Karl Peter Röhl
Biography
The Bauhaus's first emblem was drawn by a student in its first year, and his studio is where De Stijl came to Weimar.
A student with a signet, 1919–1922
Röhl was enrolled at the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar from April 1919 to the spring of 1921 and took Johannes Itten's preliminary course in his first semester. In that first year he designed the school's first emblem, the star-man the city's register calls the „Sternenmännchen“ — a small figure of a person among stars, for a school whose founding document showed a cathedral. It was replaced in 1922 by Oskar Schlemmer's signet, the profile everyone knows.
The studio opposite the art school, 1921–1926
From 1921 to 1926 he had a free studio at the Weimar art academy, directly opposite the art school, and Theo van Doesburg held his De Stijl course there. A serious outside challenge to the Weimar Bauhaus, the Dutch argument for the straight line and the primary colours, was made in a studio belonging to one of its own former students. The building was destroyed in the Second World War.
Kiel, Frankfurt, Kiel, 1890–1975
He was born in Kiel in 1890 and died there in 1975. In April 1920 he married the Bauhaus student Alexandra Gutzeit; from 1926 to 1942 he ran the preparatory class at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main; after the war he worked as a freelance artist in Kiel and received Schleswig-Holstein's art prize in 1968.
Questions visitors ask
- What did Karl Peter Röhl design for the Bauhaus?
- The school's first emblem, the "Sternenmännchen" (star-man), in his first year, 1919 — replaced in 1922 by Oskar Schlemmer's now-famous profile signet.
- What is Karl Peter Röhl's connection to De Stijl?
- From 1921 to 1926 he had a free studio at the Weimar art academy where Theo van Doesburg held his De Stijl course — a serious outside challenge to the Bauhaus, made in a former student's own studio.
- What did Karl Peter Röhl do after the Bauhaus?
- From 1926 to 1942 he ran the preparatory class at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main; after the war he worked as a freelance artist in Kiel, receiving Schleswig-Holstein's art prize in 1968.
Notable Works & Achievements
the first Bauhaus signet, the „Sternenmännchen“ (1919)
Historical Context
A student of the school's first years and the author of its first emblem.
The Bauhaus was founded in Weimar in 1919 and voted out by 1925 — time enough to change what a design school is, and not enough for the town that made it to keep it.
Read more about this period →Quick Facts
1890
1975
German
In Weimar's history
In Weimar's history
A rival course, taught in a studio directly opposite the Bauhaus, by a man the school never employed.
It was held in his free studio, which the city places opposite the art school.