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A chart with illustrations of figures in brightly colored costumes.

Twenty individual figures drawn in a stylized manner appear in a grid of thin black lines on a cream background. Each figure wears a doll-like or harlequin costume of bold geometric shapes in primary or metallic colors. Each figure appears in a shaded box within the grid and boxes that do not hold a figure remain uncolored. The boxes with figures in the center column are colored white and within the column, these boxes are arranged in a triangle. Similarly, the column at left has yellow boxes which are arranged in the shape of a symbol for man and the column at right has boxes colored black, arranged in the shape of a symbol for woman.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
BR50.428
People
Oskar Schlemmer, German (Stuttgart, Germany 1888 - 1943 Baden-Baden, Germany)
Title
Costume Designs for the "Triadic Ballet"
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Das Triadische Ballet
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1926
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304377

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink, opaque and transparent watercolor, metallic paint, and graphite on cream wove paper mounted to cream card
Dimensions
mount; actual: 46.3 x 64 cm (18 1/4 x 25 3/16 in.)
actual: 38.6 x 53.7 cm (15 3/16 x 21 1/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • stamp: on mount at l.c., red ink: DAS TRIADISCHE BALLETT / OSKAR SCHLEMMER

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Museum Purchase
Accession Year
1950
Object Number
BR50.428
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
2 collage elements

Publication History

  • Herbert Bayer, ed., Bauhaus, 1919-1928, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY, 1938), p. 65
  • Tendenzen der Zwanziger Jahre : [15. Europäische Kunstausstellung unter den Auspizien des Europarates : in der Neuen Nationalgalerie, der Akademie der Künste und der Grossen Orangerie des Schlosses Charlottenburg zu Berlin, vom 14. August bis zum 16. Okto, exh. cat., Dietrich Reimer Verlag (Berlin, 1977), p. 1/202, 1/206, fig. 140, cat. no. 1/418, ill. (b/w)
  • Charles Werner Haxthausen, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Abbeville Press (New York, NY, 1980), p. 119, repr.
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 386, p. 322, repr.
  • Peter Nisbet and Emilie Norris, Busch-Reisinger Museum: History and Holdings, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1991), p. 65, ill.
  • Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997
  • 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. 129
  • Leah Dickerman and Barry Bergdoll, Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity, exh. cat., ed. David Frankel, The Museum of Modern Art (New York, 2009), cat. no. 217, p. 170, color repr.
  • Kathleen James-Chakraborty and Eva Forgas, Bauhaus: Art as Life, exh. cat., Barbican Art Gallery and Koenig Books Ltd (London, 2012), p. 195, fig. 174, ill.
  • Christine Kutschbach, Von Kopf bus Fuss: Bausteine zu einer Kulturgeschichte der Kleidung, Kulturverlag Kadmos (Berlin, 2015), pp. 60-61, ill. (color)
  • Lino Cabras, Le Coreografie Astratte di Oskar Schlemmer: arte totale e teatro totale, Casa editrice Libria (Melfi, 2021), p. 69, fig. 12, ill. (color)
  • Laura Muir, Object Lessons: The Bauhaus and Harvard, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, 2021), pp. 246, 278, plate 11, ill. (color)
  • Idoia Murga Castro, La Danza: Cuerpos en Movimiento a Través de la Historia, Catedra (Madrid, 2023), p. 196, fig. 60, ill. (color)
  • Arnold Aronson, Fifty Key Theatre Designers, Routledge (New York and Oxon, 2024), p. 123, fig. 18.1, ill. (color)

Exhibition History

  • From Werkbund to Bauhaus: Art and Design in Germany 1900-1934, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 05/12/1980 - 04/26/1980
  • 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
  • German Art of the Twenties, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 02/26/1981 - 04/11/1981
  • 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
  • Modernism: Designing a New World, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 04/06/2006 - 07/23/2006; MARTa Herford, Herford, 09/16/2006 - 01/07/2007
  • Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 11/08/2009 - 01/25/2010
  • 32Q: 1520 Art in Germany Between the Wars (Interwar and Bauhaus), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/06/2015 - 05/06/2015
  • The Bauhaus and Harvard, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/08/2019 - 07/28/2019

Subjects and Contexts

  • The Bauhaus
  • Collection Highlights

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