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Flatiron Building, New York

1928
Not on view
After Gropius resigned from the Bauhaus, the influential German design school he had founded and directed for almost a decade, he visited the United States. He was surprised to find that much American architecture was less modern than that of the stripped-down "machine-aesthetic" Bauhaus style. This startling photograph nevertheless reveals that Gropius found the Flatiron's prowlike profile irresistibly exciting, despite the building's old-fashioned decoration.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Flatiron Building, New York
  • Artist: Walter Gropius (German, Berlin 1883–1969 Boston, Massachusetts)
  • Date: 1928
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: 23.4 x 17.5 cm (9 3/16 x 6 7/8 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
  • Object Number: 1987.1100.466
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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"Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar 1919-1923" Book, Walter Gropius German, Book of printed halftone and lithographic printing on paper
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Walter Gropius
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[Mystery of the Street], Umbo (Otto Umbehr) German, Gelatin silver print
[Mystery of the Street]
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