American Bauhaus recalls the importance of Black Mountain College, which provided a new creative environment for many refugees from World War II in Europe from 1933 to 1957, and allowed the Bauhaus to live on in the US. A unique place of freedom and creativity that became home to some of the most important artists of the 20th century. In 1992, Erik Schmitt, then a young student and now partner and creative director of studio1500, attended a reunion at Black Mountain College in San Francisco. Black Mountain College is said to have produced some of the greatest artists in American history: Willem de Kooning, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Buckminster Fuller, Franz Kline and Robert Rauschenberg, to name a few. Schmitt was invited because his two aunts and a family friend, Ruth Asawa, had graduated from BMC. He took extensive notes that day and photographs at the post-event cocktail party at Ruth Asawa's house. The collected quotes and photos from that evening form the basis for the book American Bauhaus.
