The Development of Bauhaus Architecture and a New Art of Construction

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I INTRODUCTORY DEFINITIONS, CONCEPTS AND TRENDS • . . . • ...... • . 1

II COMPANION TRENDS IN ARCHITECTURE AND PAINTING • • • • • • • • • • • • • 8

III INAUGURA.TION OF THE. BAUHAUS • · • • • • • , 36

N NEO-PIASTICISM. • • • 47

v CULMINATION OF BAUHAUS ARCHITECTURE • 62

VI CONCLUSION • • • • • • • • • 79

Bibliography o • • • • • • • • 83

ii LIST OF ILLUSTRA.TIONS

PLA.TE

I HENRY VAN DE VELDE, W.eimar School of Applied Arts, 1905 86 .

II (a) PABLO PICASSO, Two Nudes 1 1906

(b) PABLO PICASSO, Nude in a Forest, 19 08-09 8 7

III PETER BEHRENS, A.E.G. Turbine Factory, Berlin1 1909 .88

N WALTER GROPIUS / Fagus Works shoe-last factory 1 Alfeld aodo L.eine, 1911 (in collaboration with Adolf Meyer) 89 v (a) PABLO PICASSO, Girl With a Mandolin,. 1910-11

(b) PABLO PICASSO, Mandolin, 1914: wood construction 9 0

VI WALTER GROPIUS, Model Factory for Deutz Motor Company, Werkbund Exhibition, Cologne, 1914 (in collaboration with· Adolf Meyer) 91

, .. VII WALTER GROPIUS, Spiral Staircase on comer of the

model factory 1 Werkbund Exhibition, Cologne, 1914 92

VIII {a) WALTER GROPIUS, Sommerfeld House, Berlin, 1921

(b) WALTER GROPIUS 1 concrete monument, Weimar 1 1921 93

iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PIATE PAGE

(a) LYONEL FEININGER, woodcut for the cover .of the first Bauhaus Proclamation, 1919

11 11 (b) JOHANNES ITTEN, cubic composition1 1919: plaster 94 x (a) PABLO PICASSO, Two Seated Women, 1920

(b) PIET MONDRIAN I ncomposition,n 1919 95

XI (a) BAUHAUS DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, 11 models of standardized '"serial-houses 1 19 21

(b} WALTER.GROPIUS, model for a residence.r 1922 (in collaboration with Adolf Meyer) 96.

XII (a) FARKAS MOLNAR, "The Red Cube, 11 project for a .house.r 1922: perspective

(b) FARKAS MOLNAR, project for a wood frame house, 1922: · perspective 97

11 XIII (a}. THEO VAN DOES BURG, Model of a House 1 u 1923: wood construction

(b) THEO VAN DOESBURG, "Scheme for an Architec- ture, 11. 1923 98

XIV (a) WALTER GROPIUS, Municipal Theater at Jenaz 1922: remodeled (in collaboration with Adolf Meyer) 99

iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PIATE PAGE

XIV (b) BAUHAUS DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE 1 "Haus am Horn, 11 Weimar, 1923: erected for first Bauhaus Exhibition 99 xv (a) WALTER GROPIUS, project submitted to the International Chicago Tribune Competition, 1922: perspective (in collaboration with , Adolf Meyer}

(b) WALTER GROPIUS 1 Bauhaus Buildings 1 Dessau, 1926: air view 100

XVI (a) WALTER GROPIUS 1 Bauhaus Buildings, Dessau1 1926: Bauhaus Workshop wing 1 view from the northwest

(b} WALTER GROPIUS, Bauhaus Buildings 1 Dessau1 1926: Student• s studio-apartment wing, view from the east 101

XVII (a) WALTER GROPIUS 1 Double House for Bauhaus Masters,. Dessau1 1925: view from east

(b) WALTER GROPIUS, Gropius Residence 1 Bauhaus,. Dessau~ 1925 102

XVIII {a) WALTER GROPIUS 1 Bauhaus Buildings 1 Dess au,. 19 2 6: view from south

{b} WALTER GROPIUS, Bauhaus Buildings, Dessau, 1926: buildings under construction, view from southeast 103

v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PIATE PAGE

XIX (a) WALTER GROPIUS, Bauhaus Buildings, Dessau, 1926: interior of Bauhaus workshop 104

(b) WALTER GROPIUS, Bauhaus Buildings, Dessau, 1926: detail of glass walls

xx WALTER GROPIUS, Bauhaus Buildings, Dessau1 1926: northwest corner of Bauhaus Workshop wing 105

vi INTRODUCTORY DEFINITIONS, CONCEPTS AND TRENDS

Architecture 1 the. creation of a physical environment1 is determined by a wide variety of practical considerations o The designing of a building involves many problems which belong in particular to the fields of sociology / psychology 1 economics, business and politics, as well as to the science and technology of engineering. However, in. addition to achieving an expedient solution, architecture must seek to gratify aesthetic demandso As indeed implied in the very definition Baukunst - "the art of building," architecture is the creation of plastic beauty o

As one of the visual arts 1 architecture cannot avoid being influenced by the evolving aesthetic principles which effect and determine these arts. As Mondrian states:

In practical architecture aesthetic has to be largely excluded. But architecture as art, like all other .plastic arts, has to reveal the new aesthetic conceptions of our time.1

Since new aesthetic conceptions are embodied in the treatment of certain structural elements basic to any artistic composition, it may be assumed that the use of these elements - line, plane, color, light, space, etc. - are comparable in one medium to their use in another. Therefore, if an

lo Piet Mondrian, 11 A New Realism,n Plastic Art and Pure Plastic Art (New York, 1945) / p. 19. 1 2 historian investigating architecture bases his point of view upon certain appropriate .aspects in the major trend of a contemporary art and aesthetic.r he takes advantage of what is perhaps the only possible way his subject can be interpreted as an art formo

If works produced by the more progressive artists and craftsmen during the first quarter of the twentieth century were analysed ~n relation ship to each other, there would be revealed among them certain signifi cant similarities o Therefore,· the development of architecture· during ·this period coulq. well be compared to the development in any· one of the other visual arts, since each contains· characteristics of fonni. material, and style common to allo For our purposes,, the growth of·an important trend· in painting proves to be closest to the evolvement of architecture under

investigationo In'fact1 . during the course of this paper it should be demon strated that a companion development of style is shared by the architec;... ture which culminates in the Bauhaus with a trend of painting that reaches its climax at the same time o

What is this tren~ of painting and what are its basic characteristics that may be related to a contemporary architectural movement ?

To answer this questiori, let us briefly trace two dominant con cepts of art which evolve immediately before·and after the turn of the cen tury o From them we should be able to distinguish clearly the trend of painting that contains qualities most like those achievable· in architecture. 3

During the latter part of the nineteenth cen~ury a new method of composition is introduced in painting o For sake of convenience / this general method might be called a method of reductive analysis o. Objects in nature, usually represented re,alistically, are analysed and reduced to varying degrees of abstraction; they are presented as forms, increasingly less natural in appearanceo. As a r~sult of the basic method of reductive analysis, the two major concepts of art arise in painting.

Representing one of these concepts are painters who choose to ' . • .' ~ I • . . . . portray their personal and emotional reaction to life around them. or even attempt to picture a fantastic world of the imagination. .This concept is ' ' ' . . ., . ( -· ... advanced by groups .such as the Symbo~is,ts and the E~pressionist5- r .. both of which are inspired mainly by. tjle. flat curvilinear color patterns employed in the works of Van Gogh and Gauguin. After the turn of .the. century, it is the Fauves who first show the greatest concern for the manipulation of ...... ' . . . .. ~ ' . .. flat color shapes o They gain even more independence from a direct adap- tation of natural colors _and _forms than do the Post-Impressionists o

Gradually, the Fauves become more and more i_ntrigued with an emotional means of expression; compo_sition to them becomes a problem of merely organizing increasingly intense colors • .. . ": . .

An expressionistic concept_ of art is represented in Germany at the beginning of the. century by such painters as Munch. It is later inherited by the Brficke anq the Blaue Reiter ·schools o Although the latter. reacts against certain aspects of a Fauvist influence, its. general approach to 4 painting is adapted directly from the Fauves themselves. Irrational and emotional characteristics in the Blaue Reiter doctrine are to be found both in the work and.in the theory of·Marc and Kandinskrwho express a deep regard for the "spiritual in arto 11 Neither is interested in the prob lems of composition alone; but each shows a fascination for what Marc describes as nthe inner spiritual aspects of nature on Kandinsky pro poses that all painters should probe for the "inner resonances'• or the

11 internal vibrationsn which he believes are expressed by all natural and pictorial objects o

It is Paul Klee,. ·an associate member of the Blaue·Reiter,. who comes closest to adopting as his main concern the· structural process of pictorial compositiono Perhaps this is the reason he refers to his working method as 11 constructive picture formation;," However,. Klee is not satis fied with solving only-the problems of·compositiorio Most ofteri·he builds structural frameworks merely as a means ·of supporting linear and color istic movements manifest in vague dream world images o

Following the first period of its initiation,. this concept of art·· which emphasizes an emotional approach to painting as characterized by the erratic linearization. of Klee,. the intense color of the Fauve,. and the often tenuous spatial relations of Kandinsky, moves into many currents of developmento For example,. it is.·as a result of the groundwork laid by this first generation of expressionistic painters that many of the basic 5 tenets for later. movements of abstract expressionism and surrealism are establishedo

However / there are few attributes to be found in this concept that lend themselves well to the discovery of a trend in painting related to the development of Bauhaus Architecture o2 Therefore, it is in the other important concept evolving after Impressionism that we must look for inherent qualities which might prove kindred to certain characteristics in architectureo

This second dominant concept of art, which develops concurrently with the expressionistic concept, is indeed even more inseparable from the general Post-Impressionist method of painting which "!Ne have called a reductive analysis. As is seen in expressionistic works, -the representation of realistic subject matter is again gradually reduced to a presenta-. tion of non-figurative forms. However,. unlike Expressionism, this con:- cept does not emphasize the use of any given subject matter or of an abstract pictorial form as a means of advancing an emotional comment or a direct symbolical meaning. On the contrary,_ it initially reveals an objective attempt to limit painting to the analyzation of structure .and the reduction of forms to their basic component parts o

2 o The one close relationship between this concept of painting and a development in modem ar~hitecture is the similarity between the applied ornamentation of Art Nouveau designers and the work of the early expres sionistso 6

When structure is analyzed and reduced in such a manner 1 it is r

in a sense 1 decomposedo But an artist cannot merely dissect structure without simultaneously creating formo Therefore, an object analyzed and reduced to its constituent parts is at the same time reconstructed within the composition of the painting o If a careful concentration on structure

and composition occurs at a time when the general tendency in painting is to reduce realistic form to an increasingly abstract form, the painter eventually is forced to recognize the importance of his· composition as an autonomous structure having little or no direct reference to anything out~

side of itself o. It is this fusion of a structural concept of art with a method of reductive analysis that engenders a trend of Post-:Impressionist painting which becomes increasingly abstract and comes closest to the

development of a modem archite.cture o As we shall see later / it is this

structural trend of painting that reveals qualities of composition similar to characteristics of construction arising in the architectural movement toward the Bauhaus o

The first most representative work of this important trend in Post

Impressionist painting is that of Cezanne and Seurato Both of these

painters become deeply concerned with composition, an element which

regains new emphasis in the painting of the 1880'so While disregarding the popularized notion that a painting is to be an impression suddenly

inspired by nature 1 Cezanne and Seurat turn their attention to more 7 fundamental problems of pictorial constructiono Their main interest neces

sitates the increased reduction of realistic details o Because / to avoid including too many obvious surface qualities facilitates an examination of the basic geometric forms of objects and the organization of these forms in a precise composit~ono

Of the two artists / it is Cezanne who advances a structural pro

cess of painting to a point from which those after him can depart to trans form the trend into a significant tradition •. Even if Seurat's career had not been cut short by his untimely death / Cezanne probably-would remain the most influential •. One reason for this may be that while Seurat appar

ently considers each of his few works a final and complete statement,

Cezanne views his paintings as single steps taken in the general _direc

tion charted by a development in the art of his time. Therefore, Cezanne

considers himself the 11 primitive of the way, 11 the way being toward a

reductive analytical method o~ composition which is to replace the ideali

zation of nature and to which all eleme'nts in painting are to comply. COMPANION TRENDS IN ARCHITECTURE AND PAINTING

At the time of Cezanne's death in 1906 the most important promo- tion of the new structural .trend in painting is in the work of Picasso.

