OBJECT LESSONS: THE BAUHAUS AND HARVARD

Description:

1919Walter Gropius / 1883-19692019333

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Laura Muir

A fresh look at how Bauhaus teachers and artists brought their influential pedagogy and practice from Germany to the United States.

Founded by architect Walter Gropius (18831969) in 1919, the Bauhaus was the 20th centurys most influential school of art, architecture, and design. After the school was shuttered under pressure from the Nazis in 1933, many Bauhaus artists brought their innovative practices and teaching methods to the United States. Gropius himself accepted a position at Harvard, where he would help establish a collection of Bauhaus material that has since grown to more than 30,000 objectsthe largest such collection outside Germany. Harvard in turn became an unofficial center for the Bauhaus in America. Written by established and emerging voices in the field, the scholarship presented here expands on the special link between the two institutions, while highlighting understudied aspects of the Bauhaus, such as weaving, photography, and art made by women. Accompanied by beautiful illustrationssome of never-before-published objectsthis book yields fascinating insights for Bauhaus devotees and design aficionados. A full reproduction of the six-page catalogue produced by the Harvard Society for Contemporary Art for its 1930 exhibitionthe first Bauhaus exhibition in the United Statesis included at the back of the book.

Laura Muir is Associate Director of Academic and Public Programs and the Louis Miller Thayer Research Curator at the Harvard Art Museums.

With contributions by Francesca G. Bewer, Annie Bourneuf, Katarina Burin, Madeline Corona, Susan D. Costello, Katherine Eremin, Laura A. Frahm, Teri Hensick, Fritz Horstman, Kristie La, Laura Muir, Georgina Rayner, Jeffrey Saletnik, Robin Schuldenfrei, Kate Smith, Jordan Troeller, Melissa Venator, and Robert Wiesenberger.

Object Lessons was inspired by the exhibition The Bauhaus and Harvard and its related programming offered during Spring/Summer 2019, which coincided with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus.