Workshop for weaving at the Bauhaus
The workshop for weaving , also known as the textile workshop , was a workshop at the State Bauhaus . It existed from 1919 to 1933, first in Weimar and from 1925 in Dessau . Mostly women were trained in the workshop. It was one of the most successful and productive workshops at the Bauhaus.
description
The forerunner of weaving was a women's class that was created in 1919 to accommodate the numerous women who had applied for admission to the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus did not intend to fill half of all apprenticeships with women and men. In 1920 the women's class was transferred to the textile class. Men could also enter it, but this remained the exception. Oskar Schlemmer scoffed at weaving as follows:
- "Where there is wool, there is also a woman who weaves, even if it is just to pass the time"
Helene Börner was the handcraft manager until 1925 , who left the Bauhaus in 1925 at the end of the Weimar period. In Dessau, Gunta Stölzl took over the management of the workshop, who was followed by Lilly Reich in 1931 . From 1919 Johannes Itten was the master of the workshop and Georg Muche from 1921 to 1927 .
Traditional craft and industrial weaving techniques were tried out in the weaving workshop. The aim of the workshop was not the production of individual and artistically designed pieces. The aim was to produce reproducible fabrics and patterns, so that the workshop gradually changed from hand weaving to textile design . In 1920, the weaving mill was the most heavily staffed workshop at the Bauhaus with seven assistants and 14 apprentices. After the weaving mill merged with the textile class in 1920, the curriculum included other textile techniques in addition to weaving , including appliqué , crocheting , knotting , macrame , sewing and embroidery . The workshop produced, among other things, blankets, pillows, clothing fabrics, furniture upholstery fabrics, wall coverings and carpets. The products were used in the Sommerfeld house in Berlin, in the Gropius room and in the Am Horn model house in Weimar.
The pieces produced consisted partly of self-made or dyed materials. Works with completely new patterns were created in the workshop. The narrative tapestry, which was still common in Art Nouveau , was replaced by two-dimensional, constructive designs. They often consisted of the basic shapes triangle, circle and square as well as color combinations with the basic colors yellow, red and blue. There were also striped patterns in black and white gradations. In the pattern and color design, the influences of Johannes Itten, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee , who taught the workshop members in form theory.
Under the direction of Georg Muche from 1921, the weaving mill used industrial weaving processes to increase its profitability. Like other workshops at the Bauhaus, the weaving mill expanded the training company with a productive operation. He carried out orders that came in through trade fairs and exhibitions, among other things. The weaving workshop worked with the Bauhaus joinery, for which furniture covers were created.
The turn to industrial weaving technology led to the production of Bauhaus fabrics, which were sold by the meter . In Dessau, under the Bauhaus director Hannes Meyer, the development of inexpensive fabrics was intensified.
Well-known students
- Anni Albers
- Gertrud Arndt
- Otti Berger
- Lis Beyer-Volger
- Ruth Hollós-Consemüller
- Benita Koch-Otte
- Lena Meyer-Bergner
- Helene Nonné-Schmidt
- Margaretha Reichardt
literature
- Melanie Günter: The textile workshop at the Bauhaus. From the beginnings in Weimar in 1919 to the closure of the Bauhaus in Berlin in 1933 , Saarbrücken, 2008
- Magdalena Droste: The textile workshop in: bauhaus 1919–1933 , Cologne, 2019, pp. 114–121
- Magdalena Droste, Manfred Ludewig (ed.): The Bauhaus weaves. The textile workshop of the Bauhaus . Berlin, 1998
- Ulrike Müller : Bauhaus women: masters in art, craft and design . Munich: Sandmann, 2009
Web links
- Weaving 1919–1933 at bauhaus100.de