Gertrud Arndt
| Gertrud Arndt | |
|---|---|
|
Arndt in 1930; Mask portrait No. 13 | |
| Born |
Gertrud Hantschk 20 September 1903 Ratibor, Upper Silesia |
| Died |
10 July 2000 (aged 96) Darmstadt, Germany |
| Known for | Photography |
| Movement | Bauhaus |
| Spouse(s) | Alfred Arndt (m. 1927) |
Gertrud Arndt (née Hantschk; 20 September 1903 – 10 July 2000) was a photographer associated with the Bauhaus movement.[1] She is remembered for her pioneering series of self-portraits from around 1930.
Biography
Born in Ratibor (then Upper Silesia) in September 1903, she started taking photographs and learning darkroom techniques while serving at an architectural office in Erfurt, documenting local buildings. Thanks to a scholarship, from 1923 to 1927, she studied at the Bauhaus. She had hoped to study architecture there but as there was no course, she specialized in weaving.[2][3] Her most famous carpet - which has not survived - lay in the room of Walter Gropius from 1924 onwards.[4] Thereafter she returned to photography which she had learnt herself, developing her skills throughout her Bauhaus studies.[2]
In 1927, she married fellow student Alfred Arndt, who was appointed head of the Bauhaus extension workshop in Dessau in 1929. There she produced a series of 43 self-portraits as well as images of her friend Otti Berger. In 1932, the couple moved to Probstzella in Thuringia, where they stayed until 1948. They finally settled in Darmstadt, where Gertud Arndt died in July 2000.[2][3]
She received international acclaim in 1979 when her photographs were exhibited at Museum Folkwang.[3]
Photography
Arndt's photography, forgotten until the 1980s, has been compared to that of her contemporaries Marta Astfalck-Vietz and Claude Cahun.[2] Over the five years when she took an active interest in photography, she captured herself and her friends in various styles, costumes and settings in the series known as Masked Portraits. Writing for Berlin Art Link, Angela Connor describes the images as "ranging from severe to absurd to playful."[5] Today Arndt is considered to be a pioneer of female self-portraiture, long predating Cindy Sherman and Sophie Calle.[6]
Exhibition
In January 2013, the Bauhaus Museum of Design in Berlin presented an exhibition of Gertrud Arndt's textiles and photographs.[2]
References
- ↑ "Gertrud Arndt", Luminous Link. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Gertrud Arndt (-Hantschk)", Bauhaus. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- 1 2 3 Press release, 7 February 2013 (downloadable PDF): "Gertrud Arndt (1903–2000): Life and Work", Bauhaus-archiv. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- ↑ Bauhaus Archive in Berlin Exhibits Works by Gertrud Arndt, germany.info, 1 February 2013. Accessed 13 February 2013.
- ↑ Angela Connor, "Before Cindy Sherman came Gertrud Arndt", Berlin Art Link. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- ↑ Nicola Kuhn, "Gattin beim Rollenspiel", Der Tagesspiegel, 3 February 2013. (German) Retrieved 15 March 2013.
Literature
- Arndt, Alfred; Leistner, Gerhard; Arndt, Gertrud (1991). Alfred Arndt, Gertrud Arndt: zwei Künstler aus dem Bauhaus : Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie Regensburg, 8. Juni-14. Juli 1991. Das Museum. ISBN 978-3-89188-056-2.
- Leßmann, Sabina (1994). Gertrud Arndt: Photographien der Bauhaus-Künstlerin; Das Verborgene Museum, Berlin, 20. Januar bis 13. März 1994. Das Verborgene Museum.
External links
- A number of her strange self-portraits selected by James Conway
- Biography and one or two photographs from Bauhaus
- Entry on Gertrud Arndt in the Museum of Modern Art's Object:Photo resource, with a self-portrait and chronology of the artist's life
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