Gunta Stölzl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gunta Stölzl (5 March 1897 – 22 April 1983) was a German born textile artist who played a fundamental role in the development of the Bauhaus school’s weaving workshop. As the Bauhaus’s only female master she created enormous change within the weaving department as it transitioned from individual pictorial works to modern industrial designs.
Contents |
[edit] The early years
Gunta Stölzl was born on 5 March 1897 in Munich, Germany. She attened a high school for the daughters of professionals, graduating in 1913. She began her studies at the Kunsgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) in 1914, where she studied glass painting, decorative and ceramics under well known director Richard Riemerschmidt.[1] In 1916 Stölzl's studies were interrupted by the on going war and she went to work as a nurse for the Red Cross, working behind the front lines until the end of World War 1 in 1918. Upon her return home she re-immersed herself in her studies at Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich, where she participated in the schools curriculum reform. It was during this time in which Stölzl encountered the Bauhaus manifesto. Having decided to continue her studies at the newly formed Bauhaus school, Stölzl spent the summer of 1919 in the glass workshop and mural painting classes of the Bauhaus to earn her trial acceptance into Johannes Itten’s preliminary course. By 1920, Stölzl had not only been fully accepted into the Bauhaus school, but had received scholarship to attend.[2]
[edit] Student life
Within Gunta Stölzl’s first year at the Bauhaus she began what she referred to as the “women’s department”, which due to the underlying gender roles within the school, eventually became synonymous with the weaving workshop.[2] Stölzl was very active within the weaving department and was immediately seen as a leader among the pack. At the time, the department was putting emphasis on artistic expression and individual works that reflected the teachings and philosophies of the painters who served as Bauhaus masters. The Weimer Bauhaus had a very relaxed atmosphere that was almost wholly dependant on the students teaching themselves and one another. Unfortunately, Georg Muche, who was the head of the weaving workshop at the time, had very little interest in actually weaving. He saw weaving and other textile arts as ‘women’s work’ and thus was very little help with the technical processes involved. This meant the students were left to their own devices to figure out all technical aspects of a craft most had little experience working in. Due to this set up, it is important to look at the Weimer era works visually as opposed to technically.[2][3]
In 1921 Stölzl and the other students made a trip to Italy to view the art and architecture they had studied for further inspiration. After passing her journeyman’s examination as a weaver and taking courses in textile dyeing at a school in Kefeld, Stölzl was able to reopen the previously abandoned dye studios. It was becoming obvious that she was giving direction to the other students, though unofficially, as neither Muche nor Helene Börne, the crafts technician, could teach them any of the technical aspects.
The first official Bauhaus exhibition took place in September 1923 in the Haus am Horn building. The building itself, primarily designed by Georg Muche, was a simplistic, highly modern cube structure made largely of steel and concrete. Each room of the house was designed around its specific function and had specially made furniture, hardware etc which had been produced in the Bauhaus workshops. The weaving workshop participated by creating rugs, wall hangings and other objects for various rooms all of which won favorable reviews. With this exhibition, Walter Gropius released an essay titled ‘Art and Technology – A New Unity' which seemed to have a great impact on the women of the weaving workshop. Despite the favorable reviews of their works, the women began to move away from the pictorial imagery and traditional methods they had been working with up to this point and began working abstractly, attempting to make objects more in line with Kandinsky’s teachings of the ‘inner self’.[2]
[edit] Bauhaus Master
In April 1925, the Weimer Bauhaus closed because it was seen as too leftist and was being rejected by the town. The school reopened in Dessau, although with considerably less funding. Stölzl, who had previously left the Bauhaus upon graduating to help Itten set up Ontos Weaving Workshops in Herrliberg, near Zurich, Switzerland, returned to become the weaving studios technical director, replacing Helene Börne, and work with Georg Muche, who would remain the form master. Although she was not officially made a junior master until 1927, it was clear both the organization and content of the workshop was under her control. It was obvious from the start, the pairing of Muche and Stölzl was not enjoyed by either side, and resulted in Stölzl running the workshop almost single handedly from 1926 onward. [3]
