Lot Essay
In the autumn of 1921 the Bauhaus in Weimar announced in its prospectus the plan to publish five portfolios under the title Neue europäische Graphik:
"For the first time, we offer the collector the chance to purchase an international collection of graphic works, which, in the current economic situation is otherwise impossible to obtain. The collection is of fundamental importance as a representation of the most significant artists of Germany, France, Holland, Italy and Russia..."
Only two of the portfolios, nos. I and III were published as planned in 1922, containing prints by the Bauhaus Masters and German artists. A year later, portfolio V was published which was also devoted to the work of German artists. Portfolio IV, representing a cross section of the main artists of Russia and Italy was published in 1924. Due to a lack of funds and Germany's inflation problems, portfolio II never saw the light of day. It was scheduled to contain prints by contemporary French artists.
The Bauhaus portfolios form a remarkable compendium of a great variety of styles. They contain prime examples of the European avant-garde. Apart from artists of the Blaue Reiter, Die Brücke and Die Sturm, they contain contributions by artists from such movements as Constructivism and Futurism.
The Staatliches Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in April 1919. During the 1920s the Bauhaus was the centre of the development and propagation of new international experiments, expecially the international school of architecture and geometric abstraction in painting and sculpture. Gropius, who advocated the need for the unity of the architect, painter and craftsman, declared in the first proclamation of the Bauhaus that its intention was "to create a new guild of craftsmen without the class distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier between craftsmen and artist."
Each portfolio was published in a total edition of only 130 copies, and the prints were pulled by hand in the printing shop of the Bauhaus. The bindery of the Bauhaus designed and produced the portfolio wrappers. Lyonel Feininger, the form master of the Bauhaus at the time, designed the cover of the first portfolio and the indexes.
The following comment by the critic E. Wiese in his review in Der Cicerone, XIV (1922), p. 169, illustrates that the publication was then already felt to be of great importance:
"Noch nie war die vorwarts drängende Künstlerschaft einer Zeit so einig im Bewustsein ihres Sendung und darum trotz aller Hemmnisse so nahe beieinander wie heute"
The present complete series of the four published portfolios is now extremely rare to the market.
"For the first time, we offer the collector the chance to purchase an international collection of graphic works, which, in the current economic situation is otherwise impossible to obtain. The collection is of fundamental importance as a representation of the most significant artists of Germany, France, Holland, Italy and Russia..."
Only two of the portfolios, nos. I and III were published as planned in 1922, containing prints by the Bauhaus Masters and German artists. A year later, portfolio V was published which was also devoted to the work of German artists. Portfolio IV, representing a cross section of the main artists of Russia and Italy was published in 1924. Due to a lack of funds and Germany's inflation problems, portfolio II never saw the light of day. It was scheduled to contain prints by contemporary French artists.
The Bauhaus portfolios form a remarkable compendium of a great variety of styles. They contain prime examples of the European avant-garde. Apart from artists of the Blaue Reiter, Die Brücke and Die Sturm, they contain contributions by artists from such movements as Constructivism and Futurism.
The Staatliches Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in April 1919. During the 1920s the Bauhaus was the centre of the development and propagation of new international experiments, expecially the international school of architecture and geometric abstraction in painting and sculpture. Gropius, who advocated the need for the unity of the architect, painter and craftsman, declared in the first proclamation of the Bauhaus that its intention was "to create a new guild of craftsmen without the class distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier between craftsmen and artist."
Each portfolio was published in a total edition of only 130 copies, and the prints were pulled by hand in the printing shop of the Bauhaus. The bindery of the Bauhaus designed and produced the portfolio wrappers. Lyonel Feininger, the form master of the Bauhaus at the time, designed the cover of the first portfolio and the indexes.
The following comment by the critic E. Wiese in his review in Der Cicerone, XIV (1922), p. 169, illustrates that the publication was then already felt to be of great importance:
"Noch nie war die vorwarts drängende Künstlerschaft einer Zeit so einig im Bewustsein ihres Sendung und darum trotz aller Hemmnisse so nahe beieinander wie heute"
The present complete series of the four published portfolios is now extremely rare to the market.