Ivana Tomljenović-Meller (1906–1988).

[BAUHAUS – UNKNOWN WOMEN OF THE BAUHAUS] Untitled vintage print (Study of construction tubes).

Vintage silver gelatin print, presumably between 1929 and 1930. 12.8 × 18 cm. Somewhat oxidized, with glue residues to verso, else good or better. Item #54014

After studying at the Academy of Arts in Zagreb and the School of Applied Arts in Vienna, Ivana Tomljenović enrolled at the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1929. Here she attended Josef Albers' compulsory preliminary course and in the following semester began to study in the newly established photography class under the direction of the Berlin photographer Walter Peterhans. She was particularly interested in the interplay between graphic design and photography, in posters, envelopes, and advertising. She quickly joined the leftist students at the college and joined the KPD. One of her first commissions came from a group of Yugoslav communists, for whom she designed a book cover. When Hannes Meyer was dismissed from the post of Bauhaus director in 1930, a large number of Bauhaus students left the school with him, including Ivana Tomljenović. She first worked as a stage designer and poster designer in Berlin. (See: ht tp s://bauhauskooperation . de/; 10/31/2023.)

The present photograph is one of a series of shots Tomljenović-Meller took of a number of stacked goods. She also photographed piles of bricks in an open area or chickens in a butcher's window display. Such photographs may have been influenced in no small part by her apprenticeship with Walter Peterhans, who paid a great deal of attention to material studies both in his teaching and in his own work. The challenge for him was to translate the surfaces of the materials into the two-dimensional and two-color medium of black-and-white photography. After all, photography at the Bauhaus was aimed not least at its application in object photography. Peterhans produced a series of arranged still lifes in which the emphasis was on bringing out the finest nuances and structures of different materials. But while Peterhans arranges different things in his still lifes and photographs these assemblages in dramatic lighting, Ivana Tomljenović documents the accumulation of goods as seen in department stores, on construction sites, and in scrap yards. Peterhans attempts, as it were, to approach the old form of Dutch still lifes with the new technique of photography. The realism he strives for is one of perfect surface rendering. Tomljenović's still lifes, on the other hand, were not created in a photo studio with the aid of artificial lighting, which makes it possible to translate the finest gradations into shades of gray, but rather on streets and construction sites, in other words, in places where similar objects are stacked, rather than diverse objects. Tomljenović's realism was thus not one of a perfect, almost deceptive reproduction of surface structures, but a realistic depiction of objects in their context as a typified mass product. In her political context, however, this was not an indictment but an affirmation of modern modes of production. Not only did she produce photographs during this period, but also advertisements, for example for the Viennese coffee brand "Meinl." This poster is also a still life. However, in contrast to her political graphic designs, she refrains from assembling photographic and typographic elements, instead working with the geometrization of surfaces and objects. The coffee grinder becomes a yellow pipe that seems to jut out of the picture at an angle. Possibly in the still life photographs she was also interested in observing the accumulation of certain basic geometric forms.

The print comes from the estate of Bauhaus student Werner David Feist, who also attended courses with Peterhans. In addition to photography, he was also interested in graphic design, which is why he worked in Joost Schmidt's studio. After emigrating to Prague, he worked as a freelance advertising graphic designer and photojournalist. When Prague was invaded, he emigrated to Great Britain and finally moved to Canada after the end of the war. In addition to his work as a graphic designer, he also worked as a director on feature film productions. (AKL XXXVII, 2003, 560).

Price: €2,200.00

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