Exhibition Textile universes of two Bauhaus masters at the Kunstmuseum Thun
The German weaver and textile designer Gunta Stölzl led the weaving class at the Bauhaus in Weimar. It was there that she met the Swiss painter Johannes Itten in 1919. The Kunstmuseum Thun is now showing her groundbreaking influence on Swiss textile art through her textiles.
Image: Keystone
Johannes Itten, born near Thun in 1888, was a painter, art theorist and art teacher. From 1919 he was a master teacher at the Bauhaus in Weimar. There he supported his colleague Gunta Stölzl, who led the weaving class. The Kunstmuseum Thun is now showing the painter as a textile designer.
Image: Keystone
Avant-garde textile designs by the artist Gunta Stölzl and the Bauhaus artist Johannes Itten are the focus of an exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Thun. The two artists have influenced artists to this day - including Zurich wallpaper designer Annina Arter.
Image: Keystone
The German weaver and textile designer Gunta Stölzl led the weaving class at the Bauhaus in Weimar. It was there that she met the Swiss painter Johannes Itten in 1919. The Kunstmuseum Thun is now showing her groundbreaking influence on Swiss textile art through her textiles.
Image: Keystone
Johannes Itten, born near Thun in 1888, was a painter, art theorist and art teacher. From 1919 he was a master teacher at the Bauhaus in Weimar. There he supported his colleague Gunta Stölzl, who led the weaving class. The Kunstmuseum Thun is now showing the painter as a textile designer.
Image: Keystone
Avant-garde textile designs by the artist Gunta Stölzl and the Bauhaus artist Johannes Itten are the focus of an exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Thun. The two artists have influenced artists to this day - including Zurich wallpaper designer Annina Arter.
Image: Keystone
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.
03.08.2024, 09:01
15.08.2024, 10:46
SDA
In 1919, the Swiss painter, art theorist and teacher 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 have written textile history, writes the Thun Art Museum. In doing so, the two laid the foundations for Switzerland to become 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 Museum of Art run from August 17 to December 1, 2024.
