Painter and teacher, born in Sudern-Linden, WC Switzerland. He studied art in Stuttgart (191316) before moving to Vienna, where he started his own art school. A leading theorist at the Bauhaus (191923), he wrote on the theory of colour (Kunst der Farbe, 1961) and developed the idea of a compulsory preliminary course, based on research into natural forms and the laws of basic design. This has been widely adopted in art schools.
Johannes Itten (November 11, 1888 - May 27, 1967) was a Swiss painter, designer teacher, writer and theorist associated with the Bauhaus school. From 1919-1922, Itten taught at the Bauhaus, developing the innovative preliminary course which was to teach students the basics of material characteristics, composition, and colour. He also published a book - The Art of Color- which describes these ideas as a furthering of Adolf Hölzel's colour wheel. Itten's so called "color sphere" went on to include 12 colours.
Itten was a follower of Mazdaznan, a fire cult originating in the United States that was largely derived from Zoroastrianism. Itten's mysticism and hold on the students increasingly alienated him from the other leading figures of the Bauhaus, particularly Walter Gropius and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, who were moving the school in a direction that embraced mass production rather than individual artistic expression and craftsmanship.
Itten's works exploring the use and composition of colour resemble the square op-art canvases of artists such as Josef Albers, Max Bill and Bridget Riley, and the expressionist works of Wassily Kandinsky.
User Comments Add a comment…