The “germinal cell” of the Bauhaus – Karl Peter Röhl and his circle of friends

In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Bauhaus member Karl Peter Röhl’s death, the Bauhaus Museum Weimar presents a special exhibition highlighting his significance for the early Bauhaus Weimar.

In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Bauhaus member Karl Peter Röhl’s death, the Bauhaus Museum Weimar presents a special exhibition highlighting his significance for the early Bauhaus Weimar.

Before the Bauhaus was founded, students at the Grand Ducal Saxon School for Fine Arts, including the master student Karl Peter Röhl, publicly voiced their dissatisfaction with their academic training. Röhl and a group of fellow young Expressionists advocated for reforms at the academy.

From this friction with tradition erupted the sparks for something new. In 1919 the Bauhaus master Lyonel Feininger discovered ‘utterly radical, unruly elements’ among these students who enthusiastically welcomed the Bauhaus programme and would become the first to join the new movement. In hindsight, the students saw themselves as the ‘germinal cell’ of the Bauhaus.

The exhibition highlights the artistic and social potentials of Röhl and his circle of friends for the early Bauhaus in terms of their productive misunderstandings and disappointments which played an enormous role in clarifying the Bauhaus programme. Presented in cooperation with the Bauhaus Universität Weimar. The exhibition is sponsored by the Karl Peter Röhl Foundation.