2191 - Very rare "M 2" ("Type 2") table lamp by Bauhaus designer Wilhelm Wagenfeld

Very rare "M 2" ("Type 2") table lamp by Bauhaus designer Wilhelm Wagenfeld 1-piece; glass top, clear glass tube, nickel-plated brass tube and sheet metal, nickel-plated metal rods, shade with original fabric covering. The basic concept behind this table lamp, designed in 1926 by Bauhaus pioneer Wagenfeld, is based on the iconic “Bauhaus Lamp MT 9/ME 1,” which he had already designed in 1924 while working as a journeyman at the Bauhaus in Weimar. Wagenfeld himself wrote about it in 1924: “The table lamp—a model intended for machine production—achieved the greatest simplicity in its form and the strictest economy in the use of time and materials.” With its round glass top, cylindrical glass shaft, hemispherical opal glass shade, and exposed mechanical components providing optimal, glare-free light diffusion, it embodied the Bauhaus philosophy and became one of the most famous design objects of the modern era. Even after the Bauhaus closed in 1925, Wagenfeld remained in Weimar, where the State School of Architecture was established in 1925–26 as its successor. Wagenfeld used the former Bauhaus metal workshop as a workspace and development center, where he also continued to refine the designs he had just developed. He modified the “Bauhaus Lamp” into the present “M 2” (“Type 2”) as a further development. In doing so, Wagenfeld retained the basic idea of the glass base and the cable routing through the glass shaft. However, he replaced the hemispherical shade of the “Bauhaus Lamp”—made of costly opal glass—with two flat conical shapes made of inexpensive, pleated parchment paper that was easy to replace. After initially working as an assistant in the architecture school’s metal workshop from 1926 to 1928, Wagenfeld took over its management in 1928 until the school closed in 1930. Initially, all lamps (including the “Bauhaus Lamp”) were manufactured directly in the metal workshop itself. Starting in mid-1928, production was then handled by the Walther & Wagner metal goods factory in Schleiz. Distribution was handled by the State School of Architecture in Weimar itself, and then in 1930–31 by the short-lived “Weimar Bau- und Wohnungskunst G.m.b.H.”. The pull-chain cord is no longer present; the fragile, delicate parchment shade has been replaced with fabric. H. 55.5 cm (with shade)/38.5 cm (without shade); base plate: D. 17 cm, H. 2 cm. See/Lit.: Sales catalog “Metallwerkstatt”/“Manufactured according to models from the State College of Architecture in Weimar by Walther & Wagner, Metal Goods Factory, Schleiz; distributed by the State College of Architecture in Weimar,” State College of Architecture in Weimar (ed.) 1929 (with illustration); Sales catalog “Metall”/“Based on models and designs by Wilhelm Wagenfeld—Oberweimar (Thuringia) and Richard Winkelmayer—Frankfurt am Main in collaboration with Weimar Bau- und Wohnungskunst G.m.b.H., manufactured by Walther & Wagner, Metal Goods Factory, Schleiz, distributed by Weimar Bau- und Wohnungskunst G.m.b.H., Weimar (...)”, 1930/31 (with illustration); Beate Manske et al.: Cat. “Täglich in der Hand,” Worpswede 1987, p. 304; Exhibition catalog “Die Metallwerkstatt am Bauhaus,” Bauhaus Archive Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin 1992, no. 335 (illustration from the 1930/31 catalog); Beate Manske: “No Two Lamps Are Ever the Same. Wilhelm Wagenfeld in the Workshop of the State Bauhaus in Weimar,” in Cat. “The Metal Workshop at the Bauhaus” (1992), pp. 79–91; Exhibition catalog “Modernist Lighting. Glass Production in the Light of the Bauhaus,” LWL Industrial Museum, Petershagen 2019, no. 7; Armin Huber and Angelika Steinmetz-Oppelland: “Modernist Lamps” in the catalog “Modernist Lamps,” pp. 16–39. Provenance: Quittenbaum Art Auctions, Munich, Dec. 3, 2019, Lot 151. A very rare table lamp designed by Wilhelm Wagenfeld in 1926. Nickel-plated brass and glass. The delicate paper covering of the shade has been replaced with fabric; the pull switch is missing; the wiring and plug have been replaced. Manufactured by Wilhelm Wagenfeld in the metal workshop of the State College of Architecture in Weimar from 1926 to 1928 or at the Walther & Wagner metal goods factory in Schleiz from 1928 to 1931.