Johannes Itten facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Johannes Itten
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Itten c. 1920
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| Born | 11 November 1888 Südern-Linden, Switzerland
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| Died | 25 March 1967 (aged 78) Zürich, Switzerland
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| Education | Academy of Arts, Stuttgart |
| Known for | Painting, Drawing, Color theory, Architecture |
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Notable work
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Farbkreis (1961) |
| Movement | Expressionism |
Johannes Itten (born November 11, 1888 – died March 25, 1967) was a Swiss artist. He was a painter, designer, teacher, writer, and thinker. He is best known for his work with the famous Bauhaus school. At the Bauhaus, he was a key figure alongside artists like Lyonel Feininger and Gerhard Marcks. They worked under the school's founder, Walter Gropius.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Johannes Itten was born in Südern-Linden, Switzerland. From 1904 to 1908, he trained to become an elementary school teacher. Starting in 1908, he taught using methods from Friedrich Fröbel, who created the idea of kindergarten. He also learned about the ideas of psychoanalysis, which studies the human mind.
In 1909, Itten went to the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva. However, he did not like the teachers there. So, he returned to Bern. His studies at the Bern-Hofwil Teachers' Academy with Ernst Schneider were very important. They shaped his later work as a master at the Bauhaus.
Itten used ideas from Schneider. For example, he did not correct his students' art individually. He worried this would stop their creative ideas. Instead, he would point out common mistakes to the whole class. In 1912, he went back to Geneva. There, he studied with Eugène Gilliard, an abstract painter.
Teaching at the Bauhaus
Itten was greatly influenced by artists Adolf Hölzel and Franz Cižek. He opened his own art school in Vienna. He used the work and textbook of Eugène Gilliard as a guide. From Hölzel, Itten learned to start art with basic shapes. These included lines, planes, circles, and spirals. He also used exercises to help students relax. This prepared them for their art lessons.
From 1919 to 1922, Itten taught at the Bauhaus. He created a special "preliminary course." This course taught students the basics of materials, design, and color. Itten believed there were seven types of color contrast. He made exercises to teach them. These contrasts included:
- Contrast by hue (the pure color, like red or blue).
- Contrast by value (how light or dark a color is).
- Contrast by temperature (warm colors like red, cool colors like blue).
- Contrast by complements (colors opposite on the color wheel, like red and green).
- Simultaneous contrast (how colors look different next to each other).
- Contrast by saturation (how bright or dull a color is).
- Contrast by extension (how much of each color is used).
In 1919, he invited Gertrud Grunow to teach at the Bauhaus. She taught a course on "harmony." This course used music and relaxation to help students be more creative.
In 1920, Itten invited Paul Klee and Georg Muche to join him at the Bauhaus. He wrote a book called The Art of Color. This book shared his ideas about color. It built on Adolf Hölzel's color wheel. Itten's "color sphere" ended up including 12 colors.
Later Career and Philosophy
In 1924, Itten started the Ontos Weaving Workshops. These were near Zurich. He got help from Gunta Stölzl, a weaver from the Bauhaus.
Itten followed a spiritual group called Mazdaznan. He ate only vegetables and practiced meditation. He believed these practices helped him understand himself better. For him, this inner understanding was the main source of artistic ideas.
Itten's spiritual beliefs caused some disagreements. Many students respected him, and some joined Mazdaznan. However, Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus director, wanted the school to focus on making things for mass production. Itten focused more on individual artistic expression. This difference led to Itten leaving the Bauhaus in 1923. László Moholy-Nagy took his place.
From 1926 to 1934, Itten ran a small art and architecture school in Berlin. Ernst Neufert, who used to be Walter Gropius's chief architect, also taught there.
Itten's art explored how colors are used and put together. His works look similar to the square op art paintings by artists like Josef Albers and Bridget Riley. They also share similarities with the expressionist works of Wassily Kandinsky.
- 1926–1934: Ran a private art school in Berlin.
- 1932–1938: Director of the Textilfachschule (Textile School) in Krefeld.
- 1938–1954: Director at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich (School of Arts and Crafts in Zurich).
- 1943–1960: Director of the Textilfachschule in Zürich.
- 1949–1956: Director of the Museum Rietberg, a museum in Zurich for non-European art.
- 1955: Worked as a freelance painter.
- 1955: Taught color courses at the HfG Ulm.
Influence on Color Theory
Itten's work on color has also inspired "seasonal color analysis." This idea helps people find colors that look best on them. Itten was the first to connect color groups with four types of people. He named these types after the seasons.
His studies of color palettes and how colors interact directly influenced the Op Art movement. They also influenced other art movements based on abstract color. After he passed away, his ideas became popular in the cosmetics industry. This happened with the book Color Me A Season. Today, makeup artists still use seasonal color analysis. This shows how important Itten's early work was.
See also
In Spanish: Johannes Itten para niños