During this year primitive Iberian sculpture becomes a prime influence on·

Picasso's art and it is in the subsequent phase that he first places a direct emphasis upon the three-dimensionality of form. At the same time, further reduction.of natural appearances, as well as an increased omis- sion of outward details, become evident in his work o

The initial decade of the new century is indeed of primary importance to our investigationo In 1905 we are provided the. opportunity to open a direct examination upon an architecturaltrend that in twenty years will reach a culmination in the Bauhauso The trend begins with .a method· of reductive analysis which corresponds .to that introduced. in.painting and which becomes a key factor in the development of the new architecture.

For this reason, it will be examined in relationship to the new structural approach appearing in the work of Picas so o

First, let us compare a building designed by Henry van de Velde in 1905 for the Weimar School of Applied Arts (Plate I) to a painting entitled Two Nudes (Plate Ha) done by Picas so in the following year. 8. 9

These two works appear at the end of what may be described, for both artists, an experimental periodo Within the previous ten years ' '

Picasso has painted in several styles inherited from the nineteenth century. During the same time van de Velde has applied Art Nouveau principles of design which .he himself instigated. A tendency common to both in this period is to be inventive but decorative in the use of flat linear patterns, whether app~ied to a picture plane or .employed on an interior wall. There is, however, anticipation of a later style in the simplicity of certain single figures done by Picasso or in the plain exterior surfa_ce areas of the houses by van de Velde.

In comparing Picasso's painting of two nude figures with van de

Velde's building, it becomes evident that each is beginning to follow a trend in his own art closely related to that in the other o The subject matter in the painting and the elements of con~truction in the, bui~ding are reduced to a simplified and fundamental form. It is again demonstrated that by this, process the rudimentary problems qf structure and composition may be brought into clearer focus.

It is interesting to note that in terms of their individual mediums ~ ' . " ' . " . ' ' ' _. '~ both Picasso and van de Velde employ traditional motifs. Picasso chooses to paint nude female figures and van de Velde builds with h~avy piers and crossbeams that support a tile roof. But in both o_f the_works these conventional forms are now allowed to function,as simple unadorned sh(lpeso 10

Picasso complies to the growing demand in graphic art to. omit any surface details that do not contribute to a description of the basic structure of a figure. Van de Velde avoids the, use of applied ornamentation, whether it be borrowed from a past style or a decorative invention of his own, and the structural members of his building retain the inherent simplicity of the materials themselves o

A significant quality common to both works is the manner in which the two artists exaggerate· the size of the major forms employed. The con- ~ . crete piers in van de Velde 1 s building appear to be .much too large for the amount of weight they bearo While,·it goes without saying, the two figures in Picasso's painting seem oversized both in contrast to human proportions usually conceived of as normal and in their relationship to the dimensions of the canvas o

In general,' there seems to·be an attempt on the part of both·artists to stress the importance of the respective forms, notas singular attrac- tions to be examined for their own sake, but as structural parts of a

compositiono

Viewed as a total composition, van de Velde 1 s building gives the

general impression of being a large·rectangular blocklike structure. Even though prominent segments of this structure play an important role in the exterior design,· they conform to the unified surface of a self-contained wallo The wall, in tum, circumscribes an enclosed volume of interior spaceo 11

The broad concrete members of the framework,. the solid end walls, and the tile roof, all d~pendent 'llPQn their own weight for gravitational support, make up the rectangular shell of the buildingo Although its sur face is slightly modeled by. subtle. curvatures, shallow indentations or small projections, the building retains its basic geometric shape •.. Notice that even the roof does not hav;e projecting eaves but withdraws its lower edge into line with the plane created by the wall beneath. The facade, which is perfectly symmetrical, is divided into a horizontal and. vertical pattern of many parts; but each segment complies to the. major plane o

The only exceptions are the three .small, half-round balconies. that help to denote a central entrance way, and are placed on a _pavilion created by four piers projecting above the edge of the roof.

Sunlight falling o:q the surface of the building would not create a pattern of large light and. dark ar~as of sharp contrasto But, shads:rw:s cast by the subtle indentations or projections of the exterior wall would be .. limited to a pattern of narrow lines altez:nating with broad smooth surface shapes.

Although window areas are a comparatively important part of the facade and skylights pierce the roof to allow more light_ into the sepond floor, the massive solidity of its structu,ral members defeats any tendency in the building ~oyvard an openness of. space. The interior is shaP.ed by the heavy concrete supp~rts which retain the size and form of traditional 12 masonry construction and which encircle the volume of space within as if it were packaged in a box.

In the painting by Picasso we see that several significant aspects of its composition are similar to qualities found·in van de Velde's Weimar school~ For example, the two massive figures / symmetrically related to one another / create a pattern of large architectonic shapes on the picture plane. The verticality of the two. monolithic forms and the horizontal arrangement of their various structural parts help emphasize the rectangu larity of this surface designo Aside from its geometric orientation/ there iS a distribution throughout the painting Qf SOft CUfVeS and minor angles I similar in treatment to those found on the building. A flood of light·1- originating from above, appears to cover the bare surfaces of the figureso

But 1 like the building / ;. large deep shadows are· excluded and the few dark areas represented become brief linear movements. on a broad plane o

The two heavy nude figures stand as obstructions to a central· enclosure of space o The limits of this area are further designated by a ground plane and by a solid backdrop. As is true of the building, there is a slight tendency to open up the space in the painting o This is executed mainly by the placement of two horizontal lines on the outer side of each figure. However / the breadth and mass of the two figures facing each other places a definite emphasis on the niche of enclosed space betweeno 13

Thus, we discover in the architecture of Henry van de Velde and

in the painting by Picasso. that early in the century traditional forms

familiar to each of these arts are still used. But natural details or applied

ornamentation are abandonedo Both the painting and the. building are

reduced to simple compositions which clearly express a basic process .of

structure. Perhaps as a result of this new structural trend, there is a

tendency to exaggerate the size and weight of the forms employed •. Con

sequently, the impression of massiveness restricts the. possibility of a

rhythmical movement suggested by the distribution of curves and angles.

Also, any attempt to relax the use of space by an increased openness of

composition is. mainly defeated by the emphasis placed on a firmly .en

closed spatial volume o

That we have devoted a comparatively large amount of time to· our

first analysis is not accidental •.The work chosen to begin a survey in.

art provides a possible gauge by which the reader can measure and com

pare the stylistic changes discussed throughout the length of the. develop

ment. At the end of the development, the final work should stand in ob

vious contrast to the first, depending of course upon the extent of the

total change in style.

As an isolated work of architecture, van de Velde' s building of

1905 may be. considered rather insignificanto However, as an early repre

sentation of a new approach to architecture, it serves well as the first 14

example in our investigationo In this capacity it gains importance as an

aid to studying the architectural development which .culminates in Dessau

twenty years latero Therefore, if the Bauhaus architecture .of 1926 were to

be compared to this early work in Weimar, perhaps it .would be possible

to better understand the evolvement of the final style. Also~ the com~

·position of van de Velde's building, if kept in mind, might function as a

measurement for the developments during the intervening periodo Such a:.

device would accompany and substantiate our method .of discussing cer-

tain aspects of construction in relation to the structural trend of painting

believed to be parallel to the growth of Bauhaus Architecture o·

An important step towards this eventual growth is made in 1909,

the year Peter. Behrens~ Turbine Factory (Plate III) is completed in Berlin.

This building continues the process of reducing construction to simpli-

fied forms and now all extraneous devices which might inhibit the clarity

of its basic structural parts are eliminatedo ·Moreover, we shall see that

Behrens' factory contains characteristics of design which foretell later

important developments. For.this reason, s.ome writers go to the extreme . . 3 of calling this. building "the first piece of modem architecture ou

The Turbine Factory does retain certain qualities reminiscent of

the earlier building .of van de Velde. For example, its heavy structural

3. J. Mo Richards, An Introduction to Modern Architecture (6th edo; London, 1953) / Po 760 15. forms comply to the limits of.a solid rectangular block. Also, one again finds a polygonal roof restin_g its weight upon the sturdy vertical support of a massive end-wall and upon piers placed along the full length of the building o But since the composition of this. building has been further · reduced to fewer and simpler geometric forms and shapes, the many minor projections and indentations of the Weimar building have disappearedo

Unlike the subtlety of surface attained in van de Velde's building, the exterior of Behren •s factory is created by segments which are no longer carefully related to a single planeo The roof is allowed to extend outwardly until it meets the vertical piers reaching from the ground or until it connects with the. large glass area at the end of the buildingo Tpis creates the first of two planes •. A second plane is formed by the surlace ' ' . . - . of the massive concrete blocks which rise up and inward at each comer and which correspond to the sections_ of glass which tilt from bottom to top at the same angle. The distance betwe_en the .outer_ and, inner plan_es permits deep vertical and horizontal shadows to be cast by .the eave~ of the roof and by the pier::; .supporting ito .·

Another difference between the structure by van _de Velde and that designed by Behrens _is ~ound in the treatment of fenestrationo While the former divides the window bays of his school building with wide horizontal bands, the latter allows the .more abundant glass areas of his factory

to remain uninterrupted; from top .,to bottomo Of course, the difference is 16

determined in part. by the respective function of each. building o However,

from the point of view of form, the increased use of glass in.the-Turbine

Factory contributes to a new freedom of compositiono The segments of

fenestration alternate with the regimental piers along.the side of the struc-

ture and supplement the rhythmic movement created by the division of sur-

face planes o

1 Thus, the exterior of Behrens . building gains a new flexibility o

But, the protruding.framework of.the·buildfog is still composed of struc-

tural members which are massive and solido The space formed by the

framework remains confined to a closed volume firmly contained by the pre-

dominance of compressed steel and concrete •.

In the winter. of 1908-09, a work .entitled Nude in a Forest.(Plate IIb)

is. painted by Picasso o By this time, as Barr states, :11 the artist has re-

sumed his progress toward cubism, a progress already advanced. -in

Demoiselles d 1Avignon but retarded or reconsidered during much of 1908. 114

As a result of this resumption toward cubism, Picasso. renews and increases

his interest in structural analysis and the development of his painting

remains similar to that seen in architecture o Evidence of this resemblance

appears in the Nude in a Forest when viewed in. comparison to the Turbine.

Factory of Peter Behr~nso

4o AlfredH. Barr, Jr., Picasso, Fifty Years of his Art (NewYork, 1946), p. 65. 17

The nude is even further deprived .of its conventional natural detail. The structure of the human figure is analysed and reduced to. sim'.'"" pler and more basic geometric parts o At the same time / its mass and solidity is retained and the observer is still convinced that this is a sub.:.. stantial form existing in space.

As in the building, the earlier appearance of .subtle curves and shallow indentations is replaced· by an arrangement of sharp angles and deep cut intervals. In contrast, a pattern of light and dark planes places a new emphasis on the flat surface of the painting o Moreover / the mere attitude of the figure / which seems to branch out in all directions as. it moves forward and away from the tree-form niche of the background, has a tendency to open the painting to a broader and freer arrangement of space.

However, as is true. of the Turbine Factory, this increase of mo- bility is again restrained by the organization as a. wholeo The painting remains essentially closed and is oriented to the exact center where spatial recession tends to be _concentratedo The size and weight of the predominant forms still inhibit any flexibility attained either by the composition or by the space created in it.

Like the painting, the Turbine. Factory by Behrens is composed of

large forms o As structural parts them seem to proceed from an outer plane

toward the center of the compositiono That is / they turn inward as if .. acted upon and impelled by a centripetal force o Therefore, while there 18 is a certain amount of movement in the play of light and dark contrasts or in the alternation of different planes and textures, the observer is obli- gated to follow one stable direction.· This succeeds from the prominent outer structural forms toward the inner and centralized volume of spaceo

Two years after the construction of the Turbine Factory in Berlin, another building is completed of the utmost importance to our investiga-

tiono In 1911 the Fagus Works (Plate IV) 1 a shoelast factory designed by

Walter Gropius, is erected near"Alfeld in northern Germany. 5 This factory is the first large building commissioned from Gropius who at the time has just become an independent architect after having worked in the Berlin office of Peter Behrens o An analysis of the Fagus Works is made doubly. interesting since Gropius was working with Behrens while the erection of the Turbine Factory was in progresso

The Fagus Works consist of an intricate complex of buildings, each of which plays a distinct role in the manufacturing process. As parts of a compact and rectangular ground plan, the.irrespective placement and structure appear to have been determined solely by the separate functions

to be fulfilled. From an artistic point of view1 the plan seems to be almost accidentally arranged and there .is little unity of app.earance among the buildings o In fact, it is somewhat difficult to believe that all of the

5 o Gropius was assisted by Adolf Meyer with whom he worked until 1925. 19 factory was designed by the same architect and erected at the same timeo

For this reason we shall concentrate our analysis on the one building containing the most qualities significant to our investigation •.

