For the third week of the course, we will be focusing on the history, artists, and designers associated with the Bauhaus school of art and design.
Originating in Germany in 1919, within a very short time the school's influence had spread worldwide, leading many to see it as one of the single most influential forces responsible for the development of modernism and the modernist movement.
Reading Assignment
There are a number of pdfs and other links listed in the Course Materials area for this week.
There are a number of pdfs and other links listed in the Course Materials area for this week.
Our strategy will be to focus on the big picture and history on Tuesday, and then get into more detail with specific designers and objects on Thursday.
With this in mind, make sure to have at least the first four entries read by Tuesday, as these will give you a good overall account of the school and its design philosophy. Use the remaining links, to then build on your knowledge and focus on specific objects/designers for later in the week.
Written Assignment
The same as last week, just with the added caveat that by the time you put your written account together, you should be able to give a general account of the school and its history, its approach to design, influence, and be able to name several of its major artists/designers as well as some of their specific, notable creations.
Texts each link back to course materials found on bb.cazenovia.eduThe same as last week, just with the added caveat that by the time you put your written account together, you should be able to give a general account of the school and its history, its approach to design, influence, and be able to name several of its major artists/designers as well as some of their specific, notable creations.
Bauhaus Intro & Images
Bauhaus Dessau Campus
Bauhaus Manifesto
Bauhaus Archive
The Modern Movement
The Story of Design : Bauhaus
Further Readings:
Bauhaus Dessau Building by Walter Gropius 1925-26
Video: Google honors Oscar Schlemmer on his 130th birthday
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| 1925 moves to Dessau, Walter Gropius designs the new school - contains many later hallmark features of Modernist architecture: steel-frame, asymmetry, 'glass curtain walls |
Operated 1919 - 1933 Weimer + Dessau, Germany - a new school of thought in its approach to architecture, art and design
Teachers included: Walter Gropius, Johannes Itten > color theory, László Moholy-Nagy, photography
Paul Klee, Vassily Kandinsky, Marcel Breuer > furniture, Herbert Bayer, typography, others
Gropius steps down and is replaced by Hannes Meyer 1928 . who maintains an emphasis on mass producible designs
Following turbulent years of WWII many emigrated to USA Students: Josef Albers, Anni Albers, Herbert Bayer, Gunta Stolzl > textiles, Christian Dell, others - influencing others t/o USA
Making use of unusual, non-conventional materials: cellophane, metals, fiberglass
> Rational = legible typography <
Curriculum at Dessau included:
architecture and theory, carpentry, ceramics, fine art, graphic printing, glass and mural painting, weaving, theatrical staging and performance, geometry, mathematics, business administration, metal, photography, printing and advertising, and plastic arts. Wasn't so much what was studied - but how learning and teaching took place.
Form follows function.
Bauhaus School rejected the purely “ornamental” role we saw earlier in Art Nouveau, Arts & Crafts Movement
Simplicity and accessibility in design.
The Bauhaus School required students to reflect and enhance an object’s function, without adding decorative elements for their own sake
A return to the basics of craftsmanship.
Bauhaus was founded by the German architect Walter Gropius in 1919 as a school of art, architecture and design.
The name Bauhaus, or “house of construction,” comes from the school’s building which the school viewed as the epitome of their shared principles: 1. its rooms unadorned 2. its construction prominent 3. every detail a matter of function, down to the doorknobs. 4. Architecture, art, and manufacturing were finally wed.
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| Walter Gropius : Inside Dessau |
Ideas > Form follows function, simplicity and accessibility, return to basic craft guided a design revolution.
"The art schools [...] must return to the workshop. This world of mere drawing and painting of draughtsmen and applied artists must at long last become a world that builds. When a young person who senses within himself a love for creative endeavour begins his career, as in the past, by learning a trade, the unproductive 'artist' will no longer be condemned to the imperfect practice of art because his skill is now preserved in craftsmanship, where he may achieve excellence. Architects, sculptors, painters – we all must return to craftsmanship!"
Walter Gropius
The Bauhaus movement set out to change society, and it succeeded — by designing teapots, table lamps, and telephones...
Starting in 1928, the college’s social aims intensified under Hannes Meyer;
the solution was now summarized as "people’s necessities, not luxuries"
The Bauhaus School wanted to reunite the artist with their craft, and encouraged students to immerse themselves in the full range of materials
and techniques available.
L: Josef Albers’ nesting tables (c 1927).
R:“Kilo” nesting tables, available through UK retailer Habitat (2016)
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| 1920s Bauhaus costumes |
The Bauhaus School’s learning culture encouraged experimentation at a fundamental level. They stand to remind us that rules and conventions are there to be learned, but not always to be observed. Some design problems call for radical solutions that nobody but you believes in.
RE: 5 lessons to live by
L: Marcel Breuer’s Bauhaus Telephone, c 1928
Influences the Future...
R: Dietrich Lubs’ ET 66 Calculator for Braun, 1987
R: Dietrich Lubs’ ET 66 Calculator for Braun, 1987
Bauhaus ideals remain with us today - especially when designing for the WEB. For instance: It's important to be user friendly, accessible for user experience, and accessible. Such philosophies were popularized almost a century earlier, defining the Bauhaus movement.
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| Marianne Brandt’s teapot from ca. 1924. Bauhaus redesigns of everyday objects went on to influence user-centerd product design in the later twentieth century. |
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| Georg Jensen & Arne Jacobsen cutlery DK |
By going back to the fundamentals of color, form, and meaning in design, connections are made with the basic elements and principles of design and craft,. This "frees" the designer to be more inventive and to respond authentically to the design problem that needs to be solved.
Chair by Mies van der Rohe 1927
After the rise of the National Socialists, who effectively shut down the school for its “degenerate” ideas (1933), many members of the Bauhaus travelled to other European countries and the USA to continue their work independently.
RE: In the 1920s and 30s, a period of increasing mechanization, Bauhaus teachers and students challenged the conventions of fine art, architecture and design by advocating a return to individual craftsmanship. They also rejected the flowers and frills that dominated the design language of the early twentieth century, and instead sought solutions that were simple, rational, and functional – an approach that remains dominant in design today.
Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Cark Jakob Jucker, Table Lamp, 1923-23
The Bauhaus celebrates its 100th year in 2019!
You can stay informed about Bauhaus100 events at Bauhaus Events 2019.
The website of the Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin also has masses of information about the Bauhaus School and the movement it inspired at this link > Bauhaus Archive
* If you're ever in Berlin, their museum is well worth a visit.
Today’s web design owes an unusual amount of debt to Bauhaus. Because websites not only need to look great, but also function smoothly, Bauhaus is the ideal guiding principle for web design. Looking into the history of the Bauhaus movement not only yields a century of inspiration, it also clues us into future directions of UX design. RE: Telepathy How Bauhaus Design is Helping Build a Better Web
It’s often said that web design is 95% typography. Recent innovations in web fonts show that our priorities are still those identified by the Bauhaus — that type should be functional and must primarily facilitate good communication.
It’s often said that web design is 95% typography. Recent innovations in web fonts show that our priorities are still those identified by the Bauhaus — that type should be functional and must primarily facilitate good communication.