Dessau Bauhaus, viewed from the south

In this image, Yamawaki Iwao emphasized the white facades and embedded glass windows of the Bauhaus campus in Dessau, Germany. An architect by training, Iwao photographed the building from an angle that mimics the perspective of an architectural drawing. In 1930, he and his wife Michiko enrolled at the Bauhaus, becoming two of the four Japanese students in the school’s history. They studied textiles, photography, and architecture until 1932, when the Nazis forced the school to close and the Yamawakis returned to Japan. In Tokyo, the couple established a study collection of artworks and furnishings they had purchased from fellow students and teachers. They later organized several exhibitions of Bauhaus art and design.