Gunta Stölzl and Johannes Itten | EUROtoday

Nur noch mit Bedacht wird man es nach Besuch der Ausstellung „Textile Universen“ im Kunsthaus Thun wagen, einen Teppich mit Füssen zu treten – auf Bildern geht man ja auch nicht herum. Wer Teppiche vornehmlich als kuschelige Bodendecker sieht, wird im schweizerischen Thun eines Besseren belehrt. Zu sehen sind Teppiche, Wandbehänge und Stoffe von den Bauhaus-Künstlern Gunta Stölzl und Johannes Itten.

„Textilien zu gestalten war für beide Zentrum ihres jeweiligen künstlerischen Universums“, sagt Christoph Wagner, Lehrstuhlinhaber für Kunstgeschichte der Uni Regensburg und Ko-Kurator der Ausstellung. „Deshalb haben wir den Titel so gewählt.“ In einem von Ittens Hauptwerken, dem „Velum“, einer transparenten Deckenbespannung für das Treppenhaus im Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, thematisierte er zudem die Entstehung des Universums mit Strichmännchen, Bäumen und Gecko-ähnlichen Tieren.

The show seems a bit sparse with few textiles on walls and in showcases without large boards with descriptions. But this is exactly what makes sense, because it allows the visitor to concentrate fully on the works. These couldn’t be more different: delicate, finely woven table runners in white and beige, fluffy carpets with brightly colored squares or incorporated stones, silky fabrics with printed cows, birds, roses or ginkgo leaves and checked cotton linen that is reminiscent of tartan skirts. “I think it’s good that the topic is displayed so prominently,” says Mirjam Deckers, an artwork historian in Groningen who manages Stölzl’s property. “From birth to death we dress in textiles, we are surrounded by textiles, we walk on carpets and open and close curtains. Who designs the works and how much work goes into them is often lost.”

The Swiss Johannes Itten was delivered to the Bauhaus by Walter Gropius in 1919, the place he grew to become head of the steel, furnishings and stained glass workshops. He later headed essential textile colleges in Krefeld and Zurich, developed colour idea and had quite a few exhibitions. Gunta Stölzl was Itten’s pupil on the Bauhaus, grew to become the primary foreman for weaving and later labored efficiently as a weaver and textile designer in Zurich. “Since the two of them crossed paths again and again at important life events, we found it fascinating to create an exhibition about both of them together,” explains Wagner.

The “naked” presentation of the works is smart, however extra background info would have been wanted, says artwork historian Deckers. “Many visitors are not as familiar with the history and techniques of textiles as they are with painting.” It would have been attention-grabbing, for instance, to learn that carpet precursors already existed in antiquity. Or that what carpets regarded like within the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is thought primarily from portray and structure – for instance within the type of carpet patterns in facade mosaics – as a result of few have survived from this era. In the Middle East, carpets weren’t solely flooring coverings but in addition flat visible textiles on tables or partitions. “Itten and Stölzl’s primary goal was to create images with their carpets,” says artwork historian Wagner.

This may also be seen in Thun: Like in work, frames are included into the carpets, typically darkish and outstanding, typically solely recognizable at second look attributable to subtly contrasting weaves or colours. The customer would even have favored to learn concerning the various kinds of manufacturing. A woven carpet consists of lengthwise warp threads within the loom, with the weft thread inserted transversely. Such a rug is flat in distinction to a fuzzy-looking rug with plastic, knotted knots. Here the artist knots wool or silk threads individually into the warp threads. It’s additionally a disgrace that there is nothing to the touch or do your self. How a few duplicate carpet that guests can contact and really feel? Or with looms in which you’ll be able to follow weaving and knotting your self?

Itten and Stölzl impressed one another early on. You can see an image of the stuffed animal that Stölzl sewed from leftover cloth as a pupil in Itten’s course in 1920. Three years later, Itten painted an image of his son with this stuffed animal in his arms. The first works of the ladies’s class have been objects produced from leftover materials that the ladies had collected from the residents of Weimar attributable to a scarcity of fabric.

Stölzl’s girls’s workshop class, which she based herself, quickly grew to become essentially the most profitable on the Bauhaus. “My mother later made a living from selling her interior and fashion fabrics,” says Monika Stadler, Gunta Stölzl’s second daughter, who takes care of her mom’s property. Her favourite work is the wall hanging “Jacquard” from 1928, woven from borders organized at proper angles and geometric figures in pastel tones that make you cheerful. “My mother apparently understood early on that the jacquard technique of the time could be used to weave geometric wall hangings inexpensively in larger quantities,” she says.

Itten was impressed by the ladies’s weaving class. The carpet sketches on show present how pedantic and detailed it will need to have been. The fields within the graph paper are meticulously full of gentle and darkish blue, crimson and rosé paint, which is reproduced within the completed carpet from 1924 within the show case with excessive distinction and vividness: summary motifs – birds, candlesticks, skulls and flowers – grouped round an altar zone .

However, Itten didn’t do the knotting or weaving himself; Stölzl, college students or his spouse did it. “Itten had the utmost respect for the craftsmanship and very high quality standards,” says Wagner. “He wanted his designs to be realized in maximum quality and knew that he couldn’t do that himself.”

Handcrafted woven and knotted carpets remained her focus till the tip of Stölzl’s life, whereas Itten later concentrated totally on industrial textile manufacturing. In different rooms you may see materials with inventive motifs that merge into an everyday sample, such because the photograph of the cow, which is mirrored and repeatedly woven into the material, which is paying homage to a Norwegian sweater. Or the stylized tulips in numerous shades of colour that may nonetheless be seen in cloth and style shops right now. Maybe sooner or later you’ll take a look at a tea towel, a shirt, a shirt or a curtain with extra respect, as a result of who is aware of which artist got here up with the unique design over an extended time period. In Thun, unknown textile universes can truly be explored.

Gunta Stölzl and Johannes Itten. Textile universes. Thun Art Museum; till December 1st. The catalog prices 42 CHF.