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> les arts décoratifs
www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr
1. Erich Consemüller, Woman in a B3 club chair by Marcel Breuer wearing a mask by Oskar Schlemmer and a dress by Lis Beyer.
Photography, 1926 © Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin
The Bauhaus Spirit
October 19, 2016 – Fébruary 26, 2017
FONDATION D’ENTREPRISE HERMÈS
Philippe Boulet
PRESS CONTACTS
LES ARTS DÉCORATIFS
Marie-Laure Moreau
Isabelle MENDOZA
PHONE: + 33 6 82 28 00 47
[email protected]
PHONE: +33 01 44 55 58 78
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[email protected]
www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr
#BauhausSpirit
Exhibition realized in collaboration with the Hermès Foundation
press release
> The Bauhaus Spirit
“Architects, sculptors, painters, we all must return to the crafts,” the architect Walter Gropius wrote in his Bauhaus
manifesto. Founded in 1919 in Weimar and forced under Nazi pressure to close in Berlin in 1933, the Bauhaus was an art
school that established itself as a major influence on 20th-century art. It was created by Gropius to improve our habitat
and architecture through a synthesis of the arts, crafts and industry. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs is paying tribute to
the Bauhaus in this exhibition featuring more than nine hundred works – objects, furniture, textiles, drawings, models,
paintings – all placed in the context of the school and illustrating the extraordinary wealth of its experimentation in
all fields. The exhibition begins by showing the historic context and sources that brought the Bauhaus into existence,
then takes us through all the stages of the student curriculum in its various workshops. It ends with an invitation to
the artist Mathieu Mercier to highlight the work of contemporary artists, designers and fashion designers demonstrating
the durability and vitality of the Bauhaus spirit.
2. Bruno Paul, Thirteen lights candelabra, brass, 1901
© Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt, All rights reserved
The Bauhaus’s sources and models :
The
exhibition
pursuing Henry Van de Velde’s ambition
craftsmanship
to
industry,
manifesto, Gropius radicalized these
forge
an
alliance
of
was
obsolete.
In
his
by
exploring
modernity and the aesthetics of the
ideas, making them the core of the
sources,
ranging
Deutscher Werkbund, (an association
school’s pedagogy because “there is
the
of architects and industrialists of which
no essential difference between artist
and
he and Peter Behrens were members).
and the artisan.” To fully illustrate this,
the arts of Asia to the German avant-
This concept stemmed directly from
emblematic objects by William Morris,
garde,
Crafts
the ideas forged by William Morris and
Henry Van de Velde, Peter Behrens,
movement and the Viennese utopias,
the Arts & Crafts movement, for whom
and artists from the Wiener Werkstätte
including
Werkstätte.
art had to respond to the needs of
such
Staatliches
society, and for whom the traditional
Hoffmann, will be displayed alongside
Bauhaus in Weimar, Walter Gropius was
distinction between the fine arts and
works
the
from
Bauhaus’s
the
organization
construction
When
the
he
begins
3. Gyula Pap, Candelabra with seven arms, brass, 1922
© Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg
of
the
British
the
cathedrals
Arts
Wiener
created
of
the
&
as
Koloman
produced
Moser
by
the
and
Josef
Bauhaus.
press release
> The Bauhaus Spirit
5. Elisabeth (Lis) Bosien, Reordering study,
Bauhaus Dessau, wire screen, 1923-1933
© The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, VG Bild - Kunst, Bonn
4. Vassily Kandinsky, Kleine Welten I, color lithography, 1922
Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / All rights reserved
6. Vassily Kandinsky, Nine elements of the chromatic circle,
painting on paper, 1922-1933
Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Philippe Migeat
Gropius based the school’s organization
Feiniger’s Cathedral as an emblem of
on the medieval master-journeyman-
the total work or art and social unity.
apprentice hierarchy of transmission of
In
knowledge and skills, on craftsmanship
exhibitions,
Germany,
there
museum
were
enough
collections
and
7. Lyonel Feininger, Head, polychrome wood, 1925
Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Bertrand Prévost / A.D.A.G.P. 2016
The school :
Like a Bauhaus student, the visitor
will
follow
all
the
stages
of
the
as the foundation of all teaching, and
publications on Asian art to influence
Bauhaus teaching program, from the
the involvement of all the arts in a
artists. Théodor Bogler and Marianne
preliminary course, designed to break
communal project. For Gropius, the
Brandt
shared
for
down academic ideas and open the
supreme model was the organization of
simple
forms
materials
student’s mind, to work in the various
the guilds that worked together to build
in
the cathedrals, with all crafts and trades
Chinese
collaborating to achieve the “work.”
