Oskar Schlemmer

Germany (1888—1943)

With a practical training in marquetry and an art education at the School of Applied Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, Schlemmer moved to Berlin and joined the circle of Der Sturm gallery. After WWI he returned to Stuttgart, and in 1920 Gropius invited him to join the Bauhaus, where he contributed to a number of workshops, in particular the stage design course. In these years he choreographed and designed Das triadisches Ballett – such experience was also reflected in his paintings such as The Dancer in 1923. In 1925 he moved to Dessau to found the Bauhaus theatre. He collaborated with Meyer on private villas but with the rise of the Nazi power Schlemmer was dismissed from his role and escaped to Switzerland. He died in Germany in 1943.

Walter Gropius