Further Information: For the Bauhaus Weimar’s 1923 exhibition, teachers and students designed twenty different invitation cards in total, which were equally distributed (Brüning, Ute [1995], “Reklame für die erste Bauhausausstellung 1923,” Das A und O des Bauhauses. Bauhauswerbung: Schriftbilder, Drucksachen, Ausstellungsdesign, Leipzig, p. 59–69). The invitation above shows the design by Paul Klee with an image typical for his painterly practice. The program, which was designed by Walter Dexel, announces all events and exhibitions related to the Bauhaus exhibition. On the opening day, the program was inaugurated with a lecture on art and technology by Walter Gropius, who was the Bauhaus director at the time. Four years after the publication of the Bauhaus foundation manifesto, Gropius outlined a new concept that positioned industry as the driving force of its time. This dialogue between industry and mechanical production became a major premise of the work at the Bauhaus and identifies it still today (via www.bauhaus.de).

Images: Images of the invitation and all other archival documents shown on this page are part of the online collection of Archiv der Avantgarden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.