Group with seated person (Five figures in space), 1928 / Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin

Group with seated person (Five figures in space), 1928 Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin

Group with seated person (Five figures in space), 1928

This work, with its study of the figure and its relationship to space, illustrates a central topic in the work of Oskar Schlemmer and the Bauhaus. Four figures are grouped around the central axis of the painting and are presented to the viewer seen either from behind, in various profiles or frontally. The size relationships of the various figures and the perspective depiction of the floor cause the space to extend far into the depth. The planar design of the figures and space and the colouring in blue and brown tones produce a composition that explores spatial relationships at quite different levels.