Kunstmuseum Bern, Itten-Stiftung / © Itten-Stiftung, Kunstmuseum Bern / © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017
Johannes Itten (1888-1967) was born in Canton of Berne. He started his journey towards his cultural mathematical and artistic tendencies in Geneva before going on to study at the academy of Stuttgart. In 1919 he took up the post as an art teacher in Vienna and captivated by Viennese cultural circles he was soon drawn to religious and mystical themes and came to be impenetrably influenced towards the religious movement Mazdaznan. His astrophysical interpretations were channelled into his works and teachings such as his theories on colour and shape.
Colour Sphere in 7 Light Values and 12 Tones, author: Johannes Itten, in: Adler, Bruno: Utopia. Dokumente der Wirklichkeit, Weimar 1921.
His piece “tower of fire” is a notable display of his religious inclinations as they are realised in its spiral shape as it points upwards towards the sky alongside the accumulation of the striking use of the primary colours yellow blue and green which each hold spiritual symbolism. In 1919 Gropius invited him to teach at the Bauhaus school in Weimer were he proved a fervent teacher giving his students new insights into the importance of form and colour. In his time in the Bauhaus, he created a prototype called tower of fire which took in all his believes incorporating different forms such as maths, music, movement, painting and architectural form to create a total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk) thus reflecting on the Bauhaus manifesto that the ultimate goal of all art is the building.
The creation ‘tower of fire’ is a sculpture composed of a triangular shape with a circular spiral moving around the axis up to a defined point. It includes bells which create sound and motors for movement. The colours red, yellow and blue are used along with their complementary colours of green, violet and orange. It is around three times the size of a person and constructed of leaded glass reminiscent of a stained glass window of a church pointing to spirituality and symbolism shouting out from its striking appearance.
The composition of the piece tower of fire synthesises both movement and form.
“Movement gives birth to form, form gives birth to movement. Every point, every line, every plane, every body, every shadow, every light, every colour, is forms born of movement, which again gives birth to Movement”. 1
Itten’s mathematical knowledge plays an important role in the choice of the basic component of the tower as it gives the basic elementary shapes of triangles and circles a third dimension transforming them and giving them a sense of presence and space. The use of elementary shapes in the composition of this piece relates well with the Bauhaus movement in which functionality meets fantasy. This is shown due to the articulate way of layering the glass around a central axis; which leads up until it towers over you with the triangular shape creating a sense of balance and precision, while also allowing mystical inclinations with each perfectly formed elevation. Itten has solemnised his strong mathematical intuition in an artistic form even though he was not able to formalize it entirely with adequate instruments the prototype in itself is a beautiful composition of well thought out dimensions and measurements reflecting perfectly with the aims of the Bauhaus manifesto; “the ultimate goal of all art is the building”. This is because all elements of the arts and craftsmanship are incorporated within the design. Such as painting, metalwork, glasswork, music and the architectural physicality’s involved with movement form and structure producing unity within the sculpture, and thus creating Gesamtkunstwerk.
1 Elena Marchetti and Luisa Rossi Costa, “ The Fire Tower” (2002): 38 , accessed November 26, 2012, doi: 10.1007/s00004-002-0014-4.
Tower of Fire, author: Johannes Itten, 1920, reconstruction by Michael Siebenbrodt, FA. Glas Kraus, Weimar and Rainer Zöllner, 1995–1996. Klassik Stiftung Weimar / © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016.
Johannes Itten's use colour in the tower of fire to project emotions, feelings and life.
“Colour is life; for a world without colour appears to us as dead. Colours are primordial ideas, children of the aboriginal colourless light and its counterpart, colourless darkness……Colours are the children of light, that first phenomenon of the world, reveals to us the spirit and living soul of the world through colours.” 2
Itten uses predominately primary colours which add pureness and elements of dominance. The addition of their complementary colours highlights and balances the overall form. Red is a strong bold and forceful entity, whereas green it’s complementary conveys fruitfulness, contentment, tranquillity and hope. Blue portrays elements of introverted mystery and points to the realm of the transcendental. However orange brings forth proudness and radiant activity. Yellow provides intense light and weightlessness to form, while violet presents an impression of magic and overwhelming ominous darkness. All of these colours together are reminiscent of a rainbow and as Itten suggested,
“the rainbow is accounted as the symbol of peace.” 3
Colour is therefore used in the tower of fire as it follows through organically into sound and form. With the elements of sound and form already present, there is a sense of harmony and unity within the sculpture.
“The world and its sound, form and it's colour are vessels of transcending essence that we dimly surmise. As sound lends to sparkling colour to the spoken word, so colour lends physically resolved tone to form.” 4
“Expressive qualities of form and colour should be synchronised; that is form and colour expressions should support each other.” 5
Itten visibly used this theory when deciding on the shape and colour of his creation ‘tower of fire’ embracing reason and expression behind its form and awakening its spiritual and symbolic tendencies. The cyclic character is derived from the circle which is “the symbol of the spirit moving undivided within itself”.6 The circle is also ‘the astrological symbol of the sun’, which integrates well with Itten's cosmological leanings. These symbolisms are translated in Itten's sculpture as its movement synthesises with its circular form while the colour blue utilized corresponds directly to the continually moving circle. The predominant shape used is the triangle: a shape of balance and the symbol of thought it appears to the eye as structurally sound due to it being bottom-heavy and made up of three exact diagonals. The triangle comparably with the circle is associated with colour. The weightless characteristic of the triangle lends itself directly to yellow. Itten's way of coordinating colour with form reflected to some extend on the ideals of the Bauhaus manifesto; in which all artistic disciplines are synthesised to create the building, as the colour represents and lends itself to the overall structure and movement of the final piece.
