Oskar Schlemmer, the German artist best known for his association with the Bauhaus movement, would have been 130 years old today. The anniversary of his birth is being marked by tributes and a Google Doodle.
A painter, sculptor and choreographer, Schlemmer studied art in Stuttgart and was part of a movement to modernise the Academy of Fine Art there, promoting the works of the likes of Paul Klee.
In 1920, he moved to the Bauhaus school in Weimar to teach, and while he continued to produce paintings, sculptures and life drawings, his primary focus became choreography and stage workshop.
Google Doodles 103 show all Google Doodles 1/103 Labor Day 2018 Google Doodle celebrating Labor Day 2018 Google 2/103 Ebenezer Cobb Morley Google Doodle celebrating Ebenezer Cobb Morley Google 3/103 Mary G Ross Google Doodle celebrating Mary G Ross Google 4/103 Octavia E Butler Google Doodle celebrating Octavia E Butler Google 5/103 Dame Cicely Saunders Google Doodle celebrating Dame Cicely Saunders Google 6/103 Virginia Apgar Google Doodle celebrating Virginia Apgar Google 7/103 Tamara de Lempicka Google Doodle celebrating Tamara de Lempicka Google 8/103 Maria Reiche Google Doodle celebrating Maria Reiche Google 9/103 Georges Melies Google Doodle celebrating Georges Melies Google 10/103 Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Google Doodle celebrating Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Google 11/103 Fanny Blankers-Koen Google Doodle celebrating Fanny Blankers-Koen Google 12/103 Omar Sharif Google Doodle celebrating Omar Sharif Google 13/103 Maya Angelou Google Doodle celebrating Maya Angelou Google 14/103 John Harrison Google Doodle celebrating John Harrison Google 15/103 Hannah Glasse Google Doodle celebrating Hannah Glasse Google 16/103 Katsuko Saruhashi Google Doodle celebrating Katsuko Saruhashi Google 17/103 Guillermo Haro Google Doodle celebrating Guillermo Haro Google 18/103 Sir William Henry Perkin Google Doodle celebrating Sir William Henry Perkin Google 19/103 Gabriel Garcia Marquez Google Doodle celebrating Gabriel Garcia Marquez Google 20/103 Holi Google Doodle celebrating Holi Google 21/103 St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google 22/103 Carter G Woodson Google Doodle celebrating Carter G Woodson Google 23/103 Wilder Penfield Google Doodle celebrating Wilder Penfield Google 24/103 Virginia Woolf Google Doodle celebrating Virginia Woolf Google 25/103 Sergei Eisenstein Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Eisenstein Google 26/103 Winter Solstice Google Doodle celebrating Winter Solstice Google 27/103 St Andrew's Day Google Doodle celebrating St Andrew's Day Google 28/103 Gertrude Jekyll Google Doodle celebrating Gertrude Jekyll Google 29/103 Children's Day 2017 Google Doodle celebrating Children's Day 2017 Google 30/103 Cornelia Sorabji Google Doodle celebrating Cornelia Sorabji Google 31/103 Pad Thai Google Doodle celebrating Pad Thai Google 32/103 Jackie Forster Google Doodle celebrating Jackie Forster Google 33/103 Halloween 2017 Google Doodle celebrating Halloween 2017 Google 34/103 Studio for Electronic Music Google Doodle celebrating the Studio for Electronic Music Google 35/103 Selena Quintanilla Google Doodle celebrating Selena Quintanilla Google 36/103 Olaudah Equiano Google Doodle celebrating Olaudah Equiano Google 37/103 Fridtjof Nansen Google Doodle celebrating Fridtjof Nansen Google 38/103 Amalia Hernandez Google Doodle celebrating Amalia Hernandez Google 39/103 Dr Samuel Johnson Google Doodle celebrating Dr Samuel Johnson Google 40/103 Sir John Cornforth Google Doodle celebrating Sir John Cornforth Google 41/103 British Sign Language Google Doodle celebrating British Sign Language Google 42/103 Eduard Khil Google Doodle celebrating Eduard Khil Google 43/103 James Wong Howe Google Doodle celebrating James Wong Howe Google 44/103 Eiko Ishioka Google Doodle celebrating Eiko Ishioka Google 45/103 Eva Ekeblad Google Doodle celebrating Eva Ekeblad Google 46/103 Fourth of July Google Doodle celebrating Fourth of July Google 47/103 Wimbledon Championship Google Doodle celebrating Wimbledon Google 48/103 Victor Hugo Google Doodle celebrating Victor Hugo Google 49/103 Google Doodle celebrating Oskar Fischinger Google Doodle celebrating