In dieser Bonusfolge mit Angela Thomas (Kunsthistorikerin und Bill-Wittwe) und Erich Schmid (Journalist und Filmemacher) tauchen wir ein in das faszinierende Leben von Max Bill – einem der prägendsten Köpfe der Konkreten Kunst und Mitbegründer der HfG Ulm. Und das Ganze ausnahmsweise auf Deutsch!

Jetzt reinhören in 1h50 voller spannender Insights, Anekdoten und Bonusmaterial, das es nicht in die englische Folge geschafft hat!

SHOW NOTES

bauhausfaces.com | @bauhausfacespodcast

HAUS BILL

ANGELA THOMAS

ERICH SCHMID

HfG ARCHIV

FILM

BÜCHER ÜBER MAX BILL

Angela Thomas: Mit subversivem Glanz: Max Bill und seine Zeit. 1908–1939, 2022

Jakob Bill: Max Bill am Bauhaus, 2008

Fabienne Eggelhöfer et al.: Max Bill Global: Ein Künstler als Brückenbauer, 2021

KUNSTWERKE VON MAX BILL

NUSCH ÉLUARD

KÜNSTLERGRUPPE ABSTRACTION–CRÉATION

COVER FOTO Max Bill, Ende der 1940er Jahre, Foto: PD

KAPITELBILDER

1 Max Bill, Ende der 1940er Jahre, Foto: PD

2 Angela Thomas und Erich Schmid in der Max-Bill-Ausstellung im Mies-van-der-Rohe-Haus, 2025, Foto: Holden Kelm

3 Poster für den Film „bill – das absolute augenmaß“ von Erich Schmid, 2008

4 Max Bill als 17-Jähriger in Paris, wo seine ersten Werke 1925 auf der legendären Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs ausgestellt wurden (Foto PD), Nachlass Max Bill

5 Bills Studentenausweis am Bauhaus, 1927–1928, Nachlass Max Bill

7 Hans Fischli, https://www.baukultur-waedenswil.ch/fischli-hans.html

8 Max Bill und Lotte Beese, Foto: Angela Thomas

9 Ernst Mays Team für das Projekt in Nischni Tagil (1931), unbekannter sowjetischer Fotograf, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25752421

10 Philipp Tolziner, Autor: Unbekannt (Regionales Museum Perm), https://goskatalog.ru/portal/#/collections?id=29449733, Fair use, https://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10713537

11 Hannes Meyer bei der Besichtigung der Baustelle für die Bundesschule der ADGB in Bernau, 1928, Foto: Hermann Bunzel https://www.bauhaus100.de/magazin/lebe-das-bauhaus/unesco-erweitert-das-bauhaus-welterbe-in-deutschland/

12 Bauhaus-Gebäude in Dessau, Foto: Spyrosdrakopoulos, 2014, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38946836

13 Max Bills Typografie gegen den Faschismus, © Erich Schmid und Angela Thomas

14 Max Bill: Katt Both und Hilde Rantzsch, 1927–28, Nachlass Max Bill

15 Bauhaus-Meisterausweis von Gunta Stölzl, gemeinfrei, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8451286

16 Schweizer Flagge, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweiz

17 Nusch Éluard Standbild aus dem Film „bill – das absolute augenmaß“ von Erich Schmid

18 „Informationen“ – Herausgeber: Ignazio Silone; Gestaltung: Max Bill; Verlag: Emil Oprecht Zürich, mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Erich Schmid und Angela Thomas

19 Takehiko Mizutani, https://www.mvsevm.it/en/takehiko-mizutani/

20 Max Bill: Pavillon-Skulptur, Zürich, 1983, Foto: Matt Mechtley, https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Pavillon-SkulpturMaxBill_02.jpg

21 Abstraction-création: art non-figuratif, https://monoskop.org/Abstraction-création

22 Max Bill: Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (HfG), Foto: Hans G. Conrad / René Spitz, 1955, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17713152

23 Max Bill: Granitskulptur „Kontinuität“ am Hauptsitz der Deutschen Bank in Frankfurt am Main, CC BY-SA 3.0, Foto: Frank Behnsen, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20651441

24 Haus Bill in Zumikon, https://www.maxbill.ch

In this bonus episode you will hear the original interview with Martin Mäntele, head of the HfG Ulm Archive, and bauhaus faces.

