A Bauhaus Project

Kicken Berlin c/o Galerie Mehdi Chouakri

EXHIBITION Sep 13 — Dec 15, 2019

T. LUX FEININGER (1910–2011)

Grit Kallin-Fischer at the Bauhaus Feast of the Bock Beer Candidates, 1928

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1928

11,2 x 8,1 cm

© Feininger Nachlass / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

Sylvie Fleury (*1961)

André et Robert (purple and white), 2019

fiberglas, auto paint, white Courrèges miniskirt

© Sylvie Fleury / Courtesy Mehdi Chouakri

JOOST SCHMIDT (1893–1948)

Untitled (Studio of Bauhaus master Joost Schmidt in Dessau), 1932

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1932

11,4 x 8,6 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-NAGY (1895–1946)

Konstruktion VI, 1923

color lithograph on paper, print 6 from VI. Kestner-Mappe, László Moholy-Nagy, Konstruktionen, Hannover, Verlag Ludwig Ey für die Kestner-Gesellschaft

60,1 x 44 cm

© Hattula Moholy-Nagy / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

JOHN ARMLEDER (*1948)

assemblage from glass, 2006

glass, wood, carpet

© 2019 John Armleder / Courtesy Mehdi Chouakri

WALTER PETERHANS (1897–1960)

Untitled (Stilleben im Sand), ca. 1929/30

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1929/30

22,5 x 16,8 cm

© Fotografische Sammlung Museum Folkwang Essen / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

LUCIA MOHOLY (1894–1989)

Untitled (Balance-Study, Preliminary Course, László Moholy-Nagy, (Bauhaus Weimar), ca. 1923

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1923-1925

14,7 x 10 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

KURT KRANZ (1910–1997)

Bauhaus Dessau, ca. 1930

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1930

19,8 x 15 cm

© Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-NAGY (1895–1946)

Funkturm / Radio Tower, 1930

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1930-1931

24 x 17,1 cm

© Hattula Moholy-Nagy / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

EDMUND COLLEIN (1906–1992)

Untitled (Bauhaus building in Dessau), 1927–1930

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1927-1930

8 x 5,6 cm

© Ursula Kirsten-Collein / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

SAÂDANE AFIF (*1970)

Babel (Neurotek), 2007

Karton, weiße Farbe, schwarze, runde Plexiglasscheibe (Unikat)

46 x 30 x 30 cm

© Saâdane Afif / Courtesy Galerie Mehdi Chouakri

EDMUND COLLEIN (1906–1992)

Untitled (Paper material study, Josef Albers' preliminary course, Bauhaus Dessau), 1927–1930

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1927–1930

11,5 x 7,5 cm

© Ursula Kirsten-Collein / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

LUCIA MOHOLY (1894–1989)

Wandbehang, Trude Hantschk (Arndt), Bauhaus Dessau, 1927

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1927

20 x 16,5 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HANS HAFFENRICHTER (1897–1981)

Untitled (Geometrical forms), 1930s

gelatin silver print, printed 1930s

14,4 x 9,9 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

BAUATELIER WALTER GROPIUS

Theaterumbau Jena, Nebeneingang, Detail (Architekt Walter Gropius) / Theatre Modification Jena, Side Entrance, Detail (Architect Walter Gropius), 1927

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1927

17 x 22,2 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

ERICH CONSEMÜLLER (1902–1957)

Dreiteiliger Kleider- und Wäscheschrank für Kinder, Nadelholz dreifarbig lackiert, Bauhaus Dessau (Entwurf: Katt Both), 1926

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1926

11,7 x 14,7 cm

© Dr. Stephan Consemüller / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

GERWALD ROCKENSCHAUB (*1952)

Wandobjekt, 2009

MDF, mehrfarbig lackiert (Unikat)

60 x 40 x 40 cm

© Gerald Rockenschaub / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

UMBO (Otto Umbehr) (1902–1980)

Pantoffeln / Slippers, 1928/29

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1980

30,4 x 23,8 cm

© Phyllis Umbehr/Galerie Kicken Berlin/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2019

LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-NAGY (1895–1946)

