Textiles from the Bauhaus Weimar, Bauhaus Dessau and Zurich II periods.

Obres

Informació de l'obra i context de creació

Gunta Stölzl’s work was characterised for applying the main aesthetic principles of the Bauhaus: constant experimentation with textile materials to obtain new, resistant, cheap fabrics that became even cheaper when mass-produced so that the works could be assimilated into the industrial process. She had, probably, a greater relevance than other Bauhaus experiences, considering that Gunta was a student, teacher and then director of the textile workshops, and the person who stayed the longer at the Bauhaus: from its creation in Weimar in 1919 until she resigned in Dessau in 1931.

As Gunta Stölzl pointed out in The Development of the Bauhaus Weaving Workshop in 1931, regarding her years in Weimar:

"Textile is an old trade that has developed principles that even mechanical looms use today in their construction. A gr

comprehension is needed, and it should be nourished by a high imaginative power and artistic sentiment, because of the complexity and limitations of the material and the weaving technique in the loom. It must be nourished by a high imaginative power and artistic sentiment, understanding the colour restrictions and the union of shapes in the weaving process".

"On the other hand, using a material determines and limits the selection of elements. The conclusions on its purpose always depend on our idea of life and of what is alive. In 1922-1923 we had a fundamentally different idea of living than today's. Our ideas could still be poems full of ideas, floral decorations and personal experiences! They soon found the approval of the general public outside the halls of the Bauhaus. They were the easiest ideas to understand; and thanks to their topic, the most ingratiating out of those wildly revolutionary ideas of the Bauhaus."

Together with Anni Albers and Otti Berger, they left an avant-garde legacy in textile and looms that still influences contemporary art. Out of the 24 women who graduated from the Bauhaus, 14 did so in textile: Anneliese (Anni) Albers, Ruth Hollós, Helene Nonné-Schmidt, Helene Bergner, Gertrud Preiswerk, Margarete Dambeck, Otti Berger, Margarete Leischner, Margaretha Reichardt, Elisabeth Henneberger, Catharina Fischer-van der Mijll Decker, Tonja Rapoport, Ruth Cohn, Greten Fischer.

Some women who studied textile ended up working in another field, as Marianne Brandt did, going from the textile workshop to the metal one. She had to fight the workshop directors, but proved her great skill and became one of the most prolific alumni of the Bauhaus. Alma Buscher changed from textile to carpentry.

Lotte Stam-Beese was also a student there. She went through different workshops and was the first woman to be accepted in the architecture workshop. However, she did not graduate from Bauhaus, but she did so in The Netherlands, as an architect and urbanist.

Indicacions

It can also be studied on the following subjects:

- History of art

- Architecture

- Textile design

- Furniture design

- Technology

Documents