Johannes Itten Accomplishments

Croix Witsken

Arts 202

Margaret Gohn

March 23, 2016

Johannes Itten

Johannes Itten was a magnificent painter who was also a teacher, writer and textile designer. One of his greatest aspirations aside from his work as a painter was being one of the founding members of the Bauhaus, a German school of art. He was born in Sudern Linden on November 11, 1888. His father was a farmer who also taught and his mother was a farmer’s daughter. He would then start his studies in 1904. At this time he joined a seminar on teaching in Berne, Switzerland. From there he would propel his future in the right path by perusing teaching as a profession. In 1908 to 1909 he became an elementary school teacher in Schwarzenburg near Berne. After that, he went back

He began to make notes on art theory in his diary and executed his first non-representational compositions. He then gave art lessons on what he had learned throughout his career. In 1916 he held a solo exhibition at Der Sturm Gallery in Berlin, Germany. Shortly after that he founded a private art school in Vienna. He would then study theosophy and mysticism. Theosophy refers to a system of philosophy regarding or looking for direct knowledge of, supposed mysteries of being and nature. From that knowledge he created a comprehensive form and color theory that he would use to teach his students. When he moved to the Bauhaus in 1919, a number of his students followed him as disciples in his new cult. The following group was characterized by wearing shaved heads to emphasize its geometrical properties, they also wore robes to their feet and only fed themselves on

He would show his art in an exhibition called Degenerate art. After that the school of two dimensional textile art would close in Krefeld. He would then immigrate to Holland. From there he would become the director of the Museum of Design and College of Applied Arts in Zurich. He would remarry in 1939 to Anneliese Schlosser. After a time of dormancy during the second world war, Itten was the director of the Museum and school of Arts and crafts in Zurich from 1952 to 1953. He was also accountable for the organization and supervision of the Rietberg Museum of Art from the same city during 1950 through 1956. He would then pass away in Zurich during 1957. Johannes Itten devoted himself to writing theories about art and pedagogy until his