21: WALTER GROPIUS, Bauhausbücher, set of fourteen < The Boyd Collection – I. Masterworks, 8 November 2018 < Auctions

Complete Lot Details

Bauhausbücher 1: Walter Gropius: International Architektur Walter Gropius and L.Moholy-Nagy, Albert Langen Verlag, Munchen, 1925. 111 pages, Hardcover. This copy of Bauhausbücher 1 is ex libris collection of Richard Neutra. The young architect was gaining notoriety and Walter Gropius, upon learning of the promising young architect, signed and personally inscribed this to Neutra.

Bauhausbücher 2: Paul Klee: Pedagogisches Skizzenbuch Paul Klee, Albert Langen Verlag, Munchen, 1925. 51 pages, Hardcover.

Bauhausbücher 3: Meyer: Ein Versuchshaus des Bauhauses im Weimar Adolf Meyer, Albert Langen Verlag, Munchen, 1924. 78 pages, Hardcover.

Bauhausbücher 4: Die Buhne Im Bauhaus Walter Gropius and L. Maholy-Nagy, Albert Langen Verlag, Munchen, 1924. 85 pages, Hardcover.

Bauhausbücher 5: Piet Mondrian Neue Gestaltung Piet Mondrian, Albert Langen Verlag, Munchen. 66 pages, Hardcover.

Bauhausbücher 6: Theo van Doesburg: GrundBegriffe der Neuen Gestaltenden Kunst Theo Van Doesburg, Albert Langen Verlag, Munchen, 1924. Hardcover.

Bauhausbücher 7: Neue Arbeiten der Bauhauswerkstatten Walter Gropius and L. Maholy-Nagy, Albert Langen Verlag, Munchen, 1925. 115 pages, Hardcover.

Bauhausbücher 8: László Moholy-Nagy: Malerei, Photographie, Film Moholy-Nagy, Albert Langen Verlag, Munchen, 1925. 133 pages, Hardcover.

Bauhausbücher 9: Kandinsky: Punkt und Linie zu Flache, 2. Auflage Kandinsky, Albert Langen Verlag, Munchen, 1928. 194 pages, Hardcover.

Bauhausbücher 10: J.J.P. Oud: Hollandische Architektur J.J.P. Oud, Albert Langen Verlag, Munchen. 85 pages, Hardcover.

Volume one of this complete set was a gift from Walter Gropius to Richard Neutra. This special inscribed volume was acquired from Art Books Only in Santa Barbara. The other thirteen volumes were acquired from the Estate of James Prestini, an American artist and craftsman who worked in the Bauhaus tradition.

Bauhausbücher

A Fourteen Volume Complete Set

Nobody did more to shape the course of modern architecture and design than Walter Gropius (1893-1969) who founded the Bauhaus in 1919 and designed its iconic second home in Dessau before immigrating to the United States where he headed the Harvard Graduate School of Design and revolutionized architectural education. His contemporary, Richard Neutra (1887-1970), honed his skills working with Eric Mendelsohn in Berlin, and Frank Lloyd Wright in Wisconsin, and then introduced European modernism to California. In a prolific, five-decade career he designed 300 houses that reshaped the way progressive Americans lived and have an equally strong appeal to a new generation of owners.

The first volume of this set includes a dedication from Gropius to Neutra—“To my dear friend, this is my new project”—making it a uniquely important artifact.

These seminal figures shared a belief in the redemptive properties of modernism and the first volume of this set includes a dedication from Gropius to Neutra—“To my dear friend, this is my new project”—making it a uniquely important artifact. The year was 1925, and the school had just relocated from Weimar to Dessau. Gropius was eager to popularize the ideas of the Bauhaus and the work of its teachers—architects and designers, artists and artisans who were eager to change the world. A series of thirty-one inexpensive books, designed by László Moholy-Nagy, were planned. Eight were published in 1925, six more over the next five years and then, when Hannes Meyer became director, the project was ended.

Exterior view of the R.M. Schindler House, where Neutra lived when he added his name to the interior of Volume 1 from the present lot. Photo by Julius Shulman, 1921

he Bauhausbücher include volumes on Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky and other leading artists and architects, and the layout and typography matches the importance of the work they chronicle. Neutra added his signature to Gropius's dedication in the first volume and his address, 835 Kings Road. At the time he lived in the radical studio-house that R.M. Schindler designed for two creative couples in what is now West Hollywood. The two architects quarreled and parted ways a few years after Neutra's arrival in 1925; Schindler remained at the home until his death in 1953, and Pauline Schindler, who turned the house into a gathering place for the avant-garde, lived on until 1977. In recent decades her vision has been reborn, and the house has become the MAK Center—an outpost of creativity, sponsored by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Vienna.

Both an emblem of its own era and a timeless document, the present lot shows how great ideas can travel, and gives a glimpse into greatness.

The history contained in this set, especially on the dedication page, is unique and unparalleled. The 'new project' Gropius is referring to is nothing less than the Bauhaus. The new owner, Richard Neutra signed it to stake his claim, and also provided the address of the shining light of Los Angeles modernism, the Schindler house on Kings Road. The vision of Gropius and the founding fathers of modernism spread through the world, running from wars, starting new ways to look at and think about architecture and design. The Viennese and German idea of stripping down excessive layers to a strict functionalism, flourished and migrated—ending up at the foot of the Pacific Ocean in modernism’s quartz city, Los Angeles. On the West Coast of California, the International Style message blossomed after World War II. The concept inspired new generations of modernist designers, involved in the Case Study Program, and it still serves as a major touchstone for architects to this day. Both an emblem of its own era and a timeless document, the present lot shows how great ideas can travel, and gives a glimpse into greatness.