MEZ (Mitteleuropaische Zeit) No. 2 [CET (Central European Time) No. 2]

Robert Michel, artist

1897–1983

MEZ (Mitteleuropaische Zeit) No. 2 [CET (Central European Time) No. 2], 1919–1920

Where object was made: Germany

Material/technique: laid paper; woodcut

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 460 x 362 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 562 x 469 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 18 1/8 x 14 1/4 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 22 1/8 x 18 7/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 25 x 20 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Letha Churchill Walker Memorial Art Fund

Accession number: 1995.0011

Not on display

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Collection Cards: STEM

This print of scrambled numbers, machinery pieces, and gears is named MEZ, the German abbreviation for Central European Time (CET). CET became the established time zone for all German-occupied territories during World War I (1914–1918).

Because Earth rotates throughout the day, time zones make it possible for every location to see the sun at its highest point in the sky during the noon hour. Marking this time in the middle of the day is important because it allows people to have as many hours of sunlight as possible during a standard work day.

Why do you think people would want to maximize the sun’s light during the daytime? When it is daytime in Kansas, it is nighttime in Bangladesh. Why do you think that is? Hint: Locate where Kansas and Bangladesh are on a globe.

The bits and pieces of machinery in this print draw attention to mechinical things that tell time. What are some different kinds of tools that we use to tell time? Do they use batteries, electiricity, gears, sunlight, etc.?

Exhibition Label:
"Machine in a Void: World War I & the Graphic Arts," Mar-2010, Steve Goddard
During the War Robert Michel served as a pilot. He survived a crash in the airplane he was testing in 1916, and reportedly picked up pieces of the ruined machine after the crash. He recovered from this crash in a hospital near Weimar and attended the nearby Hochschule für Bildende Kunst (Academy of Fine Art), which would become the Bauhaus in 1919. While he was in touch with the artists of the Bauhaus, he preferred to remain independent and never closely affiliated with the Bauhaus itself. The Central European Time zone was imposed on all lands occupied by Germany.