CLAIRE WAGNER KOSTERLITZ
A BAUHAUS ARTIST IN AMERICA
(1903-1997)
The Jewish Museum of New Jersey presents, "Claire
Wagner Kosterlitz: A Bauhaus Artist in America," an exhibition of
paintings from the artist's diverse lifework. Kosterlitz's art has been exhibited in museums and galleries in America
and Europe and is in the collections of a number of museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Bauhaus-Archiv
Museum in Berlin.
It begins with a reception on Sunday, January 15 from 1 p.m. to 5
p.m.and closes on Sunday March 25 with a panel discussion about the ongoing influence of the Bauhaus movement.
The discussion will be followed by a tour of the Colonnade Apartments designed by the architect
Mies Van Der Rohe, a former Bauhaus director.
Kosterlitz was born in 1903 in
Oppein, Germany, now known as Opole in Poland. She began her art studies in 1921 at the Kunstgewerbe Academie in Breslau,
a venerable art school that traces roots back to the seventeenth century. During 1925, she became fascinated by the
Staatliches Bauhaus in Dessau. The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 with the idea of creating a "total" work of
art in which all arts, including architecture, would be brought together. It had a profound influence that is still
felt today on developments in art, architecture, and design.
Kosterlitz studied under Bauhaus "masters"
Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. She left the Bauhaus in 1926 to
marry a young physician, Henry Kosterlitz. They fled Germany to escape the Nazis in 1938 eventually settling in Irvington,
New Jersey where they remained until 1964 when they moved to Basking Ridge. Upon their arrival here, Kosterlitz served
as her husband's office manager and receptionist and she trained as a nurse to assist him in his practice.
All
the while, Kosterlitz continued painting. Many of the watercolors in the current exhibition are from her time in Irvington.
Kosterlitz's work from this period shows Paul Klee's influence in its mix of geometric and curving lines, simplification of
shapes, and whimsical details. Yet it is also clear that she was developing her own unique individual style. Her
work started to appear in galleries and other venues. The move to Basking Ridge broadened her subject matter to include
more balance between the manmade and natural.
After her husband's retirement in 1974, the couple
moved to Baden, Switzerland. Kosterlitz continued to paint and her reputation grew. Her art was exhibited in both
one-woman and group shows in Switzerland. Because of her husband's declining health, they returned to the States in
1981, settling in Morristown where he died in 1987. Her own health began to decline and after long illness, Claire Wagner
Kosterlitz passed away in 1997.
Although the Bauhaus always influenced her work, Kosterlitz followed her
own vision. Late in her life she wrote, "True art is only possible through the emotional expression of the
artist. No heart, no art."
"Claire Wagner Kosterlitz: A Bauhaus Artist
in America," will run from January 15 through March 25, at the Jewish Museum of New Jersey, 145
Broadway, at historic Congregation Ahavas Sholom. The Museum is open Sundays, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment.
Free off-street parking is provided and a donation of $10 is suggested.
For more information, see
our website http://www.jewiishmuseumnj.org/.
To RSVP for the opening reception, contact Max Herman at (973) 698-8489
or Phil Yourish at (973) 303-5294.
