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HAUS
COVER
by wang phan 20 The Bauhaus experiences first public hostility. The attacks are ideological, but flare up
in the context of artistic issues.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
by kimberlee osmun
21 Gropius and Adolf Meyer build the Haus Sommerfeld in Berlin in an expressionist
style. It is the first project involving the aspired unity of arts in architecture.
CHRONOLOGY .......................... 1
by greg ciro tornincasa
22 Gropius restructures his ideas as to the aims of the Bauhaus. The major focus
is directed towards reflecting on industrial methods of production and their
by sandra bradley
23 Preparations start for the “Bauhaus Exhibition”, planned as a first comprehensive public
account of the schoolʼs activities. Gropius coins his new concept in the slogan “Art and
THE ARTISTS ............................... 6 technology - a new unity” and thereby recognizes industry as a decisive power of the
by wang phan &
kimberlee osmun
24 The “Circle of Friends of the Bauhaus” is founded in order to offer moral and practical
support for the school. Under political and financial pressure, the masters decide to
close the school in April of 1925.
BRADLEY MANIFESTO ............ 13
by sandra bradley
25 Gropius proclaims a new program dominated by the importance of industry and
science for design. In March, the municipal council of Dessau, on the initiative of the
BAUHAUS CONCEPTS ............ 17 Lord Mayor Fritz Hesse, decides to take over the Bauhaus as a municipal school.
27 A department for architecture is set up under the guidance of Hannes Meyer. Klee and
LOVE TRIANGLES .................... 27 Kandinsky give courses in free painting; the first purely artistic courses to be available.
by wang phan
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................ 31 28 Gropius resigns from the Bauhaus in April to go to Berlin to work as an architect.
Moholy-Nagy, Bayer, and Breuer also quit the school.
BACK COVER 29 A department for photography is created under Peterhans. Ludwig Hilberseimer is
appointed to the building department.
by greg ciro tornincasa
30 Bauhaus wallpaper is put on the market and becomes the most successful commercial
product of the school.
31 The elections for the municipal council of Dessau take place. The first point of their
election campaign concerns cutting financial support to the Bauhaus and the
demolition of its buildings.
32 The school counts 14 students. Kandinsky, Albers, Hilberseimer, Reich, and Peterhans
are still on the teaching staff. A bill was passed to close the Bauhaus school. Mies van der
Rohe decides to continue the school as a private institute in Berlin.
1933 On April 11, at the start of the summer semester, the Bauhaus building undergoes a
police search and is placed under seal. 32 students are temporarily arrested. On July
20, the final dissolution of the Bauhaus is decided upon at a staff conference. The
most prominent Bauhaus teachers emigrated over to the United States and through
parts of Europe.
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INSIDE HISTORY
BAU
HAUS
ROOTS OF GROPIUSʼ MANIFESTO:
BAUHAUS: Here is the excerpt from the manifesto: w“The ultimate aim of all creative activity is a
building! The decoration of buildings was once the noblest function of fine arts, and
Bauhaus can be traced to fine arts were indispensable to great architecture. Today they exist in complacent
the the Deutsches Werkbund isolation, and can only be rescued by the conscious co-operation and collaboration of
movement in Germany which all craftsmen. Architects, painters, and sculptors must once again come to know and
sought to elevate the production comprehend the composite character of a building, both as an entity and in terms of its
of everyday objects from various parts. Then their work will be filled with that true architectonic spirit which, as
utilitarian to art. Werkbund “salon art”, it has lost.” ... “Architects, painters, sculptors, we must all return to crafts! For
gathered architects, artists, there is no such thing as “professional art”. There is no essential difference between the
factory owners and art patrons artist and the craftsman. The artist is an exalted craftsman.” ... “Let us therefore create
together in 1097 to provide a new guild of craftsmen without the class-distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier
impetus and financial support between craftsmen and artists! Let us desire, conceive, and create the new building of
to experimental design, the future together. It will combine architecture, sculpture, and painting in a single form.”
architecture, textile, furniture
design, and fine art. It failed.
