Photography

The Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung owns approximately 72,000 photographic works, making it the world’s largest collection of photography on the history of the Bauhaus. It includes portrait, architectural and product photos, as well as snapshots by Bauhaus students and instructors that document life and classes at the Bauhaus and the activities in the workshops. Numerous subgroups feature photo documentation of influential Bauhaus figures, such as Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Marianne Brandt, Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, László Moholy-Nagy, Georg Muche, Oskar Schlemmer and Franz Singer. The photo collection in the estate of Walter Gropius takes a prominent place in the holdings.

The collection also contains numerous photos by some of the pioneers of modern photography such as Lucia Moholy, László Moholy-Nagy and Walter Peterhans. The estate of Lucia Moholy, whose photos significantly influenced the reception of the Bauhaus, represents the largest subgroup. Smaller subgroups include works by Herbert Bayer, Marianne Brandt, Gertrud Arndt, Erich Consemüller and the Feininger family. With works by 23 photographers – e.g. Eugen Batz, Etel Fodor-Mittag, Elsa Thiemann and Herbert Schürmann – the collection offers a unique and comprehensive view of the photography classes taught by Walter Peterhans at the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus-Archiv also owns an extensive collection unlike any other in Europe featuring works by members of the New Bauhaus in Chicago, e.g. György Kepes, Nathan Lerner and Henry Holmes Smith.