Bauhaus
Bauhaus is a short name for the Staatliches Bauhaus, an art and architecture school in Germany operational from 1919 to 1933. It was one of the most influential strands that constitute what is known as Modernism in architecture
The school was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919. Gropius felt that a new period of history had begun with the end of World War I, and wanted to create a new architectural style to reflect this new era. It was largely subsidized by the Weimar Republic. In 1925 the school moved to Dessau, where the Bauhaus University was built. It was moved again in 1932 to Berlin. Gropius was the head of the school throughout 1919-1928, followed by Hannes Meyer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
The school was closed on the orders of the Nazi regime in 1933. The Nazis had been opposed to the Bauhaus throughout the 1920s, as had other right-wing political groups. The Bauhaus was considered by them to be a front for communists, especially because many Russian artists were involved with it. Nazi writers such as Wilhelm Frick and Alfred Rosenberg felt that the Bauhaus was "un-German," and did not approve of its modernist styles. However, the Bauhaus had a major impact on art and architecture trends in western Europe and the United States in the following decades, as many of the artists involved were exiled under the Nazi regime.
It was mainly concerned with architecture, and often built affordable public housing for the Weimar government, but also dealt with other branches of art. The Bauhaus issued a magazine called "Bauhaus" and a series of books called "Bauhausbücher". Its head of printing and design was Herbert Bayer.
One of the main objectives of the Bauhaus was to unify art, craft and technology. The machine was considered a positive element and therefore industrial and product design were important components. Vorkurs- literally 'before course' was taught; this is the modern day Basic Design course that has become one of the key foundational courses offered in architectural schools all over the world. There was no teaching of history in the school because everything was supposed to be designed and created by first principles rather than through precedent.
The most important contribution of Bauhaus is in the field of furniture design. The world famous and ubiquitous chair design- the Cantilever chair by designer Mart Stam using the tensile properties of steel is an example.
Inspired the International movement for an imaginist Bauhaus which existed from 1953 to 1957
Some outstanding artists of the times were lecturers in Bauhaus :
- Josef Albers
- Lyonel Feininger
- Johanes Itten
- Vasily Kandinsky
- Paul Klee
- Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
Related articles
External links
Bauhaus was also the name of a British band in the 1980s - see Bauhaus (band) & Gothic rock
