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You are reading: "Self-Portrait in the Bathroom Mirror of the Master’s House in Dessau"

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Self-Portrait in the Bathroom Mirror of the Master’s House in Dessau

Ise Gropius, around 1926–1927

Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin / © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016
Self-portrait in the bathroom mirror of her Master’s House in Dessau / Photo: Ise Gropius, around 1926–1927.

[Translate to English:] headline

Ise Gropius’s intently modern eye is also seen in photographs by her that have survived. Many of the photos can no longer be clearly attributed either to her or her husband, as they were taken on journeys they made together, without any note being made of which of them took each picture. Only the self-portraits are clearly by her. In 1926–1927, she took a photograph of herself in the bathroom mirror of her Master’s House in Dessau appearing eight times from different angles. The young woman, with a distant gaze, is embracing the camera with her left arm, which is the only part of the real model visible to the viewer. It is only in the mirror images that the identity and position of the photographer are recognizable. The space around her is distorted almost beyond recognition by the mirror refractions.

[AG 2015]

  1. Literature:
  2. Schmidt-Goffrau, „Ein Gang durch die Meisterhäuser. Der Besuch der Hausfrauen“ in: Leben am Bauhaus. Die Meisterhäuser in Dessau, München 1993, S. 108–109.
  3. Bittner, Regina und Krasny, Elke für die Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau (2016): Auf Reserve: Haushalten! Historische Modelle und aktuelle Positionen aus dem Bauhaus, Dessau/Leipzig.
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