Oskar Fischinger Google 50/103 UK General Election 2017 Google celebrates the UK General Election Google 51/103 Zaha Hadid Google celebrates the acclaimed architect for becoming the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize on this day in 2004 Google 52/103 Richard Oakes Google Doodle celebrating Richard Oakes' 75 birthday Google 53/103 Google Doodle celebrating the Antikythera Mechanism Google Doodle celebrating the Antikythera Mechanism Google 54/103 Ferdinand Monoyer The famous French ophthalmologist, who invented the eye test, would have celebrated his 181st birthday today Google 55/103 Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google 56/103 Google Doodle celebrating Nasa's Cassini probe Google Doodle celebrating Nasa's Cassini probe Google 57/103 Google Doodle celebrating Fazlur Rahman Khan Google Doodle celebrating Fazlur Rahman Khan Google 58/103 Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google 59/103 Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google 60/103 Google Doodle celebrating Holi Festival Google Doodle celebrating Holi Festival Google 61/103 Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google 62/103 Abdul Sattar Edhi Google Doodle of Abdul Sattar Edhi on February 28 2017 Google 63/103 Seven earth-sized exoplanets discovered Google Doodle celebrates Nasa's discovery of seven earth-sized exoplanets in new solar system Google 64/103 Bessie Coleman Google Doodle honours the first African American woman to get an international pilot licence on her 125th birthday Google 65/103 Caroling Google Doodle celebrates Christmas caroling Google 66/103 Today's Google Doodle features activist Steve Biko Google 67/103 Walter Cronkite Google celebrates Walter Cronkite's 100th birthday 68/103 Ladislao José Biro Google celebrates Ladislao José Biro 117th birthday 69/103 Google Google celebrates its 18th birthday 70/103 The history of tea in Britain Google celebrates the 385th anniversary of tea in the UK 71/103 Autumnal equinox 2016 Google marks the start of fall 72/103 Paralympics 2016 Google marks the start of the Paralympic Games 2016 73/103 Nettie Stevens Google celebrates Nettie Stevens 155th birthday 74/103 Father's Day 2016 Google celebrates Father's Day 75/103 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Google celebrates Elizabeth Garrett Anderson 180th birthday 76/103 Earth Day 2016 Google celebrates Earth Day 77/103 Ravi Shankar Google marks Pandit Ravi Shankar's 96th birthday 78/103 Olympic Games in 1896 Google are celebrates the 120th anniversary of the modern Olympic Games in 1896 79/103 World Twenty20 final Google celebrates the 2016 World Twenty20 cricket final between the West Indies and England with a doodle Google 80/103 William Morris Google celebrates William Morris' 182 birthday with a doodle showcasing his most famous designs Google 81/103 St Patrick's Day 2016 Googlle celebrates St Patrick's Day on 17 March 82/103 Caroline Herschel Google marks Caroline Herschel's 266th birthday Google 83/103 Clara Rockmore Google celebrates Clara Rockmore's 105th birthday 84/103 International Women's Day 2016 #OneDayIWill video marks International Woman's Day on 8 March 85/103 St David's Day 2016 Google marks St David's Day Google 86/103 Leap Year 2016 Google celebrates Leap Day on 28 February 2 Google 87/103 Lantern Festival 2016 Google celebrates the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations with a doodle of the Lantern Festival Google 88/103 Stethoscope Inventor, René Laennec Google celebrate's René Laennec's 235th birthday 89/103 Valentine's Day 2016 Google celebrates Valentine's Day with a romantic Doodle 90/103 Dmitri Mendeleev Google celebrate Dmitri Mendeleev's 182nd birthday 91/103 "The televisor" demonstartion Google Doodle celebrates 90 years since the first demonstration of television or "the televisor" to the public 92/103 Professor Scoville Google marks Professor Scoville’s 151st birthday 93/103 Sophie Taeuber-Arp Google marks Sophie Taeuber-Arp's 127th birthday 94/103 Charles Perrault Google celebrates author Charles Perrault's 388th birthday 95/103 Mountain of Butterflies discovery Google celebrates the 41st anniversary of the discovery of the Mountain of Butterflies 96/103 Winter Solstice 2015 Google celebrate