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Oskar Schlemmer celebrated by Google Doodle – German Bauhaus painter and Triadic Ballet composer

Oskar Schlemmer, a prominent figure in the Bauhaus School, has been given a Google Doodle to mark his birthday

GOOGLE is today celebrating the life of German artist Oskar Schlemmer – a painter, sculptor, designer and choreographer, who is most closely associated with the Bauhaus school.

His most famous work is the Triadic Ballet where the actors are transformed into geometric shapes.

 Google salutes the work of Oskar Schlemmer
Google salutes the work of Oskar SchlemmerCredit: Google

Who was Oskar Schlemmer?

He was born in Stuttgart on September 4, 1888, the youngest of six children.

His parents, Carl Leonhard Schlemmer and Mina Neuhaus, died around 1900 and he went to live with his sister.

He studied art in Stuttgart under landscape painters Christian Landenberger and Friedrich von Keller.

He moved to Berlin in 1910 but moved back to Stuttgart two years later and studied under Adolf Holzel.

 Oskar Schlemmer was a prominent figure in the Bauhaus School
Oskar Schlemmer was a prominent figure in the Bauhaus SchoolCredit: Getty - Contributor

What is he famous for?

After the First World War he worked at the Bauhaus School in Weimar in the mural-painting and sculpture departments before moving to the theatre workshop.

He became internationally known with the premiere of his Triadic Ballet in Stuttgart in 1922.

He is also famous for his paintings such as Bauhaus Stairway, Idealistic Encounter and Stairway Scene.

Schlemmer eventually left the Bauhaus in 1929 and moved to Breslau to work at the Akademie but he was forced to leave when it closed after the Wall Street Crash.

He then worked in Berlin until 1933 when he was forced to resign over pressure from the Nazi Party.

His work was featured in the notorious Nazi exhibition Degenerate Art.

Schlemmer died in Baden-Baden in April 1943, aged 54.

 A dancer performs in the Triadic Ballet
A dancer performs in the Triadic BalletCredit: Getty - Contributor

What is the Triadic Ballet?

The Triadic Ballet premiered in 1922.

Schlemmer choreographed the ballet and designed the costumes.

He named it Triadic due to the the three acts, three dancers and three colours.

He used a different colour for each act.

The revolutionary costumes were based on cylinder, sphere, cone and spiral shapes.

What is a Google Doodle?



 Google celebrated the Autumn Equinox with a themed doodle
Google celebrated the Autumn Equinox with a themed doodleCredit: Google





Earlier in the year, the search giant celebrated the Paralympics in 2018  in Pyeongchang with an animated design celebrating each of the sports the winter Paralympians will compete in.

The history of the Google Doodle