Permeation and Illumination Study

Basic aspects of the course work assigned by Joost Schmidt in the sculpture workshop can be deduced from the ‘Permeation and Illumination Study’ by Franz Ehrlich. To train them in three-dimensional thinking, the Bauhaus students were required to create basic shapes such as spheres, cylinders and cubes in clay or plaster and then carry out theoretical and practical studies investigating their three-dimensional characteristics and possible effects in contact with each other. These exercises culminated in permeation studies, in which the altered surface characteristics of the shapes were observed by creating positive and negative volumes and noting the vivid play of light and shadow resulting.