Johannes itten

Johannes Itten (b. 11th November 1888 & d.25th March 1967) was a Swiss expressionist painter, designer, teacher, theorist and writer, commonly associated with the Bauhaus school. Itten became part of the core of the Weimar Bauhaus along with fellow German painters Lyonel Feininger and Gerhard Marcks, under the direction of the architect Walter Gropius.

Having been born the son of a teacher, Itten was influenced and inspired to study a teaching course of his own at the institute in Hofwil, Berlin. For a brief period between 1908-1909, he worked as a primary school teacher where he subsequently went on to spend another term at a different school until 1910. After this, he wanted to study to become a secondary school teacher and so took a diploma in maths and natural science at the University of Bern. During this period of study, he began learning about the concept of psychoanalysis, which prompted him to then follow up and learn about colour and painting theories.

As a teacher, his aim was not to criticise the mistakes of his students but encourage their individuality. He took several trips abroad during his early years as a teacher and this is where he fell in love with art, also allowing him to develop his own style of painting. In 1913 he started training with Adolf Holzel in Stuttgart until 1916. After this, Itten moved to Vienna where he soon became enveloped in the music around him. Meeting new people begun to put his name out there and soon enough he was introduced to Walter Gropius, who in turn invited him to teach at the Bauhaus in 1919.

Teaching in Weimar from 1919-1923, Itten developed a universal doctrine in design, in which he passed on and taught his knowledge of colour concepts, composition and materials. After developing an intense devotion to a cult following, he was swiftly dismissed from the Bauhaus group. Soon after this, he opened up his own school for the arts in Berlin, 1926 where he continued to teach the principles of colour. He taught at a textiles school between 1932-1938 and then moved to the Netherlands there after to become the director of the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zurich.
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In the following years, he devoted his time entirely to teaching, before retiring in 1955 so that he could become more invested in his painting. In his retirement years, he wrote several books, these being; ‘Art and Colour’ (1961) and ‘My Preliminary Course at Bauhaus’ (1963). In addition to these accomplishments, in 1966 he also received the ‘Netherlands Sikkens Art Prize’ as well as representing Switzerland at the 33rd Venice Biennale.