From Bauhaus to new beginnings - Eugen Batz + Xanti Schawinsky

19.11.2016 - 14.01.2017

Eugen Batz, a master student of Paul Klee at the Dessau Bauhaus, followed him to the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 1931. Interrupted by historical events and his work in his father's business, Batz did not concentrate on his art again until 1946 and participated, among other things, in documenta II in 1959 in Kassel. He was continuously concerned with the relationship of man to his environment and can be seen between abstraction and figuration. Xanti Schawinsky is known, albeit unknowingly, for his early advertising photographs of Italian products such as the Olivetti typewriter. After his brief arrest in Berlin, the Swiss-born artist with Jewish roots emigrated to Italy in 1933. There he received Josef Albers' call to the USA in 1936, where he first taught at the interdisciplinary Black Mountain College in North Carolina. This was followed by teaching activities and further commissions as a graphic designer in New York. He constantly developed his own art. The representation of movement led him from the canvas to the stage to illusionistic "sphere" paintings, which can be seen in the 1960s, back in Europe, as the result of his search. The Bauhaus as a foundation The training at the Bauhaus connects the two artists Eugen Batz (1905-1986) and Xanti Schawinsky (1904-1979), the question of whether they ever met in person remains unanswered. Schawinsky began his studies in Weimar, Batz came in 1924 already to the succeeding location Dessau. For political reasons, the Bauhaus had to change locations twice: founded in Weimar in 1919, it was followed by Dessau and finally Berlin, where it was evoked for closure by the National Socialists in 1933. Although the institution existed for only 14 years, it can nevertheless be described as a formative artistic institution of the 20th century, which at the same time paved the way for modernity. The aim was to unite all the arts - painting, sculpture and architecture on an equal footing under one roof. As a reaction to industrialization, artists tried to redesign the future, which was to change man and his environment. The question of the extent to which this "construction of the house" succeeded is debatable. What is undisputed, however, is the after-effect of the "Bauhaus" experiment right up to the present day.

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Exhibition views

  • Döbele Kunst Mannheim - Schawinsky
  • Döbele Kunst Mannheim - Schawinsky
  • Döbele Kunst Mannheim - Schawinsky
  • Döbele Kunst Mannheim - Schawinsky
  • Döbele Kunst Mannheim - Schawinsky
  • Döbele Kunst Mannheim - Batz
  • Döbele Kunst Mannheim - Batz
  • Döbele Kunst Mannheim - Batz
  • Döbele Kunst Mannheim - Batz