Bauhaus tops

Posted by David Pescovitz, July 21, 2008 10:09 AM | permalink

Bauhaus artist Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack designed these Optischer Farbmischer (optical color mixer) tops in the early 1920s. Reproductions by Naef are available from Fawn & Forest for $49. From the product description:

The first production of this toy started in 1977. The "Bauhaus Optischer Farbmischer" shows us how the rotation of a top brings about a color blend. Varying aspects of color theory are deomonstrated on the reverse of the inter-changeable color discs Not for children under 3 years old.

Bauhaus tops (Fawn & Forest, thanks Kelly Sparks!)

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Discussion

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#1 posted by minnesotaj , July 21, 2008 10:42 AM

Didn't Robert Musil invent the wheels and Hirschfeld-Mack invent the toys?

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#2 posted by David Pescovitz , July 21, 2008 10:54 AM

Not sure! I Googled but couldn't find much about the original designs (in English, anyway).

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#3 posted by Forlain , July 21, 2008 11:22 AM

MinnesotaJ: You're right, according to Musil's bio on http://www.musilmuseum.at/robert-musil-bio.htm and Wikipedia. There's even an article about his invention, albeit in German: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musilscher_Farbkreisel
In short, his color wheel was continuously rotated by a drive shaft and you could change the size of the colored segments whilst operating the device. He used it to test color perception and physical effects.

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#4 posted by David Pescovitz , July 21, 2008 12:24 PM

Great info. Thanks, FORLAIN!

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#5 posted by Richard Kirk , July 22, 2008 4:57 AM

Robert Maxwell had a wheel with variable sectors. Here's a reference to how to make one. I think the Royal Society still has one of his original wheels, but I couldn't find a picture. Still, here's a reference on how it worked...

http://personales.upv.es/gbenet/teoria%20del%20color/water_color/colortop.html

I think Ignaz Schiffermüller came up with a circular plot of hues, and not anything that actually spun, which is a pity as someone with a name like that ought to have something named after hum. However, colour circles and even colour solids are a lot older than that.

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#6 posted by tomic