Untitled (Light and Glass Abstraction), 1930

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1930

24 x 18,2 cm

© Hattula Moholy-Nagy / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

VKHUTEMAS WORKSHOPS

Untitled (VKhUTEMAS, IV-5-43; An exercise on expressive volumetric composition.), 1920s

gelatin silver print, printed 1920s

10,7 x 16,1 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

SAÂDANE AFIF (*1970)

Vice de Forme (Port de Oro), 2017

Marmor (Port de Oro) (Unikat)

21 x 21 x 21 cm; 16 cm; 26,5 cm

© Saâdane Afif / Courtesy Galerie Mehdi Chouakri

ERICH CONSEMÜLLER (1902–1957)

Untitled (Lothar Stark, Construction of Balance), ca. 1928

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1928

17,2 x 12,3 cm

© Dr. Stephan Consemüller / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HANNES MEYER (1889–1954)

Untitled (Composition), 1926

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1926

7,8 x 10,2 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

ATELIER ECKNER, WEIMAR (ca. 1920s–1930s)

Untitled (Study by Thoma Grote, Preliminary Course László Moholy-Nagy (Bauhaus Weimar), 1924

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1924

15,7 x 11 cm

© Public Domain / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

JOOST SCHMIDT (1893–1948)

Untitled (Stillife with Prism and Sea Horse), 1931

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1931

7,4 x 7,4 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

EDMUND COLLEIN (1906–1992)

Bauatelier Gropius, 1927–1928

gelatin silver print

18 x 24 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HAJO ROSE (1910–1989)

Self-portrait (photomontage), 1931

gelatin silver print

23,9 x 17,8 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

LOTTE STAM-BEESE (1903–1988)

Albert Braun with mirror, ca. 1928

gelatin silver print

14 x 10,1 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

LUCIA MOHOLY (1894–1989)

Dr. Franz Roh, 1926

gelatin silver print

28,1 x 20,2 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

WERNER DAVID FEIST (1909–1998)

Man with pipe, 1929

gelatin silver print

25,2 x 18,4 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

GERTRUD ARNDT (1903–2000)

Wera Waldeck, 1930

gelatin silver print

18,2 x 22,6 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

T. LUX FEININGER (1910–1956)

Bauhaus Band, 1928

gelatin silver print

17 x 12,5 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

IRENE BAYER (1898–1991)

Macaroni, 1928

gelatin silver print

12,3 x 16,8 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

GYULA PAP (1899–1983)

NUDE, 1930

gelatin silver print

20,4 x 20,3 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

WALTER FUNKAT (1906–2006)

Glass Spheres, Metal Festival, 1929

gelatin silver print

7,2 x 12,1 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

KATT BOTH (1905–1985)

Atikah Cigarettes, 1919–1933

gelatin silver print

27,3 x 20,9 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

GERD BALZER (1909–1985)

Prellerhaus Balconies, Bauhaus Dessau, 1933

gelatin silver print

27,3 x 17,7 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HORACIO COPPOLA (1906–2012)

Egg and String, 1932

gelatin silver print

21,4 x 25,8 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

ELLEN AUERBACH (1906–2004)

Sewing Silk, ca. 1930

gelatin silver print

10,2 x 12,9 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

GRETE STERN (1904–1999)

Paper in Glass, 1931

gelatin silver print

29,3 x 23,3 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

GEORG MUCHE (1895–1987)

Furniture Workshop in the Glass, 1921

gelatin silver print

16 x 22,5 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

EUGEN BATZ (1905–1986)

Net and Wood Fragments, 1930

gelatin silver print

20,7 x 16,5 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

FRANZ EHRLICH AND HEINZ LOEW (1907–1984 / 1903–1981)

Study for Light Advertisement (Plastic Workshop), 1927–1980

gelatin silver print

12,4 x 17,9 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

KARL STRAUB (1880–1971)

Photogram, 1924/1984

gelatin silver print

35 x 27,4 cm

© Rudolf Kicken Galerie, Cologne 1985 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

