GUNTA STÖLZL AND JOHANNES ITTEN: TEXTILE UNIVERSES
SOPHIE TAEUBER: TEXTILE REFORMER (CABINET EXHIBITION)

Bauhaus masters Johannes Itten (b. 1888-1967) and Gunta Stölzl (1897-1983) shared a lifelong, collegial relationship and a pioneering influence on Swiss textile art.

With their innovative ornamental and textile forms, avant-garde materials, textile structures, and experimental use of photography, together they wrote textile history and laid the foundations for Switzerland to develop into an important center for modern textile art.

Comprising some 200 exhibits, the exhibition offers an ideal opportunity to rediscover Itten as a textile designer and this pairing with Stölzl, considered a “classic textile artist”, showcases key works from international museums and private collections. The exhibition also features selective scenographic interventions by the contemporary Swiss textile designer Annina Arter (b. 1987, Kathmandu). In parallel and on display is the cabinet exhibition, Sophie Taeuber: Textile Reformer which looks at the early textile work of Sophie Taeuber (1889–1943), with a focus on newly discovered bobbin lace patterns for the cottage industry in the Bernese Oberland.