debauhaus1-10, Exercise 1: Reading an object

Model answer (one possible choice: a Kandem-style bedside lamp):

1. Who? Credited to Marianne Brandt and Hin Bredendieck, from the Bauhaus metal workshop (documented in some museum catalogues, but credit for lamp designs is shared and disputed). Status: documented, with the split of credit unknown.
2. When and where? About 1928, designed at Dessau; a lamp bought today is a later reproduction (claimed by the seller, to be checked against a licence or a marking). Status: documented for the original, unknown for a given lamp.
3. Which institution? The Bauhaus in its Dessau period, working with an industrial manufacturer. Status: documented.
4. How, for whom? Made in volume by a firm and sold to consumers; whether it was cheap is unknown without price records. Status: partly documented, partly unknown.
5. What changed since? Reproduced by several firms, perhaps with changed materials or sizes. Status: unknown for this example.
6. Evidence? A museum catalogue entry and a specialist history for the original; the shop's description only for the lamp on sale. Status: strong for the original, weak for this lamp.

The method works because it makes you separate what is documented from what is only claimed, and notice what you cannot yet say (check each detail against a current museum record).