attendees vill be rewarded

The Bauhaus in Australia: a conversation about Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack

in conjunction with the exhibition Modern Times: The untold story of modernism in Australia
Powerhouse Museum Sun 24 August, 1.00–2.00pm, free with museum admission
followed by a screening of Farbenlichtspiele: the re-constructed Bauhaus films of Ludwig Hirscheld-Mack at 2.00pm.

The artist and teacher Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack (1893-1965) was a student then later a master at the Bauhaus, teaching the first Bauhaus seminar on colour. In 1936 Hirschfeld-Mack fled Nazi Germany for England, but was eventually deported to Australia in 1940, where he was interned as a German ‘alien’. Eventually offered a teaching position at Geelong Grammar in 1941, he introduced the modernist aesthetic challenge into art education. His extraordinary Bauhaus project, Farbenlichtspiele (Colour light play) of 1922-23 is shown for the first time in Australia, and like all his work explores the affinities between music and colour-light. Daniel Thomas who as a boy was taught by Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack (when attending Geelong Grammar between 1945 and ‘49) will be joined in conversation by the art historian Andrew McNamara.

Daniel Thomas AM, Emeritus Director Art Gallery of South Australia. In 1958 Thomas was appointed the first curatorial staff member at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, later becoming its chief curator and head of Australian art, then head of Australian art at the National Gallery of Australia. Dr Andrew McNamara is one of the editors of Modern times, and coordinator of Arts, Media, Design & Modernity, at Queensland University of Technology.