The Bauhaus | Articles on Contemporary Art Movements

Bauhaus article uploaded by Edgeworth Johnstone.
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When the architect Walter Gropius combined two schools of art from Weimar, and two names: 'Bau' (meaning building) and 'haus' (meaning house), he created The Bauhaus. A German school of art that ran from 1919 - 1933 that was to become a major centre for the discussion and development of design, architecture and art. Gropius was recommended for the Director post by a previous Director who was forced to resign due to being Belgian. The Bauhaus was frequently in turmoil, either from external pressures or due to changes brought about by the schools changing directorship.
Notable teachers at the Bauhaus were Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. It is also notable that during its first years, The Bauhaus was without an architecture school. Work from the Bauhaus is often recognisable for having sparse linear design, not dissimilar to art movements of around that time, such as De Stijl and Constructivism.
Vkhutemas in Russia was a school similar to Bauhaus. There was collaboration between the two schools of which the Bauhaus was the smaller. However the Bauhaus remains the most well-known of the two. After the First World War, and the freedom given to art under the Weimar Republic, an environment emerged that encouraged artists away from feeling restricted by conservatism. Modernisms influence had been since before the war, and the formation of the Bauhaus gave an opportunity for these influences to be realised where all areas of design and production could work towards a shared goal. Focus was given in the Bauhaus to work that could be put into factory production, perhaps explaining to some extent the tendency towards minimal decoration and maximum efficiency.
The Bauhaus aimed to close the divide between art, society and technology. It encouraged collaboration, discussion across disciplines, and a communal approach to teaching and working, as opposed to a top-down syllabus dictated to students by a more senior lecturer. Its students were of diverse backgrounds, who after completing a general foundation year that gave an overall preparation for any specialty, they would be divided into their specialised area, for example cabinetmaking (a subject that proved particularly successful), typography, textiles etc. It was thought that if art could be brought into the production line by focusing on the each craft at the point of its design, art could go through the mass production system, and be brought widespread into society. Combining the arts into something more accessible to the public.
The Bauhaus received opposition from the local right-wing, so moved to Dessau in 1925 following a massive funding cut. Hannes Meyer took over from Walter Gropius as Director in 1928. Under Meyer focus was given to making products affordable for the masses, but his Marxist views became an issue in the political climate, and so in 1930 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe took over, who focused the school more on architecture. The Bauhaus lasted in Dessau till 1932, when it moved again to Berlin. The Bauhaus closed due to continual political and financial pressure in 1933. During the Second World War many of the Bauhaus fled to America and continued teaching and collaborating there. In 1937 a 'New Bauhaus' opened in America. Testament to the widespread influence the original Bauhaus had achieved, despite its domestic troubles. The influence of the Bauhaus continues to this day, particularly in areas such as architecture and furniture design.
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