Discover how Max Bill played a central role in the founding and first years of the HfG Ulm, the Ulm School of Design – and how it evolved without him. And join us as we discuss the design icons of the HfG: the Ulm stool, the Braun radio ‘Snow White's Coffin’ and the stackable TC 100 tableware. And so much more …

SHOW NOTES

bauhausfaces.com | @bauhausfacespodcast

HfG ULM ARCHIVE

HAUS BILL, ZUMIKON

COVER IMAGE

SK 4 radio-record player combination, Design: Hans Gugelot (HfG) and Dieter Rams (Braun), Manufacturer: Braun AG, 1956, photo by Oleg Kuchar, © HfG Archive Museum Ulm

CHAPTER IMAGES

1 Portrait Dr. Martin Mäntele, 2022, photo by Max Braun, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

2 Max Bill with Walter Gropius, Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl Aicher, 1954, photos by Sigrid von Schweinitz, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

3 Inge Aicher-Scholl and Walter Gropius at the opening of the HfG building, October 1955, photo by Hans and Ike Rosenberg, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

4 Max Bill in Ulm, ca. 1955, photo by Sigrid von Schweinitz, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

5 Hans-Werner Richter and Inge Scholl in Ulm, 1949, photo by Hannes Rosenberg, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

6 Ingela Albers and Walter Peterhans preparing the presentation of the results of problem no. 9 for group discussion, 1953, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

7 Exercise from Walter Peterhans' course, Lecturer: Walter Peterhans, Student: Immo Krumrey, 1955, photo by Oleg Kuchar, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

8 Josef Albers in the classroom, ca. 1955, photo by Rolf Schroeter, © HfG-Archiv / Museum Ulm & Josef Albers teaching the Grundlehre course at the Ulm School of Design, ca. 1954, photo by Ernst Hahn, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

9 Colour exercise, Lecturer: Helene Nonné-Schmidt, Student: Bertus Mulder, photo by Oleg Kuchar, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

11 Max Bill teaching at HfG Ulm, 1955, photo by Ernst Hahn, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

12 Tomás Maldonado discussing designs, 1955, photo by Wolfgang Siol, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

13 Handover of the million-mark cheque at Ulm Town Hall, 1952. From left to right: Mayor Pfizer (in the background), Inge Aicher-Scholl, Ellen McCloy, John J. McCloy, Photographer unknown © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

14 ADGB Trade Union School Bernau, 1930, Postcard, bbb e. V. Archive

15 The completed main building, photographed from an aeroplane, 1955, photo by Ernst Hahn, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

16 The Ulm Stool, 1954, Design: Max Bill, Hans Gugelot in collaboration with Paul Hildinger and Josef Schlecker, photo by Ernst Hahn, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

17 Construction oft he teachers‘ houses, 1961, photo by Wolfgang Siol, © HfG-Archiv Museum Ulm

18 Anti-War March, Chicago 1968, by David Wilson, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48476311

19 View of the permanent exhibition, 2013, photo by Jens Kramer, © HfG Archive Museum Ulm

20 SK 4 radio-record player combination, Design: Hans Gugelot (HfG) and Dieter Rams (Braun), Manufacturer: Braun AG, 1956, photo by Oleg Kuchar, © HfG Archive Museum Ulm | Stackable tableware TC 100, 1961, Design: Hans (Nick) Roericht, 1959, Manufacturer: Thomas / Rosenthal, 1961, photo by Wolfgang Siol, © HfG Archive Museum Ulm

