Finding 65: Poster for Rudolf Bauer's Das Geistreich, circa 1930

June 7, 2011

This small poster advertises Rudolf Bauer's gallery/museum, Das Geistreich (the Realm of the Spirit), which opened in 1930 in the Charlottenberg section of Berlin. Das Geistreich displayed paintings by Bauer himself as well as those by Vassily Kandinsky, and to a lesser extent, Hilla Rebay. On the back of this poster, an inscription from Bauer sends celebratory wishes for the New Year and his greetings to Solomon and Irene Guggenheim. Bauer met Mr. Guggenheim through Hilla Rebay and played a key role in helping him form his collection of non-objective painting. In 1939, the same year that the Museum of Non-Objective Painting opened to the public, Bauer emigrated from Nazi Germany and settled in Deal, New Jersey. In addition to having his work included in the museum's inaugural exhibition, The Art of Tomorrow, his painting, Invention (1933) was reproduced on the catalogue's cover.

-Amanda Brown, Archives Assistant