OUGD601 / Bauhaus Weavings

- The Weaving Workshop of the Bauhaus, (1897–1983) was as somewhat of a “female ghetto,” had many prejudices and misconceptions to overcome during its existence. 

- Most of the artists of the day regarded weaving was less than “real art”. 

- Women were seen as incapable of working in areas regarded as more demanding, such as painting, metalwork, and sculpture. 

- Although the Weaving Workshop was regarded as inferior artistically, it was the first workshop able to pay its own way through the production of its students, in keeping with the Bauhaus goal of achieving financial autonomy through its own efforts.

Looking at this weaving (Figure 1) in the Bauhaus archive was inspiring to see the difficult and time consuming handwork that had gone behind the piece. This has influenced me in that I may experiment with this process in my practical side of this research project.

Gunta Stölzl and Benita Koch-Otte 

'Benita Koch-Otte and Gunta Stölzl were lifelong friends. They were the most talented students in the Bauhaus weaving workshop and established themselves as leading weavers of the modern movement in Germany.'

Figure 1