Podcast · Arts & Books
by Anja Guttenberger · English · Arts & Books
Meet the faces behind the vision! With the help of Bauhaus experts and descendants, each episode tells the story of a new personality. With Paul Klee, Max Bill, Gunta Stölzl, Lucia Moholy, Mies van der Rohe, Ise Gropius, Lucia Moholy, Anni & Josef Albers, Otti Berger & more ...
8 Oct 2026 · 32 min
In this bonus episode, we will look at the development of Moholy’s art through selected works — paintings, photographs, sculptures, and films that help trace his extraordinary artistic evolution. Once again, Moholy’s grandsons Daniel and Andreas Hug, together with the Canadian art historian Oliver Botar, guide us through his work.
E32 · 26 Aug 2026 · 49 min
László Moholy-Nagy’s work is often associated with the Bauhaus years, photography, and the New Vision. Yet the second half of his life shows how far his ideas travelled beyond Dessau — and how they continued to evolve across different countries, media, and institutions. After leaving the Bauhaus, Moholy worked in Berlin as a freelance graphic and stage designer before the political situation in Germany forced him into exile. This second part of the bauhaus faces episode follows Moholy first to the Netherlands, then to England, and finally to Chicago, where he became director of the New…
E31 · 20 Jun 2026 · 58 min
László Moholy-Nagy is often associated above all with photography and the New Vision. Yet his work reaches far beyond this field. He was one of the great multimedia artists of the twentieth century — working with painting, photography, film, typography, stage design, and sculpture. At the centre of Moholy’s practice was a profound interest in education. He did not see art as something separate from life. His work explored how art could mediate between new technology and human experience — and how it might teach us to see, think, and live differently. This episode of bauhaus faces explores…
E30 · 12 May 2026 · 58 min
Generally known as “the spy with a camera,” this episode asks: What do we see when we stop looking for the spy and start looking at her photographs, collages, and publications? Edith Tudor-Hart has too often been seen through a story that is not primarily about her work, but about secrecy, politics, and the men around her. Several publications have linked her to the Cambridge Five, the group of British men who spied for the Soviet Union. It is a dramatic story. But it can easily overshadow everything else. Once we move past this stereotype, we see a remarkable photographer of social…
E29 · 28 Apr 2026 · 35 min
In the early 1930s, a small group of young architects left the Bauhaus in Dessau and followed their teacher, Hannes Meyer, to the Soviet Union. They went in search of new possibilities for architecture—convinced that the ideas they had developed at the Bauhaus could find a future there. Their paths, however, would soon diverge in unexpected ways. This episode returns to that group—often referred to as the Red Bauhaus Brigade—and focuses on two more members: Konrad Püschel and René Mensch. Picking up on my previous conversation with Daniel Talesnik about Tibor Weiner, we take a broader view…
E28 · 5 Apr 2026 · 55 min
A new episode of bauhaus faces is out now. This time, I’m joined by Chilean architect and historian Daniel Talesnik to explore the story of a remarkable group of Bauhaus students—through the life of one of them: Tibor Weiner. Weiner was part of the circle around Hannes Meyer, the second director of the Bauhaus—a group often referred to as the “Red Bauhaus Brigade.” After Meyer’s dismissal in 1930, he relocated to the Soviet Union, and a number of his students followed, hoping to continue their work and ideals abroad. In our conversation, Daniel traces what he calls the “Itinerant Red…
E25 · 3 Mar 2026 · 53 min
In our first episode of 2026, we turn the spotlight on Florence Henri. Drawn to the Bauhaus less by its curriculum than by its people, Henri discovered photography through Lucia Moholy and never looked back. What began as an experiment became a radical reinvention: mirrors, props, fractured spaces — images that redefined modern photography. Henri stayed fiercely artistic, while mentoring a generation of women who would go on to shape the medium themselves: Dora Maar, Lisette Model, Gisèle Freund, Ilse Bing, and more. In this episode I was joined by the head of the Florence Henri Archive…
E26 · 3 Mar 2026 · 8 min
In this very short episode, Giovanni Battista Martini, head of the Florence Henri Archive in Genoa, and the Italian art historians Paola Rosina and Roberto Lacarbonara will describe their favourite photo by Florence Henri in more detail for you. Please look out for the images on your smartphone or tablet while listening. As always, I added the photos to the chapters. 🎧 Listen on bauhausfaces.com or on all major podcast platforms!
