Stable Tools

Herbert Bayer was a gifted graphic designer who trained at the Bauhaus and was later appointed master of typography and graphic design. In 1938, Bayer fled Nazi Germany with his wife and moved to New York, where he was appointed exhibition designer for the landmark Bauhaus exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art. The lifelong friendship between Gropius and Bayer is reflected by the gift of this painting. Stable Tools, an abstract rendering of agricultural tools hanging on a wall, was a favorite painting of Walter and Ise Gropius, and they hung it in several locations in their home over the years.