This is the well-known and often-photographed structure which houses the packing and dispatch departments of the firm.

The building is a perfect rectangle with three stories arid a flat roof. Its facade is symmetrically balanced and is designated by three entranceways reached by individual sets of stairs. The name of the owner is centered above the top floor. A solid rectangle of brick is placed like a bookend against the north wall of the building o At its base is found the main entrance and a pyramid .of six steps a In a design considered by some to be revolutionary, perhaps none of these aspects are very signi ficant as contributing factors o They are rather conservative in concept.

But, as we shall see, this quality is not confined to minor details alone, and appears in other forms throughout the. composition of the .building o

Upon first observation of ,the Fagus Works one is greatly impressed by the predominance of fenestrationo 'J;he observer is. inclined to accept it, without qualification, as the most important element in the compositiono

Indeed, the dimensions of the window areas command a· generous propor tion of the building, and sections of glass are joined at the corners vvith no intervening column. In the northwest corner this method of construction allows a cantilevered concrete staircase to be clearly observed from outside o 20

The importance of this extended use of transparency to the architectural development under investigation is not to be overlooked and will be discussed later. However, to avoid exaggerating the advance made by the Fagus Works toward the final evolvement of Bauhaus Architecture, let us examine its composition more carefullYo

In terms of structure / Gropius applies new methods and materials with reservationo This may be demonstrated by comparing- the Fagus

Works to the Turbine Factory of.Behrens o In the earlier work, large rectangles of glass are withdrawn from the outermost plane created by the edge of the roof and by the sturdy· piers reaching from the base of the building. The potential effect of fenestration is overpowered by these structural forms. In the Fagus Works the relationship between the large glass areas and the vertical supports is merely reversed. While the heavy piers in Behrens 1 building stand boldly outside the broad sections of glass, the concrete columns in Gropius' factory retreat inward from the plane of fenestration. The framed rectangular windows protrude from the solid structure of the building like glazed pictures hung on a walL

Above, on an equal plane with the vertical windows, an unre- strained horizontal band of brick appears o This helps create the impression that the outer surface of the building is merely a transparent screen

standing with complete independence from the structural framework within. The effect is deceiving, for the vertical supports of the Yagus Works 21

are not placed in back of an exterior wall. Actually1 their function is twofold; they serve as members of the framework and as sections of the wall itself. For this reason, their exterior surface is faced with brickso

The large windows are. brought forward, but are supported by the wall composed of the columns. and of the high brick foundation at the base of the building o Thus, the Fagus Works does not appear to have a "canti levered skeleton construction116 at all. The only true cantilever being that of the staircase visible in the northwest comer.

It is also important to note that the rectangular windows. of the

Fagus Works are not uninterrupted as they are in Behrens 1 Turbine Fae- tory o But, they are divided into three sections by wide opaque horizontal bands o In fact, these separate the floors of the building in a similar manner as those employed by van· de Velde in his schooi at Weimar.

Although Gropius introduces new methods of structure / they are applied to the composition with cautiono If it were not for the elimination of a solid comer construction and a heavy roof, the main building of the Fagus Works could not appear completely revolutionary. It would retain the conservative appearance of a traditional architectural form

I adhered to by van de Velde ·and Behrens.

To further demonstrate the development in arcritecture in relation_-

ship to pictorial composition, let us once again analyse a contemporary.

6. Sigfried Giedion ,· Walter Gropius, Work and Teamwork (New York, 1954), p. 97. 22 painting. As a consistent means of comparison we shall return to the trend in painting most concerned with the process of structure.

In the year 1911 the structural trend in painting is best exempli fied by Cubism. For this. reason we may again analyse a work by Picasso, one of the primary leaders of the movement. After two year's experimen tation with analytical cubism, Picasso paints one of the masterpieces . in this style during the winter of 1910 ,and 1911. It is entitled the Girl with a Mandolin (Plate Va). By .the time of this work the natural forms of a nude figure are extensively reduced to a greater number of simplified geometric shapes~ In many instances, neither the appearance nor the position of these rudimentary shapes comply to the actual anatomical structure and the figure is greatly distorted by the dislocation of rectangles and broken circles. Also, solid forms often become flat planes and the cubist devices of transparency and simultaneity, commonly employed in later works, begin to appear. For example, notice how the flat rectangu lar head tends to defy an exact location of its edge or contour.

A suggestion of transparent shapes and simultaneous yiews is evident in still other parts of the work. Such pictorial treatment serves to join the nude, already reduced through a quasi-geometric method, to a background divided by a loose arrangement of cubes. The· painting begins to assume a relief::-lik.e shallowness. Furthermore, as a result of combining the effects of reductive analysis with the distortions of natural 23 form, a new freedom from precise representation is won and the composi tion gains importance as a self-contained structure.

But, characteristic of the work by Picasso observed thus far, there is a retention of qualities inherited from an older tradition of paint ing. Although other works from 1910 and 1911, such as the Portrait of

Kahnweiler, reach .a high degree of abstraction, the subject matter of the

Girl with. a Mandolin remains comparatively easy to identify •. It is dis torted like the others, but individual parts of the figure are stillmodeled as sculptural forms and cast-shadows appear throughout the composition.

As if to sustain the rounded forms in the figure / several.of the cubic shapes in the background appear to be drawn in perspective. This contri butes to the slight illusion of recession, already suggested by the dark area surrounding the figure, and· reveals a possible apprehension on the part of the artist to completely destroy the tact_ual qualities of solidity and spatial .extension. Although fading'· th~ impression .that an autono mous form exists within a volume of .space is still apparent.

Thus, as the first decade of the.new century ends / the painting of Picasso and the architecture of young Gropius attain compositional and

structural qualities unique to their .respective arts• But in both, new qual ities merge with conservative forms and are modified by tradition.

As we have seen, an important aspect of the Fagus Works building and of the Girl with a Mandolin is the way in which a traditionally closed 24 form begins to open. In Picasso's painting the component parts of dis- integrated objects and figures become transparent planes. Several of these planes are superimposed upon one another and are used to create the impression of multiple views. The vitality of this open effect is clearly illustrated in the painting L'Arlesienne from the summer of 1912. h Gropius demonstrates the process of piercing a. closed architectural form by joining two transparent planes at a comer where columns are omitted. When such a comer is viewed diagonally the two adjoining walls are seen simultaneously. Moreover / as is exemplified in the northwest comer of the Fagus Works, this transparent construction allows the observer a new comprehension of the interior structural forms and ·a greater realization of their exact position in space. Thus, in contrast to a building like Behrens' Turbine Factory, the composition of Gropius'

Fagus Works is not entirely closed. It no longer is based on a centripital movement in which outer structural forms seem drawn toward the center of an enclosed volume. Now interior structure, such as the concrete staircase, is exposed and begins to participate in an outward movement originating from within the· building.

The extended use of glass as a building material and the introduction of new forms in architectural composition marks the Fagus Works as an important advance toward the eventual development of Bauhaus Archi- tecture. This single building of 1911 anticipates the final style which is 25 to develop fifteen years latero However, as we observe, there are still

aspects of its total composition that continue an older form of architec-

tural designo This should be emphasized; for / in both architecture and painting, a point is now reached in our investigation where old and new

qualities of style are beginning to be cleariy.differentiatedo

In the architecture of the pre-war period, the· developing opposition between old and new structural forms is probably best exemplified 7 in a building erected for the Cologne Werkbund Exhibition in 19140 We refer to the model factory designed for the Deutz Motor Company by

Gropius (Plate VI). Like the Fagus Works~ the total structure is a complex of several parts which includes ari administration building, car-ports, a machine hall and a display pavilion. Unlike the earlier work, a single

7. The new structural forms developed in the architecture of Gropius by 1914 are the most progressive fo appear iri Europe before the war. While major works in the latter half of the nineteenth century were adapted to new structural materials; glass and iron were most often used in buildings of an ecclectic and academic nature, or were employed to demonstrate the great achievements of engineering. This is best exempli fied in the work of Eiffel. After 1900 reinforced concrete is extensively employed by Perret. But, following the Rue Franklin apartment house, Perret resorts to traditional ornamentation and a cathedral rose window appears on a concrete garage •. The Viennese architects Hoffmann and Loos compose structures of a clear and simplified design •. In fact, Loos' House on Lake Geneva, built in 1910, anticipates the development in a residen tial style of the 1920's. However, neither Hoffmann nor Loos take full advantage of the new structural concepts made possible by the introduc tion of modern materials. The same is true of the German architect, Hans Poelzig. No doubt the most advanced work to appear before that of Gropius is in two unrealized projects. These are the plans for a "Cite Industrielle" by Tony Garnier in 1904 and th·e designs for a "City of the Future11 by Sant' Elia in 1913. · 2'6 longitudinal axis extends from the main entranceway to the far end of the machine hallo The perfect symmetry of the facade is continued along the full length of the central axis with the exception of the display pavilion which is placed in the rear left corner of the rectangular plan. In con-

trast to the Fagus Works 1 where a unified composition is obviously of little concern, the separate structures of the model factory are related to one another by a repetition 9f basic shapes and contours in both plan and elevation.

A striking resemblance exists between the.ground plan-of this modern factory and the plan of an early Christian basilica. The court- yard in back of the office building assumes proportions almost identical to those of the atrium, while the elongated machine hall is reminiscent of the early nave. The octagonal pavilion, used to display a gas motor, corresponds to the chapel so often added to the nave of the original basil- 8 ica.

While the ground plan of the model factory may be associated with an age-old tradition of architectural design, there are other aspects of the building which are characteristic of the development first cited in the Weimar School of van de Velde. These include forms which arise from

8. One might interpret the use of the basilican plan for .Gropius• factory as an architectural expression of the devotion newly given to the machine, or as a symbol of the increasing dedication to technical progress in the industrial age. In the same sense 1 Behrens• Turbine Factory, which is outwardly classic in character 1 might be seen as an industrial temple. the reduction and reinstatement of traditional methods and materials to their original structural function, as well as forms conceivable only in

terms of modem invention and technology o For our purposes, we shall again concentrate our analysis on the main building of the factory where a precise differentiation of old and new architectural forms is most obvious.

As is the case in the Fagus Works, the quality that immediately attracts one 1 s attention in the office building of the .model factory is the extended use of glass. A glass-walled spiral staircase (Plate VII) projects from each end of the facade and initiates a transparent screen that

continues around the rear s.ide of the building. If viewed as isolated

segments of the structural composition, the cylindrical glass enclosure, the Spiral Staircase and the Cantilevered Steps I produce an adroit demon-

strational effect. The open display invites an inspection of the unusual

construction of a spiral staircase. It promotes a new understanding of how the major structural parts, such as the central column and the steps that wind their way around it, are related to each other and to the space through which they move. As Giedion describes it: "They seem like a movement seized and immobilized in space. 119

9. Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1947), p. 392. 28

Indeed, this transparent construction by Gropius may well be the

furthest conceivable development of its prototype established in the Fagus

Works. In the earlier· structure a conventional staircase is exposed by

a dematerialized glass comer. In the Cologne building the comer of a

closed rectangular form is not merely pierced, but all solid or opaque obstructions are eliminated and the staircase is moved out and away from the main body of the building to inhabit an independent stairwell. Here

it spirals freely on its own axis in its own self-produced area of space.

The space filled by this singular construction is not enclosed as

a volume in a container~ A new emphasis is given to the position of

solid objects in free space, rather than to the surface of a solid struc tural skin encircling a closed space. Moreover, the spatial segments· '

created between structural forms now take an active part in designating the relative positions of these forms. To repeat, space is no longer con

ceived as a static rectangular volume.

This relation of solid form to solid form and in tum their mutual

relationship to the space alternating between them becomes the major

point of interest in the spiral staircases of the Werkbund Exhibition.

Unlike the total structure by Behrens, the movement expressed in this

completely open and transparent construction has an expanding outward

direction, as is anticipated in the comer construction of the Fagus Works.