21 SK 4 radio-record player combination, Design: Hans Gugelot (HfG) and Dieter Rams (Braun), Manufacturer: Braun AG, 1956, photo by Oleg Kuchar, © HfG Archive Museum Ulm

22 Stackable tableware TC 100, 1961, Design: Hans (Nick) Roericht, 1959, Manufacturer: Thomas / Rosenthal, 1961, photo by Wolfgang Siol, © HfG Archive Museum Ulm

23 Mitropa tableware RATIONELL, 1969/1970, https://www.etsy.com/de/listing/1278132116/geschirr-rationell-ddr-porzellan-colditz

For this brand-new episode, I travelled to Zumikon to visit Angela Thomas and Erich Schmid in their house - Haus Bill. This house, which looks somehow unremarkable from the outside but is amazingly light, open, and welcoming and on the inside, was built by the Swiss architect and designer Max Bill in 1967–68. His second wife and widow, Angela Thomas, lives there today with her husband, the filmmaker Erich Schmid, who made a film about Bill entitled “Max Bill – Das absolute Augenmaß/The master's vision”.

Max Bill established himself in art history as the architect and first director of the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm (also known as HfG Ulm or in English the Ulm School of Design). And that is exactly the reason why I also interviewed the head of the HfG Ulm archive, Martin Mäntele, regarding all questions around the official successor of the Bauhaus. Because that is what Bill intended to do in Ulm – to continue the Bauhaus as if it had never been closed in 1933. And he had Walter Gropius’s blessing, too, and the financial support by the Americans.

LOOK OUT FOR 2 BONUS EPISODES with the original Interviews that will be published in the next 2 weeks!

SHOW NOTES

bauhausfaces.com | @bauhausfacespodcast

HAUS BILL, ZUMIKON https://www.maxbill.ch/

ANGELA THOMAS

HFG ULM ARCHIVE https://www.hfg-ulm.de/

FILM

BOOKS ABOUT MAX BILL

Jakob Bill: Max Bill am Bauhaus, 2008

ART BY MAX BILL

TAKEHIKO MIZUTANI’S SCULPTURE FROM THE BAUHAUS VORKURS

NUSCH ÉLUARD

ABSTRACTION–CRÉATION

ULM STOOL/ULMER HOCKER

JUNGHANS WATCH DESIGN

COVER PHOTO Still from the film „Max Bill - Das absolute Augenmass" by Erich Schmid

CHAPTER IMAGES

02 Max Bill as a 17-year-old in Paris, where his first works were exhibited at the legendary Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs, 1925 (Photo PD), Estate of Max Bill

03 Max Bill: Poster „Suchard Chocolat 1826–1926“, https://collections.mahn.ch/fr/notice/st-394-suchard-chocolat-1826-1926-873263e3-714e-4089-ad5e-5dd38b6a76d5

04 Max Bill: Katt Both and Hilde Rantzsch, 1927–28, Estate of Max Bill

05 Nusch Eluard Still from the film „Max Bill - Das absolute Augenmass" by Erich Schmid

06 Cover of „Abstraction-création: art non-figuratif“, No. 5, 1936, https://monoskop.org/Abstraction-création

07 Max Bill: Granite sculpture Continuity at the Deutsche Bank headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, CC BY-SA 3.0, Photo by Frank Behnsen, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20651441

08 Max Bills Typografie gegen den Faschismus,

09 Max Bill: Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) Ulm / Ulm School of Design, Photo by Hans G. Conrad / René Spitz, 1955, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17713152

10 Max Bill: Pavilion Sculpture, Zurich 1983, Photo by Matt Mechtley, https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Pavillon-SkulpturMaxBill_02.jpg

Did you know that in his final year alone, Klee created 1,253 works? A cornerstone of Bauhaus art, Klee’s influence is undeniable, but his story begins much earlier. From aspiring musician following his family’s footsteps to the painter who “discovered color” in Tunisia, his artistic journey is nothing short of remarkable. His tenure at the then-young Bauhaus alongside legends like Wassily Kandinsky helped shape generations of artists, despite the challenges of balancing teaching and creating.

