Lithograph on tan wove paper, 1921. 400x315 mm; 15¾x12⅜ inches, full margins. Edition of 100. Signed in pencil, lower right. Printed by Staatliches Bauhaus, Weimar. Published by Staatliches Bauhaus, Weimar and Müller & Co. Verlag, Potsdam, with the blind stamp (Lugt 2558b) lower left. From Bauhaus Drucke Neue Europäische Graphik III: Deutsche Künstler.
Provenance The estate of Rudolf Bauer Private collection, Connecticut
Between 1921 and 1923, four portfolios of Bauhaus Drucke Neue Europäische Graphik were published under the direction of Lyonel Feininger, with the dual purpose of "providing a general overview of graphic work in new European art" and fundraising for the Bauhaus. Each portfolio featured prominent artists of different countries, with a fifth portfolio dedicated to the French left unpublished due to postwar tension and lack of funding. Bautama was featured in the third portfolio, dedicated to German artists, alongside works by Heinrich Campendon and other notable German names. The design for the portfolio was created by Paul Klee, who contributed prints to the first portfolio, dedicated to Bauhaus masters.
Once published, Bauhaus Drucke Neue Europäische Graphik received little commercial success, with many of the copies remaining unsold or destroyed, classified as "degenerate art" by the Nazis. Years later, upon Bauer's return to Berlin from Paris in 1937, he too was classified as a "degenerate artist" and imprisoned, until his release under the aid of Hilla Rebay's brother and nephew.