The observer has a tendency to repeat the process of structure from within, that is, from the central column to the surface and beyondo A centrifu-: gal movement is suggested which replaces a withdrawn centripital forceo

It is interesting to note that a statement made by Kahnweiler in reference to developed cubist painting also applies well to this open form of architectural construction:

Starting from the background tp.e artist now works toward the front (surface) by a sort of scheme of forms in which .each object1 s position is clearly indicated, both in relation to the definite background and to other objects o Such an arrange ment thus gives a clear and. plastic viewo .. IO

Thus far 1 we have concentrated our discussion of the office building on the construction and visual character of its spiral staircases o

If we extend our analysis to include the composition of the structure as . a whole, an important factor arises. It becomes. evident that the projecting transparent stairwells and the continuous glass area, existing on three sides of the building, have a tendency to be seen and analysed as a single free form, separate and distinct from the central body of the structure. Simply stated, the building is viewed as two distince parts: One

being an inner rectangular block-like form and the other, an outer trans-

parent cage-like structureo In relationship the two segments appear as if conceived - just as observed - in two succeeding steps.

lOo Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, The Rise of Cubism, trans. Henry

Aronson (New York, 1949) 1 Po llo 3:0

The transparent .section of the composition may be compared to a loosened girth, whose ends project beyond the front side of the structural body instead of completely encircling ito .This construction of glass extends sideways from the solid core of the building and is supported by thin horizontal and vertical ribs~ Also, it is covered by a flat roof of its owno So composed, it does not seem to attain complete unity with the

rest of the structure o. However 1 the more cle?rlY adjacent the two different structural forms appear the less tension exists between the fragil- ity of the one and the ponderous compressed weight of the othero

Thus 1 the duality 1 ·already apparent in the Fagus Works r.. of a traditionally closed form combined with a new open form is re_solved in a

single composition by separating th~ two extremes. In contrast to the earlier building, the Cologne structure allows a circumscribed volume of

space to exist in conjunction with an open and active spatial system without interference between the two o

Along with the division of structural forms 1 the. Cologne office building contains several qualities that reveal a continuation, but at the

same time a modification, of older- and' more conventional methods of designo As we observe, the originaLtrend in twentieth century architecture is to relieve a traditional form of structure of all extraneous and

decorative devices through a process of reductive analysiso Therefore" in van de Velde's building at Weimar denuded forms are engendered by 31

1 old principles o In Behliens · Turbine Factory, although its composition complies to tradition1 the inherent decorative potentialities ·of buildfog materials are promotedo Here ·one may compare the horizontal lines created by block resting upon block to the verticality of steel piers, or contrast the individual texture of one material to that of the othero Later, in the main building of Gropius' Fagus Works the textural qualities of brick are presented in simple geometric form and varied with the translu- cent character of the window areas o

This flat rectilinear simplicity is transformed in the Cologne' factory to a volumetric construction wherein bricks are used with a greater variation of pattern and texture. For example I the entranceway is flanked

- - -) ... by two rectangular volumes connected with a heavy lintel and construe- ted of rough-surfaced bricks o The rest of the facade consists of vertical bands of brick whose lighter color contrasts with the dark tone of the. entranceway o The rear wall of the building includes a brick constructed colonnade which is further contrasted, in both texture and mass, to the light-reflecting surface of the glass above o Thus, the two .opposing sections of the Cologne building are further separated by the surface enr~ch- ment of the central structure o The textural pattern of bricks· create a 32 11 sensuous tactile quality unattainable in glas.s and steel 0

During the period between the erection of the Fagus Works and the installation of the model factory at the. exhibition in Cologne, changes

also occur in Cubism, the leading movement ~f the structural trend , in

painting. Throughoutl910 and 1911 analytical disintegration of the sub~

ject matter is advanced to such a. degree of abstraction that the original object becomes almost unrecognized in the painting o The human figure is reduced to simple curves. and. straight lines which are often arranged

in a vertical and horizontal pattern. Suggestion of the third dimension

gradually diminishes as volumes are flattenedo Planes appear to be tilted.

and they create the effect of transparency or simultaneity o This reduc-

tive analytical process brings cubism, as Barr states 1 nnearer than ev.er 12 to an art of abstract designo 11

By 1912 the analytical approach.to· painting is so refined that an

autonomous cubist composition is created with little reference to anything outside of itself o When this point of development is reached, the

11 o The interest shown in. the text.ure of bricks, the tendency for volumes to interpenetrate .one another, and the feeling of horizontality, mainly caused by the broad extended eaves of the roof, are possible reasons for the frequent comparison of this building by Gropius to the. works of Frank Lloyd Wrighto A Berlin exhibition of all of Wright's work up to date and a publication of his portfolio entitled Ausgeftllirte Bauten und Entwtirfe (Studies and Executed Buildings) occurred in 19100 This may account for a possible influence of Wright at this time on architec tural design in Europe.

12 o Barr 1 op. cito / p. 730 33 cubists begin to look for a new directiono The direction. discovered is described by Barr:

Having almost completely abstracted painting from 'reality' o. othey introduce facsimiles of reality. into their pictures, by carefully painting in head-line size letters or imitation wood grain or nails .that look reaL Finally they brought in 'reality' itself by pasting odds a1l.~ ends of paper or other flat surfaces into their compositionso . · ·

Thus, a new direction is provided by the. collage which is

Again to quote Barr:

The latent structural or architectonic character of cubism had been apparent even in the analytical periodo. othanks. perhaps to the catalyzing effect of collage, Picasso began to explore three-dimensional structure at the very time cubis.t painting itself was growing more two dimensional. 14 . -

13. Ibido I Po 780 14. Ibid., pc. 860 34

In 1914 Picasso builds a wood construction called the Mandolin

(Plate Vb} o This work defies categorization; it lacks the completion and care usually associated with art and avoids the precision demanded by. crafto Moreover / it can be described as neither sculpture, painting; nor architectureo However, as an unframed free-standing composition that creates and divides areas of space, it invites comparison with an archi tectural structure o Therefore / let it be viewed in. relationship to our analysis of Gropius 1 factory erected in Cologne during the same year.

As is true of the building this cubist construction presents a duality between an old and new form of arto New to Picasso and new to the trend in painting with. which he is associated is,the composition of structural volumes in actual spaceo Unlike his early sculpture which is molded, Picasso now deals with an open form in which optical spatial relations are created with solid tactile· parts.

A similarity is apparent between this work and the spiral stair case construction of Gropiuso Both afford a clearer comprehension of the placement givei::i to each structural form,. and both proceed in concep tion and observation from an inner or interior form to an outer or exterior

compositional limito That is 1 both constructions. represent an outwardly directed movemento Also, the qualities of simultaneity and transparency are expressed in the two compositionso Parts of the 11 mandolinu are placed as if seen from the front; while other parts are shifted from their 3.5 logical location in the backo Or, the thin encircling supports of the glass wall and the spiraling steps cantilevered from the central column seem to repeat themselves simultaneously as if seen from different points at the same time o

Like the building as a whole, the construction of Picasso does reveal certain conventionalities of form inherited from the compositions . that preceed it. In style it resembles the flat paper _collages / many of which also represent stringed instruments. Furthermore, details of the mandolin are described with colored pigments. As does Gropius, Picasso reveals a concern for the expressive qualities of surface texture, which in the Mandolin are represented by the rough sawn wood and the natural graino These correspond to the roughness of brick used in the Cologne building.

Thus, again' there appears to be sufficient evidence to assert that the changes in the major trend of modem architecture are kindred to changes occuring in a corresponding trend in paintingo While the for mer are brought about in the work of Gropius, -the latter are once more instigated by Cubism and Picasso. The cubist and architectural· construc tions of 1914 seem to progress towards a new means of artistic expressiono

At the same time aspects of traditional forms and conservative methods of composition remain, having been propogated but _m9dified in the trend pre ceeding the work of 1914 by a process_ of reductive analysiso INAUGURATION OF THE BAUHAUS

From 1914 through 1918 the newly evolving forces· in art,, including the recent developments in architectural design, are generally abatedo In the case of Germany they are brought to a virtual standstill.

However 1 it is not to be. implied that the whole .development of European

art is halted. throughout the. years of World War I. :On: the contrary 1 ex perimentation continues .in isolated and neutral sections of the continent and advances are produced that have,, as we shall later see, a.definite bearing on the direction of our investigationo

In the Spring of 1919 Walter Gropius, after having returned from the war, assumed control of van deVelde's Weimar School of Arts and

Crafts and of the Weimar Academy of Fine Arts o .These he combined under the name of Das Staatliche Bauhaus Weimar. If the history of .a style were to follow a consistent sequence .of development, one.might assume that at this moment the Jines of departure would.. have been drawn.for a final, decisive stage in the evolvement of a Bauhaus Architecture. By

1914 the development ending in the work .of Gropius already. seemed to have reached a point where the old and the new in architecture were clearly differentiatedo Of .course,, diversions in a trend may be expected 36 37

to accompany an interruption of severa~ years o But, one could logically

conceive of new qualities successfully introduced before the war1 being further developed soon after the war o Let us see what occurs o

During the first two years of its establishment very few, if any,

architectural projects were completed by the Bauhaus except for possible

classroom exercises o Probably, this is. due. in part to the organization

of courses and requirements which.proceeded from a preliminary program

of elementary design to an eventual specialization.in architectureo .Since

several years of apprenticeship were required before a student was con

sidered sufficiently advanced to graduate to the study of architecture,. it

is doubtful that the architectural department would have been an active

part of the Bauhaus during its earliest years of existenceo As for Gropius himself,. his initial administrative duties as .director probably occupied

the greatest part of his time and efforts during. a period of organization in

the new school o

Therefore, it is not until 1921 that any major project in architec

ture can be reportedo .. It is .in this year that Gropius produces two works:

one, a concrete monument in Weimar and the other1 a residence in Berlino

The monument (Plate VIIIb) is dominated by a jagged angular pro

jection that thrusts upward from an. erratic arrangement of cubistic .. forms

embracing the eartho. The ..·thrust and.counterthrust of mass and diagonal

line accelerate. a single direction of movement that is propelled forward 38 with a driving energy / similar in. effect to the ,striding figure by the

Futurist sculptor / Boccionio

It also resemb~es the woodcut by .Lyonel Feininger (Plate IX a) 1 printed on the cover of the first Bauhaus proclamation of 1919; .and the.

"cubic compositionn of Johannes Itten (Plate IXb) / done during the same year o All three have a pyramidical arrangement of geometric forms placed one on top of the other o Each work retains a major axis; although Gropius and Itten allow the placement of solid forms to. deviate from strict sym metry o In both, an upward diagonal movement ends in a suspended tri'."'"· angular fragment which serves as a climax to a dynamic composition ~xpres sed in heavy static materials.

-The tension between motion and repose appearing.in the monument is comparable to the duality of composition in the· Cologne office building o ·

There / solid tactile volumes are opposed to the open spiral staircases 1 moving freely through spaceo In both the monument and the building, re straint is combined -with a bold.and dramatic use.of the unexpectedo ..

The second work by Gropius of 1921 is the Sommerfeld .. House in

Berlin (Plate VIII.a) o Except for a rugged stone foundation the house is

constructed entirely of unplaned logs 1 which contribute their inherent tex ture and grain to the surface enrichment of the building. The facade ad heres to the perfect balance of a: symmetrical plan and complements the horizontality. created by the projecting roof and the wide porch. 39

The extended eaves and the deep-set entranceway are reminiscent

of the Cologne office building. But perhaps more significant than .any

other mutual characteristic of the two structures is the use of a closed

form and the retention of a circumscribed volume of space. The Sommer feld house is denied the open transparent construction of the spiral .stair

cases of 1914 and does not even share in a development of the pierced form introduced in the Fagus Works" The blockhouse returns. to the volu

metric concept of space and closes its log-constructed walls around a·

dark interior o

None of the advances in the use of new building materials or in.

the use of new structural forms are continued in the Berlin residence a

Its composition represents complete dependence on a traditional well

tested formula of construction, and its presence at this juncture of .our

inquiry into a potential Bauhaus Architecture. seems completely anachro.n-

istic.

