THE BAUHAUS / Overview I / Lxxii

GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / THE BAUHAUS / Overview i / lxxii

The Bauhaus

1 The Bauhaus 1

2 German workshops 5

3 The Weimar Location 23

4 The Dessau Location 44

5 New Faculty 53

6 The Epoch Closes 66

7 Conclusion 70

The Bauhaus

1919–1933

A German design school where ideas from all advanced art and design movements were explored, combined, and applied to the problems of functional design and machine production.

The Bauhaus

The name translated into The House of Construction or School of Building.

• Weimar • Dessau • Berlin 1919–1925 1925–1932 1932–1933

1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933

Weimar Dessau Berlin

Walter Gropius Hannes Meyer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

1919–1933 The Bauhaus

Twentieth-century furniture, architecture, product design, and graphics were shaped by the work of its faculty and students, and a modern design aesthetic emerged.

– MEGGS

1919–1933 The Bauhaus

Ideas from all advanced art and design movements were explored, combined, and applied to the problems of functional design and machine production.

• The Arts & Crafts: Applied arts, craftsmanship, workshops, apprenticeship • Art Nouveau: Removal of ornament, application of form • Futurism: Typographic freedom • Dadaism: Wit, spontaneity, theoretical exploration • Constructivism: Design for the greater good • De Stijl: Reduction, simplification, refinement

German workshops

1899–1925

Prior to its industrial philosophy, the fundamental structure for the Bauhaus was modeled after the Deutcher Werkbund, an Arts & Crafts workshop in Weimar, Germany.

1899–1914 The Deutscher Werkbund

• German association of artists, architects, designers and industrialists • Arts & Crafts guild • Series of workshops • Joined craft and industry • Incluced Eliel Saarinen, Mies van der Rohe, among others

1899–1914 The Deutscher Werkbund

• Exhibition of 1914 • Cologne, Germany • Featured works by Henri van de Velde, Peter Behrens, and Walter Gropius • Scheduled to last from May–October • Closed in August in response to outbreak of WWI • Influenced theThe Weimar Arts and Crafts School

1899–1914 The Deutscher Werkbund

1910–1914 The Weimar Arts and Crafts School

• Originally called the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School • The building existed since 1860 in varying capacities • In 1904 occupied a building designed by Henry van de Velde • Reorganized in 1910 to join three other schools into one

1910–1914 The Weimar Arts and Crafts School

• Modelled after the earlier Deutsche Werkbund • Stained glass, wood, and metal workshops • Medieval Bauhütte: master, journeyman, and apprentice

1910–1914 The Weimar Arts and Crafts School

• Arts & Crafts origins • Unity of artists and craftsmen to build for the future • Expressionist leanings at turn of century • Utopian desire to create a new spiritual society

1910–1914 The Weimar Arts and Crafts School

• Henry van de Velde, Director • Belgian Art Nouveau architect • Designed the building at the turn of the century • Built in two separate efforts: 1904 & 1911

1914 The Weimar Arts and Crafts School

• Henry van de Velde, Director • Forced to resigns in light of WWI • Returns to Belgium, 1914 • Closed duration of WWI • Van de Velde recommneds Walter Gropius, Hermann Obrist, and August Endell as successors • Four year delay by WWI

1883–1969 Walter Gropius

• Grand Ducal School of Arts and Crafts merges with neighboring Weimar Academy of Fine Arts • Walter Gropius, architect, is appointed as next Director to succeed van de Velde in 1918

1883–1969 Walter Gropius

• 3 year assistantship with Peter Behrens, 1907–1910 • Together they used modern materials like glass and steel in new ways • Gropius introduces to modernism to factory design

© KEVIN WOODLAND, 2015 STUDIO OF PETER BEHRENS: MIES VAN DER ROHE, ADOLF MEYER, HERTWIG, WEYRATHER, KRÄMER, WALTER GROPIUS, 1908 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / THE BAUHAUS / German workshops 19 / 72

For the first time a complete facade is conceived in glass. The supporting piers are reduced to narrow mullions of brick.

—NIKOLAUS PEVSNER, PIONEERS OF MODERN DESIGN

1883–1969 Walter Gropius

• Factory design • Fagus factory in Berlin, 1911

... The corners are left without any support, yielding an unprecedented sense of openness and continuity between inside and out. ...

—NIKOLAUS PEVSNER, PIONEERS OF MODERN DESIGN

... Another exceedingly important quality of Gropius’s building is that, thanks to the large expanses of clear glass, the usual hard separation of exterior and interior is annihilated.

—NIKOLAUS PEVSNER, PIONEERS OF MODERN DESIGN

The role of the walls becomes restricted to that of mere screens stretched between the upright columns of the framework to keep out rain, cold and noise.

–WALTER GROPIUS

The Weimar Location

1919–1925

Gropius begins to shape the philosophy of the school. Expressionist origins slowly progress towards a more open, rational, and modern point of view.

1919 Das Staatliche Bauhaus

Gropius’ goal is “to create a new guild of craftsmen, without the class distinctions which raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist.”

• Gropius renames the school • House of Construction • Opens April 12, 1919 • Bauhaus seal is created • “Cathedral of Socialism”

1919 Walter Gropius

The first Bauhaus Manifesto is published in German newspapers to demonstrate the reorganization of the school:

• Architecture School • Crafts School • Academy of Fine Arts The cathedral becomes a symbol of the total work art, as well as an icon of the medieval model of creation. • Three beams of light • Architecture, scultpure, painting

The complete building is the ultimate aim of all the visual arts. Once the noblest function of the fine arts was to embellish buildings; they were indispensable components of great architecture...

– WALTER GROPIUS, 1919

... Today the arts exist in isolation. … Architects, painters, and sculptors must learn anew the composite character of the building as an entity. … The artist is an exalted craftsman.