the Winter Solstice 97/103 St Andrew's Day 2015 Google marks St Andrew's Day with doodle featuring Scotland's flag and Loch Ness monster 98/103 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy' Google marks the 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy', the name given to a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species, who lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago 99/103 George Boole Google marks George Boole's 200th birthday 100/103 Halloween 2015 Google celebrates Halloween using an interactive doodle game "Global Candy Cup" 101/103 Prague Astronomical Clock Google celebrates the 605th anniversary of the Prague Astronomical Clock, one of the oldest functioning timepieces in the world 102/103 Autumnal Equinox 2015 Google marks the autumnal equinox on 23 September 103/103 International Women's Day 2018 Google marks IWD with a doodle featuring a dozen female artists from 12 different countries 1/103 Labor Day 2018 Google Doodle celebrating Labor Day 2018 Google 2/103 Ebenezer Cobb Morley Google Doodle celebrating Ebenezer Cobb Morley Google 3/103 Mary G Ross Google Doodle celebrating Mary G Ross Google 4/103 Octavia E Butler Google Doodle celebrating Octavia E Butler Google 5/103 Dame Cicely Saunders Google Doodle celebrating Dame Cicely Saunders Google 6/103 Virginia Apgar Google Doodle celebrating Virginia Apgar Google 7/103 Tamara de Lempicka Google Doodle celebrating Tamara de Lempicka Google 8/103 Maria Reiche Google Doodle celebrating Maria Reiche Google 9/103 Georges Melies Google Doodle celebrating Georges Melies Google 10/103 Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Google Doodle celebrating Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Google 11/103 Fanny Blankers-Koen Google Doodle celebrating Fanny Blankers-Koen Google 12/103 Omar Sharif Google Doodle celebrating Omar Sharif Google 13/103 Maya Angelou Google Doodle celebrating Maya Angelou Google 14/103 John Harrison Google Doodle celebrating John Harrison Google 15/103 Hannah Glasse Google Doodle celebrating Hannah Glasse Google 16/103 Katsuko Saruhashi Google Doodle celebrating Katsuko Saruhashi Google 17/103 Guillermo Haro Google Doodle celebrating Guillermo Haro Google 18/103 Sir William Henry Perkin Google Doodle celebrating Sir William Henry Perkin Google 19/103 Gabriel Garcia Marquez Google Doodle celebrating Gabriel Garcia Marquez Google 20/103 Holi Google Doodle celebrating Holi Google 21/103 St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google 22/103 Carter G Woodson Google Doodle celebrating Carter G Woodson Google 23/103 Wilder Penfield Google Doodle celebrating Wilder Penfield Google 24/103 Virginia Woolf Google Doodle celebrating Virginia Woolf Google 25/103 Sergei Eisenstein Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Eisenstein Google 26/103 Winter Solstice Google Doodle celebrating Winter Solstice Google 27/103 St Andrew's Day Google Doodle celebrating St Andrew's Day Google 28/103 Gertrude Jekyll Google Doodle celebrating Gertrude Jekyll Google 29/103 Children's Day 2017 Google Doodle celebrating Children's Day 2017 Google 30/103 Cornelia Sorabji Google Doodle celebrating Cornelia Sorabji Google 31/103 Pad Thai Google Doodle celebrating Pad Thai Google 32/103 Jackie Forster Google Doodle celebrating Jackie Forster Google 33/103 Halloween 2017 Google Doodle celebrating Halloween 2017 Google 34/103 Studio for Electronic Music Google Doodle celebrating the Studio for Electronic Music Google 35/103 Selena Quintanilla Google Doodle celebrating Selena Quintanilla Google 36/103 Olaudah Equiano Google Doodle celebrating Olaudah Equiano Google 37/103 Fridtjof Nansen Google Doodle celebrating Fridtjof Nansen Google 38/103 Amalia Hernandez Google Doodle celebrating Amalia Hernandez Google 39/103 Dr Samuel Johnson Google Doodle celebrating Dr Samuel Johnson Google 40/103 Sir John Cornforth Google Doodle celebrating Sir John Cornforth Google 41/103 British Sign Language Google Doodle celebrating British Sign Language Google 42/103 Eduard Khil Google Doodle celebrating Eduard Khil Google 43/103 James Wong Howe Google Doodle celebrating James Wong Howe Google 44/103 Eiko Ishioka Google Doodle celebrating Eiko Ishioka Google 45/103 Eva Ekeblad Google