The new Dessau campus was equipped with a greater variety of looms and much improved dyeing facilities, which allowed Stölzl to create a more structured environment. Georg Muche brought in Jacquard looms to help intensify production. He saw this as especially important now as the workshops were the schools main source of funding for the new Dessau Bauhaus. The students rejected this and were not happy with the way Muche had used the schools funds. This, among other smaller events, instigated a student uprising within the weaving department. On March 31, 1927, despite some staff objections, Muche left the Bauhaus. With his departure, Stölzl took over both as a form master and master crafts person of the weaving studio. She was assisted by many other key Bauhaus women, including Anni Albers, Ottie Berger and Benita Otte.[3]
Stölzl began trying to move weaving away from its ‘woman’s work’ connotations by applying the vocabulary used in modern art, moving weaving more and more in the direction of industrial design. By 1928, the need for practical materials was highly stressed and experimentation with materials such as cellophane became more prominent. Stölzl quickly developed a curriculum which emphasized the use of handlooms, training in the mechanics of weaving and dyeing, and taught classes in math and geometry, as well as more technical topics such as binding techniques and workshop instruction. The earlier Bauhaus methods of artistic expression were quickly replaced by a design approach which emphasized simplicity and functionality.[2]
Stölzl considered the workshop a place for experimentation and encouraged improvisation. She and her students, especially Anni Albers, were very interested in the properties of cloth and other fibers. They tested materials for qualities such as color, texture, structure, resistance to wear, flexibility, light refraction and sound absorption. Stölzl believed the challenge of weaving was to create an aesthetic that was appropriate for the properties of the material. In 1930, Stölzl issued the first ever Bauhaus weaving workshop diplomas and set up the first joint project between the Bauhaus and the Berlin Polytex Textile company which wove and sold Bauhaus designs. 1In 1931 she published a book entitled “The Development of the Bauhaus Weaving Workshop”. Stölzl ability to translate complex formal compositions into had woven pieces combined with her skill for designing for machine production made her by far the best instructor the weaving workshop was to have. Under Stölzl direction, the weaving workshop became one of the most successful areas of the Bauhaus.
[edit] Dismissal
The school was constantly under attack as the Nazi party gained more power and the schools sacrifices to remain open where beginning to break it’s own ideology. During Mies van der Rohe’s directorship there was intense pressure from the community for Stölzl to be let go. Van der Rohe required her resignation in 1931 not due to incompetence but because of the surrounding political atmosphere. In proof of how against this unjust action the students were, they dedicated an entire issue of the school newspaper to Stölzl upon her dismissal.[2] The Dessau Bauhaus was officially closed in 1932 by the Nazis and the Bauhaus itself officially dissolved on July 20, 1933.
[edit] After the Bauhaus
After leaving the Bauhaus in 1931, Stölzl returned to Zurich where she and her partners Gerturd Preiwerk and Heinrich-Otto Hurlimann, also former Bauhaus students, created a private handweaving business called S-P-H Stoffe (S-P-H Fabrics). The business floundered and closed soon after, in 1933, due to financial difficulties. Stölzl became a member of the Swiss Werkbund in 1932 and in 1934 DasWerk, the Werkbund’s official magazine, profiled her career. It was also in 1934 that Stölzl received a major commission to make curtains for the Zurich cinema. In 1935, Stölzl and former partner Heinrich-Otto Hurlimann took another crack at business together and opened S&H Stoffe. By 1937, Stölzl became the soul owner of Handweberei Flore (Hand Weaving Studio Flora) and had joined the Gesellschaft Schweizer Malerinnen Bildhauerinnen und Kunstgewerblerinnen (Society of Swiss Women Painters, Sculptors and Craftswomen).[2] During the following decades, both the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Busch-Reisnger Museum in Cambridge Massachusetts acquired pieces of Stölzl work while she continued to work at her hand weaving business, creating mainly textiles for interior design. In 1967 Stölzl dissolved her business and devoted all her time to tapestry weaving, a large shift in focus. It was also in 1967 that the Victoria and Albert Museum acquired her designs and samples, resulting in major national and international collections. Gunta Stölzl died on April 22, 1983 in Zurich, Switzerland.[2]
[edit] Timeline
- 1914-1916 Studies glass painting, ceramics and decorative painting at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) in Munich
- 1916-1918 Works as a Red Cross Nurse behind the front lines
- 1919 Continues studies at Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich, participates in curriculum reform. Encounters Bauhaus manifesto.
