37 Facts About Margaretha Reichardt

Margaretha Reichardt, known as Grete Reichardt, was a textile artist, weaver, and graphic designer from Erfurt, Germany.

Margaretha Reichardt was one of the most important designers to emerge from the Bauhaus design school's weaving workshop in Dessau, Germany.

Margaretha Reichardt spent most of her adult life running her own independent weaving workshop in Erfurt, which was under Nazi rule and then later part of communist East Germany.

Margaretha Reichardt was born in Erfurt on 6 March 1907.

In 1921 Margaretha Reichardt was given special permission to begin training, at the young age of 14, at the Erfurt Kunstgewerbeschule, a school for applied arts.

Margaretha Reichardt left the school in 1925 as a qualified craftswoman.

Margaretha Reichardt was very enthusiastic about the exhibition and it later inspired her to apply, in 1925, to the study at the school.

From 1926 to 1931, Reichardt was a student at the Bauhaus design school in Dessau, Germany.

Margaretha Reichardt attend classes by Paul Klee, Joost Schmidt and Wassily Kandinsky.

Margaretha Reichardt passed the Bauhaus journeyman's exam in 1929, and in 1931 was awarded her Bauhaus Diploma, receiving Bauhaus Diploma number 54.

From 1930 until the summer of 1931 Margaretha Reichardt was a freelance workshop master at the Bauhaus weaving workshop.

In 1926, her first year at the Bauhaus, Margaretha Reichardt undertook a preliminary course run by Josef Albers and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.

Margaretha Reichardt designed two now well known wooden toys while in the class, which were later produced commercially by the Naef toy company in Switzerland.

Margaretha Reichardt has articulated limbs that move when a string is pulled.

Margaretha Reichardt was taught by, and worked with, many famous Bauhaus names, notably Gunta Stolzl.

Margaretha Reichardt developed textile coverings for the tubular steel chairs of Marcel Breuer.

The material was originally developed in Germany in the mid-19th century and by 1875 was being manufactured in some quantity, however Margaretha Reichardt improved the quality while she was at the Bauhaus and it was used by Marcel Breuer on his tubular steel chairs.

Margaretha Reichardt's improved version of eisengarn was used as a covering for aeroplane seats in the 1930s.

Margaretha Reichardt helped develop types of cloth with soundproofing and light reflecting qualities while she was at the Bauhaus.

The student Margaretha Reichardt's textiles were used in the furnishings of the Bundesschule des Allgemeinen Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes, built between 1928 and 1930, in Bernau bei Berlin.

Margaretha Reichardt's work was used in the cafe of the Altes Theater in Dessau, which was rebuilt in 1927 following a fire in an earlier building.

Margaretha Reichardt was able to obtain a number of looms and other equipment that came from the recently closed Bauhaus weaving workshop and set up her own workshop in Severihof, where her family lived.

Margaretha Reichardt married Hans Wagner, in 1936 and sometimes used the surname Wagner-Reichardt after that.

Margaretha Reichardt taught him to weave and they worked together in the weaving workshop.

Margaretha Reichardt lived and worked there for the rest of her life, producing wall hangings and carpets, and textiles for clothing, curtains and furniture.

Margaretha Reichardt gained her Master Weaver's qualification and in 1942 the Thuringen Handwerkskammer gave her the authority to teach apprentices.

In 1952 Margaretha Reichardt was admitted to the Verband Bildender Kunstler der DDR.

In communist East Germany some small independent businesses like Margaretha Reichardt's weaving workshop were permitted, but there were shortages of raw materials and they were controlled by the government, which favoured state run enterprises.

In that year Margaretha Reichardt was offered several posts which would have given her the opportunity to move to West Germany.

On 2 December 1976 Margaretha Reichardt was one of 18 former 'Bauhauslern' who attended the official reopening of the Bauhaus building in Dessau, after it had been restored by the East German government.

The workshop had up to five apprentices at any one time, and in total Margaretha Reichardt trained over 50 apprentices during her lifetime.

Margaretha Reichardt hand wove one of three tapestries for the restored St Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin in 1963.

Margaretha Reichardt died unexpectedly at her home in Erfurt-Bischleben on 25 May 1984, aged 77.

Margaretha Reichardt continued to manage her workshop until her death.

On display in the Margaretha Reichardt Haus is the workshop on the lower ground floor with six original wooden hand looms, two of which came from the Bauhaus weaving workshop in Dessau.

Since 1992 the Margaretha Reichardt Haus has been managed by the Angermuseum Erfurt, the city's main art gallery.

Margaretha Reichardt was awarded an honorary golden diploma at the 1951 Milan Triennial IX for a handwoven tapestry she exhibited.