She was more than a textile designer—Léna Meyer-Bergner was a force for education and for social change. While her husband, Hannes Meyer, is often remembered as the Bauhaus’ second director, Lena’s groundbreaking work in design, pedagogy, and social transformation is finally stepping into the spotlight.

In this episode, I sat down with two leading art historians – Sandra Neugärtner and Viridiana Zavala – to explore the unknown story of Léna Meyer-Bergner. From her studies at the Bauhaus to her visionary approach to modernism in the Soviet Union and on to her graphic talent in exile in Mexico, we explore how her work evolved.

🎧 Listen now and discover why Léna Meyer-Bergner deserves a place at the center of Bauhaus history.

SHOW NOTES

bauhausfaces.com | @bauhausfacespodcast

PUBLICATIONS BY SANDRA NEUGÄRTNER

Website of Sandra Neugärtner’s research project

Sandra Neugärtner: “From Revolution to Reformation…“, in From Posada to Isotype…, ed. B. Buchloh, Madrid: Museo Reina Sofia, 2022

Sandra Neugärtner: „Die Sozialisierung des Wissens und das Streben nach Deutungsmacht – Lena Bergners Transfer der Isotype nach Mexiko“, 2018

Sandra Neugärtner: “Anti-fascist Exile, Political Print Media…“, in: History of Communism in Europe, 2023

PUBLICATIONS BY VIRIDIANA ZAVALA

Viridiana Zavala: „La Bauhaus en el Taller de Gráfica Popular y el CAPFCE. Obras, exposiciones y gestión cultural de Hannes Meyer y Léna Bergner“, 2023, PhD thesis

Viridiana Zavala: „Lena Bergner y el diseño textil como reflejo del pensamiento de la arquitectura moderna. Imágenes textiles en la revista ‚Arquitectura y decoración‘“, 2016, Master thesis

OTHER PUBLICATIONS ABOUT LÉNA MEYER-BERGNER

Fabienne Eggelhöfer: "Shifting, Rotating, Mirroring – Lena Bergner’s Minutes of Paul Klee’s Classes", 2018 ([https://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/articles/1489/shifting-rotating-mirroring)]])

María Montserrat Farías Barba, Marco Santiago Mondragón / Viridiana Zavala Rivera: "Lena Bergner – From the Bauhaus to Mexico", 2018

Marion von Osten: "A Migratory Life—from Dessau to Moscow to Mexico Hannes Meyer and Lena Bergner and the Arts", 2018

Raquel Franklin: "Of Art and Politics – Hannes Meyer and the Workshop of Popular Graphics", 2018

Helga Prignitz: TGP. Ein Grafiker-Kollektiv in Mexico von 1937–1977, 1981

WORKS BY LENA MEYER-BERGNER

National Gallery, Australia
Harvard Art Museum, USA

COVER PHOTO Portrait of Léna Meyer-Bergner (detail), 1942, private estate

CHAPTER IMAGES

1 Portrait of Léna Meyer-Bergner and Lilo Meyer, 1942, private estate

2 Lena Meyer-Bergner: Carpet design, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, © Heirs of Lena Meyer-Bergner (https://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/articles/1489/shifting-rotating-mirroring)

3 Natja Catalan, Tibor Weiner, Philipp Tolziner, Konrad Püschel, Margarete Mengel, Lilya Polgar, Anton Urban – members of the “Hannes Meyer architectural group” in Moscow, mid-1930s (https://thecharnelhouse.org/2013/05/30/hannes-meyer-and-the-red-bauhaus-brigade-in-the-soviet-union-1930-1937/5815875137575919711941666790961_n/)

4 Lena Bergner, Design for "Metro" Textile, 1932, Gouache, graphite, and crayon on paper, bpk | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, © Heirs of Lena Bergner (https://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/articles/2485/lena-bergner-from-the-bauhaus-to-mexico)

5 Lena Bergner working at her loom in Geneva, from: Arquitectura y Decoración, no. 16, 1939

6 Lena Bergner Meyer, loom drawings, late 1930s, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, © Heirs of Lena Meyer-Bergner (https://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/articles/6266/a-migratory-life-from-dessau-to-moscow-tomexico)

7 Cover of „El Libro Negro del Terror Nazi en Europa“, 1943 (https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Ellibronegrodelterrornazien_europa.jpg)

8 Image statistics (Isotype) Lena Meyer-Bergner, Memorandum CAPFCE 1944–1946, p. 97 (excerpt), Coahuila; © Hannes Meyer-Archiv (https://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/articles/6856/die-sozialisierung-des-wissens-und-das-streben-nach-deutungsmacht)

9 Hannes Meyer und Lena Meyer-Bergner in Mexiko, Archivo General de la Nacion de México (https://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/articles/6856/die-sozialisierung-des-wissens-und-das-streben-nach-deutungsmacht)