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Mart Stam (Dutch, 1899–1986)
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Mart Stam (Dutch, 1899–1986) and Werner Moser (Swiss, 1896–1970)
Interior perspective of an Exhibition Hall for Frankfurt-am-Main, May 22, 1930
Pencil on vellum, 16 7/8 x 30 1/8” (42.8 x 76.5 cm) Inscriptions:
Top right (pencil): AUSSTELLUNGSHALLE
Bottom right (pencil): 22.5.30
Bottom right (stamp): STAM U. MOSER ARCHITEKTEN, Neue Mainzerstr. 18 Frankfurt a. M. Note: An almost identical drawing, differing only in a small detail at far left, is in the collection of the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau.
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In August 1928, the architect Mart (Martinus Adrianus) Stam (Dutch; 1899–1986) moved to Frankfurt to take part in Ernst May’s large-scale municipal building effort known as Das neue Frankfurt (The New Frankfurt). During his two-year stay in Frankfurt, Stam realized two major buildings, one together with Werner Moser (Swiss, 1896–1970). Stam and Moser also planned an exhibition hall under the auspices of Das neue Frankfurt (above), but it remained unrealized. In October 1930, Stam left Frankfurt with the “May Brigade” for Soviet Russia, where he would remain until 1934. Prior to his departure for Russia, Stam was at the epicenter of avant-garde architectural culture. He was co-editor of the journal ABC: Beiträge zum Bauen (ABC: Contributions on building; 1924–1928); a participant in the Weissenhofseidlung Stuttgart (1927) and Baba Prague (1932) housing estates; guest lecturer for urban design at the Dessau Bauhaus (1928–1929); and an active participant in the first and second CIAMs (1928, 1929). Upon his return to Western Europe, he served on the editorial board of the Dutch journal de 8 en Opbouw (8 and Construction), but the political climate had changed and with it opportunities for architects of Stam’s ideological leanings.
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Mart Stam pictured on the cover of the journal
Bauhaus: Zeitschrift für Gestaltung, year 2, no. 2/3 1928 (July 1, 1928),
Hannes Meyer and Ernst Kallai, eds.
Letterpress, 11 5/8 x 8 1/4” (29.5 x 21 cm)
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Mart Stam (Dutch, 1899–1986)
Poster: Internationale Architectuur Tentoonstelling (International Architecture Exhibition), Restaurant De la Paix, Rotterdam (April 5–28, 1928), 1928
Letterpress, 39 5/8 x 26” (100.6 x 66.2 cm)
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Note: This poster announced the Dutch venue of Die Wohnung (The Dwelling), an exhibition presented together with the Deutsche Werkbund’s Weissenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart, Germany, from July to September 1927. The text (in Dutch) on the poster reads: “50 architects of international fame [exhibit] 298 designs of objective, “fantasy-free” architecture, organized by the “OPBOUW” (construction) union at the restaurant De la Paix, Coolsingel 103, Rotterdam.”
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Stam chose this poster alone to represent his graphic work in Heinz and Bodo Rasch’s Gefesselter Blick (Captivated Gaze; Stuttgart: Verlag Dr. Zaugg and Co., 1930), p. 94 (above), where it was accompanied by the following statement (in German): Poster for an international architecture exhibition. Two levels for the eye: one in front, which contains only the keywords, in black; and one behind with the details in red. The 2 levels were created by simple displacement. The eye always searches initially for the widest point of view, the left setting the outermost spatial boundary, so finds the words “International Architecture Exhibition” first. The distance [between posters] on the display column is important.
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Mart Stam’s design for a water tower (1927) as reproduced in
i10: Internationale Review, no. 12 (1927): 428–429
Letterpress, 11 3/4 x 8 1/4” (29.8 x 21 cm), closed
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Stam’s tubular steel chair as reproduced in
Heinz and Bodo Rasch, Der Stuhl (The Chair). Stuttgart: Akademischer Verlag Dr. Fritz Wedekind & Co., 1928, p. 50 (upper right)
Letterpress, 9 3/4 x 7" (24.7 x 17.7 cm), closed
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Paul Schuitema (Dutch, 1897–1973)
Poster (possibly proof): Mart Stam De Architekt, 1972
Lithograph, 39 1/4 x 27 5/8” (100.3 x 70.1 cm) Note: In 1972, Schuitema designed a poster for an exhibition of Piet Mondrian’s work at the Haags Gemeentemuseum (today Kunstmuseum den Haag) in which the red lettering remained consistent, but the black could be printed in different languages. It is possible that he intended a similar scheme for this poster, which announces an exhibition that may not have taken place.
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