Gunta Stölzl (1897–1983) was the only woman among the masters at the Bauhaus, the twentieth century’s most important school of design, architecture, and art. As an inventive textile designer and head of the weaving workshop, she turned it into a flourishing, productive enterprise—an unusual success story.
The artist’s personal writings open up a view of her life and work from 1917 to late 1931; these are accompanied by explanatory comments and a foreword by Monika Stadler, Stölzl’s daughter. Through excerpts from her journals, letters, and articles, some of which are published here for the first time, we trace Stölzl’s life from the time she was a student in Munich, to her service as a Red Cross nurse during the war, from her years at the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau until she founded a hand-weaving business in Zurich . The precise chronological organization of the texts and works gives rise to many surprising references. In the reflection of her own statements, we see the most vivid portrait possible of Gunta Stölzl as an individual and as an artist.