ZU GAST BEI KATE T. STEINITZ
The Guest Book of Kate T. Steinitz
Werner Kruger [introduction]
Werner Kruger [introduction]: ZU GAST BEI KATE T. STEINITZ. Cologne: Galerie Gmurzynska, 1977. Text in English and German. Quarto. Decorated paper covered boards. Unpaginated. Illustrated throughout with page reproductions from Kate Steinitz's guestbook. Pencil notation on front free endpaper, otherwise a fine copy.
"A likable, invaluable miniature document, a fascinating gem of the history of civilization."
9 x 11 hardcover book illustrated throughout with page reproductions from Kate Steinitz's guestbook from 1921 - 1960, "Reprographischer Nachdruck des Gastebuches 1921-1960."
Includes salutations and contributions from Kurt Schwitters, Carl Buchheister, Max Burchartz, Theo Van Doesburg, Rauol Hausmann, Hannah Hoch, El Lissitzky, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Karl Peter Rohl, Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart, and many other Dadaists and members of the interwar Avant-Garde.
Kate Steinitz (1889 - 1975) was a German-American artist and art historian affiliated with the European Bauhaus and Dadaist movements in the early 20th century. She is best known for her collaborative work with the artist Kurt Schwitters.
Kate Traumann was born into an upper middle class family in Beuthen, Upper Silesia (now Bytom, Poland). In 1899, her father, Judge Arnold Traumann, was transferred to Berlin, where she was educated. She attending drawing classes with Käthe Kollwitz and later the “Malschule für Frauen” (Women’s Painting School) run by the artist Lovis Corinth. She also attended the Academie und Studienateliers fuer Malerei und Plastik (connected with the Berlin Secession art association), and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and the Sorbonne in Paris.
In 1913, after returning from a study visit in Paris, she married a physician, Dr. Ernst Steinitz. With the outbreak of war in 1914, her husband joined the army as a military physician. In 1917, he was called to the front, and in 1918 the Steinitz family, which now included daughters Ilse and Lotti, relocated to Hanover. A third daughter, Beate, was born in 1920.
While in Hanover, Steinitz painted portraits of her daughters. Other favored subjects for her drawings and paintings included dancers, entertainers, and other performers. She became highly involved in the local art scene, including the burgeoning Dada movement.
Steinitz collaborated with her friend, the artist Kurt Schwitters on several projects, including children's books, opera librettos, books, and festivals. Together with Theo van Doesburg, Schwitters and Steinitz produced several children's fairy-tale books that featured unusual typography, including Hahnepeter (Peter the Rooster, 1924), Die Märchen vom Paradies (The Fairy Tales of Paradise, 1924-25), and Die Scheuche (The Scarecrow, 1925). For the publication of their work, the artists founded their own publishing house, which they called APOSS, an acronym that stood for "A = active; P= paradox; OS = oppose sentimentality; S = sensitive."
In 1936, the Steinitz family immigrated to New York City to escape Nazi persecution, after having been told by government authorities that she could no longer write for German publications. While in New York Steinitz continued to paint, and to augment the family's income by doing freelance commercial art work and research assignments. Steinitz died on April 7, 1975, in Los Angeles.