Costume study no. 6 — "Spirale" — is one of Oskar Schlemmer's technical working drawings for Das Triadische Ballett, showing the full-figure costume in pencil alongside a numbered parts list and step-by-step dressing instructions in German. The drawing belongs to the third act of the ballet, performed against a black stage — the sequence Schlemmer described as mystical and fantastical, and the most abstract of the three.

Das Triadische Ballett premiered at the Württembergisches Landestheater in Stuttgart on 30 September 1922, with a score composed by Paul Hindemith. Structured around the number three — three acts, three dancers, twelve dances, and eighteen costumes — the ballet translated Bauhaus principles directly into performance. The costumes were designed before the choreography, not after: dancers were fitted into geometric constructions of foil, papier-mâché, wire, and fabric, and then asked to discover what movements were possible. The Spirale figure exemplifies this method exactly — the drawing specifies a black velvet bodice, a lacquered cardboard skirt, and the defining wire spiral fitted over the head and secured at waist and shoulders, with a note that the costume works best when the dancer leans forward slightly, and that a horizontal stance is disadvantageous.

Schlemmer joined the Bauhaus in Weimar in 1921 and led the stage workshop from 1923 to 1929. Born in Stuttgart in 1888, he trained as a painter and worked across painting, sculpture, and stage design throughout his career. The Triadic Ballet toured European cities through the 1920s, including Weimar, Frankfurt, Berlin, and Paris, before the political climate of the 1930s effectively ended public performances. Schlemmer's work was included in the Nazis' "Entartete Kunst" exhibition in Munich in 1937. He died in Baden-Baden in 1943.

The ballet's reconstruction became a significant cultural project in postwar Germany. Gerhard Bohner's 1977 reconstruction for the Akademie der Künste in Berlin brought the work back to international attention, and the production toured through the 1980s — reaching New York audiences and contributing to a renewed American interest in Bauhaus stage work during the decade. It is within this context that our poster imagines a spring 1989 exhibition at the fictional Maya Bergquist Gallery on West 24th Street, New York. The typography and layout reference the restrained, sans-serif graphic language typical of Chelsea and SoHo gallery announcements from this period — institutional in tone, spare in layout, with the weight carried by Schlemmer's own drawing.

This poster was created as part of Art Poster Archive, a project focused on period-accurate exhibition graphics for artists and movements. The fictional exhibition scenario and gallery are designed elements; the costume study and all historical context are drawn from the documentary record.

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