a direct creation of the human spirit."
— August Endell (1898)