Textile universes of two Bauhaus masters at the Kunstmuseum Thun
Published: Thursday, Aug 15th 2024, 09:10
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Colors, shapes, structures, textures: the Kunstmuseum Thun is showing textile works by Bauhaus master Gunta Stölzl and her colleague Johannes Itten until the beginning of December. Both had a pioneering influence on Swiss textile art.
In 1919, the Swiss painter, art theorist and educator Johannes Itten (1888-1967) and the German weaver and textile designer Gunta Stölzl (1897-1983) met for the first time at the Bauhaus in Dessau. The two remained colleagues for the rest of their lives.
At the time, she led a weaving class in a male-dominated environment. He was a teacher and a great supporter of Stölzl's department, as the Kunstmuseum Thun writes in a press release.
A few years after Itten's return to Switzerland, Stölzl also emigrated to Zurich in 1931, where she initially founded the company S-P-H-Stoffe. She later ran a hand-weaving business and devoted herself to her own artistic work.
Itten originally came from the area around Thun, first became a teacher and then turned to art. In 1919, Walter Gropius appointed him as a master teacher at the Bauhaus in Weimar. This was followed by positions in Berlin and Zurich, where Itten was head of the School of Arts and Crafts, among other things. Itten is also known for his color theory.
Textile history written
The exhibition of around 200 exhibits at the Thun Art Museum offers the opportunity to rediscover the painter Itten as a textile designer. Gunta Stölzl is considered a "classic of textile art" and an innovator in the art of hand weaving.
With their innovative ornamental and textile forms, avant-garde material and textile structures and experimental use of photography, Stölzl and Itten wrote textile history, writes the Thun Art Museum. The two artists laid the foundations for Switzerland to develop into an important hub for modern textile art.
A parallel cabinet exhibition is also dedicated to the early textile work of the artist Sophie Täuber. The exhibitions at the Thun Art Museum run from August 17 to December 1, 2024.
©Keystone/SDA
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