After Gropius: Bauhaus Student Works of the
Meyer and Mies Periods, 1929–1931

Gerd Balzer (German, 1909–1986; at Bauhaus 1929–1932)
Exercise in Darstellende geometrie (represented geometry),
likely for Joost Schmidt’s advertising design class, 1929
Watercolor and pencil on paper, 24 3/8 x 16 14” (41.8 x 62 cm)
Lower right (typed): blatt 2 / darstellende geometrie / I. semester / gerd balzer

Following Walter Gropius’s resignation as founding director of the Bauhaus on February 4, 1928, the Swiss architect Hannes Meyer was appointed director, beginning on April 1, 1928. Meyer had arrived at the school the previous year to head its newly established department of architecture. Under Meyer’s leadership, the school underwent an important shift in focus towards architecture, attracting a different type of student. The drawings presented here are by three students—Gerd Balzer; Irene (Wallbrecht) Hoffmann; and Erich Mrozek—who attended the Bauhaus during the tenures of Meyer (1928–1930) and his successor Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1930–1933). Of the three, only Hoffmann made the move from Gropius’s custom-designed Dessau building to the school’s final home in a makeshift, converted telephone-company building in Berlin-Steglitz during the Winter semester 1932.

The Getty Research Institute’s rich collection of Bauhaus Student Work, 1919-1933 (850514) includes related studies by Balzer, Hoffmann, and Mrozek, some of which can be viewed here. 

Erich Mrozek (German, 1910–1993; at Bauhaus 1929–1931)
Two exercises, likely for Joost Schmidt’s advertising design class, 1929
Above: Ink and pencil on paper, 16 1/2 x 20 1/2” (41.9 x 52.1 cm)
Below: Ink on paper, 16 7/16 x 22 3/16” (41.6 x 56.4 cm)
Both, lower right: e. mrozek

Irene Hoffmann (born Wallbrecht) (German, 1903–1971; Bauhaus 1929–1933)
Two exercises, likely for Joost Schmidt’s advertising class, c. 1930–1931
Both: Ink and pencil on paper, 16 7/16 x 23 3/8” (41.8 x 59.4 cm)
Above: lower right (typed): irene hoffmann
Below: lower left (printed): 46. Fluchtpunktperspektive / perspective darstellung für parallele linien u. flächen, die in bildtafel unter 45 [Grad] und 90 [Grad] schneiden. Distanzkreis für alle 45 [Grad] linien (vanishing point perspective / perspective representation of parallel lines and surfaces that intersect in the image at 45 and 90 degrees; distance circle for all lines is 45 degrees)

August 8, 2023