“How honest are we?” This provocative question echoes within the walls of the Bauhaus-Museum Weimar. It is a question posed by the “Monument to Honesty”. The monument is an installation on the mezzanine floor. It uses Type 602 furniture by Bauhaus artist Franz Ehrlich.
The Bauhaus-Museum Weimar stands as a tribute. It reassesses the school’s historic legacy. Germany marked the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus in 2019. Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus in Weimar in 1919.
The museum displays early Bauhaus specimens. Wilhelm Kohler started the collection in 1919. He obtained a copy of the Bauhaus journal Der Austausch. The collection now holds 13000 objects. These objects create a fresh narrative. It casts the school as a local history. All objects are from Weimar. They highlight the Bauhaus preoccupation with the “New Man”. This was a new way of being after World War One.
The Bauhaus sought to unite manufacturing and creativity. There was fear that art was losing its purpose. The Bauhaus aimed to build a relationship between them. They had been drifting apart.
The building itself is unexpected. Heike Hanada designed it. She is an architect at the Bauhaus University in Weimar. Its concrete cuboid form lacks windows. It resembles rationalist architecture. This contrasts familiar Bauhaus designs.
Inside, stairs slice through three floors. It forms a diagonal cut. A window at the top landing overlooks the countryside. You can see the tower of the Buchenwald memorial. Buchenwald was a large concentration camp.
Hanada wanted to draw attention to Weimar’s past. The Bauhaus wasn’t just founded in Weimar. It also fled from here. It moved to Dessau in 1925. The Nazi Party drove them out. The museum stands in direct connection to the Gauforum. The National Socialists built the Gauforum as their local headquarters.
The Bauhaus was closely linked to Weimar Republic’s political development. The National Socialists closed it in 1933. In 1996, the Bauhaus Sites in Weimar became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Bauhaus-Museum Weimar also addresses a difficult chapter. The exhibition “Bauhaus and National Socialism” illustrates diverse artistic responses. It explores artists dealing with a totalitarian system. The exhibition unites around 450 works. These include art and design pieces. They come from private collections and renowned museums. The works tell the complex political history. It spans from the Bauhaus opening in 1919 to its closure in 1933. It also shows the varying paths of Bauhaus members under Nazism.
One part of the exhibition focuses on “Degenerate Art” confiscations in 1937. Authorities had ordered the removal of works as early as 1930. These works were by artists like Lyonel Feininger and Paul Klee. In 1937, over 450 works were confiscated. This was a cultural loss for Weimar’s collections.
Another part explores Bauhaus members “Living in the Dictatorship, 1933-1945”. It addresses their balancing acts under the new political circumstances. Some Bauhäusler lost jobs and went into exile. At least twenty-one students died in ghettos and concentration camps. Yet, most were not targets. Some participated in propaganda and designed for the regime.
The exhibition reveals an uncomfortable history. It challenges the illusion of modernism as uniquely “good”. It shows that artistic innovation doesn’t protect against fascism.
The Bauhaus-Museum Weimar encourages reflection. It prompts us to examine art’s role in a liberal society. It reminds us that tolerance cannot be taken for granted. It shows us the story of Bauhaus. It began in Weimar. It left its mark on the world. It shows us that even innovative ideas need a space to grow.