BAUHAUS PUR
Photo exhibition by Jean Molitor
From 1 August, the baudenkmal bundesschule bernau association will present the new exhibition Bauhaus Pur on its premises. On display will be a selection of 34 fascinating architectural photographs by the internationally renowned photo artist Jean Molitor, who has been following the traces of Bauhaus architecture worldwide since 2009. His aim is not only to create an image archive of the architecture of Classical Modernism, but also to capture the buildings from their exciting side, finding the right moment of exposure. In the teachers' residence at Hannes-Meyer-Campus 9 in Bernau-Waldfrieden, he is now showing a selection of his photographs, which present themselves through a very finely differentiated grey scale between pure white and rich black.
With his art project bau1haus, photographer Jean Molitor has succeeded in an impressive way in illustrating the global charisma and spread of Bauhaus architecture. He has visited over fifty countries so far and impressively captured architectural treasures on camera – including in countries where one would not necessarily expect to find modernist buildings, such as Afghanistan, Guatemala, Lebanon, Kenya and Burundi.
"It's a collecting passion, which is interesting or perhaps important in that many of these houses won't even exist forever," Molitor describes in an interview with the ARTE television channel in 2019.
In Burundi, houses were not demolished because of his commitment, but in other countries they no longer exist, such as the National Theatre in Tirana, photographed by Molitor in 2019 and demolished in 2020. Not everywhere is and was Molitor's intention understood: In some countries, such as Lebanon, he was arrested "... because they didn't understand," Molitor says, "what he was doing, whether he was commercial or political, or even fulfilling a mission as a terrorist or spy." According to his research, there are still testimonies of Bauhaus architecture in over 100 other countries.
Jean Molitor publishes his photographs in numerous illustrated books and international exhibitions. In the exhibition Bauhaus Pur, Molitor shows impressively and in high artistic and technical quality the versatility of Bauhaus architecture in Germany and elsewhere, as well as its parallels and differences to other modernist buildings.
Biography Jean Molitor
Jean Molitor was born in 1960 in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg. He studied artistic photography at the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts under Arno Fischer, one of the most important independent art photographers of the GDR. Since successfully completing his studies in 1993, Molitor has worked as a freelance photographer for renowned companies and institutions worldwide. During this time, he worked primarily in the field of reportage for print media and television productions, was the picture author of several book publications and was involved in numerous international social non-profit projects.
After longer working stays in South America and China, Jean Molitor has increasingly devoted himself to his artistic work since 2004. Today, he is considered an ambassador of the so-called "Leipzig School" and developed his own style from this artistic environment. The Berlin cosmopolitan draws his inspiration from all over the world. In 2009, Molitor launched his bau1haus project, for which he travelled through Africa, North and South America, Europe and the Middle East.
Further information on Jean Molitor: https://jean.molitor.photography
A coffee with Jean Molitor
Exhibition podcast
Jean Molitor, Luna and Anja Guttenberger in the kitchen of the teachers`residence, Foto: BeSt, 2021
In the 14. episode of the podcast KNTXT - Bernauer Stadtgespräche, photographer Jean Molitor visited for a coffee. In conversation, Jean Molitor gives insight into his adventurous travels – from Europe to Africa and South America – and his encounters with people. PODCAST
Ludiwg Mies van der Ruhe, Villa Tugendhat (1929-30), Brno/Brünn (Czech Republic), Photo: Jean Molitor, 2020
Accompanying publication
To accompany the exhibition, a series of 14 photographs will be published as high-quality prints in DIN A5 format, completed in a slipcase, available for €15.00 on site or on request by email (plus postage) at vereinbauhaus-denkmal-bernau.de.
