Exactly one hundred years ago, the Bauhaus – a new school with a focus on architecture and industrial design formed by the merger of the local art academy and school of applied art. The school’s first director, the architect Walter Gropius, aimed for “the union of all the art under the leadership of architecture and the renewed close relationship between arts and crafts. Art and technology shall form a new unity. The ultimate goal of all artistic activity is the building.” As Gropius proclaimed in the school’s official program and in a speech given at its opening, the Bauhaus would follow modern teaching methods while offering equal access to education: “We accept for apprenticeship any person of untarnished reputation, regardless of gender or age, providing they be considered sufficiently capable and educated by the master’s council. […] We shall make no distinction between the fair sex and the strong sex; there shall be absolute equality but also complete parity of obligations – no concessions to the ladies; we are craftspeople all when it comes to our work.”
The reality of life at the Bauhaus school in Weimar was somewhat different, however. Most women were placed in the weaving workshop known as the “Frauenklasse” and it wasn’t until the school’s move to Dessau and the appointment of the leftist and egalitarian Swiss architect Hannes Meyer as the school’s new director that female students could study in other departments and workshops as well.
The main theme of the exhibition Bauhaus ∙ Women Czechoslovakia is the often tragic fate of female Bauhaus students associated with Czechoslovakia and their specific experiences as students of one of the most progressive art schools of the early 20th century.
Exhibition concept: Markéta Svobodová (ÚDU AV ČR)
Curators: Lucie Valdhansová, Barbora Benčíková
Texts: Markéta Svobodová, Lucie Valdhansová
Architectural design: Studio PIXLE
Graphic design for exhibition and print materials: Studio PIXLE
Exhibitions on the Tugendhat Villa’s technical floor are open from 19 November to 29 December 2019 within the villa’s opening hours without prior reservation.
Admission: 50 CZK
The exhibition was prepared by the Tugendhat Study and Documentation Centre and was realized with financial support from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.
A poster can be downloaded here.