Doodle celebrating Eva Ekeblad Google 46/103 Fourth of July Google Doodle celebrating Fourth of July Google 47/103 Wimbledon Championship Google Doodle celebrating Wimbledon Google 48/103 Victor Hugo Google Doodle celebrating Victor Hugo Google 49/103 Google Doodle celebrating Oskar Fischinger Google Doodle celebrating Oskar Fischinger Google 50/103 UK General Election 2017 Google celebrates the UK General Election Google 51/103 Zaha Hadid Google celebrates the acclaimed architect for becoming the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize on this day in 2004 Google 52/103 Richard Oakes Google Doodle celebrating Richard Oakes' 75 birthday Google 53/103 Google Doodle celebrating the Antikythera Mechanism Google Doodle celebrating the Antikythera Mechanism Google 54/103 Ferdinand Monoyer The famous French ophthalmologist, who invented the eye test, would have celebrated his 181st birthday today Google 55/103 Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google 56/103 Google Doodle celebrating Nasa's Cassini probe Google Doodle celebrating Nasa's Cassini probe Google 57/103 Google Doodle celebrating Fazlur Rahman Khan Google Doodle celebrating Fazlur Rahman Khan Google 58/103 Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google 59/103 Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google 60/103 Google Doodle celebrating Holi Festival Google Doodle celebrating Holi Festival Google 61/103 Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google 62/103 Abdul Sattar Edhi Google Doodle of Abdul Sattar Edhi on February 28 2017 Google 63/103 Seven earth-sized exoplanets discovered Google Doodle celebrates Nasa's discovery of seven earth-sized exoplanets in new solar system Google 64/103 Bessie Coleman Google Doodle honours the first African American woman to get an international pilot licence on her 125th birthday Google 65/103 Caroling Google Doodle celebrates Christmas caroling Google 66/103 Today's Google Doodle features activist Steve Biko Google 67/103 Walter Cronkite Google celebrates Walter Cronkite's 100th birthday 68/103 Ladislao José Biro Google celebrates Ladislao José Biro 117th birthday 69/103 Google Google celebrates its 18th birthday 70/103 The history of tea in Britain Google celebrates the 385th anniversary of tea in the UK 71/103 Autumnal equinox 2016 Google marks the start of fall 72/103 Paralympics 2016 Google marks the start of the Paralympic Games 2016 73/103 Nettie Stevens Google celebrates Nettie Stevens 155th birthday 74/103 Father's Day 2016 Google celebrates Father's Day 75/103 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Google celebrates Elizabeth Garrett Anderson 180th birthday 76/103 Earth Day 2016 Google celebrates Earth Day 77/103 Ravi Shankar Google marks Pandit Ravi Shankar's 96th birthday 78/103 Olympic Games in 1896 Google are celebrates the 120th anniversary of the modern Olympic Games in 1896 79/103 World Twenty20 final Google celebrates the 2016 World Twenty20 cricket final between the West Indies and England with a doodle Google 80/103 William Morris Google celebrates William Morris' 182 birthday with a doodle showcasing his most famous designs Google 81/103 St Patrick's Day 2016 Googlle celebrates St Patrick's Day on 17 March 82/103 Caroline Herschel Google marks Caroline Herschel's 266th birthday Google 83/103 Clara Rockmore Google celebrates Clara Rockmore's 105th birthday 84/103 International Women's Day 2016 #OneDayIWill video marks International Woman's Day on 8 March 85/103 St David's Day 2016 Google marks St David's Day Google 86/103 Leap Year 2016 Google celebrates Leap Day on 28 February 2 Google 87/103 Lantern Festival 2016 Google celebrates the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations with a doodle of the Lantern Festival Google 88/103 Stethoscope Inventor, René Laennec Google celebrate's René Laennec's 235th birthday 89/103 Valentine's Day 2016 Google celebrates Valentine's Day with a romantic Doodle 90/103 Dmitri Mendeleev Google celebrate Dmitri Mendeleev's 182nd birthday 91/103 "The televisor" demonstartion Google Doodle celebrates 90 years since the first demonstration of television or "the televisor" to the public 92/103 Professor Scoville Google marks Professor Scoville’s 151st birthday 