Gothic triptych pinnacles and lecterns
on contrast, composition and rhythm
of the exhibition covers the production
illustrate the precepts of the Bauhaus
by artists such as Johannes Itten and
of all the Bauhaus workshops from
manifesto,
Wassily Kandinsky.
1919
epitomized
by
Lyonel
the
and
same
use
of
quest
by
specialized workshops. For four years,
while
the student followed a both practical
Taoist thought infused the reflections
and theoretical curriculum. This section
everyday
and
objects
exemplified
Japanese
crafts,
to
1933:
furniture,
ceramics,
press release
> The Bauhaus Spirit
5. Exposition des composants de l’escalier Module M400 édité
par la galerie Lacloche, 1966
© Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris / A.D.A.G.P. 2016
9. Herbert Bayer, Postcard for the Bauhaus exhibition, lithography, 1923.
Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / All rights reserved
8. Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Bauhauslampe, glass, nickel, 1923-1924.
Created in the Bauhaus school’s workshop.
Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Jean-Claude Planchet / A.D.A.G.P. 2016
metal, stained glass, mural painting,
Herbert
sculpture in wood and stone, weaving,
Walter Peterhans photography. Itten,
textile
typography, advertising, photography,
Moholy Nagy and Albers successively
experiments will all be shown in their
theatre,
directed the preliminary course, and the
workshop context alongside finished
artists
etc.
artisans
avant-garde
design
and
three-dimensional
samples
constructions,
and
typographic
and
roles of teachers, artisans and pupils
pieces.
evolved towards greater transversality.
will feature Theodor Bogler’s unique
taught art theory, Wassily Kandinsky
The most humble preparatory works by
pottery
mural
Schlemmer
pupils will be put into perspective by
spice cellars with modular geometric
painting,
Marcel
taught
graphic
supervised the workshops. Paul Klee
theatre,
and
Together,
Bayer
Oskar
Breuer
For example, the exhibition
creations
designed
and
for
his
ceramic
furniture,
more accomplished creations. Studies
forms
Theodor Bogler ceramics, Gunta Stölzl
in texture and materials, exercises in
production. Works by Marcel Breuer
industrial
weaving, Marianne Brandt metalwork,
color, rhythm and movement, models,
will at last show his most famous
press release
> The Bauhaus Spirit
11. Marianne Brandt, Teapot, silver, ebony, circa 1924
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dist. RMN-Grand
Palais / image of the MMA / A.D.A.G.P. 2016
10. Marianne Brandt, Self portrait reflected in a globe in Bauhaus atelier, photography, 1928-1929
© Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin / A.D.A.G.P. 2016
tubular pieces and his experiments
All
with more massive wooden furniture
converged on the theatre workshop,
and its frenetic creativity.
in counterpoint. Gunta Stölzl’s large
directed
It
carpets and tapestries with repetitive
his Triadic Ballet (1922). He was also
experimentation,
motifs, conceived as pictures, will be
instrumental
many
with
shown for the first time. Bayer and
parties
which
and
Albers’
experiments
everyone participated in the creation
mindedness
advertising
of decorations, costumes, invitation
embraced expressionism, folklore and
work for tourism in Dessau show the
cards, etc. Photography will play a
popular art, the primal arts, Dada and
evolution of some of the workshops
central role in the exhibition, both as
photomontage, De Stijl, constructivism
towards greater professionalism. This
artistic creation and as a historic record:
and functionalism. The Bauhaus was
is also true of the metal workshop and
Laszlo Moholy Nagy’s stereotypes and
never
Brandt’s creations.
photograms will be shown alongside
remaining resolutely open to all the
and
typographical
Joost
Schmidt’s
this
diverse
12. T. Lux Feininger, Mask for the Bauhaus stage on the roof
of the Bauhaus school, photography, 1928
© Estate of T. Lux Feininger / Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin
by
and
experimentation
Schlemmer,
in
the
famous
school’s
celebrations,
for
for
students’ photographs of school life
was
all
this
works by
Albers,
an
that
of
wide-ranging
in
conjunction
Itten,
forged
the
Kandinsky
the
open-
Bauhaus,
which
inward-looking
school,
press release
> The Bauhaus Spirit
13. Josef Albers, Stacking tables, ash veneer, black lacquer,
painted glass, 1927 © The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation,
VG Bild - Kunst, Bonn
14. Marcel Breuer, Stacking tables, wood, tubular steel, 1928
© Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, Jean Tholance /
A.D.A.G.P. 2016
avant-garde tendencies of the time.
