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October 2024

Nigeria:
Bauhaus Architecture and Kandinsky Fashion

Lissa Tyler Renaud

Introduction

The year 2019 was the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Bauhaus, and for the occasion the Goethe-Institut teamed up with the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar/Bauhaus Museum, the House of World Cultures, and various other local and international organizations to arrange an enormous celebration. Even leading up to the 2019 centenary, beginning in March of that year there were already a range of events planned that pointed up the fact that the Bauhaus, which was closed down in 1933, had its own diaspora: teachers, students, as well as the Bauhaus teachings and aesthetic made their way around the world. From this perspective, by now, the Bauhaus is no longer so much a Germany-specific phenomenon, but instead has become a kind of international handshake, a way of thinking and seeing that we can find in many parts of the world. A case in point: recently in Brno, Czechia, I found myself standing next to a Bauhaus building, and that turned one out to be part of a larger network of Bauhaus buildings in the area. Indeed, for the Bauhaus's 100th anniversary, events were scheduled in Morocco, China, Russia, the United States, Japan,
Russia, Brazil, India, and Nigeria.

That year, Goethe-Institut Nigeria in Lagos hosted a film and symposium on Nov. 23-24. Bauhaus structures have been apparent in Nigeria at least since the 1960s, through architect Arieh Sharon. See more about the Bauhaus in Africa at the link below.

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Next, we can see a creative hybrid of Kandinsky's Bauhaus work and an African visual sensibility, manifested in Nigerian fashion. The following collection is an interpretation of his "Structure Joyeuse" of 1926.

structure-joyeuse-c1926
"Structure Joyeuse," 1926

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Nigerian Fashion Brand CeCe Presents The Look Book For
The 'KANDINSKY' Collection

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By nana
June 21, 2017

Fashion brand CeCe has launched its latest collection titled 'Kandinsky'. The collection features the brand's interpretation of 'Structure Joyeuse' which translates to the use of shapes and colours.

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The brand draws inspiration from Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky, a Russian painter and art theorist who painted one of the first recognised purely abstract works. 'Structure Joyeuse,' one of Wassily's abstract works in 1926, is the focus inspiration for this collection. They use a variety of shapes, structures and colours in the collection. His works all had a [specific] use of colour in trying to express himself, which they have incorporated in their latest collection.

4.-6-image-cr

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Read about the Bauhaus in Africa:
http://archive.diarna.org/site/detail/public/174/.

Note:
I have tried over some years to locate the designer or design team members who created this collection; likewise "nana" who wrote the piece. I hope to hear from them so I can credit them properly. -LTR

 

 

Curator, writer and editor, Kandinsky Anew Series
Lissa Tyler Renaud MFA Directing, PhD Dramatic Art with Art History (thesis on Kandinsky's theatre), summa cum laude, UC Berkeley (1987). Lifelong actress, director. Founder, Oakland-based Actors' Training Project (1985- ) for training inspired by Kandinsky's teachings. Book publications: The Politics of American Actor Training (Routledge); an invited chapter in the Routledge Companion to Stanislavsky, and ed. Selected Plays of Stan Lai (U. Michigan Press, 3 vols.). She has taught, lectured and published widely on Kandinsky, acting, dramatic theory and the early European avant-garde, throughout the U.S., and since 2004, at major theatre institutions of Asia, and in England, Mexico, Russia and Sweden.
She is a senior writer for Scene4
For her other commentary and articles, check the Archives.

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©2024 Lissa Tyler Renaud
©2024 Publication Scene4 Magazine

 

 

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