BAUHAUS / ANONYMOUS

Untitled (Die Bauhäusler Lisbeth Oestreicher und Arieh Sharon, Bauhaus Dessau), 1928

gelatin silver print, printed 1928

7,7 x 5,4 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

ANONYMOUS

Oskar Schlemmer, ca. 1930

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1930

11,4 x 8,3 cm

© Public Domain / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

VKHUTEMAS WORKSHOPS

Untitled (VKhUTEMAS, IV-5-52; An exercise on rhythmical frontal composition), 1920s

gelatin silver print, printed 1920s

6,8 x 10,3 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HANS VOGLER (1904–1973)

Arndt, Pit, Lis, Dessau im Juli, 1930

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1930

8,3 x 11,3 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

VKHUTEMAS WORKSHOPS

Untitled (Architectural Model, IV-5-43; An exercise on expressive dynamic composition), 1925

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1925

11,8 x 16,9 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

VKHUTEMAS WORKSHOPS

Untitled (VKhUTEMAS, IV-5-4816:16:55; An exercise on a dynamic spatial composition), 1920s

gelatin silver print, printed 1920s

8,3 x 9,7 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

BAUHAUS / ANONYMOUS

Untitled (Hans Volger in der Architekturabteilung im Bauhausgebäude Dessau), ca. 1929

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1929

10,9 x 8,9 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

UMBO (Otto Umbehr) (1902–1980)

Untitled (Fish-eye self portrait on Shell building rooftop), 1935

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1960s

9,5 x 9,5 cm

© Phyllis Umbehr/Galerie Kicken Berlin/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2019

BAUHAUS / ANONYMOUS

Untitled (Lis Beyer at her room in the studio wing, Bauhaus building, Dessau), 1928/29

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1928/29

8,8 x 11,5 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

VKHUTEMAS WORKSHOPS

Untitled (Spatial Study, IV-5-37; An exercise on expressive volumetric composition), 1920s

gelatin silver print, printed 1920s

7,8 x 5,6 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

BAUHAUS/ANONYMOUS

Schmidtchen (Joost Schmidt), ca. 1930

gelatin silver print

9,6 x 7,6 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

VKHUTEMAS WORKSHOPS

Untitled (VKhUTEMAS, IV-5-23; An exercise on rhythmical composition on the surface), 1920s

gelatin silver print, printed 1920s

7,2 x 5,5 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

VKHUTEMAS WORKSHOPS

Untitled (Architectural Design, IV-5-22; An exercise on rhythm of frontal composition), 1920s

gelatin silver print, printed 1920s

5,7 x 11,2 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

BAUHAUS/ANONYMOUS

Untitled (Space-Volume Study, Most Probably Preliminary Course Moholy-Nagy), ca. 1928–1929

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1928-1929

15,8 x 10,9 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

EDMUND COLLEIN (1906–1992)

Untitled (Material- und Gleichgewichtsübung aus dem Vorkurs Josef Albers, Bauhaus Dessau), ca. 1927

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1927

10,5 x 6,4 cm

© Ursula Kirsten-Collein / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HUGO ERFURTH (1874–1948)

Lyonel Feininger, 'Stiller Tag am Meere' / Lyonel Feininger, 'Silent Day by the Sea', 1926

gelatin silver print on postcard stock, printed ca. 1926

7,4 x 13,3 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

MATHIEU MERCIER (*1970)

3 Achsen, 3 Kugeln, 2015

Aluminium, Plastik, MDF, Gummi, Schaum, Stahl (Unikat)

82 x 35 x 35,5 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Galerie Mehdi Chouakri

EDMUND COLLEIN (1906–1992)

Untitled (Bauhaus building in Dessau), 1927-1930

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1927-1930

8 x 5,6 cm

© Ursula Kirsten-Collein / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

LUCIA MOHOLY (1894–1989)

Meisterhäuser Dessau, Doppelhaus (Architekt Walter Gropius) / Masters' Houses Dessau (Architect Walter Gropius), Duplex House, 1926

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1926

17 x 12,1 cm

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

VKHUTEMAS WORKSHOPS

Untitled (VKhUTEMAS, IIV-5-22; An exercise on flat rhythmical composition.), 1920s

gelatin silver print, printed 1920s

7 x 9,8 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

VKHUTEMAS WORKSHOPS

Untitled (VKhUTEMAS, IV-5-17; An exercise on the topic 'plain surface': logical segmentation of the surface), 1920s

gelatin silver print, printed 1920s

3,8 x 5 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

VKHUTEMAS WORKSHOPS

Untitled (Architectural Study, IV-5-36; An exercise on volumetric composition, study of correlation between mass and weight), 1920s

gelatin silver print, printed 1920s

8,4 x 7 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

MAX KRAJEWSKI (1892–1972)

