Jealousy (1927, 1979) by László Moholy-NagyBauhaus Dessau Foundation
The Bauhaus did not just want to revolutionize building; it wanted to be ahead of its time in every area. And that included the way women were treated.
Marcel Breuer with his Harem (from l. to r.: Marcel Breuer, Martha Erps, Katt Both, Ruth Hollos) (1926) by Erich Consemüller (Photo)Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
As early as in the founding manifesto there was the hopeful note, “Any respectable person will be accepted, regardless of age or gender”. Walter Gropius wrote in his notes, “Absolute equality, but also absolutely equal obligations”.
Dessau Bauhaus heads (from the Bauhaus photo album by Fritz Schreiber) (1931/32) by unknownBauhaus Dessau Foundation
When, during those days, the student Gunta Stölzl asked for a class for women to be set up, she was charging in through an open door. Women’s classes existed at the time at many academies and arts and crafts schools as a reaction to the flood of women students. But the women’s class at the Bauhaus was initiated by the women themselves.
Work plan for the weaving (1925) by Bauhaus DessauBauhaus Dessau Foundation
To begin with, all kinds of handcraft were done there, from sewing and knotting to embroidery, crocheting and macramé.
Ruth Hollos on loom in self-woven dress (1931/32) by Erich Consemüller (Photo)Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
“Everything technical, the way the loom worked, the possibilities of intersecting warp and weft, the way threads are fed in..."
o. T. (Bettdecke) by Gunta StoelzlBauhaus Dessau Foundation
"...we could only find all this out ourselves by trial and error. It caused a lot of head scratching for us poor autodidacts, and many a tear was shed,” wrote Gunta Stölzl.
Ruth Hollos at the loom in the Bauhaus Weimar (1925) by unknownBauhaus Dessau Foundation
Nonetheless, the women students Stölzl and Benita Otte went on to take courses at the technical school in Krefeld and passed their skills on to their fellow students.
The Bauhaus Dessau (1919/1933) by Walter GropiusOriginal Source: Vidal Sassoon
When the Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1925, the looms and the teacher, Helena Börner, stayed in Weimar. In the new school building the weaving workshop had a large, well-lit studio on the first floor as well as new looms and its own dyeing studio. But Master of Form, Georg Muche, lacked the knowledge to do anything with the newly-bought equipment, which led to the women students questioning everything about his teaching and demanding Gunta Stölzl as their teacher.
The masters of the Bauhaus (after 1926) by unknownBauhaus Dessau Foundation
It worked. Stölzl got a contract as ‘teacher of the weaving workshop’ in Dessau. Muche stayed as master of form until 1927, and after that Stölzl was the head of the textile workshop as a ‘young master’.
For the first time, a woman filled a senior position at the Bauhaus. Yet she was not treated equally. Stölzl was paid less than the male masters and had no right to a pension.
Work plan for the weaving (1925) by Bauhaus DessauBauhaus Dessau Foundation
Stölzl subdivided the workshop into a teaching and a production workshop and streamlined the training programme.
o. T. (Laeufer) by Gunta StoelzlBauhaus Dessau Foundation
Towards the end of the 1930s Stölzl found herself being the target of various intrigues, initiated by people including her critic, Reichardt.
In 1931 she resigned and left for Switzerland.
o. T. (Webprobe Laeufer mit Hanf) by unknownBauhaus Dessau Foundation
She had changed the Bauhaus forever...
Learn more about the Bauhaus here.