This episode offers an exclusive insider look into the man behind the art, his teaching legacy, and why understanding Klee’s story changes how we see his work today. Don’t miss this deep dive into one of the Bauhaus movement’s brightest stars.

Hit play now and subscribe for more stories that bring art history to life!

SHOW NOTES

BOOKS BY PAUL KLEE

PAUL KLEE'S ART WORK IN MUSEUMS

COVER PHOTO Lily Klee: Portrait of Paul Klee in Düsswldorf, April 1933

PAUL KLEE'S PLAYLIST (Podcast)

We have ended part 2 with Hannes Meyer leaving the Soviet Union to go and help build a socialist republic in Spain which was interrupted by the Franco coup and left Meyer in limbo in his home country, Switzerland. Here, he married Lena Bergner in 1937 – they already had a daughter, Lilo, back then. In 1938 to 1939 Hannes Meyer built the orphanage Mümliswil, which I have discussed more extensively at the end of part 2.

In this new episode I have invited the Mexican art-historian Raquel Franklin to talk about Meyer’s next and last emigration to Mexico between 1938 and 1949, about which she wrote her PhD thesis. What were his goals and opportunities? Was Meyer really a spy for the Soviets? What was the Black book of Nazi terror and Meyer’s role in it? And why did he leave Mexico, too, ending up again in Switzerland and not in another socialist country like the GDR?

As in parts 1 and 2 I will bring in former Berlin Senator for Culture Thomas Flierl to share his research results and expertise, too.

SHOW NOTES

Raquel Franklin: Of Art and Politics – Hannes Meyer and the Workshop of Popular Graphics, 2019

Marion von Osten: Ein Wanderleben – von Dessau über Moskau nach Mexiko – Hannes Meyer und Lena Bergner und die Künste, 2019

Daniel Talesnik: Moving Away to the Other End of the World – Reflections on the Letters Between Tibor Weiner and Hannes Meyer from the DAM Archive, 2019

Thomas Flierl/Philipp Oswalt (eds.): Im Streit der Deutungen/Conflicting Interpretations, 2019, Spector books

COVER IMAGE

CHAPTER IMAGES

4 Hannes Meyer, Draft for Colonia obrera de Las Lomas de Becerra, 1942, https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:HannesMeyer,ColoniaOrbreradelasLomas,Mexico(1942).jpg

5 CAPFCE Exhibition in the Palace of Fine Arts, Bauhaus-Universität

6 El libro negro del terror nazi en europa (The Black Book of Nazi Terror in Europe), Mexico City, 1943; published by Hannes Meyer at the Austrian/German exile publishing house "el libro libre" during WW2 in Mexico, https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Ellibronegrodelterrornazien_europa.jpg

7/8 Hannes Meyer in Mexico (detail), Archivo General de la Nacion de México

In August 1930, Hannes Meyer was dismissed from the Bauhaus amid rising communist activism and his inability to control it. A 1931 caricature by Adolf Hofmeister humorously captures Meyer clutching the hammer and sickle, symbolizing his unwavering commitment to socialism. Despite his departure, Meyer’s Bauhaus legacy endures in photographs and memories, but his true passion was always for the revolutionary proletariat cause.

Shortly after leaving Germany, Meyer declared in a 1930 Pravda interview his conviction that architecture must serve socialism, prompting his move to the Soviet Union. There, from 1930 to 1936, he immersed himself in numerous projects that embodied his vision of a socialist culture in the making—a period so rich it inspired an entire book by Tatiana Efrussi. In this episode, she will talk about her research results.

This episode of bauhaus faces explores Meyer’s Soviet years and his subsequent attempt to support the socialist revolution in Spain. But Meyer’s story doesn’t end there. In the final part, Mexican art historian Raquel Franklin will reveal his later work in Mexico and his final years in Switzerland. Join us as we continue to unravel the complex life and enduring impact of one of the Bauhaus’s most politically charged figures.

