Villa on the Shore, 1921. Lyonel Feininger (American, 1871–1956). Woodcut.
The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.
Getty Research Institute acquires Bauhaus portfolio The Getty Research Institute (GRI) announced the acquisition of a rare complete portfolio of fourteen prints issued by the Weimar Bauhaus in 1921.]]>
March 3, 2012, source: Getty Research Institute (GRI)
The portfolio, titled “Bauhaus Drucke: Neue Europäische Graphik I: Erste Mappe: Meister des Staatlichen Bauhauses in Weimar” (1921–22) includes works by seven artists: Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956), Paul Klee (1879–1940), Lothar Schreyer (1886–1966), Oskar Schlemmer (1888–1943), Johannes Itten (1888–1967), Gerhard Marcks (1889–1981), and George Muche (1895–1987).
In 1921 the Bauhaus began issuing a series of print portfolios titled “Bauhaus Drucke: Neue Europäische Graphik” with three goals: to give students printmaking experience; to raise money for the school; and to illustrate the Bauhaus’s artistic philosophies. However, the program was not a financial success and the school discontinued the series in 1924. The set acquired by the Getty is the first of this series.
“Acquiring this rare, important portfolio is part of the Getty Research Institute’s commitment to building a collection of art and archival material that work together to illuminate the history of printmaking”, said Thomas Gaehtgens, director of the GRI. “In all of these prints, complex design and sometimes whimsical themes underscore the theoretical and creative foundations of the Bauhaus’s pedagogical program“, added Louis Marchesano, curator of prints and drawings.
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