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Died 11 April 1957, Halle, Germany | ||
Erich Consemüller (October 10, 1902 — April 11, 1957) was a German photographer and architect associated with the Bauhaus. He is most notable for working alongside Lucia Moholy as a commissioned photographer of the Bauhaus.
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Life
Consemüller was born in Bielefeld, Germany in 1902, where he spent his late teenage life training in carpentry and attending the Bielefeld School of Arts and Crafts during the evening. The school has now evolved into the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences. At 20 years old, he then enrolled at the Bauhaus for the winter semester of 1922.
Bauhaus
While living and studying at the Bauhaus, Consemüller had the opportunity to study with such names as Johannes Itten, Paul Klee, and Wassily Kandinsky. His course work included the preliminary course offered by Itten, which was heavily influenced by the Mazdaznan religious sect he promoted at the University. Other than the religious influence of the Mazdaznan cult had on the course, such as practicing special breathing techniques, the course emphasized on creating personal work and exploring one's own interests rather than attempting to mimic other artists. Over the next few years, Consemüller studied under the supervision of Walter Gropius, the architect and founder of the Bauhaus school. It was during this time that he created his first piece of furniture in the carpentry workshop headed by Gropius, a step towards passing his Journeyman examination in 1924. Before returning to the Bauhas in Weimar for another year, Consemüller spent the summer in Iceland.
Photographic Commission
When the Bauhaus moved from Weimar to the city of Dessau in 1925, Consemüller followed. For the next two years, he worked with Marcel Breuer, a Hungarian architect who ran the carpentry workshop. Then, in 1927, after becoming a faculty member, Consemüller was commissioned by Gropius to document the works of the faculty and students within the Bauhaus. This resulted in the creation of around 300 photographs containing selections of artistic works, including those of architecture, carpentry, theatrical costumes, and textiles, all of which represented the school's integrative approach to development of competent, well-rounded artists. "Bauhaus Scene," a frequently reproduced photograph of his, combines three works by the Bauhaus artists in one photo. It depicts a woman sitting in a chair fabricated by Breuer wearing a theatrical mask made by Oskar Schlemmer and a dress made in a style of Lis Volger-Beyer's design. Other notable photographs of his feature the Bauhaus' architectural design (often with figures interposed) and other works by the faculty. Consemüller's works still have relevance to this day, having been featured in a 2013-2014 exhibition by the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation in which his work was presented alongside others from Gropius, László and Lucia Moholy-Nagy, and Schlemmer. Before leaving Dessau, Consemüller worked as the deputy director of the building department at the Bauhaus as well.
Halle
In 1929, Consemüller moved to the city of Halle (Saale), where he was an architect with Hans Wittwer, another alumnus of the Bauhaus school. He continued to work in Halle as an architect and teaching in workshops after marrying his wife Ruth Hóllos-Consemüller in 1930. During the Nazi purge of what they considered to be Degenerate art, Consemüller lost his position at these workshops and in artist associations. Throughout the war he worked in several architectural firms and later would go on to be a part of the city planning department in Halle.
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