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Weaving Workshop at the Dessau Bauhaus (1927)

From the beginning, the Bauhaus weaving workshop was a largely female department. The majority of the students who enrolled in 1919 were women, and in most cases they were assigned to the weaving department by the school administration. While progressive in many respects, the exclusively male Bauhaus founders considered weaving and other textile arts women’s work. The weaving workshop was headed by painter and graphic artist Georg Muche until his departure in 1927, at which point Gunta Stölzl became the first and only female Bauhaus master. The woven fabrics designed in the workshop were integrated into the school’s building projects as carpets, wall-hangings, or upholstery fabrics. After the move to Dessau, the workshop established its own dye-works and began experimenting with fabrics for industrial use. This photograph shows four students seated at the workshop’s looms with Kurt Wanke (standing), the technical head of the weaving workshop from 1925-1932.

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Weaving Workshop at the Dessau Bauhaus (1927)

© Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin