Module 4 · 6 min
Renewed Attention
Why their stories are being rediscovered now, and why it matters.
Why are we talking about them now?
For most of the 20th century, histories of the Bauhaus focused on a few male masters: Gropius, Kandinsky, Klee, Mies, Moholy-Nagy. The women appeared as footnotes, wives or assistants. From the 1980s onward, scholars, curators and descendants began recovering archives, interviewing surviving students and rereading the evidence.
Milestones
Gertrud Arndt's Mask Portraits come to wider attention.
Why it matters now
- Credit: getting names right on objects and photographs.
- Hierarchy: questioning why textiles and toys were ranked below painting and architecture.
- Archive bias: whose papers get saved, and whose do not.
- Design today: many everyday products still use their ideas.
Interactive · Find the credit
Each museum label has one line that should be corrected. Click it, then pick the proper credit.
MT 49 tea infuser, 1924
Photograph of the Bauhaus Dessau building, 1926
Slit Tapestry Red/Green, 1927–28
Small Ship-Building Game, 1923
Mask Portrait No. 16, 1930
What can we do?
- Visit exhibitions
- Read the books in Resources
- Check credits when sharing images
- Support archives
- Share these stories
Check-in quiz
Quiz 4 · Question 1 of 3
In which year did the Bauhaus centenary take place?
Finish the check-in quiz to unlock.
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