Bauhaus

My Bauhaus

• school of design
• in Germany, I think
• practical and useful design
• accessible design
• started by a few men and women
• they were all designers/professors?
• geometric designs
• rectilinear and curvilinear
• shut down during WWII, I believe
• functionality important
• students taught several areas of design
• arts and crafts aesthetic?
• extremely important to design history

Real Bauhaus

• Bauhaus looking for utopian
• how to model perfect life
• how can we make things better
• 1919-1925 Weimar
• 1923 first public exhibition
• 1924 letter of resignation
• 1925-1932 Dessau
• 1928 Gropius replaced by Meyer
• 1930 Meyer replaced by van der Rohe
• 1932-1933 Berlin
• only open for 14 years
• roots of design education
• 1,250 students to pass through
• Broken Wings final days in Berlin
• art schools cornerstone of revitalization
• Weimar after WWI economy shot
• Walter Gropius there until 1928
• Gropius director of the Bauhaus
• Gropius uses cathedral as model
• 3 spires represent painting, sculpture, architecture
• thought all should be equally valued
• high sense of community spirit, believed in it
• Gropius had council of masters:
• Gerhard Marks- sculpture, pottery shop
• Lyonel Feringer- painting
• Johannes Itten- preliminary courses
• Itten's goal was to release students creative abilities
• focused on understanding of physical nature of materials
• study based on contrast
• analysis of old masters
• art made of found objects, all they had
• tools were limited to what they could find and manipulate
• in a way scientific, about analysis
• Itten leaves in 1923, same year as first exhibition
• started with focus on craft and old methods
• starts moving towards design thinking and machine
• great philosophical exchange
• elements of Cubism, De Stijl
• art and technology a new unity
• first exhibition in 1923 pivotal moment
• Itten replaced by Nagy, a Hungarian Constructivist
• interested in experimenting with resins, photo montage
• becomes Gropius' right-hand man
• piece by Nagy for tires, letterforms art and communication
• calls this typophoto- letterforms, design, graphics
• sees photography as replacing painting
• tries to develop new visual language for new age
• how do we incorporate appropriate technology
• how to adapt these technologies for our age
• making meaningful art with meaningful communication
• total integration of type and image
• looking for new language through experimentation
• invents photoplastik
• collage, assemblage, montage
• tension with city forces them to leave
• move to Dessau, and industrial city
• works well with Bauhaus creating objects for industry
• building's windows are curtains of glass
• modern building design, unlike previous one
• Sciemmer painting of Bauhaus students ascending stairs 1932
• Roy Lichtenstein version in 1989
• started creating for industry
• cover for Bauhaus Magazine, text and image one
• cover includes all elements of the Bauhaus
• made series of books about artists philosophies
• Baer develops universal alphabet
• did away with capitals in his type
• did away with serifs, experimented with flush left and rag
• contrast and hierarchy, bars, squares, open compositions
• strong horizons and verticals
• invitation for Kadinsky's bday has open composition, implied grid
• final building rather depressing compared to Dessau
• closed in 1933, recognized they could no longer run

If it weren't for all the political turmoil involved with the Bauhaus, I would have done anything to attend. I love the idea of experimenting with found objects, textures and contrasting elements. It's also interesting that they did practically everything, from furniture design to theater to collage. While I appreciate everything I have done thus far, I sort of wish there was more of a push to design outside the rules and push our ideas beyond the tools we are accustomed to. One of my favorite projects was the Alice book I did for Image and Color because I was experimenting the entire time..using all these different elements from calligraphy to dirt and flowers. I love that architecture played such a strong role..it reminds me of my Dad, who is always trying to talk to me about the Bauhaus. It's funny cause I never thought about how much building I did with toys as a kid. From linknlogs to marble towers to train sets, I feel I was always thinking systematically without even knowing it. This was probably just my Dad trying to brainwash me..but it worked and I'm glad. Maybe it's cause we're German..I can remember a lot of older relatives doing woodwork and handcrafts.