bauhaus faces

In this new episode of bauhaus faces, we dive into the life and work of Hans Fischli. Often overlooked in broader Bauhaus stories, Fischli worked across architecture, painting, sculpture, and teaching—leaving a mark that’s still felt today.

To get a sense of his impact, I spoke with the people who knew him best: his son, the artist Peter Fischli; his grandson, curator Fredi Fischli, who is currently preparing an exhibition on Hans Fischli at Zentrum Paul Klee in Berne; and his granddaughter, the artist Gina Fischli. Together, they share personal stories and reflections on their (grand-)father’s architectural and artistic work.

🎧 Listen on bauhausfaces.com or on all major podcast platforms!

SHOW NOTES

EXHIBITION OF HANS FISCHLI'S WORK JAN 24 2026 bis APRIL 26, 2026 AT ZENTRUM PAUL KLEE

GLOSSARY

LITERATURE ABOUT HANS FISCHLI

Karl Jost: Hans Fischli. Architekt, Maler, Bildhauer, Zürich: gta, 1992

Hans Fischli. Meilen, Ortsmuseum Meilen, 1990

Hans Fischli: Rapport bebildert, Zürich, 1978

TV INTERNIEWS WITH HANS FISCHLI

Das Monatsmagazin, „Die drei Berufe des Hans Fischli“, 17 Oct 1979, SRF,

WORKS AND LETTERS BY HANS FISCHLI

COVER PHOTO Portrait of Hans Fischli, https://www.baukultur-waedenswil.ch/fischli-hans.html

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In the latest episode of “bauhaus faces,” we dive into the remarkable story of another iconic Bauhaus couple: Anni and Josef Albers. Their lives and legacies are deeply intertwined— from their first meeting in 1922 in Weimar to their lasting impact on art, design, and education in the US.

Anni, who would later shortly lead the weaving workshop at the Bauhaus and then at Black Mountain College, and Josef, a visionary "young master" of the preliminary course, fled Nazi persecution in 1933. In the U.S., they helped shape the Black Mountain College and continued to innovate—Anni in textiles and jewelry, Josef in teaching and painting. Inspired by their travels to Mexico and their love for geometric forms, their art resonates to this day.

Join me and Brenda Danilowitz, Chief Curator of The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation, as we explore the incredible journey of this Bauhaus power couple.

SHOW NOTES

The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation | @albersfoundation (Instagram)

PHOTOS BY JOSEF ALBERS https://www.albersfoundation.org/art/highlights/andreas-grote-frühjahr-30-mama-andreas-grote-spring-30-mother | https://www.albersfoundation.org/art/highlights/tenayuca-mexico_1976-7-632 | https://www.albersfoundation.org/art/highlights/aspen-summer-51

ANJA GUTTENBERGER: „Festive and Theatrical. The Mask Photos of Gertrud Arndt and Josef Albers as an Expression of Festival Culture“, https://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/articles/4273/festive-and-theatrical

HOMAGE TO THE SQUARE SERIES https://www.albersfoundation.org/art/highlights/study-for-homage-to-the-square-lone-light

JOAQUÍN BARRIENDOS: „Josef Albers and the Pre-Columbian Artisan“, https://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/articles/6263/josef-albers-and-the-pre-columbian-artisan

JEAN CHARLOT: „Nature and the Art of Josef Albers,” College Art Journal 15, no. 3, Spring 1956, https://vault.jeancharlot.org/english-texts/1956%20Nat%20Art%20Albers.pdf

MEANDER WEAVINGS https://www.albersfoundation.org/art/highlights/red-meander | https://www.albersfoundation.org/art/highlights/black-white-gold-i

JEWELRY BY ANNI ALBERS https://www.albersfoundation.org/tags/jewelry

BRENDA DANILOWITZ, "Working From Where We Are – Anni Albers’ and Alex Reed’s Jewelry Collection", https://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/articles/3094/working-from-where-we-are

DIY: Washer and ribbon neon necklace tutorial http://maikonagao.blogspot.com/2013/04/diy-washer-and-ribbon-neon-necklace.html

STEN NADOLNY, "ULLSTEINROMAN" (2003): ⁠https://www.ullstein.de/werke/ullsteinroman/taschenbuch/9783548269863⁠

COVER PHOTO: Josef and Anni Albers in Dessau, Germany, ca. 1925, Photographer unknown, Courtesy the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation

She was more than a textile designer—Léna Meyer-Bergner was a force for education and for social change. While her husband, Hannes Meyer, is often remembered as the Bauhaus’ second director, Lena’s groundbreaking work in design, pedagogy, and social transformation is finally stepping into the spotlight.

In this episode, I sat down with two leading art historians – Sandra Neugärtner and Viridiana Zavala – to explore the unknown story of Léna Meyer-Bergner. From her studies at the Bauhaus to her visionary approach to modernism in the Soviet Union and on to her graphic talent in exile in Mexico, we explore how her work evolved.

🎧 Listen now and discover why Léna Meyer-Bergner deserves a place at the center of Bauhaus history.

SHOW NOTES

Website of Sandra Neugärtner’s research project](https://sandra-neugaertner.com/projects/)

PUBLICATIONS BY SANDRA NEUGÄRTNER

PUBLICATIONS BY VIRIDIANA ZAVALA

OTHER PUBLICATIONS ABOUT LÉNA MEYER-BERGNER

WORKS BY LENA MEYER-BERGNER

COVER PHOTO Portrait of Léna Meyer-Bergner (detail), 1942, private estate

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Léna Meyer-Bergner fue más que una diseñadora textil: Léna Meyer-Bergner fue una fuerza impulsora de la educación y el cambio social. Aunque su esposo, Hannes Meyer, segundo director de la Bauhaus, es muy conocido, el trabajo pionero de Lena en el diseño, la pedagogía y la transformación social está finalmente saliendo a la luz.

En este episodio, me senté con la historiadora de arte mexicana Viridiana Zavala para explorar la desconocida historia de Léna Meyer-Bergner: desde sus estudios en la Bauhaus hasta su enfoque visionario del modernismo en la Unión Soviética y su talento gráfico en el exilio en México, exploramos cómo evolucionó su obra.

🎧 Escucha ahora y descubre por qué Léna Meyer-Bergner merece un lugar en el centro de la historia de la Bauhaus.

SHOW NOTES

@viryzavalar

PUBLICACIONES DE VIRIDIANA ZAVALA

OTRAS PUBLICACIONES SOBRE LÉNA MEYER-BERGNER EN INGLÉS Y ALEMÁN

OBRAS DE LENA MEYER-BERGNER

FOTO DE PORTADA Retrato de Léna Meyer-Bergner en su telar en Ginebra, Suiza, de: Arquitectura y Decoración, n.º 16, 1939

IMÁGENES DEL CAPÍTULO

"Bill always said that he also went to the Bauhaus to find clarity. And that is a process. You don't just have clarity, you have to earn it." (Angela Thomas)

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

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

FILM

BOOKS ABOUT MAX BILL

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

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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

HfG ULM ARCHIVE

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

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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

HAUS BILL

FILM

BÜCHER ÜBER MAX BILL

NUSCH ÉLUARD

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

KAPITELBILDER

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

Zentrum Paul Klee, Berne

BOOKS BY PAUL KLEE

PAUL KLEE'S ART WORK IN MUSEUMS

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

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PAUL KLEE'S PLAYLIST (Podcast)

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

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

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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

PUBLICATIONS AND ARTICLES

BAUHAUS EXHIBITION, MOSCOW, 1931

COVER PHOTO

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