Colour Pedagogies: NID, Bauhaus and Paul Klee
Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet – Paul Klee
BILKULONLINE
Ahmedabad, Feb 8: Colour Pedagogies: NID, Bauhaus and Paul Klee – Exhibition is at display at Design Gallery, NID campus, Ahmedabad for all the art lovers and students of design.
This exhibition focuses on pedagogies for understanding, exploring and experimenting the application of colour to create. It juxtaposes Paul Klee’s body of work (collection of the Zentrum Paul Klee, Switzerland) with work produced across various courses in the current Design Foundation Studies program at NID. Similar to NID, Instruction on subjects like form and colour began in the first semester of a Bauhaus student’s education and continued in the form of advanced seminars designed to complement workshops. As a design educator, Paul Klee taught Theory of Design (1921–1924/5) in Bauhaus. Juxtaposing these works allow us to inquire and reflect on the continuity and change in these colour pedagogies across time and space.
The six broad themes of the exhibition are understanding visual grey, understanding chroma, colour interaction, composing with colours, colour perception, and colours pigments and its application. These themes are enlivened with twenty-six artworks by Paul Klee and panels with NID student works. The reading table invites you to imagine the ways in which students and teachers at NID, over the last sixty plus years, interacted with the ideas of colour theory proposed by Klee and his contemporaries at the Bauhaus.
Dr. Marianne Keller Tschirren, an esteemed scholar from the Zentrum Paul Klee in Switzerland, presents a captivating exploration into the profound relationship between Paul Klee and color, focusing on Klee’s influential teaching of color theory at the Bauhaus. Renowned as both a painter and a teacher, Klee’s insights into color not only revolutionized modern art but continue to inspire artists and theorists today.
Dr. Marianne in her lecture explained that “Paul Klee, a luminary figure in 20th-century art, once famously proclaimed, “The Colour and I are one. I am a Painter.” This declaration encapsulates Klee’s deeply personal and spiritual connection to color, which permeated his artistic practice and pedagogy. As a faculty member at the Bauhaus, Klee played a pivotal role in shaping the institution’s approach to color theory, emphasizing its psychological and expressive potential”
Through a rich visual presentation and engaging commentary, Dr. Keller Tschirren illuminated the profound significance of color in Klee’s artistic philosophy and its broader implications for the understanding of color in art and design.
On seeing the exhibition, students, faculty members and other audience whether seasoned art enthusiasts or newcomers to Klee’s work, will develop a deeper appreciation for the transformative power of color and its central role in the evolution of modern art. This exhibition is a result of a collaboration between the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Shanti Sadan, Ahmedabad, and Zentrum Paul Klee, Switzerland.
