|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Nonetheless,he always owned up to his role at the Bauhaus.His critical observations on the way itsheritage was treated did nothing to change this, even after he refused on those groundsto contribute to the large 1938 Bauhaus exhibition at the Museum of Modern Artcurated by Herbert Bayer, Walter Gropius, and his wife Ise.He contributed toGropius s Bauhaus fund, wrote replacement diplomas for students whose documentshad been lost in the war, stated his position on the Bauhaus in interviews and conversa-tions, and remained in continuous correspondence with Gropius on the Bauhaus.95 Hecooperated whenever a common statement on an issue related to the school was re-quired.Regardless of his confident evaluation of his own role in the Bauhaus s history,he did not lose his sense of proportion and acknowledged Gropius s right to administerthe school s estate.When the British Broadcasting Corporation asked him for a com-prehensive radio interview on his involvement with the Bauhaus, he responded: I feelstrongly that the person who should be interviewed is Walter Gropius.He can talkabout the original idea of the Bauhaus which is, in my opinion, more pertinent, ofmore interest today and more important than the accidental political events that influ-enced its last years and loss. He had spoken enough about his contribution to thehistory of the Bauhaus, he added.There was nothing left to say.96THEFACULTYJosef and Anni Albers In the person of Josef Albers, America acquired an artist whohad experienced the Bauhaus in all its phases and had beenamong the school s most gifted pedagogues.When he arrived as a student in Weimarin 1920, he became involved in the foundation course and was given partial responsi-89 Franz Schulze, The Bauhaus Architects, 234.90 Copy of the contract, § 3, Mies van der Rohe Files, Library of Congress.91 Schulze, Mies van der Rohe: A Critical Biography, 235.92 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, letter to Gropius, 18 August 1967, Mies van der Rohe Files, Libraryof Congress.93 Harold Bush-Brown, Beaux Arts to Bauhaus and Beyond, 101.94 Schulze, Mies van der Rohe: A Critical Biography, 259.95 Mies van der Rohe Files, Library of Congress.96 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, letter to L.Cohn dated 7 May 1968, Mies van der Rohe Files, Libraryof Congress. 140 THE IMAGE OF THE BAUHAUS AS RECEIVED IN AMERICAbility for the glass workshop.In 1925 in Dessau, he was named a young master ( Jungmeister).After Moholy-Nagy s departure in 1928, he assumed full responsibilityfor the entire foundation course and directed it into a new trajectory that would latergreatly influence art schools and other educational institutions in America.In thiscourse, a prerequisite for all Bauhaus students, Albers had the students perform funda-mental experiments with the most diverse of materials.The aim was to determine thematerials characteristics and behavior, and to understand the relationship betweenform and material.Tactile and other perceptual exercises that complemented the pro-gram were intended to sharpen the senses and to awaken a sensibility for solutionsappropriate to the material used.Josef Albers followed the Bauhaus to Berlin, wherehe served at times as acting director.He remained until it was closed in 1933.AnniAlbers, nee Fleischmann, had matriculated at the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar in1922, where she pursued her interest in experimental textile design.She married JosefAlbers in 1925 and went with him to Dessau, where she earned her diploma in 1930and subsequently taught in the Bauhaus s weaving workshop.97In the wake of the closing of the then-municipal school in 1932, Josef Alberslike his colleagues received a threatening letter from the Dessau city council that can-celed his employment contract on the grounds that they had turned the Bauhaus into a cell of communism, with its director and teachers engaged in political activities. 98Josef Albers continued teaching in Berlin.After the dissolution of the school there in1933, he was the first Bauhaus master to acquire a position at an American educationalinstitution, Black Mountain College in North Carolina.His wife Anni, who was Jew-ish, went with him.The cost of the journey and their first wages were paid with assis-tance from the trustees of the Museum of Modern Art.Edward M.M.Warburg andPhilip Johnson personally guaranteed financial support to help secure their visas.99Johnson had made his initial contact with the Albers through Theodore Dreier, co-founder of the college and the nephew of Katherine Dreier,100 who had visited theWeimar Bauhaus in the early twenties and bought some of Josef Albers s work.Al-though she had not met him and his wife personally on that occasion, she discouragedher nephew from bringing Albers to the school when he consulted her on the matter.He ignored her advice [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ] |
Archiwum
|