Georg Muche

1895–1987

Trained in painting in Munich, Georg Muche (German, 1895–1987) moved to Berlin in 1915, where he met Herwarth Walden. Through Walden he had contact with the art group Der Sturm (The Storm), participating in their exhibitions and teaching at the group’s art school in Berlin. After a year of military service in 1918, Muche exhibited his work in a show at the DADA gallery in Zurich. In 1919, Walter Gropius appointed Muche to the newly founded Bauhaus school in Weimar, where he was head of the weaving workshop and became also director of the preliminary course. In 1922 Muche took over the direction and organization of the first major Bauhaus exhibition, held in 1923. After leaving the Bauhaus, Muche was offered a professorship in Breslau in 1931, but was dismissed by the National Socialists in 1933. In 1937, some of Muche’s works in public collections were confiscated, and two paintings were displayed in the exhibition Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) in Munich. In 1939, Muche became the artistic director of the master class for textile art at the textile engineering school in Krefeld. He continued to teach there until his retirement in 1958. In 1955 his works were featured in the first Documenta exhibition in Kassel.