On this day, in 1883, Walter Gropius was born. Without him, we wouldn't have had Bauhaus, those iconic modern door handles most of us take for granted (see photo of gray doors in the back corridor in Bauhaus Museum; most the photos inside this temple of Gropius are a little wonky, because I had a strong feeling--but I really wasn't sure--that maybe I was not allowed to take them...and there was a very stern, and definitely scary, Frau guarding the single door to the museum), and a bunch of other seriously good stuff. According to the current Wikipedia entry, Gropius really didn't draw much (great collaborative efforts with other brilliants ensued, surely, due to this factiod...which, for some reason, reminds me of Einstein's first wife, whom--I have read--helped a whole lot with his homework when they were married)...he barely escaped death in WWI... and he lost his only child when she was 18.
And, to top it all off, he had to escape--under the false pretense of making a temporary visit to Britain--as the Weimar Republic collapsed under the weight of new horrors.
If this guy could surmount all the obstacles thrown in his way, it should give the rest of us hope.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Gropius.
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