93/103 Sophie Taeuber-Arp Google marks Sophie Taeuber-Arp's 127th birthday 94/103 Charles Perrault Google celebrates author Charles Perrault's 388th birthday 95/103 Mountain of Butterflies discovery Google celebrates the 41st anniversary of the discovery of the Mountain of Butterflies 96/103 Winter Solstice 2015 Google celebrate the Winter Solstice 97/103 St Andrew's Day 2015 Google marks St Andrew's Day with doodle featuring Scotland's flag and Loch Ness monster 98/103 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy' Google marks the 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy', the name given to a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species, who lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago 99/103 George Boole Google marks George Boole's 200th birthday 100/103 Halloween 2015 Google celebrates Halloween using an interactive doodle game "Global Candy Cup" 101/103 Prague Astronomical Clock Google celebrates the 605th anniversary of the Prague Astronomical Clock, one of the oldest functioning timepieces in the world 102/103 Autumnal Equinox 2015 Google marks the autumnal equinox on 23 September 103/103 International Women's Day 2018 Google marks IWD with a doodle featuring a dozen female artists from 12 different countries
It was in 1922 when Schlemmer produced his best-known and most revolutionary work - Das triadisches Ballett, or “The Triadic Ballet”.
“Bulbous mechanical creatures wearing metallic masks are not the usual image that comes to mind when one thinks of ballet,” reads Google’s tribute to Schlemmer today.
“With three dancers, 12 movements, and 18 costumes, Schlemmer’s innovative approach to ballet broke with all convention to explore the relationship between body and space in new and exciting ways.
“He described the performance as ‘artistic metaphysical mathematics’, and a ‘party in form and colour’.
“The Triadic Ballet” was toured throughout Europe in the 1920s, in cities such as Weimar, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, and Paris.
It earned Schlemmer the job of head of stage workshop at the Bauhaus from 1923 to 1929, and is said to have influenced future artists including David Bowie and New Order, with reproductions staged several times in the 20th century long after Schlemmer’s death.
Schlemmer left the Bauhaus in 1929 to teach at Breslau, but it was the rise of Nazism in Germany that led to his downfall.
He was summarily dismissed without warning by the Nazi regime in May 1933, and after spells abroad in Switzerland and London he returned to Germany to find his work featured - no less than five times - in a Munich display of “degenerate art” organised by the Nazis.
As the war began, Schlemmer found work with some other artists at a lacquer factory in Wuppertal, before he died of a heart attack in 1943.
Google
Oskar Schlemmer's greatest work completely changed how people perceived the ballet.
Google celebrated what would have been Schlemmer's 130th birthday with a Google Doodle showcasing, in GIF form, the geometrical wonders of the Triadisches Ballett or Triadic Ballet -- Schlemmer's masterpiece.
Schlemmer joined Walter Gropius's famed German art school, Bauhaus, in 1920. In September of 1923, the Triadic Ballet debuted. The performance is a convention-destroying modernization of ballet, utilizing three dancers, three acts, 12 movements and 18 costumes. It's been described as a "ballet of geometry" in the past and Schlemmer described it as "a party of form and colour".
You can watch a recreation of that famous performance on YouTube. It is both frightening, with bulbous appendages and sharp-edged limbs bouncing around the screen. It's very bright. There's a lot of yellow. It's kind of like a candy-coated horror film.
It's not at all how I imagined the ballet -- but it is totally fascinating.
Though his most famous work, Schlemmer was also a successful artist and sculptor, continuing to draw on themes relating to the human body and its relationship with the space around it.
He died in 1943.
If you're based in the US, you likely missed the cute tribute to Schlemmer. Americans got a Google Doodle on Sept. 3 to celebrate Labor Day, instead. Those in Australia, China, Argentina and more got to witness the Doodle's performance.
