"Song from the last Bauhaus Party 1933"

In the hip avant-garde Bauhaus school (closed since 1933) not only were hip buildings built and cool furniture invented, there were some pretty wild parties too – the Bauhaus Party!

Chief guru Gropius put these parties on because he wanted nothing less than for the world to see his Bauhäusler as the “New People” and in his manifesto he called for: “Encouragement of friendly relations between masters and students outside of work; therefore plays. lectures, poetry, music, costume parties” …

… and wished: “Establishment of a cheerful ceremonial”. For masters, students and the citizens of the city who were skeptical about their new school.

All it took was a sophisticated motto, smart invitation cards, innovative costumes and a band – the Bauhauskapelle. Nearly all the workshops were involved in coming up with the ideas and putting them together, with stage boss Oskar Schlemmer directing the carpentry and decoration.

The parties in Dessau were legendary. They included the White Party (1926), the Beard-Nose-Heart Party (1928) and the Metallic Party (1929) among many other memorable ones. Just try to imagine Feininger as two rectangular triangles, Kandinsky as an antenna or Gropius as Le Corbusier ...!

When Carl Marx studied at the Bauhaus in 1932-33 he went to what turned out to be the very last Bauhaus Party.

He still had his admission ticket from 1933 when he painted his picture in 1977.

From a humble working-class background, he loved fairgrounds, the circus ring, the theatre and crude eroticism! He loved to make women, clowns and devils dance.

Trained as a decorative painter, his time at the Bauhaus was when he “began to understand”.

After the war he wanted to revive the Bauhaus as a school in Dessau – but unfortunately that wasn’t to be. At least in 1976 the Bauhaus building was reconstructed and a collection started.

And all he could do was dream …

… of the last Bauhaus Party.