Discover why a 20th Century German design school is still considered one of the most influential schools of art and design at the Museum of Brisbane’s current exhibition Bauhaus Now.
Founded in the German city of Weimar in 1919, the Bauhaus art and design school operated until it was closed by the Nazi regime in 1933. However, many of the teachers and students continued the legacy of its principles, including migrants and refugees to Australia. Through these exiles and internees—including artist Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack and Australian architect Harry Seidler educational ideas filtered into Australia and had a profound impact on art, design, and architecture.
Along with Hirschfeld-Mack and Seidler, Bauhaus Now also documents the impact of other notable Bauhaus practitioners: Karl and Gertrude Langer; Wassily Kandinsky; Marianne Brandt; Josef Albers; Marcel Breuer; Paul Klee; Laszlo Moholy-Nagy as well as local contemporary artists including Michael Candy and Christopher Handran.
Comprising almost 100 pieces including furniture, design, paintings, printmaking, film, textiles, photography, sculpture, architectural plans, and historical imagery, the exhibition shows how revolutionary ideas of the Bauhaus influenced modernist art, design, and architecture, and how the legacy of these powerful ideas is being re-interpreted today.
Museum of Brisbane Director Renai Grace said Bauhaus Now highlights the migrant and refugee contribution to Australian life and art history both during and after the Second World War. “To understand modern design, you need to start with the Bauhaus, the most influential art and design school in history,” Ms. Grace said.
Curator Andrew McNamara said imaginative recreations by local Brisbane artists would be featured alongside original Bauhaus works. Bauhaus Now reveals the migrant and refugee contribution to Australian life and art history in the inter-war period and post-Second World War years.
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