Richard Neutra and the Marx lamp

IMM Cologne 2017

Richard Neutra is one of the greatest architectural masters of the 20th century; he was a true discovery for Elio Martinelli who was captivated by the purity of his style. The founder of Martinelli Luce was profoundly struck by one of the few lamps designed by the Viennese architect – the Marx lamp designed by Neutra in 1928 – and also by the VDL floor lamp designed in 1931. Elio Martinelli was not daunted by this complex project; on the contrary he took its very complexity as a challenge in the creation of this “intense” lamp that in its formal essentiality expresses the geometric rigour that Neutra was renowned for. Marx is an indirect-light wall lamp of significant dimensions; it incorporates diverse materials such as stainless steel, metal and wood, which are used to construct the frame. It is a light sculpture that projects luminous signs on the wall, almost as if demonstrating the fact that sentiments can be embodied in form, as suggested by the subtitle of one of Neutra’s essays. VDL is a minimal, indirect-light floor lamp made entirely of stainless steel, with LED-integrated light source inside the reflector. As a tribute to the great architect, in Cologne the Marx and VDL lamps will be displayed inside the Remagen Ideen für Licht + Raum, Neumarkt 35-37 showroom, as a combination of authenticity and integrity, and also as a bridge between past and present generations, illustrating how even a lamp can assume a symbolic value over time.

Richard Neutra studied at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna. He was a student of O.Wagner, and the teaching of A. Loos and his discovery of the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, considered to be his master, were fundamental milestones. He emigrated to the United States in 1923. In Chicago he worked in the studio of Holabird and Roche, and met Sullivan and Wright, with whom he worked for several months in Taliesin. In 1926 he settled in California and became an American citizen.