In
1923,
Gropius
organized
15. Muller Van Severen, Installation, leather, brass, propylene,
2012 © Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, Jean Tholance
and political difficulties and struggled
the
to
survive.
In
1925,
the
16. Mathieu Mercier, Untitled (candle/chromatic circle by J. Itten),
candle, sublimation on Corian pedestal, circa 2011
© Mathieu Mercier and Mehdi Chouakri Berlin
The Bauhaus’s legacy
school
moved from Weimar to Dessau, into
The
centerpiece the Haus am Horn, a house
a new building illustrating Gropius’s
considerable,
created by all the school’s workshops.
ideology. The school’s campus included
influence pervaded all fields of creation
This
teachers’ houses whose interiors and
from 1933, spread by the teachers
furniture
were
Marcel
and students who fled Germany, the
and work. But Itten’s expressionist
Breuer.
The Bauhaus continued in
exhibition focuses on its most recent
tendencies
first Bauhaus exhibition, with as its
much
gain
exhibition’s
to
huge
publicize
were
ascendency
Doesburg’s
ideas.
constructivism
impact
Bauhaus’s
did
ideas
designed
by
Bauhaus’s
legacy
and
has
been
although
its
Dessau until 1932, when it had to
echoes. At the museum’s invitation,
Theo
Van
close
the artist Mathieu Mercier has chosen
Modernism
and
Meyer,
beginning
over
prompted
to
Gropius
and
move
head
department,
of
to
Berlin.
the
replaced
Hannes
architecture
Gropius,
but
creations
by
designers,
graphic
forty-nine
artists,
designers
and
to change the Bauhaus’s motto to
was dismissed for his socialist ideas
fashion designers, all born after 1960
“Art and technology, a new unity.”
in 1930. The school’s last director,
and who, like him, are working in the
In the worsening climate in Germany,
Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe took the
Bauhaus spirit, seeing no distinction
the Bauhaus had to face both material
decision to close the school in 1933.
between
art
and
the
applied
arts.
key information
Chief curators:  
> Olivier GABET, The Arts décoratifs museums director
> Anne MONIER, curator of the toy department
assistants: Louise CURTIS, responsible for research
and Raphaèle BILLé, assistant curator of the Art Nouveau/
Art Déco department
For the contemporary part of the exhibition:
Curator:
> Marie-Sophie CARRON de la CARRIèRE, chief curator
of the Fashion and textile 1800-1939 department
Artistic direction:
> Mathieu MERCIER
Scientific commission:  
> Monique BLANC, chief curator of the Middle Age/
Renaissance department
> Béatrice QUETTE, responsible for the Asian collections
Scenography:
> Laurence FONTAINE
Graphic design:
> Bastien MORIN
educational and cultural services
les arts décoratifs
Pierre-Alexis Dumas,
The Educational and Cultural Department
Chairman
organises museum tours for adults, groups
David CAMéO,
and individuals
General director
> reservations +33 01 44 55 59 26
Pascale de seze,
thematic workshop-tours and guided tours
Communication director
related to an exhibition for 4 to 18 yearolds
> reservations +33 01 44 55 59 25
the museums
lectures and panel discussions
> reservations +33 01 44 55 59 75
Olivier GABET, Director
The Arts Décoratifs museum
la bibliothèque
107 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris
> phone +33 01 44 55 57 50
Bibliothèque des Arts décoratifs
Metro stations : Palais-Royal, Pyramides,
107, rue de Rivoli – 75001 Paris
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Open Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 6pm
Ouverte du mardi au samedi de 10 h à 18 h
(Late opening Thursday until 9pm :
Temporary
exhibitions
and
jewellery
gallery only)
admission
« The Bauhaus Spirit »
Supervised by Olivier GABET
and Anne MONIER
288 pages
250 illustrations
39 €
graphisme : Philippe Apeloig
broché avec jaquette américaine
Co-éditions Les Arts Décoratifs Fondation d’entreprise Hermès
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Open Wednesday to Sunday 10am
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to 5.30pm
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