Gunta Stölzl (1897-1983): Werkstatt from Germany to Switzerland

This dissertation explores the life and career of German-Swiss handweaver Gunta Stölzl (1897-1983). Most often remembered for her time at the German Bauhaus – where she rose from student to Meisterin of the weaving workshop – Stölzl’s broader contributions to twentieth-century weaving have remained underappreciated. This study moves beyond that narrow focus to offer a full picture of her life as a handweaver, workshop leader, designer, and collaborator across various institutions and contexts, spanning her early years in Munich (1914-1919), her influential time at the Bauhaus (1919-1931), and her long career as an independent handweaver in Switzerland (1931-1983).Rather than following the typical format of an art-historical monograph that centers a single artist and a select body of key works, this dissertation reimagines the monograph by focusing on ‘workshop life’. Each chapter is anchored in one of the workshops where Stölzl’s career unfolded. The workshop is not just regarded as a place, but as a dynamic environment where materials, tools, people, and techniques come together in collaborative, evolving processes of making. Drawing from extensive archival research, especially Stölzl’s own work archive of woven samples, the study reveals how Stölzl’s work was rooted in shared hands-on experimentation, material engagement, collaboration, as well as the pedagogical and commercial structures inherent in craft workshops. In doing so, it not only gives Stölzl the full recognition she deserves, but also rethinks how we understand artistic creation, challenging the myth of the solitary (often male) artistic genius toward a richer, more inclusive view of artistic creation, grounded in shared making and the everyday rhythms of workshop life.

Dissertation: https://hdl.handle.net/11370/27f564ba-c5e1-48f0-8185-009743047f02