The First Bauhaus Poster

During the summer of 1923, the first Bauhaus exhibition took place in Weimar. Joost Schmidt, who later became a Bauhaus instructor but was still a student at the time, designed an exhibition poster that was used to promote the event across the entire country.

Although a large number of impressions were surely produced of this first Bauhaus poster, only a few original prints have been preserved. Printed using lithography in the colours of red and black, it demonstrates early characteristics of the 'New Typography'. The text, which comprises a variety of scripts, is inserted into an abstract composition of diagonal bars and circular segments in such a way that the most important pieces of information – the words Bauhaus, exhibition and Weimar – immediately catch the eye. The diagonal tilt of the image brings dynamic emphasis, and the round Bauhaus logo created by Oskar Schlemmer, which is inserted in the upper left part of the figure, forms a visual pivot point. On the top right, separate from but aligned with the composition, Joost Schmidt proudly placed his own signet.

The poster was already printed when it became apparent that the dates of the exhibition would have to be changed: On short notice, the opening was postponed to 15th August and the closing date to 30th September. Joost Schmidt found an elegant solution to this problem by creating two labels with the new exhibition dates; printed on red and white paper, they were simply pasted onto the finished poster. Rather than disrupting the previous composition, the insertion of this new element surprisingly did the opposite: When one compares both versions, it is evident that the red bar with the new opening date on the lower left provides a needed visual anchor for the overall design.

In 2006 the Bauhaus-Archiv GmbH was able to acquire an unusually vibrant original print with the pasted-on date corrections. As a permanent loan, this print complements the poster that was already in the Bauhaus Archive collection, which does not show the later date changes. This puts us in the fortunate position of being able to display both versions.