- 1919-1923 Studies at the Bauhaus school with Itten, Klee and Kandinsky.
- 1922 Attends a course in dyeing techniques in Krefeld and establishes dyeing facilities at the Bauhaus
- 1923 Passes journeyman's exam; continues working in the weaving workshop.
- 1924 Helps Itten establish Ontos Weaving Workshops near Zurich
- 1925 Assumes position of technical director at Dessau weaving workshop, directs students practical and theoretical studies.
- 1927 Appointed as Jungmeister (Junior Master) bility for the entire weaving workshop, the Bauhaus’ first and only female master.
- 1927 Experiments with new materials such as cellophane and ‘iron yarn’, and begins to attempt jacquard weaving.
- 1929 Married the Palestinian architect Arien Sharon and loses German Citizenship. Daughter Yael born.
- 1930 First diplomas of the Bauhaus weaving workshop are issued by Stölzl.
- 1931 Publishes ‘Development of the Bauhaus Weaving Workshop’
- 1931 Forced to resign as director of the weaving workshop. Emegrates to Switzerland and forms a private hand weaving business in Zurich, S-P-H Stoffe with Gertrud Preiswerk and Heinrich-Otto Hurlimann.
- 1932 Becomes member of the Swiss Werkbund.
- 1933 SPH Stoffe Dissolves due to finicial difficulties.
- 1934 Receives commission for curtains for the Cinema Urban, Zurich. DasWerk magazine profiles career.
- 1935 Partnership with Hurlimann to form S&H Stoffe.
- 1936 Stölzl and Sharon divorce.
- 1937 Becomes soul owner of Handweberei Flora (Hand Weaving Studio Flora). Joins the Gesellschaft Schweizer Malerinnen Bildhauerinnen und Kunstgewerblerinnen (Society of Swiss Women Painters, Sculptures and Caftswomen)
- 1941 Participates in the interior of the Swiss pavilion, Lyon.
- 1942 Marries Willy Stadler, becomes a Swiss citizen
- 1943 Birth of second daughter, Monika, in Zurich
- 1949-1963 Busch-Reisinger Museum and MoMA acquire works by Stölzl
- 1967-69 Dissolves hand weaving business, devotes self to tapestry and weaving her own designs. Victoria Alberta Museum acquires designs and fabric samples; major national and international collections.
- 1983 Dies April 22 1983 in Zurich at the age of 70.
[edit] References
- ^ Baumhoff Anja. Gunta Stolzl
- ^ a b c d e f g h Weltge, Sigrid Wartmann. Woman's Work: Testile Art from the Bauhaus. San Franciso, CA: Chronicle Books, 1993. (ISBN 0-8118-0466-6)
- ^ a b c College of the Atlantic.Women Artists
- Bayer, Harbert, Walter Gropius and Ise Gropius, eds. 1900-Bauhaus 1919-1928. Boston, MA, USA: Charles T. Branford Company, 1959.
- Whitford, Frank. Bauhaus. London:Thames and Hudson Ltd.:1984. (ISBN 0-500-20193-5)
- Gunta Stölzl 100 Year Anniversery Website
