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The Bauhaus school in Germany has long been understood through the writings of its founding director, Walter Gropius, and well-known artists who taught there such as Wassily Kandinsky and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Far less recognized are texts by women in the school s weaving workshop. In Bauhaus Weaving Theory, T ai Smith uncovers new significance in the work the Bauhaus weavers did as writers.From colorful, expressionist tapestries to the invention of soundproofing and light-reflective fabric, the workshop s innovative creations influenced a modernist theory of weaving. In the first careful examination of the writings of Bauhaus weavers, including Anni Albers, Gunta Stozl, and Otti Berger, Smith details how these women challenged assumptions about the feminine nature of their craft. As they harnessed the vocabulary of other disciplines like painting, architecture, and photography, Smith argues, the weavers resisted modernist thinking about distinct media. In parsing texts about tapestries and functional textiles, the vital role these women played in debates about medium in the twentieth century and a nuanced history of the Bauhaus comes to light.Bauhaus Weaving Theory deftly reframes the Bauhaus weaving workshop as central to theoretical inquiry at the school. Putting questions of how value and legitimacy are established in the art world into dialogue with the limits of modernism, Smith confronts the belief that the crafts are manual and technical but never intellectual arts. "
The Bauhaus school in Germany has long been understood through the writings of its founding director, Walter Gropius, and well-known artists who taught there such as Wassily Kandinsky and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Far less recognized are texts by women in the school s weaving workshop. In Bauhaus Weaving Theory, T ai Smith uncovers new significance in the work the Bauhaus weavers did as writers.From colorful, expressionist tapestries to the invention of soundproofing and light-reflective fabric, the workshop s innovative creations influenced a modernist theory of weaving. In the first careful examination of the writings of Bauhaus weavers, including Anni Albers, Gunta Stozl, and Otti Berger, Smith details how these women challenged assumptions about the feminine nature of their craft. As they harnessed the vocabulary of other disciplines like painting, architecture, and photography, Smith argues, the weavers resisted modernist thinking about distinct media. In parsing texts about tapestries and functional textiles, the vital role these women played in debates about medium in the twentieth century and a nuanced history of the Bauhaus comes to light.Bauhaus Weaving Theory deftly reframes the Bauhaus weaving workshop as central to theoretical inquiry at the school. Putting questions of how value and legitimacy are established in the art world into dialogue with the limits of modernism, Smith confronts the belief that the crafts are manual and technical but never intellectual arts. "
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Textiles, Text, and a Medium-Specific Craft
1. Pictures Made of Wool: Weaving Labor in the Workshop
2. Toward a Modernist Theory of Weaving: The Use of Textiles in
Architectural Space
3. The Haptics of Optics: Weaving and Photography
4. Weaving as Invention: Patenting Theories of Authorship
Conclusion: On Weaving, On Writing
Notes
Index
T'ai Smith is assistant professor in the department of art history, visual art, and theory at the University of British Columbia.
"T’ai Smith’s careful opening up of the theoretical space between
‘craft’ and ‘medium’ will be an important intervention into
discussions of medium specificity in the arts of the twentieth
century. Attuned to the historical specificity of the practice,
gender roles, and new possibilities for mediation in the Weimar
period, she gives a compelling account of how the practical and
theoretical concerns of weaving were negotiated discursively as
well." —Frederic J. Schwartz, University College London
"This is the first scholarly analysis of the theoretical writing by
the women weavers of the Bauhaus and as such fills a huge gap in
the literature about the work of women artists at the school and
the role and evolution of a feminized craft within the
institution’s history. This book functions as not only a history of
the weaving workshop, but also a nuanced history of the Bauhaus
through the lens of creative practice." —Elissa Auther, University
of Colorado, Colorado Springs
"Smith’s account yields important insights for the history of
modernism as well as the art world’s current fascination with
textiles and fiber art. A welcome resource for any scholar of
modernism and a crucial lens on contemporary textile art."—Art
Papers"This book of theoretical essays uncovers a rarely
spotlighted yet deeply significant creative process within the
Bauhaus movement."—Metropolis"An edifying and overdue investigation
of the weavers’ far-reaching contributions."—American Craft"A
fascinating book that should interest professionals and amateurs
alike."—CHOICE"Compelling research."—Crafts Magazine"An important
schoalarly work for anyone interested in the history of fiber art,
weaving, and the discourse about art vs. medium-specific
craft."—Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot"Bauhaus Weaving Theory proves to
be foundational in rethinking weaving; it is a remarkable work of
scholarship, pellucid and engaging."—Journal of Modern Craft
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