If a consistent sequence of style were fulfilled soon after the war

by Gropius and his newly established Bauhaus, it might have been deCi

sive in the final growth of a progressive form of architectureo As it

happened, the advanced qualities of composition and constructioni dis

tilled and separated from the reduced forms of traditional architectural

design, are relinquished in the first structures of the school. The initial

work of Gropius after his return. in 1919 reveals an obvious departure from

the advanced trend reached in his pre-war period o 40

Perhaps the monument in: Weimar and the residence in Berlin were

conditioned by an artistic climate ·of change and indecision; or perhaps

they were created with a post-war. appeal to emotion and retrogressiono

Certainly the erratic composition of the futurist-like monument and the

retrogressive structure of the rustic blockhouse signify an.obvious emotion-

alismo But,. appearing in the early. years of the Weimar. Bauhaus 1 they

are not alone. in this respect for even the foundation and organization of

the school itself is not free of emotional undertones o

On the one hand, the basic idea of the Bauhaus - to combine -the

theoretical curriculum of an art.academy with the practical curriculum of

an arts and crafts school - does not abide by a;n.y .well-established type 15 or traditiono On the other hand, the conception of integration, as. ex-

plained and presented by Gropius, is characterized. by a rather romantic

idealismo Reminiscent of William· Morris, Gropius advises. all Bauhaus

artists to join together as 11 exalted craftsmen11 and work and.live in unityo

150 The Bauhaus idea of combining fine and applied arts in one_ school is anticipated iri' the kuristgewerbeschule founded in ·Weimar by Gropius• predecessor, Henry van de Veldeo Its purpose was to raise the artistic level of design in the 'manufactures and crafts' o{ the' province. Also, the program of the Vchutemas, created by revolutionary Russian artists to 'replace the. Imperial Academy I is reported to have been similar to the Bauhaus o · 41

He writes in the first proclamation of the Weimar Bauhaus:

Let us create a new guild of craftsmen,,-without the class distinc tions which raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and. artist o Together let us conceive and create the new building of the future - which will rise one day toward heaven from the hands of a million workers like the crystal symbol of a new faith.16 -

Indeed,, this proclamation sounds like. an emotional. appeal to restore the old romantic concept of the family of craftsmen,, believed to have con'."" structed the Gothic cathedral in perfect unison.

Even the name Bauhaus is reminiscent of the old German Bauh\Ute 1

the medieval guilds of builders 1 artists 1 and masons who had their own statutes and who pledged themselves to keep the mystic secrets of. their

artistic laws o In the. same sense 1 the nomenclature used among the Bau- haus student body and faculty, ·which includes 11 apprentices,n journeymen" and 11 masters,11 might be interpreted as a sentimental reverence of guild traditiono

Alongside these verbal references to the German past and tradition,

Gropius• log-constructed house appears to be a logical part of the general romantic tenor in the school's early yearso In fact, the house is indeed similar in many respects to the traditional·Bauernhaus so familiar to th.e romantic German countryside o ·

16 o Walter Gropius, Programm des · Staatlichen Bauhauses in Weimar, (Weimar, 1919), as quoted in Bauhaus 1919-1928 (New York, 1938) I Po 160 42

Romanticism is also a feature of the Expressionist movement which rises to a new height in the post-war periodo Part and partial to an artistic expressionism are the Dadist and the Surrealists o In common with the·

Expressionists, they discover an oftentimes vague approach to art in highly subjective and emotional experimentation through which an attempt is made to present personal romantic views o Rf?presentative of .this general approach are at least three members of.the Bauhaus faculty; Paul Klee who arrives in 1921, Wassily Kandinsky who comes a year later, and Johanne.s

Itten who is brought to the Bauhaus at its very beginning o .In a. new school proclaimed by its founder to be dedicated to the ideal of a total work .of:

art and to the building of the future - prohibiting, as in the Middle Ages 1

representation of personal styles. - the presence of these three' individual- istic artists seems paradoxical indeedo

This is especially true of Johannes Itten, a Swiss expressionist and mystic employed as early as 1919 to instruct the introductory course of designo Although less .well-known than either Klee oz: Kandinsky., Itten. displayed the greatest novelty as a teacher. In general his approach to the training of art was to eliminate· the development of reason and to lay stress on the 11 spiritual11 powers of the intuitiono His methods are best reported by one of his students who states: 43

Itten's. teaching was part of the mysticism that swept over Germany in 1920-2i o It was based on the assumption that man will be part of the .cosmos if he acts .creatively direqtly. from the subconscious,, eliminating reasoning powers .17

Dr o von Erffa goes on to tell of the several mystics invited to the classroom of Itten, of the physical exercises and dances employed to reveal "the structure of the whole world of realities, .. and also of a new diet introduced by Itten to the Bauhaus kitchen which was supposed to . 18 make his students spiritualo

As for the actual work produced in the early years of the Bauhaus, it could not escape being affected by the romantic expressionism infil- trating the classrooms o Von Erffa says:

Gropius 1 and Itten's insistence on breaking with tradition and their anxiety to free students from the dead weight of convention .. resulted at first in shapeless monstrosities. o .19

Perhaps one cannot be so harsh as to judge Gropius' monument in Weimar a "shapeless mostrosity o11 But, it cannot be denied that in its self- conscious departure from the conventions of form used in most public memorials, the jagged concrete monument becomes somewhat harsh in emotion and extremely expressionistic in style o On the other hand, the

Sommerfeld blockhouse is romantic in conception and designo It resorts to a homely primitive source to which Gropius must have referred for a

17 o Helmut von Erffa, "The Bauhaus Before 1922, 11 Art Journal, III (November, 1943), Po 16. 180 Ibido I PP•· 16-180 19 • Ibid. I Po 19 o 44 modelo As a critical judgement of the artistic value of this house, it is interesting to note that Gropius himself does not include it in his Bauhaus

Book, International Architecture, as an example of architecture to be com 2 mendedo O He does / however / include his two pre..:~ar buildings: the

Fagus Works and the Model Factory at the Cologne Exhibitiono

Other less important works produced in the early Weimar Bauhaus by masters and students alike include pottery / weaving / wood-working / and design, most of which reveal the same romantic or expressionistic quality characterized in the earliest post-war work of the school's directoro

Thus it becomes apparent that the. first crucial years of the Bauhaus are years marked by a conflict in ideas and aims. The tense situation may be explained as the normal aftermath of war, or in the case of an art school, as the inescapable consequence of trying to establish a point of departure in an art world infested with !numerable. approaches and opinions o

Whatever the reason, it is obvious that the early work of the Bauhaus, and most important the first work of Gropius / reveals either an emotional and expressionistic state of mind or a retrogressive and romantic outlook on art and life o Even the foundation and organization of the school itself fail to escape being emotionally conceived and directed. Much of the classroom instruction and some of the Bauhaus artists and their work are

20 o Walter Gropius / Internationale Architektur (Munich, 1925) o 45 at the time touched by a vague mysticism. This seems incongruous with a school planning to produce model implements and furnishings for indus trial mass production.

But these are-merely some of the symptoms of the dilemma~ For our purposes the most important factor is the departure,. or perhaps even escape, from the continuation of an architectural trend clearly outlined in Gropius' pre-war buildings o This represents the basis of a conflict that had to be resolved if the Bauhaus was to assume its inherited respon

sibility of contributing to an evolution ·of architecture truly expressive of the modem industrial age o

In the beginning, Bauhaus art and architecture is ingrowno Perhaps a supplementary nutriment is needed, such as the influence of another movement in art which might foster a progressive stylistic development.

It could encourage a resumption of the new trend in architecture reached by Gropius before the war, and help define the logical role to be played

by the Bauhaus in bringing this trend to some conclusion, to a true Bauhaus

Architecture •

What was this influence to be? Where in the complex condition of the art world was a movement being pursued that could provide a definite

direction to follow and which would complement that proposed in an idealis tic proclamation ? In short, how was the early conflict apparent in Bauhaus

Architecture to be overcome? 46

In answering these questions we shall again tum .our inquiry to painting o This we do not only to compare architectural composition to. pictorial composition. as a means of demonstrating a mutual change in form and structure, but to investigate the possibilitj.es of an even. more intimate relationship, and perhaps of an interdependence between the

two arts 1 which in this case may provide a key to the source and sub'."" stance of a final style in Bauhaus Architecture o NEO-PIASTICISM

The trend in painting to which we tum is a continuation of that recognized in the early work of Picasso and brought to a climax in cubism. In general, it is represented by that painting which devotes its craft to a reductive analysis of structure and composition.

A quest for the clearest application of these basic elements con tinues in a movement following the. so-called classic or developed phase of analytical cubism. Because of the source of its initial experiments, because of the ultimate direction it assumes at the height of its develop ment, and finally because the newly found Bauhaus comes into actual contact with its inevitable manifestation, this art movement is of the highest significance to the culmination of a Bauhaus Architecture and, therefore, to the conclusion of this essay.

The originator of the movement, the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian,

begins his career 1 as does Picasso and most other painters of his gene ration, in a representational style. In 1910, following a period in which he paints with unnatural colors and nervous flat patterns similar in method

to the Fauves 1 Mondrian encounters cubismo From this time on he follows a single direction guided by a precise analytical method that reduces 47 48 painting to its simplest structural terms o Mondrian describes. this devel opment of approximately five years as an attempt to follow "the ultimate consequence of Cezanne•s desire to reduce the natural form to its geo 2 metric elements .. 11 O

The cubist tradition, as we see inthe development of Picasso's painting from 1906, reaches a climactic stage by 1911 in the final phase of analytical cubism. This is primarily an art of formo Practically all· vestiges of natural appearance have by this time been analysed and re duced from the original subject matter. Remaining is an increasingly flat composition in which planes and lines are generally arranged ·in an ordered vertical and horizontal patterno

From this already high degree of abstraction, Mondrian continues. with the established process of reductive analysis and eliminates :the last remnants of reality from his works o.. The logic of his transformation from a representational to a non-figurative art can be tested and judged by· studying such series as "The Trees" or 11 The Church Facadeso" As antici

1 pated in the mo st abstract of the cubists paintings 1 Mondrian begins / :or

rather resumes 1 the process of further clarifying the inter-relationship of increasingly precise structural forms o As we shall soon discuss / any thing that may impede an objective realization of harmonious relationships must be excluded from Mondrian's approach to painting o

200 Ho Lo Co Jaffe' 1 de Stijl (Amsterdam, 1956) / Po 480 49

Since the work of Picasso. has thus far played an important role in our investigation, let us briefly trace the direction he takes after analy tical cubism, before we continue with Mondriano · As a means of compari son, his development should enable us to analyse more clearly the signi

ficance of the structural trend continued in Mondrian's painting. For 1 unlike Mondrian•s departure from the level of abstraction realized in ana lytical cubist paintings, Picasso follows by seeking a new medium. This tends to lead him away from painting itself; but he returns, and develops an approach to representation which varies in degree of realism during the years to follow o

The new medium is discovered in the form of collage and synthetic painting which initiates the use of materials such as paper, oil cloth, rope, wood graining / etc o As if apprehensive of following the direction suggested by analytical cubism towards strictly non-figurative painting, this use of actual material stuff seems to relieve a tension between the problems of building a composition from elemental structural forms and

the problem of representing a familiar objecto In this case 11 the familiar · object is presented in actuality and is perhaps intended to be seen as separate and distinct from the abstract composition in which it takes parto

As believed by some, this method should allow the province of realism to exist side by side with the realm of abstraction, acting independently, so to speak, as two paintings in one. 50

However 1 the collage adulterates and destroys the technical integ rity of painting, held sacred. by artists for hundreds of years o In such · works of art the use of materials other than pigment disqualifies them as . paintings, in the traditional sense of the word. Perhaps this is the reason

Picasso goes a step further and transforms the collage into a three dimensional constructiono The Mandolin of 1914 can no longer .be consi dered a painting at all, except for the similarity of its subject matter to that of several paintings and collages done at approximately the same timeo

In 1915 some of Picasso's work takes a radical and at the same time retrogressive tumo Although he does not abandon synthetic cubism,

which reaches its height in The Three Musicians painted six years later 1 at the same time Picasso does return to an often conservative form oL realismo For almost a decade Picasso creates representational art dia metrically opposed to the work being done by Mondrian· during the same .

periodo This reversal of direction produces realistic pencil portraits 1

precise line drawings 1 elaborate figure compositions 1 as well as costume and stage designs for the ballet and theatre o

Finally 1 Picasso. enters a "neo-classical" phase during which a retrogression of style reaches an anti""."climaxo For example, in 1920 he paints the Two Seated Women (Plate X a) which is reminiscent of the Two

Nudes of 19060 The huge massive forms are placed symmetrically within a closed rectangle of space and are composed of planes which appear to 51

be acted upon by light falling from above. Thus 1 it is. evident that ,. ' '

Gropius 1 who in the following year builds the Sommerfeld Ho;ise 1 is not alone in reverting to an early traditional formula of composition - Picasso accompanies himo

In cortrast to Picasso 1 Mondrian considers it his responsibility in the development of a modem art to discover a new level of objectivity. from which subjective expression can be greatly excluded. In all art . .

Mondrian recognizes two tendencies in opposition to each other o First, there is an objective representation of beauty which results from the use of form and color in mutually balanced relations o Second, there is a subjective statement of what the artist or the observer experience~ by means of these forms, colors and relationso . The two tendencies are particularly opposed to each other in figurative arto

It is Mondrian's belief that the purest representation of beauty is only possible by an objective use of the constructive elements and th.at this aim is hindered by any simultaneous attempt to express a particular . . . feeling or emotiono To reach the highest possible level of objectivity,

Mondrian reduces the means of painting to their most elementary and neutral formo Therefore, he first limits himself to "the free Une and the pure color." Even these elements, he must admit, are not absolut,ely neutral in effect and he states: 52

Among the different forms 1 we may consider those as being neutral which have neither the complexity nor the particularities possessed by natural forms o We may call those neutral which do not evoke individual feelings or ideas o21

In order to discuss the neutrality of his elemental forms as well

as their composition in his painting 1 Mondrian incorporates the term

11 plastic" into his vocabulary of theory o As translated from the original

Dutch word Beelding which is equivalent to the German word Bildung and derived from the verb bilden , 11 plastic11 means to form or to shape o In this sense the term describes a formative or creative act, as in the

11 "plastic force of nature 1 and may be applied in general to any artistic process of composition and constructiono Therefore, to distinguish his art from traditional figurative art or even from cubism, which always remains representational, Mondrian qualifies his method as being not merely plastic in process but also 11 pureo 11 He considers the neutral plastic elements of a straight line and a primary color as being reduced to their purist form when used to create a •ipure plasticn composition without subjective feeling and conceptiono

To make an abstract painting as objective or as neutral as possible, Mondrian gradually devises a composition in which free straight lines and primary colors are placed in a constant geometric arrangement o

The danger of reducing a composition and its component structural parts

11 11 21. Mondrian, Plastic Art and Pure Plastic Art, OPoCito I p. 510 53 to a geometrical constancy lies in the inclination to create a static formula or patterno For this reason, the task of the artist.to construct and compose the elements and forms in a pure plastic painting becomes more

critical than usualo As Mondrian asserts 1 the structural parts must be arranged in rhythmic: relationship or in umutual inter-action" so as to express a dynamic and not a static equilibriumo

Basic to Mondrian's thinking, he judges a painting in terms of

11 the equivalence of its opposites o" That is 1 he considers a dynamic equilibrium to have been realized if a condition of stability is in balanced opposition to a quality of change. On the one hand, he says, "Since the relation of the rectangular position is constant, it will be applied when- ' 22' ever the work demands the expression of stability • 11 To establish a fixed and stable position, straight vertical and horizontal lines intersect one another and in doing so, determine the outlines of a rectangle

(Plate X b). On the other hand, to avoid an ornamental or patterned repi- tition, the several rectangles that appear in a composition are varied in size o Their different dimensions in contrast to one another are meant to create a dynamic relationship in opposition to the static relationship of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines. Mondrian states:

I found that the right angle is the only constant relationship, and that, through the proportions of dimension, its consta"nt expression can be given movement. (Thus) When dynamic

2 2 • Ibid. I p. 5 7 • 54

movement is established through contrasts .or oppositions of the expressive means, relationship becomes the chief~reoccupation of the artist who is seeking to create. equilibrium. 3 ·

Relationship and equilibrium are not treated by Mondrian without including a corresponding consideration. of space, which he sees as an important part of pure· plastic problems. However, space is not to be expressed in illusory extensions of depth or in .closed volumes, but is

"transposed in abstract form" It is determined by verticals and horizon- tals and designated by the use of .color and non-color. Space becomes white, black or grey and solid forms become red, blue, or yellow. To further explain his conception of space Mondrian writes:

In architecture three-dimensional construction is inevitable, but in painting space has to be reduced to two-dimensional appear ance. The action of plastic art is not space expression but com plete space determination. Space determination is here under stood as dividing ,empty space into unequal but equivalent parts by means of forms and lines. It is not understood as space limitation ... 24

Therefore, by extensively reducing the elemental means of painting to simplified geometric shapes and by purifying their composition, Mondrian places an even greater emphasis on the positions and mutual inter-relations of structural parts in an abstract form of space. As is anticipated in such analytical cubist paintings as Picasso's Girl With a Mandolin or as revealed in the spiral staircase construction of Gropius' Cologne factory, Mondrian's

23. Mondrian, "Toward the True Vision of Reality, 11 OPo cit., Po 10. 240 Mondrian, uA New Realism,1' op. cit., pp. 19-20. 55 pure plastic compositions extend .the possibility of clearly locating the placement of solid forms in relation to each other and in relation to the segments of space they determineo

Mondrian summarizes the complete evolution of his art by stating:

We have already .seen that the culture of plastic art, from its

origins 1 shows a progressive determination of relationships 1 until today relationship can be established only through the elements of form, purified color, and determined space. On the other hand, .we see a progressive reduction of forms .and colors and a growing determination of space. 25

Thus, in continuing the reductive analytical process abandoned by Cubism, the development in abstract painting led by Mondrian progres- sively replaces a symmetrical composition of representational forms with an assymmetrical composition of neutral constructive forms. As for content, it is now identified with the process and form of structure and composition. As a pure abstraction, the content may be interpreted in numer-

ous ways. For example 1 Mondrian contends that his paintings contain a symbolic dualism in which a mutable or 11 individual reality" is represented in contrast to an immutable or 11 universal reality. 11

It is Mondrian's penchant for using an aesthetic of abstract art as a basis for a broader philosophical system that distinguishes him from the

second most predominant figure in the development of pure plastic painting 1

Theo van Does burg. During the war, van Does burg 1 a Dutch painter and

25. Mondrian, "Liberation From Oppression in.Art and Life," op. cit. I Po 44. 56 writer, reduces naturalistic studies to a geometric composition of ver tical and horizontal lines· similar in style to. the works of Mondrian.

Together the two paii:-ters form a small group of artists and architects to which they give the name de Stijl. As a means of publicizing"their art, now called" new" or 11 neo-Plasticism, 11 the magazine De Stijl ·is first published in 1917 and edited by van Doesburg.

At this. time, pure plastic, or rather, neo-plastic painting reaches the height of its development. Let us now see what direction the move ment is to assume and how this direction is of possible significance to the architecture of the Bauhaus.

In the first three years of de Stijl' s existence, Mondrian plays a leading role by writing numerous long articles for their periodical. The purpose of the movement seems to be fulfilled. However, dissention does arise soon after its foundation and the three original Stijl architects, including J. J.P. Oud, drift away from the group. According to Jaffe', this estrangement results from personal disagreement over the concentration of de Stijl on pictorial problems, which at the time are strongly dominated by the metaphysics of Mondrian. 26 Finally, in 1920 van Doesburg and

Mondrian separate; van Doesburg going to Germany and Mondrian, back to Piariso

26. Jaffe', op. cit., p. 1600 57

While Mondrian is a prolific art theorist who constructs a general system of philosophy on the basis of neo-plasticism, van Doesburg is much more the active propagandist who promotes a concrete materializa- tion of the principles in the movement. Mondrian goes beyond his painting to contemplate a future nuberation from oppression in art and life11 or to look speculatively "toward the true vision of reality. 11 On the other hand, van Doesburg does not concern himself with' the speculation of an absolute ideal in art, life and the universe. He views neo-plasticism as a point of departure from which to establish a more tangible form of art, based on the laws of construction and composition evolved in painting. These laws, he asserts, must be examined scientifically and defined by experience rather than by "speculative universalismo 1127

Both Mondrian and van Doesburg go outside the limits of painting to seek a corresponding system or form. In general~ they follow the direction of many artists, who in creating an artistic language suggest translations other than those obviously signified within the. works themselves.

From this point of view, the speculative philosophy translated by Mondrian from the vocabulary of neo-plastic painting is no more unique than the mystical spiritualism recognized by Kandinsky in his art.

27. Theo van Doesburg, De Stijl, VI (1923), 89, as quoted in H. L.C. Janne', ,de Stijl ·(Amsterdam, 1956), Po 153. 58

However, one choice of direction confronting the painter of purely abstract art is unparalleled in representational painting o As will be dis cussed, this direction goes beyond the limits of painting to such an extent that it seems to lead to the abandonment of this medium as a con tributory factor to a progressive growth of art.

This is especially true of a trend in abstract painting that adopts as its method the reduction and analysis of all structural elements and forms o As is anticipated in analytical cubism and realized in neo-plasti cism, such a trend reaches a realm of abstraction wherein the problems of composition are reduced to the task of inter-relating the dimensions. and positions of geometric shapes. If a reduction of the composition were to be persistently continued,· it would possibly result in the eventual elimination of the painting itself. Perhaps this is best exemplified by the

Russian Suprematist Malevitch, when he finally paints a white square on a white canvas. It is obvious that the next step of reduction would be to display merely the untouched canvas alone.

Thus, the composition of non-figurative painting may reach such an extreme level of abstraction that a further extension of its development becomes virtually impossible o Either the problems of composition remain ing are repeated and solved over and over again, or a completely different direction is decided upon. On the one hand,_ a reversion to representational painting may be made. On the other hand, the principles of composition 59 discovered in the analytical process of abstraction may be applied to

some other medium of art.

By the end of the second decade of the century nee-plastic paint

ing develops an unprecedented form of abstract art. In the fifth de Stijl

manifesto of 19 2 3 1 van Doe sburg, looking back upon the movement 1 recommends that what he sees as a 11 period of destruction" must be closed. He strongly suggests that the principles of composition developed by neo-plasticism should serve to initiate a 11 new period of construction. 1128

As the manifesto implies, the trend advanced by Picasso and continued by

Mondrian is to extend its range of activity beyond the limits of painting o

For it is van Doesburg1 s decision to investigate another medium, one of three-dimensional composition.

After his separation from Mondrian in 1920 1 van Doesburg experi ments with compositions of space-division that are constructed of mater ials alien to the techniques of painting but related to the art of building.

Unlike the cubist construction of Picasso, the constructions of van

Doesburg are plastic manifestations of purely abstract and geometrical forms. The similarity between these architectonic constructions and a building is not accidental. Because, the practical minded van Doesburg

considers the logical extension of neo-plasticism to be the development

28. Van Doesburg, De Stijl, VI (1923}, 91, op. cit., p. 149. 60 of a utilitarian structure, that is, of a new form of human environment.

Therefore, he states:

Only in our time the leading art - painting - has ever indicated the way which architecture has to goo 29 By a consistent pursuit and development of this complementary union of architecture and painting it will be possible to place man amid, instead of oppo site to, plastic art, thereby letting him take part in it. 30 .

Even the more philosophical Mondrian suggests that a new aesthetic could be deduced from the principles of pure plastic painting for one's actual environment. He says, uArchitecture has only to realize in tangible reality what painting has demonstrated abstractly in neo-plasticism ...:n

What is more surprising, Mondrian also recognizes the possibility of aban- doning pure abstract painting for a more purposeful direction. He writes:

If people, who felt attracted towards neo-plasticism, would have their interiors designed accordingly, the nee-plastic painting could vanish gradually; neo-plasticism is even more really alive when 1around1 us. 32 In the future, the realization of pure ~iastic expression in palpable reality will replace the work of art. 3 ·

Thus, having reduced the limits of abstract art to an extremely simplified form, neo-plasticism opens the. way for an extension of purely structural painting to three-dimensional composition. Van Doesburg clearly proposes that the new period of construction should influence the development of architecture, and Mondrian suggests that it be based on the principles of pure plastic arto

290 Van Doesburg, De Stijl, VI (1923), 11, op.cit., p. 161. 30. Van Doesburg, De Stijl, II, 12~ OPo cit., p. 156. 31. Mondrian, De Stijl, III, 30, op. cit., p.161o 32. Mondrian, De Stijl, III, 58-59, op. cit., PPo 162-163. 11 33. Mondrian, Pure Plastic Art, 11 Plastic Art and Pure Plastic Art (New York, 1945), p. 32. 61

With the disbandment of the original de Stijl group, van Does burg carries these ideas of a constructive art to Germany. In the Summer of

1921 he installs the editing office of De Stijl in Weimar and in the follow ing year opens a 11 Stijl11 course which was to be attended by students from the Bauhaus. In 1924 an exhibition of de Stijl architectural design is brought from Paris to Weimar and in 1926 an essay by van Doesburg is republished as the Bauhaus Book entitled The Basic Principles of the

New Formative Art.

In order to judge the importance of van Doesburg1 s presence, let us now analyse the architecture. of the Weimar Bauhaus after 1921 to .see how much it is influenced by the art of neo-plasticismo CULMINATION OF BAUHAUS ARCHITECTURE

Following Gropius' expressionistic monument and romantic blockhouse few architectural projects go beyond the. planning stage until the

Bauhaus moves from Weimar to Dessau in 19240 With the exception of a municipal theater in Jena, remodeled by Gropius and Meyer, no building is actually worked on until a small experimental house is constructed in the autumn of 1923. This house marks the end of a period of experimentation in residential design.

The aim of the first project in architecture after the completion of the Sommerfeld House is, interestingly enough, to develop a scheme for constructing a series of houses from standardized units. The separate units are thought of as rectangular "volumes of space, 11 or RaumkBrper, which vary in dimension and proportiono With these basic volumes yaria- tions of houses could be constructed in different sizes to fulfill the individual requirements of those to be housed (Plate XI a) o As long as only the major volumetric units were standardized, the residences of a community 34 would have a common character and yet would not be monotonous in formo

34. Gropius, 11 Wbhnhaus-Industrie,n Ein Versuchshaus des Bauhauses (Munich, 1925), pp. 5-14.

62 63

At least three projects for houses are designed in 1922. The first comes to us in the form of a model designed by Gropius and Meyer

(Plate XI b), while the other two are perspective drawings by an advanced student of architecture named Farkas Molnar (Plate XII). All three of the projects consist of very plain rectangular volumes o These are either placed side by side or are stacked one on top of the other like wooden blocks. In the case of Molnar's project, "The Red Cube11 (Plate XII a), the house is, as its name implies, a mere ,box to live in, painted in the most radiant of primary colors.

Indeed, each composition complies to the basic demands of neo- plastic principles. This is demonstrated by their obvious resemblance to the "Model of a House" (Plate XIIIa) or to the 11 Scheme for an Archi- tecture11 (Plate XIII b) designed by van Does burg and his collaborator, van

Eesteren. Straight, unbroken, vertical and horizontal lines establish precise right-angle relations throughout the compositions. In c,ontrast, the dimensions and positions of the predominant volumes are· varied enough to establish an interaction of movement. For example, the top volumes, or stories, of the project for a wood frame house (Plate XIIb) 0 ' by Molnar appear to be pushed off center so that each one extends over the volume beneath it •. This is a device used by van Doesburg in his constructions. 64

In general., the three projects answer to the principle of 11 simpli city in multiplicity" that Gropius affirms as a guide to every architect., 35 and their flexible arrangement of pure forms achieves what Mondrian terms an 11 equivalence of opposites. 11 Therefore., as we shall discuss

further 1 the restrictions of symmetrical balance give way to a new emphasis of dynamic relationship. A group of structural forms is no longer contained by a closed plan but is free to expand from a central point.

Nevertheless, compared to Gropius' monument and blockhouse, or even to the Cologne office building, the architecture of the Weimar

Bauhaus after 1921 is characterized by a complete reduction of the individual structural forms to an unprecedented simplicity. All qualities of personal expression are abandoned, including an interest in the variation of surface textures. Nothing remains to interfere with an objective pre- sentation of pure architectonic constructions. This re-orientation is clearly emphasized in the municipal theater at Jena (Plate XIV a) and in the so-called 11 Haus am Hcrn 11 (Plate XIV b), erected for the first Bauhaus

Exhibition in 1923. Unlike the Sommerfeld House, there is an impassive use of materials in both structures. Smooth white surfaces are interrup- ted only by the fewest openings necessary. The experimental house is perfectly square in plan and its one point of interest is an extra high central living room which rises out of a flat roof.

35. Gropius, 11 The Theory and Organization of the Bauhaus ; 11 Bauhaus 1919-1928 (2nd ed.; New York, 1952), p. 28. 65

At the time the 11 Haus am Hom11 is constructed, Gropius explains the new architecture as follows:

We want to create a clear, organic architecture, whose. inner logic will be radiant and naked, unencumbered by lying facades and trickeries -- an architecture whose function is clearly recognizable in the relation of its formso 36

Even the vocabulary of this precise statement contrasts to the romantic fervor expressed in the first Bauhaus Proclamation of 1919.

Thus, it is apparent that the architecture of the Bauhaus, aban- doning as it does the romantic expressionism of its early years, develops a severe form of structure closely related to the neo-plastic principles of composition and construction introduced to Weimar by van Doesburg.

Any extraneous quality that might interfere with the realization of objective standardized architecture is eliminated. A consistent use of right angles and rectangular volumes reduces structure to the unprecidented simplicity of a pure plastic painting o Therefore, in view of the architecture produced after 1921 it is difficult to realize that the Bauhaus ever had anything to do with Expressionism and mysticism.

In a sense, the development of Bauhaus architecture in Weimar repeats the development we observed in the first decade of the century.

As then, it changes from a traditional form to an increasingly simplified

36. Gropius, !dee und Aufbau des Staatliches Bauhauses, Weimar

(Munich, 1923) 1 p. 9. 66 formo This tends to defeat a romantic attachment to the past and clears a way for the future growth of a new architecture.

One of the most progressive advances made in Weimar is in regard to the architect's task of relating a number of structures or parts of structures within a single composition. Since the structural form is reduced to an extreme of simplicity, relationship becomes a major factor in avoid- ing monotonous patterns.. This is discovered in neo-plas~icism. Sym- metrical balance does not succeed in overcoming static repetition;' therefore, a rhythmic as symmetrical balance must be devised. In opposition to the carefullyI balanced symmetry promoted in his Cologne Model

Factory, Gropius writes the following in 1923:'

The symmetrical relationship of parts of the building and their orientation toward a central axis is being replaced by a new con ception of equilibrium which transmutes this dead symmetrg'. of similar parts into an assymetrical but rhythmical balance. 7

Still another aspect of the architecture produced by the Weimar

Bauhaus demands our attention. This is its use of space. The theater and the "Haus am Horn" are severe unadorned shelters in which spatial construction remains enclosed by four solid walls. As for the unfinished projects, a distinction seems to be made between the. treatment of exterior space" and the use of interior space. A quality of movement around rhythmically placed volumes and through the intervals which they create

37. Ibid. I p. 9. 67

is perceivedo It is determined by the various sizes and positions of

structural forms. Consequently, the immediate space surrounding the

projects would become an active element in each composition, just as

it is in the structure of a spiral staircase. However, the spatial arrange-

ment of the projects does not permit a continuous movement throughout.

That is, exterior and interior are not articulated by a fluid use of space.

The rectangular RaumkBrper are planned as a variety of different sized

spatial units, but they are impenetrable. The "volumes of space11 within ·

are as impassively employed as the materials that are to enclose them.

This quality of space is also related in conception to the princi-

ples of nee-plastic art. Mondrian views pictorial space as an abstract

passive element which is only determined by other forms / never to be

expressed in its o.wn right. Therefore, in his paintings, solid form is

represented by an active pure color, while space is represented by a 11 non-

color ,1' a neutral grey or white. Van Does burg divides the pure means of

artistic expression into two major classifications: One is positive, the

other, negative. For example, in sculpture he considers volume as posi-

tive and space (nicht-volume) as negative. In architecture the positive

elements are said to be plane and mass, while space is again seen as

negative. He states, 11 The architect expresses his aesthetic experience

11 38 by relating planes and masses to interior spaces and to space o

38. Van Doesburg, Grundbegriffe der Neuen Gestaltenden Kunst (Munich, 1925) / pp. 14-15. 68

Therefore, in a construction van Doesburg makes a distinction between

"interior spaces" and "exterior space." The former are determined by closed rectangular volumes of different sizes., while the latter is divi ded by the inter-action of the volumetric structural forms. As observed, this same dual effect of space appears in the Bauhaus projects·.

To summarize, the Bauhaus architecture of the Weimar period is reduced to a pure but severe simplicity •. This· necessitates the introduc tion of a dynamic relationship and assymnietrical balance. On the other hand, the reduction of a building to its most elementary form tends to result in an impassive use of structural materials and space. Any· attempt to vary surface textures is avoided as being too expressive. At the same time, a development of the open form, made possible by modern materials and techniques and expressed in a fluid continuity of space, is perhaps not consonant with an objective process of architectural standard ization.

If the precise simplicity and dynamic means of relationship. achieved in Weimar were to be joined with a progressive use of new materials and a development of the open space construction advanced by

Gropius before the war, the synthesis would result in the fulfillment of a completely modern architecture that could be credited to the Bauhaus o

The need for such a synthesis, if only from an aesthetic point of view, must have been recognized by Gropius, for he later writes: 69

••• New Architecture is a bridge uniting opposite poles of thought. o. For instance rationalization is really only its purifying agency. The liberation of architecture from a welter of ornament, the. em phasis on its structural functions, and the concentration on con cise and economical solutions, represent the purely material side of that formalizing process on which the practical value of the New Architecture depends. The other, the aesthetic satis faction of the human soul, is just as important as the material. o. What is far more important than this structural economy and its functional emphasis is the intellectual achievement which has made possible a new spatial vision. For whereas building is

merely a matter of methods and materials 1 architecture implies the mastery of space. 39

From the years in Weimar only one example of Gropius' work suggests a unity between the reduced pure plastic form and the "new spatial vision." This is the project submitted to the Chicago Tribune Competi- tion in 1922 (Plate XV a) o A reinforced concrete skyscraper, it. was to consist of three inter-locking rectangular volumes confined to the limits of a rectangular ground plano Conspicuous vertical arid horizontal concrete supports were to partition a ''wall" of glass into large windows. The severity of the resulting gridiron pattern would. have been softened by a scattered arrangement of projecting cantilevered balconies and by the predominance of transparency. Since this greatly anticipatory design for a skyscraper was not carried out, it is not until the Bauhaus passes a critical but fortunate moment in its life that Gropius confronts an opportunity to design a major building in which a synthesis could be made.

39. Gropius, The New Architecture and The Bauhaus (Boston, 1935), pp. 23-24. 70

In 1924 a growing opposition within the government of Thuringia compelled Gropius to decide upon the.dissolution of the Weimar Bauhaus.

Because it originally opened during a Socialist regime and because of the communal organization of students and masters, the school was con- stantly attacked on the grounds of being Socialist sponsored. 4o In the

Spring of 1925 the faculty and student body left the building erected by van de Velde twenty years before as the old School of Applied Arts and moved to Dessau where they were invited to begin anew. As a result of the initiative of its enlightened mayor, this industrial town appropriated a new building to house both the Bauhaus and a municipal arts and crafts school. In addition, seven studio-residences for the Bauhaus masters and a student dormitory of studio-apartments were to be built.

Autumn of 1925 and were completely finished in time for formal dedication in December, 1926. The entire project was to include two large classroom buildings - one a technical school and the other the Bauhaus proper, an administrative department, a library, an auditorium, a dining room and a student quarters. Therefore, in organizing the Bauhaus Buildings as a whole, Gropius was confronted with a problem similar to that faced in the model factory at the Cologne Exhibition. Several diyerse structures

40. Herbert Bayer, Walter Gropius, and Ise' Gropius (ed.), Bauhaus 1919-1928 (2nd ed.; New York, 1952), p. 90. 71 serving different functions were to be inter-related as practically as pos sible within a visually unified complex.

In opposition to the strictly symmetrical basilica-like factory in

Cologne, Gropius now solves the problem of organization by dividing an open as symmetrical ground plan into three distinct wings (Plate XVb).

These are related to each other like the vanes of a pin-wheel revolving around a central point. Consequently, the carefully balanced facade, the frontispiece entranceway, and the central axis, logically succeeding one another in the Cologne Factory, disappear. Now in order to compre hend the relationship among its separate forms and the function each serves in the total design, the. Bauhaus structure must be ·observed from several points. Only in this way could one completely experience the efferent arrangement of rectangular volumes and the changes in their dimen sions and proportions. The radial plan and the dynamic inter-relationship of structural parts realized in the Bauhaus Buildings fulfill the unfinished projects of the Weimar period.

Consistent with the purity of design attained in· the earlier archi tecture, the buildings of the new school retain a geometrical simplicity

(Plate XVI). While an accent of horizontality complies to the sprawling nature of the plan, this direction is contrasted to numerous vertical lines.

The right angle relation established by the large volumes of the building is continued down to the smallest window sash. (An exception to this rule 72 appears on the east side of the studio-apartment building where two small round openings whimsically interrupt the vertical-horizontal pattern of the wall /Plate XVI b/).

A close resemblance to the structural clarity introduced in Weimar is more pronounced in the smaller scale of the masters 1 houses erected a few hundred yards from. the main building (Plate XVII). Three identical double houses and one single house,. all designed by Gropius, are. inti mately arranged within a grove of tall slender pines. Clean white. geo metric shapes contrast sharply with the dark background of foliage. Again the placement of rectangular volumes creates the animated effect of over lapping planes and inter-penetrating cubes. Resulting is another variation of the pure-plastic theme of static simplicity and rhythmical relationship.

This is held in common with the major Bauhaus Buildings.

In continuing our analysis of the architecture by Gropius in 1925-

26 it will soon be discovered that structural materials are now used to support and advance the basic vitality of his design. As a result, space regains prominence as an expressive element in the composition of the

Bauhaus Buildings. However, before we examine the school, it is of sig nificance to our analysis that we tum for a moment to another movement of art which comes into contact with the Bauhaus. This movement is of possible influence in reviving the progressive use of modern materials and space as introduced in the work by Gropius before the war. 73

As we have seen, an architectonic form derived from the art of neo-plasticism and promoted by van Doesburg causes a re-orientation in

Bauhaus architecture· and clears the way for further developments. At the same time the movement of Constructivism evolves. Like neo- plasticism it originates from an analytical reduction .of abstract painting and expands to three-dimensional compositiono· In 1923, the Bauhaus is exposed to the constructivist art with Gropius' appointment of Moholy-

Nagy to replace the mystic, Johannes Itten.

The importance of Moholy-Nagy and his form of constructivism to the final development in Bauhaus Architecture is indicated in Gropius'· 41 book Bauhaus Buildings in Dessau. In the Foreward Gropius discusses the problem of spaceo To indicate with what means space was formulated in the work of the Bauhaus, he merely refers his readers .to the chapter entitled, 11 Space ,(architecture)" in Moholy-Nagy's textbook, Von Material zu Architektur. 42

As the title alone implys this chapter reveals the emphasis Moholy-

Nagy places on the treatment of space in architecture. As a. "reality of sensory experience 11 space is considered a means of artistic. expression,· a structural material in its own right. In contrast to van Does burg, who

41. Gropius, Bauhausbauten Dessau (Munich, 1930) o 42. Lazlo' Moholy-Nagy, Translated by Daphne Mo Hoffmann, The New Vision (4th ed.; New York), pp. 56-64. 74 believes that space is the 11 negative11 element in architecture, Moholy maintains that space should.be its principal ·means of creation. This dis-- agreement of principles is clearly emphasized by Moholy when he states:

Space creation is not the formation of hollow bodies, nor the relative positions of well-arranged volumes; nor an arrangement, alongside of one another 1 of single cells of the same or of a different volume content. 43

In Moholy's opinion a structure to be truly 11 modern11 must be a completely open form in which space is conceived as fluid:

If the side walls of a volume (io e. , a clearly circumscribed body) are scattered in different directions, spatial patterns or spatial relations originate. This fact is the best guide to judg ment of modern and pseudo-modem architecture. The latter shows only volume articulation, in comparison with the rich space articulation -- i.e. / relations of planes and slabs - of modern architecture. 44

As well as proposing an inventive use of space / Moholy advises experimentation with new materials. His interest in the expressive qualities of structural materials is consistent with that of all prominent Con- structivists. For example, Na um Gabo maintains that the sole purpose of 45 his art is to communicate the em~tions evoked by a ~ariety of materials.

This / of course / is diametrically opposed to the nee-plastic principle of objectivity which insists that a minimum of elements be used to create a standardized form.

43. Ibid.,p.62.

44. Ibid. 1PPo 60-61. 45. Naum Gabo, "Construction in Space .. Circle (New York, 1937), Po 105. 75

Also in opposition to neo-plasticism, Gabo considers space a positive structural element. In fact, he believes it to be a "component11 of the solid materials such as steel. He says, "In our sculpture space has ceased to be a logical abstraction or a transcendental idea and has 46 become a malleable material element. 11

Concerning the influential force of his art, Gabo feels that the capacity of constructive sculpture to act architectonically has enabled it to guide architecture, "the queen of all the arts. 11 He sees evidence of this influence in the new architecture of his day. 47

A resemblance between the architecture of Gropius in 1925-26 and the art of a constructivist is· at least evident in the application of modern materials and the treatment of space in the Bauhaus Buildings o To .enrich·

I its surface and to completely vary the appearance of its total composition when viewed from several positions, a translucency of glass contrasts with the severity of cement stucco surfaces.

If one were to walk around this structure, a rather complex sequence of textures and patterns could be seen. For example, a view from the northwest would be dominated by the interplay of large rectangular planes of glass and would be imposed upon by the radiance of sunlight reflecting from glazed surfaces (Plate XVI a). On the other hand, if one

460 Ibid. I p. 106.

4 7 • Ibid. I p 0 111. 76 were to view the buildings from the south, the impression would be one of volumetric solidity (Plate XVIII a) o Here solid planes retreat into the dis tance with a staccato rhythm and shadows fall .across the smooth white surfaces creating diagonal patterns to soften the harshness of rectanu larity.

Besides owing its surface enrichment to the variations of their texture, the Bauhaus is indebted to modern materials for the key role. they play in the realization of its unique composition and construction (Plates

XVIII b, and XIX a) o The intensified strength of reinforced concrete and the tenacity of steel in narrow widths make it possible to exploit the essential property of glass - transparency (Plate XIX b).

As Gropius states, none of the outstanding achievements of the new constructional technique has been the abolition of the separating function of the wall. 1148 A skin of glass is "stretched" upon a. grid of interweaving vertical and horizontal steel frames. Without true form it is merely a transparent interposition between the interior and exterior of the building. As anticipated in the Fagus Works and realized for one iso lated moment in the small but important spiral staircases at Cologne, the structure of the Bauhaus workshop is an open form, free to reveal its own inner logic.

48. Gropius / The New Architecture and The Bauhaus (Boston, 1935), p. 25. 77

An outer wall and an inner framework are no longer dependent

upon each other for support, nor are they completely liable to the com

pression of their own weight. Structure is becoming a continuous balance

and counter-balance of tension rather than a disconnected series of weights pressing down on other weights. Therefore, the upright columns

of the reinforced concrete skeleton may recede inwardly. This allows

the cantilevered floors to express a free outwnd projecting movement con

sistent with the centrifugal force evoked by the radial plan of the total

complex (Plate XX).

As well as creating the impression of solid bodies moving through

space by arranging the major rectangular volumes from.a center point and

by projecting minor forms as cantilevers, space itself is incorporated by

the architect as a fluid articulating element of design. In a sense,

space is absorbed by the Bauhaus Buildings and no longer retreats from

outside as a fixed enclosure. That is, Gropius uses space, not as if it were a plastic finite substance, but as. if it were in motion. While this

motion can be defined by the structural parts, it cannot be isolated by

them. Therefore, space is perceived as a continuous interweaving move

ment around, through and even underneath the stn-!-cture. It appears to

pass between completely separated horizontal planes in a rhythmic suc

cession from one part of the building to the next. 78

Thus, the architecture of the Bauhaus becomes an art of simpli

city, precision and dynamic relationshipso What is more important, it

becomes an art of space in which modern structural materials and tech

niques are exploited of their expressive potential. While representative

of the final phase in the development of a Bauhaus Architecture which

started twenty years before 1 the Bauhaus Buildings of Dessau also pro

vide a synthesis. In their design Gropius embodies the neo-plastic

qualities of the Weimar period - pure: forms and rhythmic oppositions,

·with the progressive characteristics of his work before the war - an

inventive use of new materials and an open space construction. Having

accomplished the synthesis, the architecture of Gropius and the Bauhaus

reaches culminationo CONCLUSION

From the very beginning the development of Bauhaus Architecture reveals a mutuality between its stages of growth and those of a corres ponding development in painting o While not yet causally related., their directions remain parallel until a unique transgression diminishes the distance separating the two realms of arto Following. the impulse of analytical cubism, a structural trend in painting generates a purely abstract and geometric form; eventually exceeding the limits of two dim ensionality. While the new plastic art of construction becomes archi

tectural in appearance 1 it retains the purity of composition achieved through a reductive analysis in paintingo

As demonstrated1 it is this coalescence of architectonics and graphics that appears to have the strongest effect in the reorientation of Bauhaus Architecture. The constructive art of neo-plasticism provides a dominant inspiration for clarifying the final direction to be taken by the architecture produced in Weimar and serves as a preamble to the vital form of composition and construction that follows.

79 80

However / if a modern architecture is to escape stylization, and is to grow in relation to the ever.,..changing techniques and material of an

industrial age 1 it cannot permanently abide by a system of constant principles which tends to reduce structural elements to a state of objec

tive neutrality. This must have been realized by a style-wary Gropius 1 for in the Bauhaus Buildings of Dessau the process of pure plastic con struction is extended to include .the renewal of experimentation with modern materials and techniques, as well as with the expressive quali ties of space they make possible. The severity of simple geometric forms is modified in the consummate architecture of the Bauhaus by the utilization of the flexible principles of structure· and artistic expression advanced at the same time in the art of Constructivismo Therefore, a

Constructivist influence may be viewed as a catalyst, which although subsidiary to the initial purifying agent of neo-plasticism, further refines the solution reached in the Bauhaus Buildings in Dessauo

While the possibility of a "Bauhaus Style11 is vehemently denied by Gropius as being inconsistent with the original intentions of the school he founded, it must be admitted that the final form of Bauhaus Architec ture provides a common denominator for future developments o This does not imply that a Bauhaus Architecture need be identified with a so-called

"purist" or 11 international11 or "functional" school of designo But it does 81 mean that both the rational and expressive qualities developed in the final phase of Bauhaus Architecture are susceptible to further applica tion and variationo

For examplez after 1926, Gropius tends to emphasize .the nec essity of using. the "New Architecture" as a means of integrating the life of a community or as a symbol of social organizationo As an archi tect, he considers it his obligation to serve merely as the 11 coordinator11 of all the technical factors involved in each projecto Consequently / he may never again exploit the expressive qualities of an open space construction as boldly as he does in the Bauhaus Buildings in Dessauo

This may be concluded from observing his later major buildings which fail to express an increased inventiveness in their use .of materials and

forms o Instead1 they reveal the predominance of rational organizationo

In effect,, the structures credited to Gropius after his departure from the

Bauhaus largely become anonymous products of collaboration rather than vehicles of individual growth and expressiono

It is the last director of the comparatively short-lived Bauhaus,

Mies van der Rohe, who creates an architecture that departs and grows

from the development ending in Dessauo His rectilinear houses 1 school

buildings 1 and promontory apartments are more obviously consistent with

the dual character of Bauhaus Architectureo Extremely sophisticated in

style, they rely for their expressive effect on unadorned materials and 82 open space a These become more conspicuous in contrast to the increas ingly simplified form of the total structure o In compliance with his motto

"less is more, 11 precisely engineered rectangles of glass and steel pro gress one after another toward an even greater degree of dematerializa tiono In fact, it is reported that research is underway to develop a trans parent structural beam which is to be incorporated in one of his current plans o Thus the open form evolved in Bauhaus Architecture becomes a true "volume of spacea" BIBLIOGRAPHY

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MUSEUM OF MODERN ART. Gabo and Pevsner o With an introduction by Herbert Read, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 19480

PEVSNER, NIKOLAUS. Pioneers of the Modem Movement, Prom William Morris to Walter Gropius o London: Faber & Faber, 19 36 o

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85 86

I 87

(a)

(b)

II 88

III · 89

N 90

(a) 1

(b) v 91

VI 92

VII 93

(a)

(b)

VIII 94

(a)

(b)

IX 95

(a)

(b) x 96

(a)

- (b)

XI 97

(a)

(b)

XII 98

(a)

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XIII I 99

(a)

(b) ..

XN 100

(a)

{b) 101

{b)

XVI 102

(b)

XVII 103

(a)

. •

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XVIII 104

(a)

(b)

XIX 105