E27 · 22 Feb 2026 · 1 hr 5 min
BONUS EPISODE – FRANCAIS Deuxième épisode bonus de bauhaus faces — et une conversation résolument multilingue ! Autour de la peintre et photographe Florence Henri, j’échange avec Giovanni Battista Martini, Paola Rosina et Roberto Lacarbonara dans un dialogue mêlant français et anglais, fidèle à l’esprit du Bauhaus et au croisement des cultures. Il existe également un épisode principal entièrement en anglais, ainsi qu’un premier bonus en anglais dans lequel les trois invités présentent et analysent chacun leur photographie préférée de Florence Henri. Un triptyque d’épisodes pour explorer en…
E24 · 16 Dec 2025 · 53 min
The last episode of 2025 is here! And it's about Ludwig Hilberseimer. Never heard of him? No problem! bauhaus faces will help you out. Only few of the houses Hilberseimer planned were built. He was much more concerned about the bigger picture: How does the modern city, especially the metropolis, need to be organized to meet people's needs? His futuristic-looking draft of a Highrise City from 1924 with floating bridge pavements high above the streets, skyscrapers as apartment buildings, and a plant-less, sterile surrounding was certainly a real shocker. A "necropolis" rather than a…
E23 · 25 Nov 2025 · 47 min
In this new episode of bauhaus faces, we dive into the life and work of Hans Fischli. Often overlooked in broader Bauhaus stories, Fischli worked across architecture, painting, sculpture, and teaching—leaving a mark that’s still felt today. To get a sense of his impact, I spoke with the people who knew him best: his son, the artist Peter Fischli, his grandson, curator Fredi Fischli, who is currently preparing an exhibition on Hans Fischli at Zentrum Paul Klee in Berne, and his granddaughter, the artist Gina Fischli. Together, they share personal stories and reflections on their…
E11 · 10 Oct 2025 · 1 hr 2 min
In the latest episode of “bauhaus faces,” we dive into the remarkable story of another iconic Bauhaus couple: Anni and Josef Albers. Their lives and legacies are deeply intertwined— from their first meeting in 1922 in Weimar to their lasting impact on art, design, and education in the US. Anni, who would later shortly lead the weaving workshop at the Bauhaus and then at Black Mountain College, and Josef, a visionary "young master" of the preliminary course, fled Nazi persecution in 1933. In the U.S., they helped shape the Black Mountain College and continued to innovate—Anni in textiles and…
E22 · 30 Sep 2025 · 57 min
She was more than a textile designer— Léna Meyer-Bergner was a force for education and for social change. While her husband, Hannes Meyer, is often remembered as the Bauhaus’ second director, Lena’s groundbreaking work in design, pedagogy, and social transformation is finally stepping into the spotlight. In this episode, I sat down with two leading art historians – Sandra Neugärtner and Viridiana Zavala – to explore the unknown story of Léna Meyer-Bergner. From her studies at the Bauhaus to her visionary approach to modernism in the Soviet Union and on to her graphic talent in exile in…
E5 · 29 Sep 2025 · 1 hr
Léna Meyer-Bergner fue más que una diseñadora textil: Léna Meyer-Bergner fue una fuerza impulsora de la educación y el cambio social. Aunque su esposo, Hannes Meyer, segundo director de la Bauhaus, es muy conocido, el trabajo pionero de Lena en el diseño, la pedagogía y la transformación social está finalmente saliendo a la luz. En este episodio, me senté con la historiadora de arte mexicana Viridiana Zavala para explorar la desconocida historia de Léna Meyer-Bergner: desde sus estudios en la Bauhaus hasta su enfoque visionario del modernismo en la Unión Soviética y su talento gráfico en el…
E21 · 2 Sep 2025 · 1 hr 15 min
"Bill always said that he also went to the Bauhaus to find clarity. And that is a process. You don't just have clarity, you have to earn it." (Angela Thomas) For this brand-new episode, I travelled to Zumikon to visit Angela Thomas and Erich Schmid in their house - the Bill Haus. This house, which looks somehow unremarkable from the outside but is amazingly light, open, and welcoming and on the inside, was built by the Swiss architect and designer Max Bill in 1967–68. His second wife and widow, Angela Thomas, lives there today with her husband, the filmmaker Erich Schmid, who made a film…
E3 · 23 Aug 2025 · 1 hr 13 min
In this bonus episode you will hear the original interview with Martin Mäntele, head of the HfG Ulm Archive, and bauhaus faces. Discover how Max Bill played a central role in the founding and first years of the HfG Ulm, the Ulm School of Design – and how it evolved without him. And join us as we discuss the design icons of the HfG: the Ulm stool, the Braun radio ‘Snow White's Coffin’ and the stackable TC 100 tableware. And so much more ...
E4 · 23 Aug 2025 · 1 hr 51 min
In dieser Bonusfolge mit Angela Thomas (Kunsthistorikerin und Bill-Wittwe) und Erich Schmid (Journalist und Filmemacher) tauchen wir ein in das faszinierende Leben von Max Bill – einem der prägendsten Köpfe der Konkreten Kunst und Mitbegründer der HfG Ulm. Und das Ganze ausnahmsweise auf Deutsch! Jetzt reinhören in 1h50 voller spannender Insights, Anekdoten und Bonusmaterial, das es nicht in die englische Folge geschafft hat!
E20 · 25 Jul 2025 · 58 min
Did you know that in his final year alone, Klee created 1,253 works? A cornerstone of Bauhaus art, Klee’s influence is undeniable, but his story begins much earlier. From aspiring musician following his family’s footsteps to the painter who “discovered color” in Tunisia, his artistic journey is nothing short of remarkable. His tenure at the then-young Bauhaus alongside legends like Wassily Kandinsky helped shape generations of artists, despite the challenges of balancing teaching and creating. This episode offers an exclusive insider look into the man behind the art, his teaching legacy, and…
E17 · 16 Jun 2025 · 1 hr 1 min
In this new episode of “bauhaus faces” we talk about Hannes Meyer, the second Bauhaus director. PART 1 concentrates on Hannes Meyer’s formative years and his involvement in cooperativism and collectivism, his first steps as architect and artist, and then on to his pivotal role at the Bauhaus in Dessau. What was new when he became second director of the Bauhaus? And why did he have to leave the Bauhaus all at once after two successful years? The US-American art-historian Dara Kiese, who wrote her PhD thesis about Hannes Meyer’s holistic education at the Bauhaus, and former Senator for Culture…
E18 · 15 Jun 2025 · 1 hr
In August 1930, Hannes Meyer was dismissed from the Bauhaus amid rising communist activism and his inability to control it. A 1931 caricature by Adolf Hofmeister humorously captures Meyer clutching the hammer and sickle, symbolizing his unwavering commitment to socialism. Despite his departure, Meyer’s Bauhaus legacy endures in photographs and memories, but his true passion was always for the revolutionary proletariat cause. Shortly after leaving Germany, Meyer declared in a 1930 Pravda interview his conviction that architecture must serve socialism, prompting his move to the Soviet Union.…
E19 · 14 Jun 2025 · 1 hr 12 min
We have ended part 2 with Hannes Meyer leaving the Soviet Union to go and help build a socialist republic in Spain which was interrupted by the Franco coup and left Meyer in limbo in his home country, Switzerland. Here, he married Lena Bergner in 1937 – they already had a daughter, Lilo, back then. In 1938 to 1939 Hannes Meyer built the orphanage Mümliswil, which I have discussed more extensively at the end of part 2. In this new episode I have invited the Mexican art-historian Raquel Franklin to talk about Meyer’s next and last emigration to Mexico between 1938 and 1949, about which she…
E15 · 14 Apr 2025 · 1 hr 13 min
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) was a pioneering modernist architect. Born in Aachen, he started as a bricklayer before moving to Berlin, where he worked for Bruno Paul and Peter Behrens. His first major commission, the Riehl House (1907), showed early signs of modernism. In 1921, he changed his name, marking his shift to modern architecture while maintaining classical influences. As vice president of the German Werkbund, he led the "Die Wohnung" exhibition (1927), cementing his reputation. In 1930, he became Bauhaus director, striving to protect it from Nazi repression. After the…
E16 · 13 Apr 2025 · 51 min
This is PART 2 of the Podcast episode about Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It puts a magnifying glass over a specific period of time in Mies’s life: his commissions for the Nazis after the Bauhaus had closed in July 1933 and his final emigration to the US in 1938. For this episode, the art-historian Aya Soika shares her expertise. She published a book about this time of Mies’s life with the title „Mies van der Rohe in the Third Reich. The Brussels Project, 1934" (link in the show notes). Aya Soika doesn’t denounce Mies van der Rohe for his commissions for the Nazis but emphasizes the…
E1 · 4 Apr 2025 · 40 min
In der ersten Bonusfolge zum eigentlichen Podcast über Ludwig Mies van der Rohe spricht Wita Noack, seit über 30 Jahren Leiterin des Mies van der Rohe Hauses in Berlin mit Sitz im ehemaligen Haus Lemke. Diese Folge enthält Zusatzmaterial, das im englischen Podcast nicht enthalten.
E2 · 4 Apr 2025 · 52 min
In der zweiten Bonusfolge zum eigentlichen Podcast über Ludwig Mies van der Rohe spricht Fritz Neumeyer, promovierter Architekt und Mies-Forscher. Diese Folge enthält Zusatzmaterial, das im englischen Podcast nicht enthalten ist.
E14 · 14 Feb 2025 · 1 hr 6 min
This episode is dedicated to a Japanese couple who went all the way to Germany to study at the Bauhaus in Dessau: Iwao and Michiko Yamawaki. When they met each other in 1928 Iwao Fujita had already studied architecture in Tokyo and was also actively involved in the theatre. Michiko came from a very wealthy family and was a culturally educated young woman of 18 years. By marrying into the Yamawaki family Iwao profited from their wealth. He happily took on Michiko’s family name in exchange for a World trip with that one final destination: the Bauhaus in Dessau. In July of 1930 the Yamawakis…
E12 · 13 Jan 2025 · 53 min
This brand-new episode of "bauhaus faces" is about a rather unknown Bauhausler: Fritz Kuhr. Although he was at the Bauhaus for roughly 7 years he is widely unknown. Kuhr was the student spokesperson of the Bauhaus Master Council, part of the infamous Bauhaus band, helped edit and produce the Bauhaus publications with Ernst Kállai and had a connection to the communists at the Bauhaus. After leaving the Bauhaus in 1930 Kuhr moved to Berlin and tried to make a living as a freelance artist. He was internationally represented by the gallery Ferdinand Möller and though he seemingly was a rising…
E10 · 6 Dec 2024 · 42 min
This episode of "bauhaus faces“ is not about a typical Bauhäusler, not a student or a master. She nevertheless played crucial part in documenting the history of the Bauhaus between 1923 and 1928 in her diary. Of course she was also Walter Gropius’s closest confidant, advisor, and editor, his wife, Ise Gropius. Ise Gropius entered the service of the Bauhaus as a secretary, editor, organizer and ‘equal partner’ for Gropius. Soon, she became “Mrs. Bauhaus” and liked her role very much. „The Bauhaus infected me,“ she would later say. For this episode the architect and author Jana Revedin helps…
E9 · 7 Nov 2024 · 52 min
This episode of bauhaus faces is about the Bauhaus educated architect Pius Pahl. After being trained as carpenter and interior designer, he decided it was time to go to the Bauhaus and become an architect. He studied with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Ludwig Hilberseimer, who would both become essential for his approach towards designing buildings. Pius Pahl is also one of the students who made the Bauhaus move from Dessau to Berlin. After successfully graduating with his Bauhaus diploma in 1933 he went on a journey to Switzerland, Italy and North Africa before starting to work in different…
E7 · 23 Sep 2024 · 46 min
This episode of "bauhaus faces" is about a photographer that most Bauhaus fans today know: Lucia Moholy. She was the photographer who delivered the photos of the Bauhaus in Dessau and its masters’ houses that made the art school so iconic. But it wasn’t until the 1990s that art historians became alert to her when her photos and negatives made their way into the Bauhaus-Archive in Berlin. Until then they had taken a long reroute from Germany via the US, while Lucia Moholy had thought they were lost, when in fact Bauhaus founder and first director Walter Gropius had taken them with him, denied…
Meet the faces behind the vision! With the help of Bauhaus experts and descendants, each episode tells the story of a new personality. With Paul Klee, Max Bill, Gunta Stölzl, Lucia Moholy, Mies van der Rohe, Ise Gropius, Lucia Moholy, Anni & Josef Albers, Otti Berger & more ...
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