Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
This object does not yet have a description.

Gallery Text

Made in the years following Schlemmer’s departure from the Bauhaus in 1929, Small Picture VI reveals his ongoing exploration of the human form in all its functions, motions, and gestures. With its bold coloration and diagonal organization, it may reference Schlemmer’s 1927 Form Dance, in which a blue dancer performs slow and heavy movements before resting on a bench, one arm supporting his body so that it forms an obtuse angle. In the 1930s, Schlemmer had begun to use a type of smooth, translucent paper that allowed him to work the pigment in newly expressive ways. Here, he employs visible brushstrokes, his fingertips, and the handle of his brush to describe the figures against the paper’s warm-toned surface.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2015.122
People
Oskar Schlemmer, German (Stuttgart, Germany 1888 - 1943 Baden-Baden, Germany)
Title
Small Picture VI: Blue Man, Diagonally
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Kleinbild VI: Blauer Schräg
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1932
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/115976

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil over graphite on translucent paper, mounted to board
Dimensions
10.6 x 23 cm (4 3/16 x 9 1/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Dieter Keller, Stuttgart; Spencer A. Samuels, New York; Felix Landau, Los Angeles; [Galerie Brockstedt, Hamburg]; [Galerie Thomas, Munich]; [Villa Grisebach, Berlin], sold; to Timotheus Pohl, New York (1992-2015), gift; to the Busch-Reisinger Museum, 2015.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of Timotheus R. Pohl in honor of James Cuno on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the Busch-Reisinger Museum
Accession Year
2015
Object Number
2015.122
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 1520 Art in Germany Between the Wars (Interwar and Bauhaus), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/10/2016 - 10/02/2017

Subjects and Contexts

  • The Bauhaus

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu