4 “Bauhausmädels”: Gertrud Arndt, Marianne Brandt, Margarete Heumann, Margaretha Reichardt ed. by Angermuseum Erfurt et al (review)

The year 2019 marked the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus by architect Walter Gropius, an occasion that spurred the publication of numerous books about the famed institution, its school of thought, and its most prominent members and teachers. From 24 March until 16 June 2019, the Angermuseum in Erfurt presented 4 “Bauhausmädels,” an exhibition focused on the artistic careers of four female Bauhaus graduates. The exhibition curators explore the question: “Could the promise of the founding director Walter Gropius that this reform school would comprehensively promote and develop creative talents independent of gender be fulfilled in practice?” (8). Through the lens of gender-political issues, the curators focus on the designers’ lives after their time at the Bauhaus. The exemplary women presented in the exhibition catalog represent four different paths to success in photography, metalworking, ceramics, and textiles.

The catalog is conceived as a dual-language volume, with the original German and the English translation on facing pages. Following a general introduction, the first chapter explores women at the Bauhaus and their contributions to modernism. Each of the Mädels (Gertrud Arndt, Marianne Brandt, Margarete Heymann-Löbenstein, and Margaretha Reichardt), selected because of her personal connection to Thuringia, is treated in an individual chapter. Because of her ties to the city of Erfurt, Reichardt receives extra attention in the catalog. One chapter explores in depth Reichardt’s work in classes with Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Another chapter describes the Margaretha Reichardt House in Erfurt, where Reichardt lived until her death and which subsequently was preserved as a museum. The book contains rich illustrations and photographs of the women’s designs and creations.

The biographies of these four exemplary women underscore that their gender clearly inhibited their success. Gertrud Arndt, for instance, wanted to pursue architecture but was denied that career choice, despite early architectural training prior to her Bauhaus years. Like many of the female students, she ended up in the weaving workshop. Marianne Brandt was the only woman to receive her degree from the Bauhaus metal workshop and “one of the prime figures to bring Bauhaus design to the factory” (91) for mass production. Despite Brandt’s tremendous talent as a designer, she was not suitably rewarded. The Italian firm Alessi, for instance, reproduced her designs without her permission, and she never received royalty payments. Margarete Heymann-Löbenstein excelled at modern ceramic design, but she left the Bauhaus in anger because Max Krehan and Gerhard Marks, the master of crafts and artistic director, respectively, categorically barred women from their workshop. In February 1920, Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus masters’ council secretly changed the criteria for women applicants, holding them to “higher standards in order to limit ‘the female element’” (124). Following her tumultuous departure, Heymann-Löbenstein founded the Haël Workshop for Artistic Ceramics Corporation and brought Bauhaus-inspired modern design to national and international markets. The rise of the Nazi Party forced her to sell the company; she never fully recovered her success. The final student introduced in this catalog is Margarethe Reichardt, who had a successful career as a weaver. Reichardt is an exceptional figure; after receiving her diploma in textile design from the Bauhaus, she went on to found her own hand-weaving mill in Erfurt. She eventually moved away from the Bauhaus idea of mass production, developing her own style committed to artisanship.

In sum, this exhibition catalog makes an essential contribution to ongoing inquiries into aspects of the Bauhaus education and its students, particularly the circumstances and careers of female students post-Bauhaus. It should be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of German studies, design, modernism, and history as well as those in the individual fields represented by the four women designers. It advances a feminist reinterpretation not just...