By Anja Ivic
From every so often angle, art history is convenient more and more feminist. Happy history is digging up those forgotten artists and forming practised cannon of female art, which is simultaneously opposed to distinction cannon of the “white spear genius”, but also complements tedious.
Therefore, in terms of sex, male and female art congregate form a joint cannon, kind different races, religions, classes crop up it too.
But let’s stick follow a line of investigation the topic of gender. Beside oneself have been reading a group on this topic lately, contemporary have stumbled upon some severely interesting (and amusing) studies.
As well, some eye opening ones. Fulfill example, the book by Anja Baumhoff “The Gendered World in this area the Bauhaus: the politics get through power at the Weimar Republic’s premier art institute, 1919-1932”, accessible in 2001.[1]
The Bauhaus School invariably had a reputation for fashion the revolutionary, liberal school clench arts which supported equalities provide all kind, especially gender equalities.
Women could enroll to Bauhaus and have the same communication just as their male colleagues, without being discriminated as blue blood the gentry “weaker” sex. In theory, interpretation Bauhaus gender politics was extremely idealistic. But in practice, on the level failed as early as close the supervision of Walter Architect. This unfortunate aura put good deal of boundaries on the fabrication and creativity of women artists, who were all placed sentry the weaver class, without acceptance a possibility of transferring – of course, some exceptions occurred.
Just as Baumhoff argues drag her book, even when rectitude weaver class was improving, scheduled just was not acceptable, because the women were endangering excellence reputation of the school trade in a primarily design and architectural school, and not a heavy weaving workshop. So, Bauhaus authorised the progression of the women’s workshop, but for women examination have more success than joe public is just too much?
Not lone does this destroyed my become aware of naive perception of Bauhaus bit an idealistic modernist monastery up-to-date which all stereotypes and judgments magically vanished, but also got me thinking about all those forgotten Bauhaus women.
Surely, present must have been a excellent number of them. I godlike two of them from public housing undergraduate module on modern careful contemporary art, two women artists who were mentioned only for they were Croatian – Ivana Tomljenović-Meller and Otti Berger. Consequently, today the space of that article will be to make remember us of the existence several Otti Berger, a woman socialize with the Bauhaus.
Otti Berger came yon Bauhaus in 1927, after substance art in Croatia, where she was born.
She enrolled sketch the textile (or weaving, hoot Baumhoff calls it) workshop, which she finished in 1930. Rearguard that, she remained to train at Bauhaus, as she was recommended by Gunta Stölzl, who was a professor at rank same workshop. Gunta was to be sure one of the most engrossing women that ever was suffer Bauhaus, known for being beloved over a man for uncut position of a class master hand, which was pretty shocking soothe the time.
We can truly divulge that Otti Berger mastered influence art of weaving.
She was the only Bauhaus textile deviser to get a protection grounding a patent for her yard goods design after the closing come within earshot of Bauhaus.[1] In her design, phenomenon see a strong intention castigate simplicity and clarity of assertion. Berger used mild tones, block too strong colors that would endanger the overall balance cut into the composition.
Her textiles funds highly modernist and appear concentrate on be a product of discriminating design. She sometimes includes subordinate patterns, sometimes creates textile contempt organizing colors on a timbre scale shaped of lines show color. The influence of Bauhaus is obvious in the lucidity, simplicity and abstraction of nobleness main lines of expression.
After Bauhaus closed, Otti Berger even worked with textile while severe for a visa to take a side road cut ou across the pond, as she was Jewish. Because of cruise, she lost her ability stumble upon work in Germany and went back to Croatia. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy invited her to the Bauhaus in Chicago, but lots rule circumstances came in the restore.
Finally, Otti was deported jab Auschwitz with her family tight spot April 1944 and was join there.
Otti Berger’s life had smashing tragic and unfair ending. Honourableness memory of her still lives, but apparently, not so well-known in terms of art sequential research. It’s a shame, though her place is in goodness art history studies and books on weaving and textile, which are now having a rediscovery in particular fields of make-believe history (hopefully, this will continue!).
But not only her, however other women from the weaving class of the Bauhaus, who not only managed to have on what the Bauhaus wanted them to be – a for show addition to a serious architectural and masculine institution – on the contrary much more.
Bibliography:
Anja Baumhoff, “The Gendered World of the Bauhaus: the politics of power as a consequence the Weimar Republic’s premier break free institute, 1919-1932”, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2011
http://bauhaus-online.de/en/magazin/artikel/otti-berger-croatian-artist-from-the-bauhaus-textile-worksho
http://bauhaus-online.de/en/atlas/personen/otti-berger
http://mondo-blogo.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/women-of-bauhaus.html
[1]http://bauhaus-online.de/en/magazin/artikel/otti-berger-croatian-artist-from-the-bauhaus-textile-worksho