Starting at Zero, book

Widar Halén (ed.)

Starting at Zero. Otti Berger, Anni Albers, Lilly Reich a Lucie Rie. 

This compelling publication presents the work of three prominent Bauhaus designers – Anni Albers, Otti Berger, and Lilly Reich – alongside that of the Austrian-British ceramicist Lucie Rie. All four women were pioneers of modernism who, following the rise of Nazism, faced the daunting challenge of rebuilding their professional lives. Thanks to their resilience and determination, they succeeded. Tragically, Otti Berger's career was cut short when she was murdered by the Nazis in the Auschwitz concentration camp in the summer of 1944.

Starting at Zero is the first publication to comprehensively explore the difficult period these avant-garde artists endured during the rise of Nazism in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. And yet, they did not give up. Time and again, in both personal and professional spheres, in a world shattered by war, they began again from zero. Their work, richly documented in this book, stands today among the most outstanding and enduring contributions to 20th-century modern design.

The book accompanies and expands upon the art exhibition Starting at Zero, which is part of the newly opened Museum of the Survivors in Brněnec, housed in the former factory where Oskar Schindler saved 1,200 Jews during the Second World War.

The book is available in Czech and English.

Publication year: 2025
Format: 170 × 240 mm
Pages: 296
Binding: Softcover with flaps
ISBN: 978-80-7485-307-4
Weight: 820 g