SHOW NOTES

https://www.bauhausfaces.com

Tatiana Efrussi: Hannes Meyer – Soviet Architect. Life and Work in the USSR, 1930–1936, 2025

Anja Guttenberger & Astrid Volpert: Praised, Sentenced, Forgotten, Rediscovered – 62 Members of the Bauhaus in the Land of the Soviets, Interview, 2019

Tatiana Efrussi & Yuri Palmin: Bauhaus in Russia – Haunted Houses, 2019

Adrian Rifkin: Meyer’s Russia, or the Land that Never Was, 2019

Ursula Muscheler: Das rote Bauhaus. Eine Geschichte von Hoffnung und Scheitern, 2016

BAUHAUS EXHIBITION, MOSCOW, 1931

Tatiana Efrussi: After the Ball – Hannes Meyer Presenting the Bauhaus in Moscow, 2019

COVER PHOTO

CHAPTER IMAGES

2/3 Natja Catalan, Tibor Weiner, Philipp Tolziner, Konrad Püschel, Margarete Mengel, Lilya Polgar, Anton Urban – members of the “Hannes Meyer architectural group” in Moscow, mid-1930s, https://thecharnelhouse.org/2013/05/30/hannes-meyer-and-the-red-bauhaus-brigade-in-the-soviet-union-1930-1937/5815875137575919711941666790961_n/

4 Hannes Meyer, Béla Scheffler und Arkadij Mordvinov in Moskau, 1930-31, in: AIZ, Vol. 1, 1931, p. 19

5 Exhibition Bauhaus Dessau: Period of Hannes Meyer’s Directorship 1928-1930 at Moscow State Museum of Modern Western Art (GMNZI), 1931, https://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/articles/2083/after-the-ball

6 Hannes Meyer delivering a speech at WASI in the Soviet Union, 1930, https://thecharnelhouse.org/2013/05/30/hannes-meyer-and-the-red-bauhaus-brigade-in-the-soviet-union-1930-1937/hannes-meyer-delivering-a-speech-at-wasi-in-the-soviet-union-2/

7 Show trial with Hannes Meyer in the audience, in: Tatiana Efrussi: Hannes Meyer. Soviet Architect. Life and Work in the USSR, 1930–1936

8/9 Planning for Nizhni-Kurinsk on the Kama River in co-operation with a brigade of the Standardgor project, in: Claude Schnaidt: Hannes Meyer”, Bauten, Projekte und Schriften, Buildings, projects and writings, 1965, p. 67

10 Lotte Gerson-Collein, Portrait of Hannes Meyer, 1928, https://www.markanto.de/fotografie-hannes-meyer.html, © Ursula Kirsten-Collein

11 Exterior view of the Mümliswil memorial, photo by Markus Beyeler / Guido Fluri Stiftung, 2013, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151638808

In this new episode of “bauhaus faces” we talk about Hannes Meyer, the second Bauhaus director.

PART 1 concentrates on Hannes Meyer’s formative years and his involvement in cooperativism and collectivism, his first steps as architect and artist, and then on to his pivotal role at the Bauhaus in Dessau. What was new when he became second director of the Bauhaus? And why did he have to leave the Bauhaus all at once after two successful years?

The US-American art-historian Dara Kiese, who wrote her PhD thesis about Hannes Meyer’s holistic education at the Bauhaus, and former Senator for Culture in Berlin and art-historian Thomas Flierl help tell the story of Hannes Meyer in this 1st part.

