Else Mögelin. Bauhaus and Spirituality in Pomerania
Katarzyna Jackowska
Anna Silberschmidt (Studio Aphorisma) after Else Mögelin, fabric from Walter Gropius' director's cabinet, 2018 (original 1923), private collection
The National Museum in Szczecin at Wały Chrobrego 3
As a graduate of the Bauhaus, already famous at that time, she brought innovative creative and didactic methods to Pomerania. From 1927 to 1942, she ran the textile studio at the Szczecin Municipal School of Crafts and the Arts, renamed the Practical School of Design Work in 1930. This school worked closely with the City Museum under the management of Walter Riezler, who repeatedly presented the achievements of its lecturers and students, promoting modern trends in art. The current exhibition brings the works of Mögelin and her circle together again in the same building, albeit for the first time for a wide Polish audience. From youthful experiments in abstraction to the folkloric stylings of mature or late years: weaving, painting and printmaking reflect a constant fascination with nature and the need for spiritual development in a changing landscape and political situation.
The exhibition brings together more than 100 objects representing various media and techniques from institutional and private collections. Almost all of the works are being shown for the first time in Poland, some of them making their international premiere. Mögelin's work is shown in the context of works by Friedrich Bernhardt, Theodor Bogler, Egon Engelien, Otto Lindig, Kurt Schwerdtfeger, Lotte Usadel, Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Vincent Weber, among others.
By: Szymon Piotr Kubiak, PhD.