Walter Gropius, a German
architect, was a leader of the BAUHAUS, [ ger., lit. “Architecture House”, From Bau = Building
Werkbund movement. And
he rekindled the Werkbund (Bauen=to Build) + Haus = house.
intentions and philosophy when
he was invited to head a new
school in Weimer, Germany.
J O O S T S C H M I D T P O S T E R F O R T H E 19 2 3 B A U -
This new school resulted in
the merger the Weimer Art
BAUHAUS GOALS:
HAUS EXHIBITION IN WEIMAR Academy and the Weimer 1) Encourge the individual artisan and craftmans to work cooperatively and combine
Arts and Crafts which, in 1919, their skills;
became the Bauhaus school.
2) Elevate the status of crafts, chairs, lamps, teapots, etc., to the same level enjoyed by
fine arts, painting, scultping, etc.,
B A C K C O V E R O F A B R O C H U R E F O R T H E C I T Y O F D E S S A U I N 19 3 1 B Y
JOOST SCHMIDT
2 3
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INSIDE HISTORY
BAU
HAUS
BAUHAUS INFLUENCES OF BAUHAUS:
DEMISE: Constructivism is a term used to define a type of totally
Bauhaus in general was abstract (non-representational) relief construction,
not embraced by the sculpture, kinetics and painting. The work is ordered
public, industry, nor and often minimal, geometric, spatial, architectonic and
government. The Nazis experimental in the use of industrial material.
saw Bauhaus as haven
for Jews, Bolsheviks,
and cosmopolitan “non- The principles of constructivism theory are derived from
German” viewpoints . In three main movements that evolved in the early part of
1932, the Nazis gained the 20th century: Suprematism in Russia, De Stijl (Neo
control of city parliament, Plasticism) in Holland and the Bauhaus in Germany.
and forced the Bauhaus
school to close. And by
April 1933, Bauhaus was
RUSSIA 1910-1921: During the early part of this period
no more in Germany.
the Russian avant-garde embraced Cubism and Futurism
and moved toward a non-objective art (art without
L A S Z L O M O H O L Y - N A G Y, U N T I T L E D C O N S T R U C T I O N subject) exemplified by Kasmir Malevichʼs development
19 2 2 T E M P E R A & C O L L A G E O N P A N E L of Suprematism. The Suprematists deliberately given up
objective representation of their surroundings in order to
reach the summit of the true “unmasked” art and from this
vantage point to view life through the prism of pure artistic
feeling. In 1913-14 Vladimir Tatlin made and exhibited
several relief constructions using industrial materials
inspired by the Furturist Umberto Boccioniʼs vision of
ʻplastic configurations in spaceʼ and the 3D collages seen P I E T M O D R I A N , C O M P O S I T I O N W I T H R E D , Y E L L O W A N D B L U E 19 2 0 O I L O N C A N V A S
in Picassoʼs Paris studio. Tatlin used the term Constructivism
to describe these works.
T H E O V A N D O E S B U R G , C O M P O S T I O N 2 2 19 2 0 - 2 2
4 5
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INSIDE THE ARTISTS
BAU
HAUS
WALTER GROPIUS
Born in Berlin in 1883, began
studying architecture at the age of
20. He is mostly known for creating
the bauhaus, a multi-disciplinary
design school that pushed innovation.
Bauhaus was a merger between
Weimar Art Academy and Weimar
Arts and Crafts. The bauhaus had
great master teaching various
mediums from painting, industrial
design, photography, architecture and
other forms of design.
WASSILY KANDINSKY
was born in Moscow in 1866.
Kandinsky learned to play piano
and cello at an early age. His
paintings are greatly influenced
by music. While at the University
in Moscow, Kandinsky studied law
and economics. He also spent his
time writing about spirituality. At
age thirty, Kandinsky left Moscow
and went to study life-drawing,
sketching and anatomy in Munich.
