Lessons from the Bauhaus

1. Johannes Itten, theorist and painter, developed the first

preliminary course taught to all students at the Bauhaus between 1919-23 2. Rudolf Lutz, Plaster Relief: Preliminary course study under Johannes Itten, 1920-21 3. Pages from Paul Klee's 'Pedagogical Sketchbook', original edition of the book first published in 1925 (the second of fourteen Bauhaus Books produced by tutors at the Bauhaus) 4. Paul Klee, Separation in the Evening, 1922 5. Gertrud Arndt, Four study sheets from Paul Klee’s course, 1923-24 6. Johannes Zabel / Lucia Moholy (Photo), Photograph of a Study in Balance: from a class taught by Moholy-Nagy, 1923-24 (László Moholy-Nagy taught the preliminary course alongside Joseph Albers from 1923-28) 7. Assessment of work from Albers’s Preliminary Course, 1928-9 (Albers taught the course from 1923-1933) 8. Arieh Sharon, Turning two dimensional sheets of paper into three dimensional forms: Preliminary course study under Joseph Albers, 1926-27 9. Joseph Albers, 'Interaction of Colour', Originally published as a series of screen prints in 1963 while a fellow at Yale (this cover of the paperback book version depicts a study employing a careful selection and use of opaque pigments to achieve an illusion of transparency) 

Lovers

1. Réne Magritte, Les Amants III, 1928 2. Réne Magritte, Les Amants IV, 1928 

3. Oji Suzuki, Evening Primrose (from 'A Single Match'), 2010 4. Oji Suzuki, Evening Primrose (from 'A Single Match'), 2010

Varvara Stepanova

 1. Varvara Stepanova and Alexander Rodchenko 2. Varvara Stepanova with parts of her set design for The Death of Tarelkin, 1922 3. Textile design 4. Textile design 5. Varvara Stepanova wearing one of her designs 6. Charlie Chaplin Turning Somersaults, 1922 7. The Proletariat is the creator of the future not the heir to the past, 1919 8. Study the old, but create the new, 1919

Paul Nash - Stages

1. Paul Nash, Diving Stage, 1928 2. Paul Nash, Mansions of the Dead, 1932 3. Paul Nash, Moon Aviary, 1936-7

Rocks

1. Andrea Mantegna, The Agony in the Garden, 1457-1459 2. Andrei Tarkovsky, Still from Stalker, 1979 3. Jiro Taniguchi, Page from The Walking Man, 1992 4. Katsushika Hokusai, Studies from Rocks, 1815  

...I think of Magritte

'Whenever I drive in any mountainous region and look at the line against the sky, I think of Magritte. And whenever I see beautiful, perfect clouds in the sky, he's the first thing that comes to mind. I think there is a humanity, a generosity and a kindness to others in Magritte's work. He takes the viewer into account. And I have always found the economy of his images very moving. They communicate very purely and directly. One of the most profound pieces of Magritte's is Discovery [1928]. It is an image of a woman whose flesh resembles the grain in wood. There is this aspect of Magritte which is about dealing with the world around us, and there is a certain materiality, a reality about that world that he creates, even though he makes these strange juxtapositions.

It is hard to imagine a lot of the computer programs that we work with in daily life, such as Photoshop, without the influence of Magritte. We owe to Magritte the many ways that we see the world through transparency or gradation. So I hold him in high esteem for showing us how images can be overlapped, or how they can be gradated into each other.' 

Jeff Koons

1. Réne Magritte, Le Monde des Images, 1950 2. Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, North Korea  
3. Réne Magritte, Le Siècle des Lumières, 1967 4. Clip art banner on cheese image
Quote from here

Albrecht Dürer studies

1. Albrecht Dürer, Three studies of a helmet, c.1503 2. Albrecht Dürer, Muzzle of an Ox, c.1502-4