Pressrelease

LES ARTS DÉCORATIFS

Marie-Laure MOREAuIsabelle MENDOZA

PHONE: +33 01 44 55 58 78FAX: +33 01 44 55 57 93

presse@lesartsdecoratifs.frwww.lesartsdecoratifs.fr

October 19, 2016 – Fébruary 26, 2017 PRESS CONTACTS

1. Erich Consemüller, Woman in a B3 club chair by Marcel Breuer wearing a mask by Oskar Schlemmer and a dress by Lis Beyer. Photography, 1926 © Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin

The Bauhaus spiriT

> les arts décoratifs

www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr

Exhibition realized in collaboration with the Hermès Foundation

FONDATION D’ENTREPRISE HERMÈS

Philippe BOuLETPHONE: + 33 6 82 28 00 47boulet@tgcdn.com

#Bauhausspirit

“ARChiTECTS, SCulPTORS, PAiNTERS, wE All muST RETuRN TO ThE CRAFTS,” ThE ARChiTECT wAlTER GROPiuS wROTE iN hiS BAuhAuS

mANiFESTO. FOuNdEd iN 1919 iN wEimAR ANd FORCEd uNdER NAzi PRESSuRE TO ClOSE iN BERliN iN 1933, ThE BAuhAuS wAS AN ART

SChOOl ThAT ESTABliShEd iTSElF AS A mAjOR iNFluENCE ON 20Th-CENTuRy ART. iT wAS CREATEd By GROPiuS TO imPROvE OuR hABiTAT

ANd ARChiTECTuRE ThROuGh A SyNThESiS OF ThE ARTS, CRAFTS ANd iNduSTRy. ThE muSéE dES ARTS déCORATiFS iS PAyiNG TRiBuTE TO

ThE BAuhAuS iN ThiS ExhiBiTiON FEATuRiNG mORE ThAN NiNE huNdREd wORkS – OBjECTS, FuRNiTuRE, TExTilES, dRAwiNGS, mOdElS,

PAiNTiNGS – All PlACEd iN ThE CONTExT OF ThE SChOOl ANd illuSTRATiNG ThE ExTRAORdiNARy wEAlTh OF iTS ExPERimENTATiON iN

All FiEldS. ThE ExhiBiTiON BEGiNS By ShOwiNG ThE hiSTORiC CONTExT ANd SOuRCES ThAT BROuGhT ThE BAuhAuS iNTO ExiSTENCE,

ThEN TAkES uS ThROuGh All ThE STAGES OF ThE STudENT CuRRiCulum iN iTS vARiOuS wORkShOPS. iT ENdS wiTh AN iNviTATiON TO

ThE ARTiST mAThiEu mERCiER TO hiGhliGhT ThE wORk OF CONTEmPORARy ARTiSTS, dESiGNERS ANd FAShiON dESiGNERS dEmONSTRATiNG

ThE duRABiliTy ANd viTAliTy OF ThE BAuhAuS SPiRiT.

The Bauhaus’s sources and models :

The exhibition begins by exploring

the Bauhaus’s sources, ranging

from the organization of the

construction of the cathedrals and

the arts of Asia to the German avant-

garde, the British Arts & Crafts

movement and the viennese utopias,

including the wiener werkstätte.

when he created the Staatliches

Bauhaus in weimar, walter Gropius was

pursuing henry van de velde’s ambition

to forge an alliance of industry,

modernity and the aesthetics of the

deutscher werkbund, (an association

of architects and industrialists of which

he and Peter Behrens were members).

This concept stemmed directly from

the ideas forged by william morris and

the Arts & Crafts movement, for whom

art had to respond to the needs of

society, and for whom the traditional

distinction between the fine arts and

craftsmanship was obsolete. in his

manifesto, Gropius radicalized these

ideas, making them the core of the

school’s pedagogy because “there is

no essential difference between artist

and the artisan.” To fully illustrate this,

emblematic objects by william morris,

henry van de velde, Peter Behrens,

and artists from the wiener werkstätte

such as koloman moser and josef

hoffmann, will be displayed alongside

works produced by the Bauhaus.

2. Bruno Paul, Thirteen lights candelabra, brass, 1901© Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt, All rights reserved

3. Gyula Pap, Candelabra with seven arms, brass, 1922 © Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg

> THE BAuHAuS SPIRIT

press release

Gropius based the school’s organization

on the medieval master-journeyman-

apprentice hierarchy of transmission of

knowledge and skills, on craftsmanship

as the foundation of all teaching, and

the involvement of all the arts in a

communal project. For Gropius, the

supreme model was the organization of

the guilds that worked together to build

the cathedrals, with all crafts and trades

collaborating to achieve the “work.”

Gothic triptych pinnacles and lecterns

illustrate the precepts of the Bauhaus

manifesto, epitomized by lyonel

Feiniger’s Cathedral as an emblem of

the total work or art and social unity.

in Germany, there were enough

exhibitions, museum collections and

publications on Asian art to influence

artists. Théodor Bogler and marianne

Brandt shared the same quest for

simple forms and use of materials

in everyday objects exemplified by

Chinese and japanese crafts, while

Taoist thought infused the reflections

on contrast, composition and rhythm

by artists such as johannes itten and

wassily kandinsky.

