1931 was a busy year with many exhibitions for Schlemmer, who was teaching at the Breslau academy, where he was able to devote more time to his own projects than at the Bauhaus. He increasingly used architectural elements in his paintings. Instead of simply arranging the figures behind each other, he now used stairs and handrails to achieve a stronger staggering. He also adopted this in the "Silver Frieze". Another device, which can be found in no other work, is his use of silver powder, which he dusted onto different parts of the frieze. The Silver Frieze was cut into four parts by the artist. Part I is in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; part II, the smallest fragment, was kept by the artist, it was part of his estate; part III belonged to the architect Hans Fischli in Zurich und later to the Bauhaus artist Gunta Stölzl; the present, largest part, bears the number IV. This work was acquired by the architect and artist Gustav Schleicher (1887-1973).
