Karla Grosch
Biography
Born in Weimar the year the town's art school was still ducal, she ended up teaching at the Bauhaus after it had left — one of two women on its teaching staff, and dead at twenty-eight.
A Weimar childhood, a Dresden training, 1904–1928
She was born in Weimar on 1 June 1904 and trained as a dancer with Gret Palucca in Dresden — the modern-dance school that stood at the same distance from the ballet as the Bauhaus stood from the academies. Nothing in her working life happened in her home town: by the time she was employable, the school this town had founded was in Dessau.
One of two women teaching, 1928–1930
From the summer semester of 1928 she taught sport and gymnastics at the Bauhaus in Dessau, and the school's own portal records what that meant: alongside Gunta Stölzl in the weaving workshop, she was one of only two women on the teaching staff. She danced in Oskar Schlemmer's Metalltanz and Glastanz, which had their premiere at the Berlin Volksbühne in 1929, and she rented a room in Paul Klee's master house from 1928 to 1930.
1933
She worked at the Bauhaus until 1932. Early in 1933, pregnant, she emigrated to Palestine with the Bauhaus architect Franz Aichinger. On 8 May 1933 she died of cardiac arrest while swimming near Tel Aviv, and was buried in the German cemetery at Sarona. She was twenty-eight, and she is one of the women the Klassik Stiftung exhibits under the title Forgotten Bauhaus Women.
Questions visitors ask
- What was Karla Grosch's role at the Bauhaus?
- From the summer semester of 1928 she taught sport and gymnastics at the Bauhaus in Dessau — one of only two women on the teaching staff, alongside Gunta Stölzl.
- Did Karla Grosch perform in any Bauhaus productions?
- Yes, she danced in Oskar Schlemmer's Metalltanz and Glastanz, which premiered at the Berlin Volksbühne in 1929.
- How did Karla Grosch die?
- She emigrated to Palestine in early 1933, pregnant, and died of cardiac arrest while swimming near Tel Aviv on 8 May 1933, at twenty-eight.
Notable Works & Achievements
the dancer of Oskar Schlemmer's Metalltanz and Glastanz
Historical Context
Born in Weimar in 1904; taught sport and gymnastics at the school from 1928, after it had moved to Dessau.
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
1904
1933
German