The school :

like a Bauhaus student, the visitor

will follow all the stages of the

Bauhaus teaching program, from the

preliminary course, designed to break

down academic ideas and open the

student’s mind, to work in the various

specialized workshops. For four years,

the student followed a both practical

and theoretical curriculum. This section

of the exhibition covers the production

of all the Bauhaus workshops from

1919 to 1933: furniture, ceramics,

4. Vassily Kandinsky, Kleine Welten I, color lithography, 1922 Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI,

Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / All rights reserved

7. Lyonel Feininger, Head, polychrome wood, 1925 Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI,

Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Bertrand Prévost / A.D.A.G.P. 2016

6. Vassily Kandinsky, Nine elements of the chromatic circle, painting on paper, 1922-1933

Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Philippe Migeat

5. Elisabeth (Lis) Bosien, Reordering study,Bauhaus Dessau, wire screen, 1923-1933

© The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, VG Bild - Kunst, Bonn

> THE BAuHAuS SPIRIT

press release

metal, stained glass, mural painting,

sculpture in wood and stone, weaving,

typography, advertising, photography,

theatre, etc. Together, avant-garde

artists and artisans taught and

supervised the workshops. Paul klee

taught art theory, wassily kandinsky

mural painting, Oskar Schlemmer

theatre, marcel Breuer furniture,

Theodor Bogler ceramics, Gunta Stölzl

weaving, marianne Brandt metalwork,

herbert Bayer graphic design and

walter Peterhans photography. itten,

moholy Nagy and Albers successively

directed the preliminary course, and the

roles of teachers, artisans and pupils

evolved towards greater transversality.

The most humble preparatory works by

pupils will be put into perspective by

more accomplished creations. Studies

in texture and materials, exercises in

color, rhythm and movement, models,

three-dimensional constructions,

textile samples and typographic

experiments will all be shown in their

workshop context alongside finished

pieces. For example, the exhibition

will feature Theodor Bogler’s unique

pottery creations and his ceramic

spice cellars with modular geometric

forms designed for industrial

production. works by marcel Breuer

will at last show his most famous

5. Exposition des composants de l’escalier Module M400 édité par la galerie Lacloche, 1966

© Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris / A.D.A.G.P. 2016

8. Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Bauhauslampe, glass, nickel, 1923-1924.Created in the Bauhaus school’s workshop.

Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Jean-Claude Planchet / A.D.A.G.P. 2016

9. Herbert Bayer, Postcard for the Bauhaus exhibition, lithography, 1923.Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / All rights reserved

> THE BAuHAuS SPIRIT

press release

tubular pieces and his experiments

with more massive wooden furniture

in counterpoint. Gunta Stölzl’s large

carpets and tapestries with repetitive

motifs, conceived as pictures, will be

shown for the first time. Bayer and

Albers’ typographical experiments

and joost Schmidt’s advertising

work for tourism in dessau show the

evolution of some of the workshops

towards greater professionalism. This

is also true of the metal workshop and

Brandt’s creations.

All this diverse experimentation

converged on the theatre workshop,

directed by Schlemmer, famous for

his Triadic Ballet (1922). he was also

instrumental in the school’s many

parties and celebrations, for which

everyone participated in the creation

of decorations, costumes, invitation

cards, etc. Photography will play a

central role in the exhibition, both as

artistic creation and as a historic record:

laszlo moholy Nagy’s stereotypes and

photograms will be shown alongside

students’ photographs of school life

and its frenetic creativity.

it was all this wide-ranging

experimentation, in conjunction

with works by itten, kandinsky

and Albers, that forged the open-

mindedness of the Bauhaus, which

embraced expressionism, folklore and

popular art, the primal arts, dada and

photomontage, de Stijl, constructivism

and functionalism. The Bauhaus was

never an inward-looking school,

remaining resolutely open to all the

12. T. Lux Feininger, Mask for the Bauhaus stage on the roof of the Bauhaus school, photography, 1928

© Estate of T. Lux Feininger / Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin

10. Marianne Brandt, Self portrait reflected in a globe in Bauhaus atelier, photography, 1928-1929© Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin / A.D.A.G.P. 2016

11. Marianne Brandt, Teapot, silver, ebony, circa 1924 © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dist. RMN-Grand

Palais / image of the MMA / A.D.A.G.P. 2016

> THE BAuHAuS SPIRIT

press release

> THE BAuHAuS SPIRIT

press release

avant-garde tendencies of the time.

in 1923, Gropius organized the

first Bauhaus exhibition, with as its

centerpiece the haus am horn, a house

created by all the school’s workshops.

