bauhaus faces

László Moholy-Nagy is often associated above all with photography and the New Vision. Yet his work reaches far beyond this field. He was one of the great multimedia artists of the twentieth century — working with painting, photography, film, typography, stage design, and sculpture. At the centre of Moholy’s practice was a profound interest in education. He did not see art as something separate fro...

Generally known as “the spy with a camera,” this episode asks: What do we see when we stop looking for the spy and start looking at her photographs, collages, and publications? Edith Tudor-Hart has too often been seen through a story that is not primarily about her work, but about secrecy, politics, and the men around her. Several publications have linked her to the Cambridge Five, the group of Br...

In the early 1930s, a small group of young architects left the Bauhaus in Dessau and followed their teacher, Hannes Meyer, to the Soviet Union. They went in search of new possibilities for architecture—convinced that the ideas they had developed at the Bauhaus could find a future there. Their paths, however, would soon diverge in unexpected ways. This episode returns to that group—often referred t...

A new episode of bauhaus faces is out now. This time, I’m joined by Chilean architect and historian Daniel Talesnik to explore the story of a remarkable group of Bauhaus students—through the life of one of them: Tibor Weiner. Weiner was part of the circle around Hannes Meyer, the second director of the Bauhaus—a group often referred to as the “Red Bauhaus Brigade.” After Meyer’s dismissal in 1930,...

In our first episode of 2026, we turn the spotlight on Florence Henri. Drawn to the Bauhaus less by its curriculum than by its people, Henri discovered photography through Lucia Moholy and never looked back. What began as an experiment became a radical reinvention: mirrors, props, fractured spaces — images that redefined modern photography. Henri stayed fiercely artistic, while mentoring a generat...

In this very short episode, Giovanni Battista Martini, head of the Florence Henri Archive in Genoa, and the Italian art historians Paola Rosina and Roberto Lacarbonara will describe their favourite photo by Florence Henri in more detail for you. Please look out for the images on your smartphone or tablet while listening. As always, I added the photos to the chapters. 🎧 Listen on bauhausfaces.com...

BONUS EPISODE – FRANCAIS Deuxième épisode bonus de bauhaus faces — et une conversation résolument multilingue ! Autour de la peintre et photographe Florence Henri, j’échange avec Giovanni Battista Martini, Paola Rosina et Roberto Lacarbonara dans un dialogue mêlant français et anglais, fidèle à l’esprit du Bauhaus et au croisement des cultures. Il existe également un épisode principal entièrement...

The last episode of 2025 is here! And it's about Ludwig Hilberseimer. Never heard of him? No problem! bauhaus faces will help you out. Only few of the houses Hilberseimer planned were built. He was much more concerned about the bigger picture: How does the modern city, especially the metropolis, need to be organized to meet people's needs? His futuristic-looking draft of a Highrise City from 1924...

In this new episode of bauhaus faces, we dive into the life and work of Hans Fischli. Often overlooked in broader Bauhaus stories, Fischli worked across architecture, painting, sculpture, and teaching—leaving a mark that’s still felt today. To get a sense of his impact, I spoke with the people who knew him best: his son, the artist Peter Fischli, his grandson, curator Fredi Fischli, who is current...

In the latest episode of “bauhaus faces,” we dive into the remarkable story of another iconic Bauhaus couple: Anni and Josef Albers. Their lives and legacies are deeply intertwined— from their first meeting in 1922 in Weimar to their lasting impact on art, design, and education in the US. Anni, who would later shortly lead the weaving workshop at the Bauhaus and then at Black Mountain College, and...

She was more than a textile designer— Léna Meyer-Bergner was a force for education and for social change. While her husband, Hannes Meyer, is often remembered as the Bauhaus’ second director, Lena’s groundbreaking work in design, pedagogy, and social transformation is finally stepping into the spotlight. In this episode, I sat down with two leading art historians – Sandra Neugärtner and Viridiana...

Léna Meyer-Bergner fue más que una diseñadora textil: Léna Meyer-Bergner fue una fuerza impulsora de la educación y el cambio social. Aunque su esposo, Hannes Meyer, segundo director de la Bauhaus, es muy conocido, el trabajo pionero de Lena en el diseño, la pedagogía y la transformación social está finalmente saliendo a la luz. En este episodio, me senté con la historiadora de arte mexicana Virid...

"Bill always said that he also went to the Bauhaus to find clarity. And that is a process. You don't just have clarity, you have to earn it." (Angela Thomas) For this brand-new episode, I travelled to Zumikon to visit Angela Thomas and Erich Schmid in their house - the Bill Haus. This house, which looks somehow unremarkable from the outside but is amazingly light, open, and welcoming and on the in...

