The office of Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus art and architecture school, in Weimar, Germany, the institution’s first home when it was established in 1919. The desk, armchair, sofa and ceiling lamp were originally by Gropius, the table lamp is by Wilhelm Wagenfeld and the carpet is by Benita Koch-Otte. The room was reconstructed by Gerhard Oschmann in 1999. Credit Photograph by Fabrice Fouillet. Walter Gropius, “Gropius Room,” 1922/23 © 2019 ARS, NY/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Reconstruction as a “Gesamtkunstwerk” by Gerhard Oschmann 1998/99. Design of desk, armchair F51, sofa and ceiling lamp by Walter Gropius. Carpet by Benita Koch-Otte. Bethel by friendly permission of V. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel©. Wilhelm Wagenfeld, “Table Lamp” © 2019 ARS, NY/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.
For years, the roster of Bauhaus luminaries — such as Gropius, Mies, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee — was seen as exclusively male; recently, the contributions (as well as marginalization) of its brilliant women designers — such as Gunta Stölzl and Anni Albers in textiles; Lotte Stam-Beese in architecture; and Ré Soupault in fashion design, photography and journalism — have been the subject of continuing scholarship. “Blaupause” (“Blueprint”), a well-received novel by Theresia Enzensberger about a female student at the Bauhaus who wants to be an architect, is coming out in English this year.
(Nikil Saval, “How Bauhaus Redefined What Design Could Do for Society,” (NYTimes Magazine, 2-4-19)
(c) 2019 JMN.