This exhibition’s huge impact did

much to publicize Bauhaus’s ideas

and work. But itten’s expressionist

tendencies were beginning to

gain ascendency over Theo van

doesburg’s ideas. modernism and

constructivism prompted Gropius

to change the Bauhaus’s motto to

“Art and technology, a new unity.”

in the worsening climate in Germany,

the Bauhaus had to face both material

and political difficulties and struggled

to survive. in 1925, the school

moved from weimar to dessau, into

a new building illustrating Gropius’s

ideology. The school’s campus included

teachers’ houses whose interiors and

furniture were designed by marcel

Breuer. The Bauhaus continued in

dessau until 1932, when it had to

close and move to Berlin. hannes

meyer, head of the architecture

department, replaced Gropius, but

was dismissed for his socialist ideas

in 1930. The school’s last director,

ludwig mies van der Rohe took the

decision to close the school in 1933.

The Bauhaus’s legacy

The Bauhaus’s legacy has been

considerable, and although its

influence pervaded all fields of creation

from 1933, spread by the teachers

and students who fled Germany, the

exhibition focuses on its most recent

echoes. At the museum’s invitation,

the artist mathieu mercier has chosen

creations by forty-nine artists,

designers, graphic designers and

fashion designers, all born after 1960

and who, like him, are working in the

Bauhaus spirit, seeing no distinction

between art and the applied arts.

14. Marcel Breuer, Stacking tables, wood, tubular steel, 1928© Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, Jean Tholance /

A.D.A.G.P. 2016

13. Josef Albers, Stacking tables, ash veneer, black lacquer, painted glass, 1927 © The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation,

VG Bild - Kunst, Bonn

15. Muller Van Severen, Installation, leather, brass, propylene, 2012 © Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, Jean Tholance

16. Mathieu Mercier, Untitled (candle/chromatic circle by J. Itten), candle, sublimation on Corian pedestal, circa 2011

© Mathieu Mercier and Mehdi Chouakri Berlin

key information

chief curators: > Olivier GABET, The Arts décoratifs museums director> Anne mONiER, curator of the toy departmentassistants: louise CuRTiS, responsible for research and Raphaèle Billé, assistant curator of the Art Nouveau/Art déco department

scientific commission: > monique BlANC, chief curator of the middle Age/Renaissance department> Béatrice QuETTE, responsible for the Asian collections

For the contemporary part of the exhibition:Curator:> marie-Sophie CARRON de la CARRièRE, chief curator of the Fashion and textile 1800-1939 departmentArtistic direction:> mathieu mERCiER

scenography:> laurence FONTAiNE

graphic design:> Bastien mORiN

LES ARTS DÉCORATIFS

Pierre-Alexis dumAS,

Chairman

david CAméO,

General director

Pascale de SEzE,

Communication director

THE MuSEuMS

Olivier GABET, director

ThE ARTS déCORATiFS muSEum

107 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris

> phone +33 01 44 55 57 50

metro stations : Palais-Royal, Pyramides,

Tuileries

Open Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 6pm

(late opening Thursday until 9pm :

Temporary exhibitions and jewellery

gallery only)

admission > full rate: 11 €

> reduced rate: 8.50 €

muSéE NiSSim dE CAmONdO

63 rue de monceau, 75008 Paris

> phone +33 01 53 89 06 40

Open wednesday to Sunday 10am

to 5.30pm

Closed monday and Tuesday

admission > full rate: 9 €

> reduced rate: 6.50 €

EDuCATIONAL AND CuLTuRAL SERVICES

The Educational and Cultural department

organises museum tours for adults, groups

and individuals

> reservations +33 01 44 55 59 26

thematic workshop-tours and guided tours

related to an exhibition for 4 to 18 year-

olds

> reservations +33 01 44 55 59 25

lectures and panel discussions

> reservations +33 01 44 55 59 75

LA BIBLIOTHÈquE

Bibliothèque des Arts décoratifs

107, rue de Rivoli – 75001 Paris

> Téléphone : +33 01 44 55 59 36

Ouverte du mardi au samedi de 10 h à 18 h

L’ÉCOLE CAMONDO

René-jacques mAyER, director

266, Boulevard Raspail, 75014 Paris

> phone +33 01 43 35 44 28

LES ATELIERS Du CARROuSEL

Fulvia di PiETRANTONiO, director

107 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris

266 boulevard Raspail, 75014 Paris

63 rue de monceau, 75008 Paris

> phone +33 01 44 55 59 02

EXHIBITION CATALOGuE

« The Bauhaus spirit »

Supervised by Olivier GABET

and Anne mONiER

288 pages

250 illustrations

39 €

graphisme : Philippe Apeloig

broché avec jaquette américaine

Co-éditions les Arts décoratifs -

Fondation d’entreprise hermès

THE MuSEuM BOuTIquE

107riVoli

art mode design paris

107 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris

> phone +33 01 42 60 64 94

Open 10am to 7pm

Closed monday

THE RESTAuRANT

loulou

restaurant - bar - terrace

107 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris

or access via the Carrousel Gardens

Open all days from 12pm to 2am

> phone +33 01 56 88 50 60

INTERNET

www.lesarTsdecoraTiFs.Fr

www.FaceBook.com/lesarTsdecoraTiFs

www.TwiTTer.com/arTsdecoraTiFs