Bauhaus Stairway, 1931 – 1932

Blatt: 279 x 219 mm

Physical Description: Pencil and watercolour on wove paper

Inventory Number: 17910

Object Number: 17910 Z

Acquisition: Acquired in 2019 as a bequest from Ulrike Crespo from the Karl Ströher Collection

Status: Can be presented in the study room of the Graphische Sammlung (special opening hours)

Texts

About the Work

When the Nazi majority in the Dessau city council deliberated the dissolution of the Bauhaus in 1932, Schlemmer began painting the ‘Bauhaus Stairway’, meanwhile long an iconic image (Museum of Modern Art, New York). In the process, he drew on earlier studies, especially this delicate watercolour sketch. The figures calmly climb the stairway of the Dessau Bauhaus. They look timeless, de-individualized, in harmony with one another and their architectural setting. The work is a programmatic formulation of the underlying Bauhaus idea—the unity of the human being and architecture.

About the Acquisition

The Städel Museum has the photographer, psychotherapist, philanthropist, and long-time Frankfurt resident Ulrike Crespo (1950–2019) to thank for more than ninety works ranging from classical modernism to American pop art. The paintings, drawings, and prints by Wassily Kandinsky, Otto Dix, Oskar Schlemmer, Max Ernst, Jean Dubuffet, Cy Twombly, and others originally belonged to the holdings of her grandfather, the Darmstadt-based industrialist Karl Ströher (1890–1977), who amassed an extensive art collection after World War II.

Work Data

Basic Information

Title: Bauhaus Stairway

Draughtsman

Oskar Schlemmer

Period Produced

20th century

Object Type

drawing

Physical Description: Pencil and watercolour on wove paper

Material

Technique

Geographic Reference

German

Label at the Time of Manufacture: Nicht bezeichnet

Captions Added Later: Verso nummeriert oben links (mit Bleistift): 3)

Watermark

Nicht vorhanden

Work Catalogues

von Maur A 464
Hildebrandt 744

Property and Acquisition

Institution

Städel Museum

Departement

Department of Prints and Drawings

Collection

Städelsches Kunstinstitut

Creditline: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Picture Copyright: Public Domain

Acquisition: Acquired in 2019 as a bequest from Ulrike Crespo from the Karl Ströher Collection

Work Content

Motifs and References

Genre

Main Motif

Persons Shown

Bauhaus

Iconclass

Primary

31A231 standing figure
31D14 adult man
31D15 adult woman
41AA1 civic architecture; edifices; dwellings - AA - civic architecture: inside

Secondary

41A34 staircase

Podcasts

Research and Discussion

Provenance

Object History: Nachlass Oskar Schlemmer (Tut Schlemmer), 1943

an Karl Ströher (1890-1977), Darmstadt, 1952

Nachlass Karl Ströher, 1977

an seine Enkelin Ulrike Crespo (1950-2019), Frankfurt am Main

Vermächtnis an das Städelsche Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, 2019.

Information

Since 2001, the Städel Museum has systematically been researching the provenance of all objects that were acquired during the National Socialist period, or that changed owners or could have changed owners during those years. The basis for this research is the “Washington Declaration”, also known as the “Washington Conference Principles”, formulated at the 1998 “Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets” and the subsequent “Joint Declaration”.

The provenance information is based on the sources researched at the time they were published digitally. However, this information can change at any time when new sources are discovered. Provenance research is therefore a continuous process and one that is updated at regular intervals.

Ideally, the provenance information documents an object’s origins from the time it was created until the date when it found its way into the collection. It contains the following details, provided they are known: