Nickel-plated metal with rectangular lock plates
Weimar, Germany, around 1922, manufactured in the 1930s
Walter Gropius (1883-1969) – Architect and founder of the Bauhaus School
Adolf Meyer (1881-1929) – Architect and Bauhaus master who had trained under Peter Behrens
Wehag (Wilherlm Engstfeld AG), Heiligenhaus – Metal cast manufacturer, founded in 1749
Manufactured by Wehag (Wilherlm Engstfeld AG) under the licence of S. A. Loevy, 1930s
Two pairs of door handles with the matching rectangular lock plates, one door pull and one additional handle with one lock plate
One pair of handles and plates with manufacturer’s mark ‘wehag’
Width of the handle: 11.2 cm, length of the plate: 23 cm
Good condition
Provenance: Private collection, Great Britain
These fittings are beautiful examples of the iconic 'Bauhaus' door handles, that due to its timeless design never goes out of fashion

These nickel-plated metal door handles with the matching rectangular lock plates rely on a design by the famous Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius and one of the Bauhaus masters Alfred Meyer. The design was taken up by the manufacturers Wehag, who produced under the licence of S. A. Loevy the Gropius designs. The second pair of handles with longplates is not marked, but disposes of covered key holes. The collection is topped off with a rare door pull and an additional handle with one rectangular plate. These door handles with their matching lock plates are regarded as true Bauhaus classics and are integral for any modern interior.

Condition:

The set is in good condition with noticeable signs of wear. The handles have a width of 11.2 cm and the lock plates have a length of 23 cm. Two plates are marked with the manufacturer ‘wehag’ and a serial number ‘4146’.



Walter Gropius (1883-1969)

Walter Gropius (1883-1969) is considered one of the founders of modern architecture. After his architectural studies, Gropius started to work in Peter Behren’s office, a training ground for modern architecture. In 1910, he joined the German Association for Architects (Deutscher Werkbund) and played a big part in the first pioneering construction projects of modern architecture. Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus art school, themed “architecture of the future”. The teaching at Bauhaus should combine all of the arts with architecture as an all-encompassing work of art in perfect unison. This principle influenced all important artists of the 20th century. After the Nazis attacked the Bauhaus in 1934, Walter Gropius was forced to leave Germany and went into exile to the US where he became a professor of architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.



Bauhaus

The 'Staatliches Bauhaus', generally known as Bauhaus, was an influential avant-garde art school of the decorative arts and design as well as fine arts, architecture and theater that existed in Germany between 1919 and 1933. The founder Walter Gropius believed that the foundation for any form of art was to be found in handcraft, ultimately aiming to remove any distinction between fine arts and applied arts. However new demands arose that could not be satisfied solely with handcraft. Walter Gropius recognized the need to divert the attention towards mass production and thus the Bauhaus changed its program in 1923 to art and technology, which later became the school’s image.

The school was situated in three different cities: Weimar from 1919 to 1925, Dessau from 1925 to 1932 and Berlin 1932 to 1933 under the leadership of three different directors: Walter Gropius the founder, in Weimar and partly in Dessau 1919 to 1928, Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930 in Dessau and Mies van der Rohe 1930 to 1933 partly in Dessau and later in Berlin. The three different locations also represent three different stages in the development of the Bauhaus.

Founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919 the foundation of the school was very much based on arts and crafts and applied arts mixed with fine arts and theater. Important artists from this period were Josef Itten, Lyonel Feininger, Gerhard Marcks, Oskar Schlemmer, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. In 1922 the de Stijl movement entered into the life of the Bauhaus with influential leaders of the movement such as the Dutch painter Theo van Doesburg and the Russian constructivist El Lissitzky. From 1919 to 1922 Josef Itten taught the “Vorkurs” (Germany for ‘preliminary course’) introducing the new students to the concept of the Bauhaus. Itten was strongly influenced by the Blaue Reiter group in Munich. After his resignation the Hungarian designer Laszlo Moholy-Nagy continued teaching the Vorkurs, as well as operating as leader of the metal workshop. Later in 1928 Moholy-Nagy’s most talented student Marianne Brandt took over the metal workshop.

In the tradition of the school’s variety there were many different workshops which were run by former students who became junior masters. Herbert Bayer was in charge of the typography workshop, Marcel Breuer of the joinery workshop, Hinnerk Scheper was head of the mural painting workshop, Joost Schmidt taught the sculpture workshop and Gunta Stoelzl ran the weaving workshop. Another important and one of the Bauhaus’s first workshops was the ceramic workshop which started out in Dornburg at the workshop of the master potter Max Krehan. Theodor Bogler was instrumental when the pottery workshop made a technological leap in 1923 by moving from the potters wheel to ceramic casting, prototypes for serial production were being made here. Bogler’s famous “Kombinations Teekanne” (German for ‘combination teapot’), which was based on the modular design principle, represents the ultimate example of the industrial approach to pottery at the Bauhaus. Other workshops at the Bauhaus were the theater workshop; stone and wood sculpture workshop and the carpentry workshop.

In 1925 the Bauhaus moved to Dessau. This signified a radical change in style moving towards a futuristic international style. New workshops were formed here such as the photographic workshop taught by Walter Peterhans, which formed part of the advertising workshop. The Bauhaus wallpapers were designed in the mural paintings workshop and were an important commercial success for the Bauhaus. After Gropius’ resignation in 1928 Hannes Meyer, a radical functionalist, became the new Bauhaus director. The school was forced to close and moved to Berlin in 1932. After a short existence inBerlin from 1932 to 1933 the artistic output of Bauhaus was declared as ‘degenerate art’ by the Nazis and forced to close. The director Mies van der Rohe as well as many other Bauhaus students and teachers immigrated to America where the philosophy of the Bauhaus continued to spread and the influence of the short-lived establishment is still strong today.

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