Neue Frau
“THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE STRONG SEX.” - Walter Gropius in 1919
When given free reign to choose the subject matter of my undergraduate thesis film, I was immediately inclined to create a historical piece on female achievements in design. This proclivity in part stems from my budding career as a young woman in a largely male dominated field; I feel connected to the achievements of women who asserted themselves as equals in critical moments of social change. I strongly believe that the achievements of Otti Berger, Marianne Brandt, Gunta Stölzl, and others female designers who transcended the frameworks laid out for them cut a path for women like myself to emerge in the field of aesthetics.
History often remembers the privileged, and the Bauhaus is no exception. Uncovering female accomplishments in even one of the most prolific movements in design history required extensive and in-depth art historical research. The more I immersed myself, however, the more passionate I became for the topic. Walter Gropius’ intention as a harbinger of the egalitarian ambitions of Weimar Germany, and simultaneous marginalization of women to the historically domestic field of weaving, underscored the blatant adversity faced by women in the early modern period. In Neue Frau, I use documentary animation to retroactively shed light on the largely underrepresented successes of the Bauhaus’ female designers.
Frame from preliminary style exploration.
The Women
A small yearbook of some of the Bauhaus’ female students. Row 1: Anni Albers, Irmgard Sörensen-Popitz, Benita Koch-Otte, Grete Stern, Gertrud Arndt, Grit Kallin-Fischer, Gunta Stolzl, Lis Beyer-Volger, Ilsa Fehling, Margarete Heymann-Loebenstein | Row 2: Lotte Beese, Alma Siedhoff-Buscher, Lou Scheper-Berkekamp, Ricarda Schwerin, Marianne Brandt, Etel Fodor-Mittag, Otti Berger, Irena Blühov, Friedl Dicker, Margaretha Reichardt | Row 3: Re Soupault, Ida Kerkovius, Judit Karasz, Corona Krause, Magda Langenstrass-Uhlig, Margaret Camilla Leiteritz, Maria Rasch, Elsa Thiemann, Ivana Tomljenovic
Design Method
To create a visual film about female participation in the Bauhaus, I knew I first needed to dissect the design language I intended to propagate. This broke down into two components:
I. VISUAL METAPHOR FOR TEXTILE DESIGN
Female students in the Bauhaus were required to participate in the weaving workshop in lieu of technical study. In spite of it's secondary status, however, many of the Bauhaus school's commercially successful works emerged from the textile department. To emulate the transformation of the Bauhaus' textile department from a place for women's work to a powerhouse of material design, I invite the viewer to simultaneously follow a narrative and visual thread. Elements of line lead the audience between topics, and grow in complexity as the film progresses. Like the creation of a tapestry, the visual narrative of Neue Frau unfolds with the thesis it represents.
Anni Albers, “Under Way,” 1963.
In the style frames below, I heavily use linear elements to represent the physical practice of weaving textiles.
II. VISUAL METAPHOR FOR PROLIFIC DESIGN
The Bauhaus’ textile workshop is the central focus of Neue Frau, however integrating key design principles established in other departments of study proved essential to defining the film’s aesthetic character. To brand the project as undoubtedly representative of the Bauhaus school, I drew inspiration from the principal works of Wassily Kandinsky, Josef and Anni Albers, and Marianne Brandt. References to these artists appear in the film as integrated visual metaphors and subtle stylistic choices.
The rhythmic patterns of Anni Albers’ textiles provided a unique visual structure to design within. By nature, weaving lends itself to the creation of rhythmic linear patterns on horizontal planes. In Neue Frau, the physical structure of fabric represents the power structure that defined the textile workshop’s hierarchy among other departments in the Bauhaus school. The historical domesticity of weaving contained women, and provided men with a means in which to look down upon them. Both social trends are represented in the frames to the right.
Anni Albers, "Plan for a Plain Weave," 1963.
Wassily Kandinsky’s teachings on the interplay of form and color are overwhelmingly present in his students’ artwork. Through courses in color theory and visual design, Kandinsky spread the idea of a spiritual component between geometry and hue, commonly represented by the shapes seen here. Kandinsky's color theory was widely embraced, however limited in scientific scope. Though we may perceive yellow to be energetic, red to be consistent and blue to be peaceful, there is little research to support the connection between these emotions and the geometric shapes Kandinsky chose to represent them. In Neue Frau, Kandinsky’s red square, yellow triangle, and blue circle represent design education, and the male privilege that facilitated the spread of ideas with limited factual basis in the Bauhaus School.
Eugene Batz, “The Spatial Effect Of Colours And Shapes", 1929.
Marianne Brandt is primarily known for her unique career as the only female in the Bauhaus’s metalworking workshop. Later in life, however, Brandt shared a series of photomontages she created during her studies. Largely centered around her frustrations with men, Brandt’s constructivist representation of adversary provided an excellent point of reference from which to design a film about sexism in the Bauhaus school. I emulated Brandt’s collage practice using contemporary design methods, and set them into motion using image sequencing. This is also why much of the sequence is designed using off-white: to marry digital media to physical art practice on paper.
Marianne Brandt, "UNTITLED [With Anne May Wong]", 1929.