New Woman, New Vision: Women Photographers of the Bauhaus

There have been outstanding female photographers since the invention of photography in the early 19th century. Many of them were pioneers in this field. They experimented with photographic and creative techniques and explored the limits of the new medium. This was also true of the female photographers of the Bauhaus. They observed their surroundings through the camera lens and captured numerous motifs, some from new and unusual perspectives. The spectrum of their artistic work ranges from representational portrait and architectural photography to abstract experimental photography.

The exhibition at the Museum of Photography shows around 300 photographs from the collection of the Bauhaus Archive / Museum of Design, Berlin. The motifs are familiar to many today, but their creators are known to only a few. With this exhibition, the Bauhaus Archive is now paying comprehensive tribute to the significance of these artists and their photographic work for the first time. The photographs by the Bauhaus women are complemented by works by female artists from the Institute of Design in Chicago (New Bauhaus), the successor institution to the Bauhaus in the USA.

In the 21st century, female artists continue to engage with photography in a variety of ways. Like the Bauhaus photographers, they too attempt to capture their present in photographic images, while questioning the conventional forms of the medium. For the exhibition, the Bauhaus Archive has invited three contemporary artists.

Highlight: This show is one of the top exhibitions in Berlin in 2026.