International art exhibit coming to Elmhurst museum

In celebration of Bauhaus100, the centenary anniversary of Germany's influential Bauhaus school of art and design (1919-1933), the Elmhurst Art Museum will host the only U.S. appearance of the international traveling exhibition "The Whole World a Bauhaus" from Feb. 16 to April 21.

Complementing the historic survey will be a range of contemporary art and design programming for all ages, including site-specific works staged by Chicago-based artists within the museum's Mies van der Rohe McCormick House.

All public programs are free with museum admission or membership; some require registration. Admission to the museum at 150 South Cottage Hill Ave. is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and free for students younger than 18. It's open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.

Touring the world, the exhibition celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus, which revolutionized the parameters of art, craft and technology.

Elmhurst will be the only stop in the United States following appearances at museums in Buenos Aires and Mexico City.

The eight chapters of the show focus on different aspects of the work and life at the Bauhaus during its operation. Photographs and documents combine with art and design pieces by Bauhaus masters and students - such as Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Wassily Kandinsky, Josef and Anni Albers, László Moholy-Nagy, Marcel Breuer and more.

The eight themes - Art, Crafts and Technology; Floating; Community; Encounters; The Total Work of Art; New Man; Radical Pedagogy; and Experiment - highlight the work students did in their revolutionary workshops with industrial materials and processes, the school's major impact on the international avant-garde, and how the students and instructors sought to rethink their world.

Under pressure from the National Socialists, the Bauhaus closed in 1933. After that, many of the school's influential figures left Germany and spread the Bauhaus's lessons internationally, including Mies van der Rohe and others who emigrated to the U.S.

Mies went on to create glass and steel structures that are now a hallmark of Chicago's skyline. He influenced generations of students and is now considered one of the 20th century's greatest architects.

"Overseeing one of only three houses in the U.S. built by Mies van der Rohe, the final director of the legendary school, the museum is uniquely positioned with international partners to reveal the global impact of the Bauhaus," said John McKinnon, the museum's executive director.

"We're proud to present exhibitions and programs about the lasting legacy Mies left in Germany before he completely transformed modern architecture from a home base of Chicago."

Both "The Whole World a Bauhaus" and "Assaf Evron & Claudia Weber" are part of the Year of German-American Friendship initiated by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Goethe-Institut, and supported by the Federation of German Industries. Virtual Bauhaus is developed by the Goethe-Institut Boston, in cooperation with Cologne Game Lab at TH Köln and a team of Bauhaus advisers.

For details, call (630) 834-0202 or visit elmhurstartmuseum.org.