The Meyer era of the Bauhaus ended in summer of 1930 when he is dismissed by the Dessau magistrate in absence from the school. The political tensions between the far left and the far right now became palpable. A communist cell had emerged at the Bauhaus, for which Meyer was blamed responsible. His peak in Germany was now beginning to decline and Meyer decided that it was time to try and establish himself in the Soviet Union – in a country from which he expected freedom of thought and a fulfilment of his architectural visions. Little did he know …

SHOW NOTES

https://www.bauhausfaces.com

Hannes Meyer: The new world Die neue Welt https://thecharnelhouse.org/2015/09/10/hannes-meyer-the-new-world-die-neue-welt-1926/

Thomas Flierl/Philipp Oswalt (eds.): Im Streit der Deutungen/Conflicting Interpretations, 2019, Spector books

Dara Kiese: „Holistic Education“, in: Philipp Oswalt (ed.): Hannes Meyer's New Bauhaus Pedagogy. From Dessau to Mexico, 2021, Spector books

Dara Kiese: „Bauhaus-PR unter Hannes Meyer und Mies van der Rohe“, in: Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin/Patrick Rössler (ed.): bauhaus-kommunikation. Innovative Strategien im Umgang mit Medien, interner und externer Öffentlichkeit, Gebr. Mann Verlag, 2009

Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau/Wolfgang Thöner/Karoline Lemke (eds.): bauhaus. sprachrohr der studierenden. organ der kostufra, 2022, Spector books

Wolfgang Thöner / Florian Strob / Andreas Schätzke (eds.): Linke Waffe Kunst. Die Kommunistische Studentenfraktion am Bauhaus, 2022, Birkhäuser Verlag

CHAPTER IMAGES

1 Portrait of Hannes Meyer, ca. 1938, https://www.marx21.de/100-jahre-bauhaus-hannes-meyer/

2 Hannes Meyer, Freidorf, Muttenz, photo: Siedlungsgenossenschaft Freidorf, 1989, https://www.heimatkunde-muttenz.ch/siedlung/siedlung/aus-den-quartieren/freidorf/fotos-freidorf?start=1#gallery0-5

3/4/6/7 Bauhaus Dessau, Workshop wing from the south-west, 1925/26, photo: Spyrosdrakopoulos, 2014, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38946836

5 ADGB Bundesschule Bernau, 1928–30, Postkarte, 1930, Archiv bbb e.V.

8 Wolfgang Thöner / Florian Strob / Andreas Schätzke (Hg.): Linke Waffe Kunst. Die Kommunistische Studentenfraktion am Bauhaus, 2022, https://birkhauser.de/de/book/9783035624892

9 Lotte Gerson-Collein, Portrait of Hannes Meyer, c. 1930, https://www.markanto.de/fotografie-hannes-meyer.html

This is PART 2 of the Podcast episode about Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It puts a magnifying glass over a specific period of time in Mies’s life: his commissions for the Nazis after the Bauhaus had closed in July 1933 and his final emigration to the US in 1938.

For this episode, the art-historian Aya Soika shares her expertise. She published a book about this time of Mies’s life with the title „Mies van der Rohe in the Third Reich. The Brussels Project, 1934" (link in the show notes). Aya Soika doesn’t denounce Mies van der Rohe for his commissions for the Nazis but emphasizes the circumstances in which Mies found himself as a modern architect and as a person that didn’t necessarily want to leave his home. But she also underlines his naivety in thinking that as an architect he could be apolitical.

Although Mies never won the competition and the pavilion was never even built due to a financial lack of Nazi Germany to come up with enough foreign currency, this project – and some others – that Mies van der Rohe accepted to plan for the Nazis, those projects were, of course, hotly disputed by architecture historians. And what did Mies himself say about this after the end of the Second World War? Well, that’s what you will find out in the 2nd part of my podcast about Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

SHOW NOTES

https://www.bauhausfaces.com

Aya Soika at Bard College Berlin berlin.bard.edu/people/profiles/aya-soika

Aya Soika: Mies van der Rohe im Nationalsozialismus. Das Brüssel Projekt, 1934. Mies van der Rohe in the Third Reich. The Brussel Project, 1934, Form+Zweck, 2024

