Autobiography.
Oskar Schlemmer born in 1888, Stuttgart Germany is a German painter, sculptor, designer and choreographer. Growing up he had been part of futuristic era. At a young age participated as an apprentice in a marquetry workshop taking classes at the Kunstegerbeschule, translated to the ‘School of Applied Art’, in Stuttgart where he graduated with a scholarship that allowed him to broaden his knowledge as a young artist. Having spent his time in berlin, familiarising himself with the trends as a futurist artist, gaining inspiration from the Der Strum gallery where they exhibited writing, drawings and prints. In 1912 he because a master student of abstract artist Adolf Hölzel.
1916 Schlemmer participated in the First World War, he was wounded in action which was the cause of his discharge from the army. During 1919 he was inspired to help the spear head a movement to upgrade the curriculum at the Stuttgart academy of fine art and brought the modern art exhibition to the faculty showing his art works of simplicity and geometry.
During the period of his marriage to Helena Tutein In 1920 Schlemmer was at the same time invited to the great territory of Walter Gropious in the Bauhaus school in Weimar to teach. He contributed with the project of geometrical performance with in the school. His time in the campus was a building block for him to go over his limit of modernising art. He participated with plenty of classes such as sculpture, mural painting, metal work and life drawing. The guardian reported with the article that stated that “with the rise of the Nazi in the early 30’s, schlemmer was edged out of a teaching post in berlin. His work was included in the infamous exhibition of the ‘degenerate art’ in 1937. He then worked in the secret in a factory in Wuppertal until his death”. Focusing on space, time and movement he had master the aesthetic art of futurism. He recorded movements and stationary functions, sitting, lying, walking, standing as they are universally valid; he once said of his work. TheyIn the month of April 1943 Oskar Schlemmer sadly passed away but truly made his mark in the sight of the industry.
- source 1: Author Ferry, E. and Blumberg, N. (2017) Oskar Schlemmer German Artist. Britannica. page 1
Work: ballet of geometry (das triadische ballet).
He had created some of his best work while working with in the partnership of Bauhaus. One of his master piece, as known to many, was the “Das Triadische ballet” in 1922. This performance was a unique blend of futurism and ballet. He had created and crafted the garment which was used during the performance, overall there was 12 choreographies across three parts and using three dancers (one male and two female dancers) and 18 costumes. The ballet was based on the modern vision of Oskar, the geometrical patterns and shapes was one of his inspirations. He had also used a lot of vibrant colours and dark to create an attracting cinematic image to promote futurism. The garments of the dancers were much exaggerated with their costumes and makeup which portrayed a very animated feel to the audience. The background was created with multiple bright colour such as yellow and pink and this added a very modern feel throughout the performance. In one of his performances he had used a black background with a hint of white floor, the exemption of this was to create a mature and expression to the routine. The first act with the yellow-hue was to represent the plot-free work shifts from playful dances. The second act was the ceremonial movement in the pink-hue background, and lastly the multiple mystical dances against the black backdrops in the third act.
- source 2: (24/11/2016) oskar-schlemmer Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/nov/24/oskar-schlemmers-ballet-of-geometry-in-pictures [accessed at 24/10/2017]
- source 3: La Cream (15/12/2016) Das Triadische Ballet Avaliable from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4pJlj_bteQ [accessed at 24/10/2017]