Oskar Schlemmer

With 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 became part of the circle around the Der Sturm gallery. After the First World War he returned to Stuttgart, and in 1920 Gropius invited him to join the Bauhaus, where he worked across several disciplines and became increasingly involved with the theatre. In 1922 he created and choreographed Das Triadische Ballett, one of the defining works of Bauhaus theatre, exploring the relationship between the human body, space and movement. This research also informed his painting, including The Dancer of 1923. When the Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1925, Schlemmer continued to develop its theatrical programme and collaborated with Hannes Meyer on private villas. After the rise of the Nazi regime, he was dismissed from his teaching position and subsequently withdrew from public artistic life, continuing to work in Germany until his death in 1943.

Walter Gropius