In this bonus episode you will hear the original interview with Martin Mäntele, head of the HfG Ulm Archive, and bauhaus faces. Discover how Max Bill played a central role in the founding and first years of the HfG Ulm, the Ulm School of Design – and how it evolved without him. And join us as we discuss the design icons of the HfG: the Ulm stool, the Braun radio ‘Snow White's Coffin’ and the stack...

In dieser Bonusfolge mit Angela Thomas (Kunsthistorikerin und Bill-Wittwe) und Erich Schmid (Journalist und Filmemacher) tauchen wir ein in das faszinierende Leben von Max Bill – einem der prägendsten Köpfe der Konkreten Kunst und Mitbegründer der HfG Ulm. Und das Ganze ausnahmsweise auf Deutsch! Jetzt reinhören in 1h50 voller spannender Insights, Anekdoten und Bonusmaterial, das es nicht in die e...

Did you know that in his final year alone, Klee created 1,253 works? A cornerstone of Bauhaus art, Klee’s influence is undeniable, but his story begins much earlier. From aspiring musician following his family’s footsteps to the painter who “discovered color” in Tunisia, his artistic journey is nothing short of remarkable. His tenure at the then-young Bauhaus alongside legends like Wassily Kandins...

In this new episode of “bauhaus faces” we talk about Hannes Meyer, the second Bauhaus director. PART 1 concentrates on Hannes Meyer’s formative years and his involvement in cooperativism and collectivism, his first steps as architect and artist, and then on to his pivotal role at the Bauhaus in Dessau. What was new when he became second director of the Bauhaus? And why did he have to leave the Bau...

In August 1930, Hannes Meyer was dismissed from the Bauhaus amid rising communist activism and his inability to control it. A 1931 caricature by Adolf Hofmeister humorously captures Meyer clutching the hammer and sickle, symbolizing his unwavering commitment to socialism. Despite his departure, Meyer’s Bauhaus legacy endures in photographs and memories, but his true passion was always for the revo...

We have ended part 2 with Hannes Meyer leaving the Soviet Union to go and help build a socialist republic in Spain which was interrupted by the Franco coup and left Meyer in limbo in his home country, Switzerland. Here, he married Lena Bergner in 1937 – they already had a daughter, Lilo, back then. In 1938 to 1939 Hannes Meyer built the orphanage Mümliswil, which I have discussed more extensively...

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) was a pioneering modernist architect. Born in Aachen, he started as a bricklayer before moving to Berlin, where he worked for Bruno Paul and Peter Behrens. His first major commission, the Riehl House (1907), showed early signs of modernism. In 1921, he changed his name, marking his shift to modern architecture while maintaining classical influences. As vice pre...

This is PART 2 of the Podcast episode about Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It puts a magnifying glass over a specific period of time in Mies’s life: his commissions for the Nazis after the Bauhaus had closed in July 1933 and his final emigration to the US in 1938. For this episode, the art-historian Aya Soika shares her expertise. She published a book about this time of Mies’s life with the title „Mies...

In der ersten Bonusfolge zum eigentlichen Podcast über Ludwig Mies van der Rohe spricht Wita Noack, seit über 30 Jahren Leiterin des Mies van der Rohe Hauses in Berlin mit Sitz im ehemaligen Haus Lemke. Diese Folge enthält Zusatzmaterial, das im englischen Podcast nicht enthalten.

In der zweiten Bonusfolge zum eigentlichen Podcast über Ludwig Mies van der Rohe spricht Fritz Neumeyer, promovierter Architekt und Mies-Forscher. Diese Folge enthält Zusatzmaterial, das im englischen Podcast nicht enthalten ist.

This episode is dedicated to a Japanese couple who went all the way to Germany to study at the Bauhaus in Dessau: Iwao and Michiko Yamawaki. When they met each other in 1928 Iwao Fujita had already studied architecture in Tokyo and was also actively involved in the theatre. Michiko came from a very wealthy family and was a culturally educated young woman of 18 years. By marrying into the Yamawaki...

This brand-new episode of "bauhaus faces" is about a rather unknown Bauhausler: Fritz Kuhr. Although he was at the Bauhaus for roughly 7 years he is widely unknown. Kuhr was the student spokesperson of the Bauhaus Master Council, part of the infamous Bauhaus band, helped edit and produce the Bauhaus publications with Ernst Kállai and had a connection to the communists at the Bauhaus. After leaving...