Marianne Brandt, a silver tea-infuser (1924/1924)British Museum
Walter Gropius famously believed that men thought in three dimensions, whereas women thought in two. Many women within his own school proved how ludicrous a statement this was. Marianne Brandt, in particular, stood out for her design innovation.
As a woman in the metal workshop, Brandt was a Bauhaus trailblazer. She eventually became the workshop's director, succeeding Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. As early as her first semester in the workshop, in fall 1924, she designed a tiny silver tea-infuser...
...which today holds the record for the most expensive Bauhaus object at auction!
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Together with her workshop colleagues, Brandt also designed the lighting fixtures used throughout the Dessau Bauhaus, completed in 1926.
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I7561G by Marianne BrandtBauhaus Dessau Foundation
Brandt worked in multiple media. She was trained as a painter and sculptor before attending Bauhaus, and once there made significant strides in developing modern photography, including work in photomontage.
Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research Association (Early Fifties) by AP KanvindeOriginal Source: Kanvinde Rai & Chowdhury
History will remember Brandt as the only woman to receive her degree from the Bauhaus metal workshop.
Artificial silk, blended yarns, fancy yarns (Material sample from Benita Koch-Otte's class at Burg Giebichenstein Halle) (1926/1928) by Corona (Korona) KrauseBauhaus Dessau Foundation
Much more commonly, Bauhaus women are associated with weaving. This workshop was even dubbed “the women’s class” in 1920. Women students were pressured into specializing in weaving.
Untitled (Fabric sample stripes) by Gertrud Arndt (née Hantschk)Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
But the weaving workshop also became legendary for the camaraderie among its members and for the innovations in fabric designs which brought Bauhaus to the mass market and helped to support the school financially. Learn more about women and the Bauhaus here.
