Erich Consemüller

Trained as a carpenter in his hometown of Bielefeld between 1920 and 1922, Erich Consemüller (German, 1902–1957) moved to Weimar in 1922, where he completed his traineeship. He quickly found his way to the Bauhaus where he started studying that same year. After completing the obligatory preliminary course with Johannes Itten, he studied at the carpenter’s workshop. He completed his trade test in the spring of 1924, after which he traveled through Iceland. In the fall of 1924 he returned to the Bauhaus, where he continued his woodwork and took the architectural seminar, which was taught by Adolf Meyer. In 1927 he became one of the first employees in the newly founded architecture department at the Bauhaus in Dessau. The self-learned photographer Consemüller was commissioned by the Bauhaus to document works in the preliminary course, furniture, architecture, as well as students and teachers at the Bauhaus. In the spring of 1929, Consemüller left the Bauhaus to teach architecture at the Kunstschule Burg Giebichenstein in Halle, Saale until 1933. Forced to give up his lecturer post by the National Socialists, between 1934 and 1945 Consemüller worked as architectural draftsman in Halle, Erfurt and Leipzig. From 1946 onwards, he worked as urban developer and architect, mostly for the city of Halle, Saale.