5
circumstances that were beyond
modest. The recollections of
Wilhelm Wagenfeld, who studied
together with Marianne Brandt,
succinctly summarise the
circumstances: “There was only
one outdated grinding and polishing
machine in our metal workshop,
otherwise there were no other
mechanical tools, only makeshift
manual ones…“
If you look at the precision and
perfection of craftsmanship of the
objects within the context of the
circumstances at that time, and the
few months that she had left to
engage in the complex processing of
metal, you can get a vague idea
of Brandt’s energetic direction. The
other Mariann Brandt was only
discovered later, when the focus
shifted to the enigma of this
eternally mysterious designer at the
Bauhaus, and the concentrated
collection of valuable installations
was found that captured the tempo
and rhythm of the modern era in
dynamic compositions. A creative
energy was expressed here that
fed off of bubbling metropolises, like
Paris or Berlin. The, at times
restrictive, world of the Bauhaus
programmatics appeared externally
here. Inspired by Moholy-Nagy,
she also became a passionate
photographer, who always turned
the camera onto her work, and self-
reflectively onto her life.
The work of the designer, the
handling of material and its
refinement, and the perfection in
details fascinates again and again.
When it comes to Brandt’s
design vocabulary we can refer to
carefully considered minimalism
that condenses the shape and
application requirements to their
essence, without losing any of the
beauty. When she designed a
cylindrical ashtray with tilting lid, it
set aesthetic and practical standards
that influenced a whole generation
of future designers. The same
applied to the pendant light
designed in 1925, which Marianne
Brandt designed together with
Hans Przyrembel for the iconic
Bauhaus building in Dessau that
was designed by Gropius.
After working privately for herself in
1926 in Paris for a longer period
of time, she returns to Dessau in the
spring of 1927, and temporarily
takes over direction of the metal
workshop in 1928. She finally
goes to Berlin to work as an interior
architect for Gropius. During the
immensely turbulent times at
the end of 1929, Marianne Brandt
decides to become the Head of
the Design Department at the
Ruppelwerk in Gotha. In hindsight,
this decision proves to be fatal.
Namely, after the seizure of power in
1933, Marianne Brandt fades
completely into obscurity and
as a graduate of the Bauhaus, she
remains without work or
assignments until long after the war
ends. Shortly after 1933, Josef
and Anni Albers were already in
America, the Gropius couple was in
England and Moholy-Nagy was in
the Netherlands.
Without a doubt, Marianne Brandt
can be declared to be a talent
of the century. Yet her biography,
with regard to the period after 1933,
is exemplary of the type of
emancipated woman whose talent
was truly bolstered by the
commencing century with regard
to culture. In this regard, the
reception history, the attribution of
designs and achievements,
proceeded on nebulous terrain.
The war and the long post-war years
that followed erased the individual
biographies and the work of most
of the women right into oblivion.
Lilly Reich, Anni Albers, Lucia
Moholy-Nagy and many of the other
women from the Bauhaus work-
shops left behind works that are
moving increasingly into the
spotlight of general interest and
ultimately also correcting our view
The ceiling light DMB
26 was designed in
1926 by Marianne
Brandt, and like the
teapot it too is a
design classic. The
light is available as a
nickel-plated metal
version, also polished
and zapon-varnished
in brass, with various
sphere sizes.
of the Bauhaus. Beyond its pure
mythology, the history of the
Bauhaus is also a history of women.
The collection at the Museum of
Modern Art had already instilled this
culture of recollection many
decades ago, and has 12 Marianne
Brandt exhibition pieces in its
possession. The most important
exhibits originate from the donation
made by Phyllis Lambert, the
Canadian architect that Mies van der
Rohe commissioned with the design
of the Seagram Building in New
York. Marianne Brandt, who lived in
a reclusive manner in the end and
died in 1983, would have loved
to stroll past the display cases at the
Museum of Modern Art and see her
exquisite works. However, the
woman from Chemnitz, like many
other women from the Bauhaus era,
were not granted adequate regard
for their life’s work, even in their
old age. Just like Mies, Marianne
Brandt had the ability to express the
aesthetic dimension of an entire era
in one single design. However,
unlike Mies for whom the definitive
was important, Marianne Brandt
drew her creative energy from the
constant search.