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Today is Oskar Schlemmer’s 130th birthday
Few would be able to guess what today’s Google Doodle is about at a glance, but what the unusual balletic scene is celebrating is Oskar Schlemmer’s 130th birthday.
You may not recognise the name or even the face of the man, but you may well have come across some of Schlemmer’s artwork given that he produced paintings, sculptures and dance performances over his career.
The German was an influential teacher at the Bauhaus School in the 1920s, a hugely important movement in the first half of the 20th century that would have a massive impact on modern design.
However, what the Google Doodle is celebrating is Schlemmer’s most notable work, the Triadisches Ballett.
Oskar Schlemmer’s Google Doodle (Picture: Google)
Schlemmer’s work as a choreographer saw him premiere the Triadisches Ballett (Triadic Ballet) in Stuttgart in 1922.
The ballet was actually performed in early forms as far back as 1916, but it was the 1922 version that became the an international success for Schlemmer and Bauhaus.
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The Triadisches Ballett has three acts and only three dancers and was described as Schlemmer as a ‘party of form and colour.
The dancers were made to look like figurines or puppets by geometrical cylinder, sphere, cone, and spiral shapes making up the costumes.
Schlemmer enjoyed the movements of puppets and considered it more aesthetically pleasing to that of humans.
Oskar Schlemmer died in 1943 age 54
Schlemmer was born in Stuttgart in 1888 and took up a career in painting when he moved to Berlin in 1910, before returning to his home city two years later.
However, this was interrupted by a call up to the First World War in 1914, during which he was wounded, seeing him leave combat before the end of the war.
‘Bauhaus Stairway.’ Oil On Canvas By Oskar Schlemmer, 1932 (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)
Oskar married Helena Tutein in 1920 and spent most of the 1920s at the Bauhaus School, during which time he premiered the Triadisches Ballett.
However, some of his most recognisable paintings came after he left Bauhaus in 1929, such as the ‘Bauhaustreppe’, (‘Bauhaus Stairway’) in 1932.
Balcony scene, 1932 (Oskar Schlemmer) (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)
When the Nazis took control of Germany, Schlemmer’s work was attacked and he was forced to resign from his position at Berlin’s United State School for Fine and Applied Art.
He produced just a small collection of work from 1932 until his death in 1943, the majority of which were his ‘Window Pictures’ which were just observations from looking out of his house.
It is not clear what exactly Schlemmer died of in April 1943, just that he had fallen ill the previous summer and little could be done for him despite visits to numerous hospitals.
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He was just 54 when he died.
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Oskar Schlemmer birth anniversary: Google paid tribute to this german artist.
German painter, sculptor and choreographer Oskar Schlemmer would have celebrated his 130th birthday today. To commemorate his birth anniversary, Google Doodle has honoured him with a tribute. The path-breaking artist's most famous work is "Triadisches Ballett," in which the actors are transfigured from the normal to geometrical shapes. Also in Slat Dance and Treppenwitz, the performers' costumes make them into living sculpture, as if part of the scenery.
Google's doodle, too, is similar to how the painter-choreographer would present his rather unusual ballets. Google added a dedication to the artist stating, "With three dancers, 12 movements, and 18 costumes, Oskar Schlemmer's innovative approach to ballet broke with all convention to explore the relationship between body and space in new and exciting ways. He described the performance as "'artistic metaphysical mathematics," and a "party in form and colour."
The doodle too is reflective of his work, mechanical creatures in metallic masks prancing around doing ballet.
Oskar Schlemmer's ideas on art were complex and challenging even for the progressive Bauhaus movement. The Bauhaus movement was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. His work, nevertheless, was widely exhibited in both Germany and outside the country.
His work was a rejection of pure abstraction, instead retaining a sense of the human, though not in the emotional sense but in view of the physical structure of the human. Oskar Schlemmer represented bodies as architectural forms, reducing the figure to a rhythmic play between convex, concave and flat surfaces. As well as leaving a large body of work behind, Schlemmer art theories have also been published.
Schlemmer died in 1943 in Baden-Baden. Google Doodle salutes the genius of Oskar Schlemmer on his birth anniversary.
