Schlemmer performed in his own ballet under a pseudonym, dressed in a padded costume that turned his body into a geometric abstraction. The Triadic Ballet premiered in Stuttgart in 1922 with three dancers, twelve dances, eighteen sculptural costumes and no conventional choreography. He designed the costumes first, then invented movements that the shapes allowed. The result looked like nothing else on any stage in Europe.
Key facts
- Lived
- 1888–1943, German
- Movement
- Works held in
- 24 museums
Biography
He was born in Stuttgart in 1888, the youngest of six children. Both parents died before he was sixteen. He trained at the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Arts, then moved to the Bauhaus in 1920 at Walter Gropius's invitation, where he ran the stage workshop from 1923 to 1929. His paintings, murals and reliefs explored the human figure as architectural form: simplified, depersonalised, placed in geometric space. The Bauhaus Stairway (1932), painted from memory after the Nazis closed the Dessau campus, shows students ascending a flight of stairs as near-abstract silhouettes.
The Triadic Ballet's costumes survived the Second World War by accident. Schlemmer had shipped them to New York in 1938 for a Bauhaus exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. They stayed in America while he remained in Germany, unable to emigrate. The ballet itself was forgotten until Gerhard Bohner's 1977 reconstruction brought it back. Its costume designs have since been traced through Fritz Lang's Metropolis and David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust persona.
The Nazi regime dismissed Schlemmer from his teaching position without warning in 1933. In 1937, five of his works appeared in the "Degenerate Art" exhibition in Munich. He spent his final years working in a lacquer factory in Wuppertal, painting in secret. He died in Baden-Baden in 1943, at fifty-four.
Timeline
- 1920Painted "Three Profiles between the Vertical and the Diagonal (Drei Profile zwischen der Senkrechten und der Diagonalen)" aged 32.
- 1920Painted "Three Vertical Profiles, One Pointing to the Right (Drei Profile in Senkrechten, eines nach rechts)" aged 32.
- 1922Painted "Abstract Figure, Facing Left: Figure S (Abstrakte Figur, nach links: Figur S)" aged 34.
- 1923Painted "Postcard for the Bauhaus Exhibition (Postkarte für die Bauhaus-Ausstellung)" aged 35.
- 1932Painted "Bauhaus Stairway" aged 44.
- 1936Painted "Figures in a Room (Figuren im Raum)" aged 48.
Notable Works
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Related Artists
Frequently Asked Questions
How did oskar schlemmer die?
Oskar Schlemmer died in 1943 at the age of 55.Who is oskar schlemmer?
Oskar Schlemmer was a German artist who focused on the theme of people and space in his creative work. He taught figure study at the Bauhaus from 1921, expecting students to represent the essential and prominent aspects of the human form based on detailed study of muscle and bone structure.Who was oskar schlemmer?
Oskar Schlemmer was a German artist who was born in Stuttgart in 1888 and died in 1943. He trained at the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Arts and later taught at the Bauhaus, where he ran the stage workshop. He is known for his paintings, murals, and reliefs that explored the human figure as architectural form.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following primary and tertiary references for Oskar Schlemmer.
- [1] book Siebenbrodt, Michael.,Schöbe, Lutz., Bauhaus Used for: biography.
- [2] book Michael Siebenbrodt, Bauhaus (1919-1933) Used for: biography.
- [3] book guggenheim-kandinskyrussian00kand Used for: biography.
- [4] book Masterpieces of western art : a history of art in 900 individual studies from the Gothic to the present day Used for: biography.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-05-17. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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