Lifestyle, art or philosophy?
The last time we came to Weimar, it was during a year long celebration of the Bauhaus movement. Just the time then, for the museum to close for renovation?!
This time, it was top of our list and we approached the white edifice confident that it was open - we had checked and double checked!
No sign or nameplate sullies the pure white stone and it’s only on getting quite close that the lettering becomes apparent high on the facade.
In we went.
Firstly, download the app. No…firstly, log onto the free wifi and then download the app! Then set the location permission so that when moving around the museum, the commentary will play. Excellent.
In the entrance hangs a rather spectacular artwork, Sundial for Spatial Echoes by Tomás Saraceno, impossible to do justice in a photograph, the more so since it was constantly moving, reflecting the light and both blending it beautifully with the surroundings whilst at the same time, drawing attention to itself. Clever!
In the first floor gallery there was much to see. Not wanting to miss a thing and trying to listen and follow the commentary, finding the items referred to whilst at the same time avoiding other people wasn’t easy.
So much information here! We were learning about the foundations of the movement, the philosophy which underpinned it and looking at the artefacts that resulted: architecture, art and crafts. There was history here too and the story of how dreams of housing communities were drawn up based on the concept of an ideal, egalitarian lifestyle.
I was keen to see some familiar works of art such as this one by Wassily Kandinsky, “Joyous Ascent”.
But did I need to listen, to look and also to read everything too? Was the audio commentary the same as the printed details which were placed alongside almost everything here, in German and in English? I think it was, but once a reader, always a reader…
And without a doubt, if there’s a loom or some similar machinery to be viewed, I most certainly need to take a closer look as well.
And so it was that I very nearly missed one of the most significant things in that gallery, the orange right angle high on the wall. This signified a piece of art declared “degenerate” and removed from the collection during the Nazi persecution - in this case, “Promenaders” by Lyonel Feininger. It was not the only orange right angle on the wall and one of the “short stories” on the app provided the details.
Some of the art was unsettling and a reminder of the challenges that new and avant garde ways of thinking presented during that time. So the change in mood as we went upstairs into the next gallery where we were invited to “sit down a while” came as a bit of relief. Here was a collection of Bauhaus designs, beginning with an assortment of familiar chairs.
Most are comfortable and practical enough to have become familiar, “classic” designs,
Though one was a little less commonplace!
Around the corner were further collections of the everyday designs which were so influential in the development of a modern lifestyle. Here was a design for a streamlined kitchen to make life easier for those who no longer had staff to take care of these things.
Here too were examples of how technology was enabling further developments in product design.
One example shown was the Sintrax coffee pot, made in laboratory glass by Schott in Jena- what we would come to know as Pyrex.
Here were still more collections of original Bauhaus products - these ones not to be sat upon.
So many classic designs which have stood the test of time for a reason.
Though most of it was pretty serious, occasionally, there was a little fun, too.
The third floor focused on the later years of the Bauhaus; the main influencers and what became of them. The exhibtion concluded with the question “Where now?”
It was one of those moments when I felt hugely relieved that I was not going to be asked to write a 2000 word essay on that subject! In different circumstances, perhaps in particular company and maybe with a glass of something interesting in hand it could make for an interesting and enlightening conversation. But right now?
Coffee!
