Margrit Kallin-Fischer
Composition for "Gebrauchsgraphik"1930

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 1

Black and white photograph of curled typographic specimen strips, a ruler, and a pencil arranged on a white surface with dramatic directional lighting

Artist or Maker: Margrit Kallin-Fischer
Germany, 1897-1973
Title: Composition for "Gebrauchsgraphik"
Place Made: Germany
Date Made: 1930
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: Image: 9 × 6 15/16 in. (22.86 × 17.62 cm) Primary support: 9 × 6 15/16 in. (22.86 × 17.62 cm) Secondary support: 13 3/8 × 12 1/8 in. (33.97 × 30.8 cm) Mat: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.64 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Ralph M. Parsons Fund
Accession Number: M.89.80
Classification: Photographs
Collecting Area: Photography
Curatorial Notes: Margrit Kallin-Fischer (née Vries), called Grit, was born in Frankfurt and studied painting in Marburg and Leipzig between 1911 and 1917. After World War I, she moved to Berlin and joined the circles of artists there. She met the Russian émigré musician Marik Kallin, and they married in 1920. In 1926, Grit Kallin enrolled at the Bauhaus as an already fully trained artist. Following the basic course with Josef Albers and painting classes with Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, she studied in the metal workshop with László Moholy-Nagy and contributed to Oskar Schlemmer’s theater class, where she met the American Bauhaus member Edward L. Fischer (whom she would marry in 1934). She also took her first photographs while at the Bauhaus. Starting in 1930, Kallin published images in the well-known journal Gebrauchsgraphik (Commercial Graphics); a close variation of this typographic image served as the cover of the June 1930 issue. She soon exhibited alongside major figures from the photography and advertising scene such as Herbert Bayer, Moholy-Nagy, Adolf de Meyer, and Florence Henri. Photographic activity receded in 1935, when she and Fischer moved to New York and she focused mainly on sculpture and graphic design.

Britt Salvesen

2024

Margrit Kallin-Fischer
Composition for "Gebrauchsgraphik"1930

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 1

Artist or Maker: Margrit Kallin-Fischer
Germany, 1897-1973
Title: Composition for "Gebrauchsgraphik"
Place Made: Germany
Date Made: 1930
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: Image: 9 × 6 15/16 in. (22.86 × 17.62 cm) Primary support: 9 × 6 15/16 in. (22.86 × 17.62 cm) Secondary support: 13 3/8 × 12 1/8 in. (33.97 × 30.8 cm) Mat: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.64 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Ralph M. Parsons Fund
Accession Number: M.89.80
Classification: Photographs
Collecting Area: Photography
Curatorial Notes: Margrit Kallin-Fischer (née Vries), called Grit, was born in Frankfurt and studied painting in Marburg and Leipzig between 1911 and 1917. After World War I, she moved to Berlin and joined the circles of artists there. She met the Russian émigré musician Marik Kallin, and they married in 1920. In 1926, Grit Kallin enrolled at the Bauhaus as an already fully trained artist. Following the basic course with Josef Albers and painting classes with Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, she studied in the metal workshop with László Moholy-Nagy and contributed to Oskar Schlemmer’s theater class, where she met the American Bauhaus member Edward L. Fischer (whom she would marry in 1934). She also took her first photographs while at the Bauhaus. Starting in 1930, Kallin published images in the well-known journal Gebrauchsgraphik (Commercial Graphics); a close variation of this typographic image served as the cover of the June 1930 issue. She soon exhibited alongside major figures from the photography and advertising scene such as Herbert Bayer, Moholy-Nagy, Adolf de Meyer, and Florence Henri. Photographic activity receded in 1935, when she and Fischer moved to New York and she focused mainly on sculpture and graphic design.

Britt Salvesen

2024