A painting of three figures.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The painting shows three figures. In the lower right foreground, a figure in profile with brown hair faces right. The face in shadow shows a small dark eye, from the hairline to tip of the nose is a straight line, the jaw defined by a shallow angle. The figure in black immediately behind, its back to the viewer, is in black, has brown hair and the line of the face is a straight line to a rounded jaw line. The third figure at the back, facing front, has small dark eyes and a long straight nose drops with a small oval mouth.

Gallery Text

At the Bauhaus, where Schlemmer led the sculpture and later the theater workshops from 1921 to 1929, his devotion to figuration distinguished him from colleagues who were exploring pure abstraction. In his influential Bauhaus course “Man,” he analyzed measure, proportion, movement, gesture, and the relationships between human figures and their environments. In his own work, Schlemmer developed a simplified, geometrical figure that he brought into dialogue with architectural space in the form of relief sculptures, costumed dancers on a stage, and painted figures in dreamlike interiors. Composed of spheres and cylinders, the three figures here occupy an ambiguous space that suggests a stairway in the way they seem to ascend, descend, recede, and advance. The simplification of form and analysis of function that informed Schlemmer’s work were also key concepts for many others at the Bauhaus, who applied these principles to their designs for architecture, furniture, and household objects.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
BR55.447
People
Oskar Schlemmer, German (Stuttgart, Germany 1888 - 1943 Baden-Baden, Germany)
Title
Three Figures with Furniture-like Forms
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Drei Figuren mit Möbelformen
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1929
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/223818

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1500, Modern and Contemporary Art, Art in Germany Between the Wars
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
90.5 x 61 cm (35 5/8 x 24 in.)
framed: 98.3 x 68.5 x 3.2 cm (38 11/16 x 26 15/16 x 1 1/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • label: on backing board, ink on paper, printed and typewritten: DEUTSCHE KUNST DES 20. JAHRHUNDERTS AUS DEM BUSCH-REISINGER MUSEUM, // HARVARD UNIVERSITY // Schlemmer, Three Figures with Furniture-Like Forms // (Drei Figuren mit Möbelformen) // check list number 124 crate number 10 // Städel, Frankfurt Oct. 21, 1982 - Jan. 19, 1983 // Bauhaus-Archive, Berlin Feb. 10, 1983 - April 1983 // Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf May 8 - June 26 1983 [on Busch-Reisinger Museum label]
  • label: on backing board, ink on paper, printed and typewritten: THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART // ART MUSEUM DRIVE BALTIMORE MARYLAND 21218 // EXHBITION: OSKAR SCHLEMMER // DATES: 2/9/86-4-6-86 / tour thru 1/87 // TITLE: 3 Figures With Furn. Forms // ARTIST: Oskar Schlemmer // LENDER: Harvard University // LOAN NO. 11526.1 (Cat. 31)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Flechtheim Gallery, Berlin]. [J. B. Neumann, New York]. G. David Thompson, Pittsburgh, gift; to Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1955.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Maur G192

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of G. David Thompson
Accession Year
1955
Object Number
BR55.447
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Charles Werner Haxthausen, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Abbeville Press (New York, NY, 1980), p. 28, repr.
  • Peter Nisbet and Emilie Norris, Busch-Reisinger Museum: History and Holdings, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1991), p. 67, ill.
  • Peter Nisbet and Joseph Koerner, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, ed. Peter Nisbet, Harvard University Art Museums and Scala Publishers Ltd. (Cambridge, MA and London, England, 2007), p. 113

Exhibition History

  • Works from the 20th Century Collection of the Busch-Reisinger, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 06/15/1980 - 09/01/1980; Wildenstein Gallery, New York, New York, 09/23/1980 - 10/24/1980
  • Deutsche Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts aus dem Busch-Reisinger Museum, Stadtische Galerie im Stadelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, 10/23/1982 - 01/16/1983; Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin 30, 02/10/1983 - 04/17/1983; Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, 05/08/1983 - 06/26/1983
  • German Painting 1760-1960: A New Installation, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 12/20/1983 - 02/19/1984
  • 32Q: 1500 Art in Germany Between the Wars (Expressionism-Interwar), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/12/2018 - 04/05/2019; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/05/2019 - 01/01/2050
  • 32Q: 1520 Art in Germany Between the Wars (Interwar and Bauhaus), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/10/2016 - 10/02/2017; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/04/2018 - 12/10/2018
  • Revoliutsiia! Demonstratsiia! Soviet Art Put to the Test, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 10/29/2017 - 01/14/2018

Subjects and Contexts

  • The Bauhaus

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu