Bauhaus

The literal translation is “house of construction”. Founded in 1919 in Weimar by the, Berlin born, architect Walter Gropius (1883-1969). Bauhaus was a movement based on the school dedicated to simplistic art. As a movement the architecture, graphics, photography and fine art were very simple, bold and geometric. From a design point of view, the idea was to create a 'universal aesthetic', an international style that would be suitable for any country notwithstanding their cultural traditions or religion. To manufacture objects and buildings with basic designs that would be easy and effective to mass produce. These objects should be function over aesthetics and fulfil the demands of society.

As a school, it was the most influential design educational institution of the 20^th century. They approached to teaching with art's involvement with technology and society. To this day Bauhaus has had a huge artistic impact in USA and Europe as one of the leading figures of modernism.

Gropius' idea was to unite art with crafts therefor having the students learn wall painting, cabinetmaking, typography, weaving, pottery and metalworking, but was later more important the design and mass production, although there was still focus on fine art.

 The school was very well known for it's staff, included artists were; Kandinsky, László Moholy-Nagy, Josef Albers, Paul Klee, Itten, architects; Mies van der Rohe & Gropius and designer Marcel Breuer. People who shaped the beginning of what today we call 'modern art'.  

     

Marcel Breuer

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

Walter Gropius

Due to the socio-political controversy of Bauhaus, they was forced to move from Weimar to Dessau in 1925 where they struck with new interiors, buildings and furniture committed to functionalism with modern patterns and material, these abstract forms could be found in the typographic advertising of Herbert Bayer. 

The school's controversy only grew with time and lost the city's support, forcing them to move to Berlin. By 1993, when the Nazi government closed the school entirely, Bauhaus was internationally recognised, particularly in the United States. Gropius and Annie & Josef Albers went to teach at Harvard and Yale, respectively, where the continued to influence America with the Bauhaus philosophy, Moholy-Nagy emigrated to USA, also, and founded the Chicago Institute of Design.