Three Figures with Furniture-like Forms 1929

Curator: This is Oskar Schlemmer’s “Three Figures with Furniture-like Forms,” housed here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It’s austere. The figures are so geometrically reduced. Almost…oppressive. Curator: Schlemmer’s work often explores the relationship between the human figure and architectural space, influenced by his time at the Bauhaus. Editor: Right, the attempt to streamline, standardize…almost dehumanize. Is that what's so unsettling? The lack of individuality? Curator: Perhaps. Or perhaps the painting reflects a broader interrogation of identity in the face of rapid industrial and social changes, the individual subsumed within larger systems. Editor: Maybe Schlemmer is inviting us to question the very nature of progress and its impact on human connection. Curator: Indeed, a poignant, and lasting, artistic statement.