Haus Des Weissen Mannes 1924

Johannes Itten made this print, *Haus Des Weissen Mannes*, using an unrecorded medium sometime in the first half of the twentieth century. It depicts a stark, geometrical, modernist building in the landscape. Itten was associated with the Bauhaus, the highly influential German art school, where he taught the preliminary course. His work here reflects the school’s emphasis on abstraction, simplification and functionality. The image creates meaning through stark visual contrasts, the lack of ornamentation, and the stylization of the natural world into geometric forms. The title, which translates as "House of the White Man", seems to me to allude to the utopian aspirations of modernism. The Bauhaus sought to create a new universal visual language. They were engaged in the design of socially progressive housing that rejected the revivalist styles of the past. To understand Itten’s print better we could research the Bauhaus’ publications and other writings. We can examine the design briefs for low cost housing. The meaning of art is contingent on these social and institutional contexts.