Wunder des Lebens Collection: Leaflet Das Wunder des Lebens: Ausstellung am Kaiserdamm [WITH] Amtlicher Führer durch die Ausstellung Das Wunder des Lebens. Berlin 1935, 23rd of March through the 5th of May [WITH] Wunder des Lebens Booklet [WITH] Wunder des Lebens: Der Gläserne Mensch. Ausstellung des Deutschen Hygiene-Museums [WITH] Three Photo-Postcards: Ausstellung "Das Wunder des Lebens" Berlin 1935 Der gläserne Mensch

Berlin: Gemeinnützige Berliner Ausstellungs-, Messe- und Fremdenverkahrs-G.m.b.H., 1935. First edition. Softcover. vg. Being educated at the Bauhaus in Weimar from 1921-1925, among others by Johannes Itten, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, Herbert Bayer had been appointed the head of the Bauhaus workshop Print and Advertising in Dessau in 1925. After the takeover by the Nazis in 1933 Bayer and his staff (dorland studio) worked for the Nazis, designing exhibition literature as well as propaganda material. His first design of an exhibition and its catalog was for the groundbreaking NS-Exhibition "Die Kamera - Ausstellung für Fotografie (The Camera - Exhibition for Photography)." The second major project was the 1934 exhibition "Deutsches Volk - Deutsche Arbeit (German People - German Work)." Again he and his "dorland studio" designed the exhibition catalog. And in 1935 the third exhibition "Das Wunder des Lebens" followed by the exhibition "Deutschland" on the occasion of the Summer Olympics in 1936.

The collection of items here relate to the exhibition "Das Wunder des Lebens," propaganda for the racial ideology of the National socialists. It was shown in Berlin at the Kaiserdamm and the Deutsche Hygiene-Museum Dresden in 1935 and traveled to other locations, e.g. Vienna and Krakow.

1. Duodecimo. 8pp. Original illustrated folded leaflet with white lettering on cover. Advertisement for the exhibition "Das Wunder des Lebens: Ausstellung am Kaiserdamm." Cover design by Herbert Bayer, signed in plate. A sticker of the shoe store Leiser, a participant in the exhibition, tipped to bottom half of cover near spine.

This important exhibition was another step into the direction taken with the exhibition "Deutsches Volk - Deutsche Arbeit" in Berlin, 1934. The exhibition "Das Wunder des Lebens" introduced new exhibition techniques around the theme "Der Mensch (The Human)." The major themes of this extensive exhibition were "Die Lehre vom Leben (The Teachings of Life)" with its hightlight sculpture "The Vitreous Human" produced of "Cellon," a cellulose acetate, "Träger des Lebens (Bearer of Life)" featuring the German family, and finally the "Erhaltung des Lebens (The Preservation of Life)," exhibiting facts about the health system in Germany. One of the highlights of the exhibition was the so-called Mikrovivarium, a collection of small life-forms visible only through a microscope. Next to the thematic description of the exhibition the leaflet contains general information about the exhibition and two maps with information on transportation to the location within and from outside Berlin. Extremely scarce leaflet for the exhibition in near fine condition.

2. Amtlicher Führer durch die Ausstellung Das Wunder des Lebens. Berlin 1935, Kaiserdamm. Octavo. 160, viii, 32pp. Original wraps with photomontage cover by Herbert Bayer. Official guide for the exhibition "The Miracle of Life." An important work by Bayer, who designed both the exhibition "The Miracle of Life" and the exhibition catalog. Illustrated throughout with photographs and diagrams. Laid in two b/w postcards of the exhibition, one of the the "Honor Hall" at the exhibition. Light weaar along edges of wraps, minor chips and creasing and 0.5" closed tear at tail of spine.Wraps in overall good, interior in very good condition.

3. Octavo. 20pp. Original color-illustrated stapled booklet. Elaborate avant-garde design incorporating various styles, e.g. photomontage, surrealist and constructivist elements. The booklet with its modern visual aesthetics propagates the Nazi utopia of an Aryan society. The text is a romanticized though detailed version of the exhibition themes "Die Lehre vom Leben (The Teachings of Life), Träger des Lebens (Bearer of Life) and Erhaltung des Lebens (The Preservation of Life)" with an extraordinay visual display reproduced in high-quality color offset. Missing the cover with the Herbert Bayer design. Light wear along edges. Overall in very good+ condition.

4. Duodecimo. 32pp. Original stapled glossy wraps featuring color lithograph with blue lettering on cover. Exhibition at the German Hygiene Museum "The Vitreous Human." The concept of this traveling exhibition on hygiene, curated by Dr. Herbert Michel from the Dresden Hygiene Museum, differs from most exhibitions in that it is presenting a homogeneous whole rather than a number of single works. It's main feature was the "Vitreous Human," a sculpture of the human being prepared of "Cellon," a cellulose acetate.

5. Three photo-postcards announcing the 1935 exhibition "Wunder des Lebens" in Berlin, one featuring a photograph of the sculpture "Der gläserne Mensch", another showing one of the galleries of the exhibition in Berlin, both in b/w and printed by Industrie-Fotografen Klinke & Co., Berlin. The third b/w photo-postcard features the "Ehrenhalle (Honor Hall)" of the exhibiton "Das Wunder des Lebesn" without photo credit.

In his foreword Dr. Herbert Michel, department supervisor at the museum, emphasizes health as the great treasure of the individual and therefore the people at large. He strikes the typically nationalistic cords in depicting "the human as the highest organism, a living example of the leadership principle... as part of the people he is obligated, to develop his body to its highest capacity to acquire all inherited assets. The purpose of this exhibition is to help understand this concept." The guide contains chapters elaborating on the various functions of the body supported by b/w reproductions of photographs from the exhibition, including a photograph of the Museum. There are no references to originators of exhibited works. Front cover with minor creasing. Some age toning of block. Wraps and interior in overall very good condition.