Continuing through September 29, 2013
In 1937, László Moholy-Nagy came to Chicago to found the New Bauhaus, later reopening it as the Chicago School of Design, then the Institute of Design, which joined the Illinois Institute of Technology where it exists today. The years between 1937 and 1955 are highlighted in “Chicago’s Bauhaus Legacy,” featuring over 40 teachers and students of the time, with an extensive showing of work created during that era and after.
Tables and vitrines are filled with documentary photos, vintage publications and designed objects, while walls and pedestals bear videos, prints, paintings, sculptures and collages. This vast array of media is not only prevalent in the exhibition as a whole, but is also indicative of the breadth within individual artists’ practices. From Harold Walter’s textural collage and hard-edged, geometric painting, to Franz Altschuler’s illustrative Chicago landscape and the flattened metal of his found object sculpture, the spirit of experimentation still feels fresh — a testament to the Chicago Bauhaus’ lasting influence.
