Harvard Art Museums > BR56.253.A-FF: Set of 32 Chess Pieces Recreational Artifacts Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Set of 32 Chess Pieces (Josef Hartwig) , BR56.253.A-FF,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 22, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/50208. This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text Bauhaus artists and designers sought to revolutionize society by radically reshaping the environments in which people lived. The objects in this case, products of the school’s metal, pottery, and carpentry workshops, reflect innovative approaches to the design of everyday household items—from the minimalist rethinking of the ornate tea glasses of eastern Europe to the transformation of chess pieces into pure geometric form. The design of decorative art objects at the Bauhaus was as strongly informed by modern artistic theories as the paintings and sculpture produced there. The table lamp, for example, made in the metal workshop when the constructivist artist László Moholy-Nagy served as its director, explores the circular form in three dimensions: as a disk, cylinder, and sphere. Now considered an icon of Bauhaus design, in 1924 the lamp failed to achieve the Bauhaus goal of creating objects well suited for industrial production, due to its high fabrication cost. Relatively few Bauhaus objects were mass-produced, in fact, despite the school’s efforts to establish partnerships with industry. The objects’ extreme modernity and frequently high prices made them less appealing to the general public and relatively uncommon outside the homes of artists and intellectuals and the Bauhaus buildings. Identification and Creation Object Number BR56.253.A-FF People Josef Hartwig, German (Munich, Germany 1880 - 1955 Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Title Set of 32 Chess Pieces Classification Recreational Artifacts Work Type game Date 1922 Culture German Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/50208 Location Location Level 1, Room 1520, Modern and Contemporary Art, Art in Germany Between the Wars View this object's location on our interactive map Physical Descriptions Medium Wood and felt Dimensions 33.02 x 33.02 x 8.26 cm (13 x 13 x 3 1/4 in.) Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of Julia Feininger Copyright © Estate of Josef Hartwig / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Bauhaus-Archiv Accession Year 1956 Object Number BR56.253.A-FF Division Modern and Contemporary Art Contact am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Publication History Leah Dickerman and Barry Bergdoll, Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity, exh. cat., ed. David Frankel, The Museum of Modern Art (New York, 2009) Laura Muir, Object Lessons: The Bauhaus and Harvard, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, 2021), pp. 247, 278, plate 12, ill. (color) Exhibition History 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, 11/16/2014 - 12/10/2018; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/05/2019 - 01/01/2050 The Bauhaus and Harvard, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/08/2019 - 07/28/2019 Subjects and Contexts The Bauhaus Verification Level This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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