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Draft of the German Pavilion, International Exposition, Brussels, Belgium, Elevation, 1934, MoMA

**COVER PHOTO **Portrait of Mies van der Rohe (detail), no date, photo: Werner Blaser, Living Archive Werner Blaser

MUSIC Future-Bass-(Medium-edit), AdobeStock

CHAPTER IMAGES

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) was a pioneering modernist architect. Born in Aachen, he started as a bricklayer before moving to Berlin, where he worked for Bruno Paul and Peter Behrens. His first major commission, the Riehl House (1907), showed early signs of modernism. In 1921, he changed his name, marking his shift to modern architecture while maintaining classical influences.

As vice president of the German Werkbund, he led the Die Wohnung exhibition (1927), cementing his reputation. In 1930, he became Bauhaus director, striving to protect it from Nazi repression. After the school closed in 1933, Mies attempted to continue working in Germany, even accepting Nazi commissions, a decision he later had to justify.

In 1938, he emigrated to the U.S., becoming director of the Armour Institute (later IIT) in Chicago. There, he designed iconic buildings like the Farnsworth House and the Seagram Building, defining modernist architecture.

In the 1960s, he returned to Berlin to design the Neue Nationalgalerie, his final masterpiece, blending classical and modern elements. Asked if he’d return to Germany permanently, he replied, “It was difficult enough to find new roots once.” His legacy, rooted in simplicity and structural clarity, continues to shape architecture today.

For the first part of the Mies podcast, I invited Wita Noack, as head of the Mies van der Rohe Haus in Berlin a true expert about House Lemke where the institution is situated, and Fritz Neumeyer, THE Mies expert in Germany, who published several books about Mies van der Rohe and his work during the past 40 years.

This episode has been supported by The Mies van der Rohe house.

SHOW NOTES

https://www.bauhausfaces.com

Mies van der Rohe Haus, Berlin https://www.miesvanderrohehaus.de |

Fritz Neumeyer: Mies van der Rohe. Das kunstlose Wort, 1986 https://dom-publishers.com/products/mies-van-der-rohe?pos=1&sid=0b3fb4d76&_ss=r

Fritz Neumeyer: Ausgebootet: Mies van der Rohe und das Bauhaus 1933 Outside the Bauhaus – Mies van der Rohe and Berlin in 1933, 2021 https://formundzweck.de/produkt/ausgebootet-mies-van-der-rohe-und-das-bauhaus-1933/

Baukunst Academy https://baukunstacademy.com

Works by Mies van der Rohe at MoMA

Mies van der Rohe Papers at the Library of Congress, Washington, USA

Mies buildings in Germany https://www.miessociety.org/mies-works-germany

Mies buildings in USA https://www.miessociety.org/mies-works-usa

International Mies buildings https://www.miessociety.org/mies-works-international

All buildings by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe https://www.miessociety.org/mies-works

Edith Farnsworth House https://edithfarnsworthhouse.org

Interview with Mies van der Rohe, 1961 https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/wdr-retro-hier-und-heute/chicago-und-ludwig-mies-van-der-rohe/wdr/Y3JpZDovL3dkci5kZS9CZWl0cmFnLTM0YzBiMThjLTgwMzItNGI0Ny1iNjI2LWFlODEwZjI4MjU4Yg

COVER PHOTO Portrait of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1934), Hugo Erfurth - MKG Sammlung Online, in the public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86431569

MUSIC Future-Bass-(Medium-edit), AdobeStock

CHAPTER IMAGES

In der ersten Bonusfolge zum eigentlichen Podcast über Ludwig Mies van der Rohe spricht Wita Noack, seit über 30 Jahren Leiterin des Mies van der Rohe Hauses in Berlin mit Sitz im ehemaligen Haus Lemke. Diese Folge enthält Zusatzmaterial, das im englischen Podcast nicht enthalten.

@bauhausfacespodcast | https://www.bauhausfaces.com