THE BAUHAUS

Published in 1984, the book The Bauhaus by Frank Whitford has become a major reference for understanding the issues and ideas surrounding this movement. The author clearly and accurately explains the factors that made the Bauhaus school a key reference in design until its closure in 1933.

However, despite the richness of the content in the book, it is clear that women do not receive the recognition they deserve, even though they were admitted to the school and played a highly significant role there.

Indeed, while designers such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and Walter Gropius are mentioned repeatedly, the absence of women is striking, even though some played a major role in popularizing and diversifying Bauhaus productions. Notable examples include Anni Albers, Marianne Brandt, Gunta Stölzl, and Lucia Moholy, who are barely represented in this work.

Thus, this silence speaks volumes about the place of women in artistic and design fields: still and always overlooked in favor of men. This invisibility reflects the Matilda Effect, where women’s contributions are overshadowed by those of men.

“The first students who came to work at the Bauhaus in Weimar did not form a homogeneous group. There were men already mature and hardened by military service and war, some traumatized or wounded; boys who had begun painting and sculpting at the School of Arts and Crafts and had simply stayed with their teachers when the two institutions merged; disciples of Itten who arrived from Vienna with him; already established artists; and teachers interested in the prospect of an entirely new type of education. The school included many women, most of whom wanted to learn weaving, to the extent that Gropius found it necessary to limit their number by raising the level of skills required for admission.”

This excerpt highlights the neglect of women compared to men. While male artists could attend in unlimited numbers and participate in all workshops, their female colleagues were almost exclusively assigned to less physically demanding areas, such as weaving, and were admitted in limited numbers.