The fire tower was never truly formalised and therefore we can only guess what its true function would have been. It could have been a public monument as it's strong shape and vibrant colours draw attention to the innovative techniques and approaches to design commonly used at the Bauhaus. If it intended to be a monument displaying the practices at the Bauhaus its use of many different art forms express clearly the expertise of design and form by synchronising many different areas of art which would have been a great way of accustoming the people of Weimer to the pioneering methods used at the Bauhaus. Another example of what it might have been is a bell tower in a church, because it reaches up into the sky as though it’s pointing moreover its musical quality of bells gives it an impression of spirituality. It could have been used in a different kind of church and used as a symbol for the cult Mazdaznan as it integrates different ideas of inner strength and spirituality that are associated with the religion, for example, fire is often used as symbolism in the teachings of the cult. Due to Itten’s studio being close to Ilm Park it could have been the prototype for a fountain as water could go up through the axis of the design and swirl down the spiral shape ringing the bells as the water flows. And since Itten would have been able to see it from his studio he could use it as inspiration for further pieces. The most probable presumption for what its function could have been; is a beacon for the expansion of Weimer airport, during the night the glass walls must be highlighted from the inside out as a signal for pilots. This gives a reason as to why the 'tower of fire' was never actualised as the plans for Weimer airport came to nothing due to lack of funds.
There is no defined focal point as the entirety of the piece acts as a focal point. The precise collaboration of different art forms creates a beautifully thought out shape which leads the eye up its turning surface and into the sky. Each level of the tower of fire follows on from the last in a circular motion so that there is an uninterrupted extension of form leading its way into a point. The shape is therefore given definition and grace. If you were to gaze at its elegant form it spirals by itself allowing you to follow its movement and listen to its music.
We as designers are influenced by things around us as we grow and learn and I believe that Ittens initial inspiration was the villages around the Canton of Berne where he spent many months as a child. Inspiration could have come from the Oberhofen castle on Thun Lake with its timber interior formed of elements laid around a central axis also forming a spiral composition reminding me of a lot of the general composition and shape of the tower of fire. Another of his influences in creating the tower could have been the elegantly constructed bonfire lit on the first of august in the Swiss Alps which might have suggested both the shape of the sculpture but also its name ‘tower of fire’. Itten was additionally influenced by the work of both artists and scientists such as Leonardo De Vinci, Titan, Rembrandt, Ewald Hering and Sir Isaac Newton. His theories stood on the shoulders of ancient Chinese philosophies as well as Hindu knowledge and sources from European knowledge. Yet his main and most important influence was that of human vision and thus he could understand the harmony of colour and form.
The Encounter, author: Johannes Itten, 1916
Itten’s other works were predominantly experimentations with colour which reflected upon his theories of colour. His self-portrait is an expressive piece highlighting his personality by using colour the use of yellow balances and lifts the dark palette demonstrating the different elements of one's persona.
Similarly his sculpture ‘the tower of fire’ utilises colour to express emotion and symbolism. However ‘the tower of fire’ colour leads on to form, movement and sound synthesising different artistic disciplines in a physical interpretation of the Bauhaus manifesto. The reason Itten constructed the tower of fire was as freedom of expression and to channel his thoughts emotions and beliefs into an artistic formalisation intertwining different art forms to give a sense of unity. As both symbolism and thought along with visual impact and beauty of form are combined ‘the tower of fire’ correlates impeccably with Itten’s belief that,
“symbolism without visual accuracy and without emotional force would be mere anaemic formalism; visually impressive effect without symbolic verity and emotional power would be banal imitative naturalism; emotional effect without constructive symbolic or visual strength would be limited to the plane of sentimental expression.” 7
It is hard to distinguish what the perception of this piece was as it was only a prototype. Although Itten had it displayed outside his studio beside Ilm Park so passers-by could see it and possibly found it fascinating and innovative in its use of different art forms and musical qualities. When Itten left the Bauhaus Gropius kept it along with other pieces as he probably felt it represented the Bauhaus principles of creating a harmonious form representative of different classes taught at the Bauhaus.
Overall ‘the tower of fire’ embodies the fundamental idea behind the Bauhaus, as it utilises all artistic disciplines generating unity and harmony. This is because the tower synthesises sculpture and architecture with its elegant composition of glass and metalwork, as well as movement and music to conceive Gesamtkunstwerk.
2 Johannes Itten, The art of colour. (Augsburg: Seiler & Jehle, 1973). 13
3 Ibid, 13
4 Ibid, 13
5 Ibid, 120
6 Ibid, 120
7 Ibid, 17
Comments