Not currently on display at the V&A

Sample

1929-1931 (made), 1929-1931 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This sample is the bottom left hand textile swatch in this image. It was made as a prototype for a furnishing fabric or wallcovering by Gunta Stölz at the Bauhaus between 1927 and 1930.

The Weimar Bauhaus was an institution founded by Walter Gropius (1883-1969) to train architects, artists and industrial designers and it adopted the medieval guild structure as a model. Pupils therefore progressed through different stages: from apprentice, to journeyman, to assistant master and finally to master, thus qualifying for a place on the Council. The Weaving Workshop was the only workshop to consist entirely of female students, and had low status in the organisation, despite the fact that the dyers and weavers brought in considerable income. Gunta Stölz (1897-1983) was by 1926 the only woman on the Bauhaus Masters' Council (of 13).

In 1928 the new director, Hannes Meyer, set out to make the workshops commercially productive and their output socially responsible. He urged the Weaving Workshop to develop prototypes for manufacture rather than continue making hand-crafted pictorial experiments (their previous output). These samples reflect the shift and the increasing demand for sample fabrics from textile mills in Germany and abroad. Such demand led to the establishment of the Bauhausstoffe (Bauhaus Fabrics) brand. These samples show the new possibilities that had opened up through the use of new machinery and artistically influenced experimentation with synthetic materials, including cellophane.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Hand-woven
Brief description
Hand-woven textile sample, designed by Gunta Stölzl, Dessau Bauhaus, Germany, 1929-1931
Physical description
Hand-woven textile sample.
Summary
This sample is the bottom left hand textile swatch in this image. It was made as a prototype for a furnishing fabric or wallcovering by Gunta Stölz at the Bauhaus between 1927 and 1930.

The Weimar Bauhaus was an institution founded by Walter Gropius (1883-1969) to train architects, artists and industrial designers and it adopted the medieval guild structure as a model. Pupils therefore progressed through different stages: from apprentice, to journeyman, to assistant master and finally to master, thus qualifying for a place on the Council. The Weaving Workshop was the only workshop to consist entirely of female students, and had low status in the organisation, despite the fact that the dyers and weavers brought in considerable income. Gunta Stölz (1897-1983) was by 1926 the only woman on the Bauhaus Masters' Council (of 13).

In 1928 the new director, Hannes Meyer, set out to make the workshops commercially productive and their output socially responsible. He urged the Weaving Workshop to develop prototypes for manufacture rather than continue making hand-crafted pictorial experiments (their previous output). These samples reflect the shift and the increasing demand for sample fabrics from textile mills in Germany and abroad. Such demand led to the establishment of the Bauhausstoffe (Bauhaus Fabrics) brand. These samples show the new possibilities that had opened up through the use of new machinery and artistically influenced experimentation with synthetic materials, including cellophane.
Collection
Accession number
CIRC.422-1969

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Record createdDecember 8, 2006
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