The Bauhaus was one of the most important schools of art, design, and architecture, whose visionary designs continue to be regarded as icons of modernity today. This book provides an in-depth presentation of the second-largest Bauhaus collection in the world. It includes objects from all the phases and fields at the renowned institution, including student works by Marianne Brandt, Josef Albers, or Marcel Breuer, as well as works by Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, or Gunta Stölzl. Objects and materials found in the Bauhaus buildings in Dessau - the Bauhaus Building, the Masters' Houses, the Employment Office, and the Dessau-Törten estate - are presented as well. The book also provides an introduction to the history and development of the school.

Xanti Schawinsky (1904-1979) was a master of improvisation-in the field of stage design, as a photographer, and as a creator of exhibition buildings and large-scale photomontages. While his late works are quite well known, his early works have remained nearly undiscovered. New documents from the estate facilitate an unobstructed view of this protagonist of the Bauhaus Dessau. The publication focuses on Schawinsky's early work, his position as head of the graphic design department of the building authority in Magdeburg starting in 1929, his designs for theater stages in Zwickau, and the photomontages that he created in cooperation with Gropius for the German Building Exhibition of 1931 and the Pennsylvania Pavilion for the World Fair of 1939. These works show Schawinsky to be an innovative photographer and trailblazer in modern design.