Grainger Museum

Experimental wooden wind and string instruments made and designed by Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, Weimar Bauhaus trained artist and teacher.

Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack was born in Germany in 1893 and studied painting and art history in Munich before serving in World War I. In 1919 he commenced studies at the newly opened Weimar Bauhaus School of Art, Design and Architecture. Hirschfeld Mack’s particular interests were colour and design. He explored the dynamic relationships between colour, light, music and movement in performances he referred to as ‘colour light plays’. Hirschfeld Mack was also an accomplished musician and craftsman, and the influence of his Bauhaus training and fascination with colour is demonstrated in his innovative approach to instrument design.

Hirschfeld Mack left Germany due to the rising Nazi regime and moved to London in 1936. However during World War II he was interned as an enemy alien and deported to Australia. In 1942, thanks to the determined efforts of Dr James Darling (headmaster of Geelong Grammar), Hirschfeld Mack was released and appointed art master at the grammar school, where he remained until retirement in 1957. It was in his retirement that he worked most actively on the ‘colour chord’, providing sets of instruments for various children’s centres and schools. In 1971 and 1980 his wife Olive donated his collection of instruments to the Grainger Museum.