Untitled (Works from Josef Albers' preliminary course, exhibition at the Bauhaus building Dessau), 1928

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1928

7,2 x 11,8 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

VKHUTEMAS WORKSHOPS

Untitled (VKhUTEMAS, IIV-5-28; An exercise on rhythmical frontal composition), 1920s

gelatin silver print, printed 1920s

9,1 x 6,7 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HEINZ LOEW (1903–1981)

Untitled (Studies for illumination advertisement by Franz Ehrlich and Heinz Loew from Joost Schmidt's sculpture workshop, Bauhaus Dessau), 1928

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1928

11,5 x 17,1 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

HANNES MEYER (1889–1954)

Vitrine Co-op, 1924

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1924

7,5 x 10,2 cm

© Estate of the Artist / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-NAGY (1895–1946)

Composition GZ IV, 1932

gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1932

15,7 x 19,4 cm

© Hattula Moholy-Nagy / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 / Courtesy Kicken Berlin

Into the present day, artists have continued to engage with the visual language of the avant-garde perspectives and functionalism of the Bauhaus. The exhibition A Bauhaus Project by Kicken Berlin in cooperation with Mehdi Chouakri and Ulrich Fiedler galleries celebrates the centennial of the groundbreaking school by bringing together historic works of Bauhaus modernism with current-day abstractions.
The Bauhaus in Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin was the most significant modernist art school and a hub for the European avant-garde. Bauhaus masters and students alike – Walter Gropius, Wassily Kandinsky, Hannes Meyer, László Moholy-Nagy and Lucia Moholy and Erich Consemüller, T. Lux Feininger, Grit Kallin-Fischer, and Heinz Loew – shaped the workshop of modernism.
Contemporary artists such as Saâdane Afif, John Armleder, Sylvie Fleury, Mathieu Mercier, Gerwald Rockenschaub, and Luca Trevisani work with modernism’s now classic visual language but approach it from different conceptual vantage points. Abstract shapes merge with everyday objects, space and material become laden with meaning. In their highly reflective creation, the works bear the marks of the various artistic processes of the modern, be it minimalism or conceptualism, both of which have their roots in the Bauhaus.
The fundamental training of the so-called Vorkurs (or preliminary course), taught by Johannes Itten, László Moholy-Nagy, and Josef Albers, was essential to understanding the universal approach of Bauhaus tenets. Natural and material studies, as well as lessons in color, shape, and contrast, statics, dynamism, and balance were examined by Hannes Meyer, László Moholy-Nagy, Walter Peterhans, Erich Consemüller, Kurt Kranz, and Hajo Rose, among others. Dynamic top views visualized these practices as did translucent and sculptural objects, cubist architecture, and product design, from furniture to chessboards, to which examples from Galerie Ulrich Fiedler attest. Architecture as the result of plastic studies in space were, among other aspects, a focus at the Russian Vkhutemas School in Moscow, which was pursuing similar goals for artistic-technical education simultaneous with the Bauhaus.
In the rooms at Galerie Mehdi Chouakri on Mommsenstraße in Berlin, an active dialogue unfolds between the interwar modernism and the postmodern of the twenty-first century. In the works by Gerwald Rockenschaub, the visual language of geometric abstraction has been stripped of all individuality, though he manages a concise balance that keeps in mind the traditions of modernism. With his geometric sculptures, Saâdane Afif manages to span a complex web of relationships between high and popular art, from Man Ray to contemporary DJ-culture. His objects can be read on multiple levels. Mathieu Mercier stages the formal repertoire of modernism – one of his greatest paragons is Piet Mondrian – with current means, often everyday objects, that are simultaneously playful and elegant. Sylvie Fleury, on the other hand, looks at the showiness of today’s consumer goods, just as Umbo viewed them as surreal objects in the late 1920s. Luca Trevisani considers himself a researcher, who makes reality palpable through transformations of organic materials. (Carolin Förster)