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The Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau in April 1925. In July 1925, the Kreis der Freunde des Bauhauses (Circle of Friends of the Bauhaus) presented a portfolio to Fritz Hesse (1881–1973), Dessau’s Mayor, as a gesture of gratitude for his instrumental role in securing the school’s new home. The text printed across the first four pages reads: By welcoming the Bauhaus in Dessau, Mr. Mayor Fritz Hesse has generously demonstrated of his will to support intellectual and artistic creators toward cultural advancement. We are united in the sentiments of great respect and heartfelt thanks for the courageous execution of a plan, which is of importance and great interest for the cultural life of today.
— The Trustees of the Circle of Friends of the Bauhaus
Designed by Moholy-Nagy, the portfolio—for which this copy is the only known proof—is signed by nine Bauhaus Masters: Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Moholy-Nagy, Georg Muche, and Hinnerk Scheper. Lyonel Feininger’s and Oskar Schlemmer’s signatures are missing. The final portfolio presented by Gropius to Hesse, now belongs to the Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin (Inv. Nr. 10017). In addition to including signatures of ten Masters (Feininger’s signature is missing), it includes signatures of the Kuratorium (trustees) of the Kreis der Freunde—the group founded in October 1924 to bolster the finances of the state-sponsored school through individual memberships—including Albert Einstein, Josef Hoffmann, Hans Poelzig, and Franz Werfel.
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