Art Institute of Chicago

Mez (Mittel-Europaische-Zeit: Weimar)

Robert Michel

1919–20

Attribution

Robert Michel German, 1897-1983

Medium

Woodcut on cream Japanese paper

Physical dimensions

Image: 46 × 38 cm (18 1/8 × 15 in.); Sheet: 56.3 × 43 cm (22 3/16 × 16 15/16 in.)

Credit line

William McCallin McKee Memorial Endowment

From the museum

Though he was never associated with the Bauhaus school of architecture, Michel was a resident of Weimar, where the school's golden period began in 1919 under the direction of architect Walter Gropius. At the time Michel made this print ( one of a series of four), Weimar was the focal point of extraordinary political, social, and cultural changes then transforming Germany. In 1919, after World War I, Weimar became the capital of a provisional federal state that ratified a new national constitution. Germany's National Assembly, elected on January 19, first met in the Weimar National Theater on February 6, and on August 11 the Weimar Constitution was signed. Michel wrote, "After all, in 1919 Weimar is the center of things to come." Therefore, one might read, in Mez, Michel's depiction of the intricate workings of a clock and the date August 11 as his celebration of the birth of the Weimar Republic.

Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0