Selected Events 2009

Rare Bauhaus Art on Display in Gera

Showcase with two of Friedlaender’s potte- ries from the 1960s, influenced by Ameri- can traditions

June 22, 2009. Leipzig Consul for Public Affairs James Seward and Leipzig Consulate staff helped launch an exhibit which celebrates the 90^th anniversary of the foundation of the world-famous Bauhaus with pottery, an underrepresented aspect of the Bauhaus portfolio. Supported by a major grant, the Gera Museum for Applied Fine Arts arranged the first ever retrospective with pieces by Marguerite Friedlaender-Wildenhain, chronicling the stages of her artistic life in Europe and the United States, where she became one of America's most influential potters, ceramic designers and art teachers. Friedlaender, an early graduate of the Bauhaus school, was forced to emigrate from Germany in 1933. After several productive years in the Netherlands, she left Europe on one of the last ships in 1940 and, after a short stint at the East coast, made California her new home. Influenced by (Native) American art, Friedlaender's Pond Farm (near San Francisco) became an influential education center and workshop for young American ceramic artists.