Exhibition
Xanti Schawinsky
From the Bauhaus Into the World
21.06.2016 -
09.10.2016
Xanti Schawinsky – From the Bauhaus Into the World combines works from all creative periods of the painter, photographer, scenographer, graphic, and exhibition designer (1904-1979) deriving from the artist’s estate.
Based on the Bauhaus’ avant-gardist ideas, his oeuvre illustrates the encounter with a multi-talent who served as a stimulator for major developments of pre- and post-war modernism in Europe and North America. The exhibition focuses on Schawinsky’s time at the Bauhaus and at Black-Mountain-College, and includes furthermore the later painterly oeuvre. A choice of photographs that shed light on Schawinsky’s time at the public building department of the city of Magdeburg between 1929 and 1931 adds to the exhibition.
Xanti [Alexander] Schawinsky
Born in Basel in 1904 to Jewish parents; 1921 to 1923 after graduating from high school in Zurich, apprenticeship in the architecture office of Theodor Merill in Cologne; 1923 Berlin School of Applied Arts; 1924 Bauhaus in Weimar: preliminary courses and entry into the stage department, member of the Bauhaus band; from 1925 in Dessau; 1926/27 design of stage sets in Zwickau; 1927 return to the Bauhaus, teacher for stage design; 1929-1931 head of the graphics department of the municipal building construction office in Magdeburg; 1931 moved to Berlin; 1933 emigrated to Italy, worked as a graphic artist and designer for Illy Caffè, Cinzano, Motta, Olivetti; 1935 married Irene von Debschitz in London; 1936 moved to the USA, North Carolina, teacher at Black Mountain College; 1941 moved to New York, teaching at the City College of New York (1943-1946) and at New York University (1950-1954); 1963 marriage to Gisela Hatzky; 1966 construction of a house he designed himself on Lake Maggiore, lengthy stays and numerous exhibitions in Europe, death in 1979 in Locarno, Switzerland
Supported by The Xanti Schawinsky Estate
A project of Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau with exhibitions in Dessau, Halle (Saale), Magdeburg, Merseburg, Leuna, Elbingerode and Quedlinburg.
Catalogue
Xanti Schawinsky - From the Bauhaus into the World
Edited by Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen Magdeburg and Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, 2021
Texts germ./engl.: Annegret Laabs, Torsten Blume
Translation: Michael Wetzel
160 p., 149 illustrations, Hardcover
Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2021
ISBN 978-3-422-07470-5
29.90 Euro
