GREGOIRE
JEANMONOD
Art and its stories as an inspiration
Paul Klee
Lantern Festival / Bauhaus
1922
Organize the informal
In 1920, the German painter Paul Klee joined the teaching team of the Bauhaus, a school of arts and crafts newly founded by the architect Walter Gropius. Alongside other renowned artists such as Wassily Kandinsky or Josef Albers, Klee puts himself at the service of the philosophy of this very serious institute, which has the lofty ambition of breaking down the barriers between art and craftsmanship to set the basics of modern design.
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This work from 1922 illustrates one of the priority pedagogical axes – although unexpected – of the Bauhaus. This is a postcard for
promote one of the many parties organized by the school. This type of event, set up as a fundamental educational lever, allowed all those involved in the life of the Bauhaus – teachers, artists, craftsmen, students – to meet in a friendly and authentic atmosphere, giving pride of place to the human dimension of the collective. Because Gropius, Klee and their colleagues had understood that any professional relationship being above all a human relationship, these informal times – with the pleasure and the exchanges they generated – conditioned the quality of collective work.
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What we can take away:
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In the life of the company, moments of conviviality are often considered as times apart, unrelated to the imperative of performance. This is to forget that the informal helps to cultivate the quality of relationships within the collective: by promoting solidarity, empathy and benevolence, it ultimately serves the motivation and effectiveness of the group.