Itten was a Swiss painter, designer, and theorist associated with the Bauhaus. After a short attempt in a Geneva art school, he went to Stuttgart in Germany where he worked under Adolf Holzel. He was an abstract painter and contributed to the exhibition, 'Holzel and his Circle' shown at the Sturm Gallery. He worked in Vienna from 1916-1919, and opened his own school there, admitting a variety of mature students and devising a common course to provide analytical and expressive experience to develop the unique talents of all his students. He met Alma Mahler and through her the architect Walter Gropius, who invited him to teach at the Bauhaus. He developed his Basic Course, which taught the foundations of material characteristics, composition, and color. He published a book called The Art of Color, which encompassed the "color sphere." The color sphere furthered the ideas of Holzel's color wheel including 12 colors. Stimulated by Oriental philosophy and practices, he also promoted an ascetic way of life which appealed to young people in a time of post-war confusion and stringencies. He left the Bauhaus in 1923 in opposition to the school's move toward mass production. His painting by this time had moved on from expressive abstract compositions to symbolic semi-naturalistic ones. From 1926 to 1931 he worked and taught in Berlin in his own school developing his color theory. In 1930, he published his Tagebuch (diary) as a contribution to a counterpoint of art. One year later he moved to Krefeld where he developed his ideas at a textile design school. In 1938, he moved to Amsterdam and subsequently, took up the directorship of the Zurich Museum of Applied Art and its school. He also took on the directorship of Zurich Textile School and formed the Rietberg Museum of non-European art.
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