– WALTER GROPIUS, 1919

...In rare moments of inspiration, transcending an artist’s conscious will, the grace of heaven may cause their work to blossom into art. But proficiency in their craft is essential to every artist. Therein lies the prime source of creative imagination.

– WALTER GROPIUS, 1919

1919 The Weimar Faculty

Recognizing the common roots of both the fine and applied visual arts, Gropius sought a new unity of art and technology as he enlisted a generation of artists in a struggle to solve problems of visual design created by industrialism.

–MEGGS

• Johannes Itten, 1919 • Lyonel Feininger, 1919 • Gerhard Marcks, 1919 • Oskar Schlemmer, 1920 • Paul Klee, 1921 • Wassily Kandinsky, 1922

JOINS 1919 Johannes Itten

• Itten arrives in 1919 and is among the first invited by Gropius • Taught the Vorkurs, or the famous Prelimary Courses at the Bauhaus

© KEVIN WOODLAND, 2015 (LEFT) JOHANNES ITTEN AND FRIEDL DICKER, PAGE FROM UTOPIA: DOCUMENTS OF REALITY, 1921; (RIGHT) ITTEN’S COLOR WHEEL GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / THE BAUHAUS / The Weimar Location 37 / 72

1920–23 Weimar Visiting Artists

The faculty is influenced by visiting artists and lecturers

• Theo van Doesburg moves to Weimar • El Lissitzky visits the Bauhaus

1920–23 Weimar Visiting Artistis

The faculty is influenced by visiting artists and lecturers

• El Lissitzky brings Constructivism to the Bauhaus

1920–23 Weimar Visiting Artists

The faculty is influenced by visiting artists and lecturers

• Makes contact with Gropius in 1920 • Theo van Doesburg moves to Weimar in hopes of joining faculty in 1921 • Denied by Gropius due to the rigidness of the De Stijl system • Gropius opposed creating a Bauhaus style, or imposing style on students • Taught De Stijl philosophy to Bauhaus students from 1921–1923, emphasizing typography and industrial design • Gropius emphasizes creative thinking and personal exploration but towards objective ends.

1923 Ideology changes

• Industrial- and mass-production come into focus • Traditional craftmanship aspect is deemphasized • “A Unity of Art and Handicraft” becomes “Art and Technology, a New Unity”

1923 Ideology changes

• Johannes Itten is fired over differences with Gropius • László Moholy Nagy and Josef Albers assume leadership of the Vorkurs • Gropius commissions new symbol for the school

1923–25 Ideology changes

• Gropius is forced to hold an exhibition of Bauhaus work • An era of political conflict begins • Geometric and machine forms • Galvanizes the maturing ideology • The Bauhaus is forced out of Weimar “Echoes of cubism, constructivism, and De Stijl provide evidence that the Bauhaus became a vessel in which diverse movements were melded into new design approaches.”

–MEGGS

The Dessau Location

1925–1932

Gropius and the other instructors agree to resign when their contracts expire at the end of 1924. Working with the mayor of Dessau, they set up shop in temporary facilities at the beginning of 1925.

1926 Starting over

• A new building complex was designed and occupied in the fall of 1926 • Gropius designs the centerpiece of the campus, a new monument to modernist ideals • The curriculum was reorganized

Production

Gropius brings Bauhaus design work to the masses

• The Bauhaus Corporation • Sale of workshop prototypes to industry • Labor contracts, income stream • Sold to the German public • Perpetuates ideology

New Faculty

1925–1932

The second set of Bauhaus faculty cement the Bauhaus’s modernist legacy.

1895–1946 László Moholy-Nagy

A master in the fields of photography, typography, sculpture, painting, printmaking, and industrial design.

• He was highly influenced by constructivism • Strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts.

László Moholy-Nagy

He coined the term “The New Vision” for his belief that photography could create a whole new way of seeing the outside world that the human eye could not.

1900–85 Herbert Bayer

Bayer becomes head of the newly added typography and graphic design workshop at age 26

1900–85 Herbert Bayer

Bayer becomes head of the newly added typography and graphic design workshop at age 26

1926–33 Herbert Bayer

• Sans-serif fonts were used almost exclusively • Print contracts added another income stream and gave Bayer a platform for experimentation • Extreme contrasts of type size and weight • Visual hierarchy of emphasis determined by an objective assessment of the relative importance of the words

1926–33 Herbert Bayer

• Bars, rules, points, and squares were used to subdivide the space, unify diverse elements, lead the viewer’s eye across a page, and call attention to important elements • Open composition on an implied grid and a system of sizes for type, rules, and pictorial images brought unity to the designs

1926–33 Herbert Bayer

• Elementary forms and the use of black with one bright, pure hue • Dynamic composition with strong horizontals and verticals (and, on occasion, diagonals)

The Epoch Closes

1932–1933

The final phase of the Bauhaus. Massive political pressure catalyzes changes in leadership and ideology.

1928 Changes at the Dessau location

• Walter Gropius resigns his position as Bauhaus Director • In response to incessant political scrutiny • Leadership changes in two rapid bursts

© KEVIN WOODLAND, 2015 (LEFT) HANNES MEYER AS A YOUNG ARCHITECTURE STUDENT IN SWITZERLAND, 1913; (RIGHT) HANNES MEYER THE YEAR HE BECOMES DIRECTOR OF THE BAUHAUS, 1928 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / THE BAUHAUS / The Berlin location 71 / 72

Conclusion

“It is obvious, that the machine is here to stay. Whole armies of William Morrises and Tolstoys could not now expel it.… Let us then exploit it to create beauty—a modern beauty, while we are about it.”

–ALDOUS HUXLEY, 1928