One hundred years after the Bauhaus was founded, its products have become so ubiquitous that they’ve faded into the background– or else descended into kitsch. Nothing says generic corporate lobby like a Mies van der Rohe Barcelona chair, while Josef Albers’s colored nesting tables have been replicated to oblivion. In this centenary year of design-themed German travel articles and glossy features on overpriced limited-edition products, it is easy to suffer from Bauhaus fatigue. But persevere. Because the new Bauhaus Museum in Weimar has the power to surprise even the most hardened design geek.
“We wanted to tell the story of the early years of the Bauhaus, which isn’t so well known,” says Wolfgang Holler, director of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, the city’s foundation for cultural heritage, which initiated the $30 million museum. He is standing in the first-floor exhibition, where the objects around him range from Expressionist sculptures to folksy ceramic pots, a far cry from what you might think of as the stripped-down “Bauhaus style.” Instead, what emerges is a picture of a wildly heterogeneous place, where breathing exercises taught by pseudo-Zoroastrian vegan painters were conducted side by side with welding classes and cosmic-puppetry workshops.
You have 0 complimentary articles remaining.
Unlimited access + premium benefits for as low as $1.99/month.