For Bauhaus, the progressive German art school that influenced a century of design, architecture, and beyond, an early and effective way to disseminate its ideas came in the form of the humble postcard. The year was 1923, and the nascent school in Weimar, Germany, was getting ready for its first-ever exhibition. To get the word out, the school enlisted 16 Bauhaus masters and students to create 15 by 10 cm postcards that would tell the public what it was all about: jagged cityscapes, globular humanoids, and other striking visions all found a platform on the small lithograph missives. Recently, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City managed to acquire "Postkarte fur die Bauhaus Ausstellung Weimar 1923," a complete set of those works, and we've collected them here for you to marvel over.
As Juliet Kinchin, curator of MoMa's Department of Architecture and Design, explains to art blog Hyperallergic, not only were these postcards a visual compendium of the Bauhaus modernist aesthetic, but the medium itself was a message. "Many progressive artists in the early 20th century were interested in forms of mass production and new print media to spread their ideas quickly and internationally," she said. "Modern design was not about creating one-off monumental or exclusive creations." Below, the postcards in the collection, with artist details courtesy of MoMA's design blog Inside/Out.
· Having a Wonderful Time at the Bauhaus Exhibition in Weimar, 1923[MoMA Inside/Out]
· Take a Peek at the Cooper-Hewitt's Vintage Postcards Gallery [Curbed]
· Definitive Proof Nobody Did Costume Parties Like the Bauhaus [Curbed]
· All Bauhaus coverage[Curbed]
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