Kandinsky is considered to be the
founder of abstract art, his work was
exhibited throughout Europe from
1903 onwards, and often caused
controversy among the public, the art
critics, and his contemporaries.
S M A L L P L E A S U R E S , J U N E 19 13 . O I L C A N V A S , 4 3 1/4 X
Kandinsky viewed his compositions as major statements of his artistic ideas. They 4 7 1/ 8 I N C H E S .
share several characteristics that express this monumentality: the impressively
large format, the conscious, deliberate planning of the composition, and O N W H I T E I I , 19 2 3 O I L O N C A N V A S , 1 0 5 X 9 8 C M
the transcendence of representation by increasingly abstract imagery. Just U P W A R D ( E M P O R ) , O C T O B E R 19 2 9. O I L O N
as symphonies define milestones in the career of a composer, Kandinskyʼs C A RDBOA RD, 70 X 49 C M .
compositions represented the culmination of his artistic vision at a given moment
in his career.
6 7
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INSIDE THE ARTISTS
BAU
HAUS
LÁSZLÓ
MOHOLY-NAGYʼS
Nagy taught the theoretical aspects
of art and communication arts he
believed intuition in the creative
process was indispensable and it
was necessary to combine conscious
analysis with the powers of dynamic
intuition. cvFormulae alone could
never be the sole basis for creation.
In figure A II and AXL II we see how he has created a three dimensional space
using almost translucent shapes that overlap each other.
JOSEF ALBERS
Through his teachings of design
and the behavior of materials Josef
Albers helped students develop an
understanding of “the static and
dynamic properties of materials .
. . through direct experience.”. He
did this by giving his students wire
netting, matchboxes, phonograph
needles, razor blades, and other
unusual materials to create construc-
tions of art.
Through “accidental” effects such as ripples and bubbles inherent in the medium
of stained glass he created sophisticated designs that explored the balance, FRONTAL, SANDBL ASTED FL ASHED GL ASS
and opacity. His artwork often heavily documented as to the proportions W I T H F I R E D B L A C K G L A S S E N A M E L . 13 3 / 16
and mathematical schemes are evident in his later works such as Homage to X 18 3 / 8 ", 19 2 7.
the Square. He was concerned that future generations understand his often
stringent working methods, however he also believed “Any form [of art] is GL A SS A SSE MBL AGE MOUN T ED ON A BR A SS SHEE T,
acceptable if it is true, And if it is true, itʼs ethical and aesthetic.” 5 4 . 6 X 3 9. 4 C M
8 9
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BAU
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PAUL KLEE
Being born into a family of musicians
Kleeʼs work was often gently and
humorous with allusions of dreams mu-
sic and poetry in small scale delicate
paintings, watercolors and drawings.
“Art does not reproduce the visible, it makes visible,” Klee later believed that
through a wide range of media using inventive techniques complex symbols and
signs he could communicate and create visible messages. He did this through
line and color creating several mosaics and producing other effects.
10 11
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SANDRA BRADLEY
13
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GREG CIRO TORNINCASA
17
Click in the movie box below to view
BAUHAUS CONCEPTS pop-up
CONCEPTS
BAU From the Bauhaus School came
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KIMBERLEE OSMUN
23
Feeling BAUHAUS ask the simple question what do you feel when you see a piece of artwork
or architecture from this period. After studying the Bauhaus movement, I felt it was unlike most other move-
ments. I think it goes a little deeper and is maybe often unrecognized. It does not offer gratification, one
must think about how it makes them feel. Perhaps this is due to the idea that Bauhaus art often serves more
of a function rather than just being a piece of art.
I decided to explore this issue by interviewing my friend Sarah Arthur, not just because she is my friend, but
because she had taken classes in architecture appreciation and was quite familiar with the Bauhaus move-
ment. As I interviewed her I realized this question was more challenging than I had imagined, yet extremely
interesting and fascinating. Please enjoy the images and interview bellow!
After looking at all of these objects and
architecture I finally decided to show
her a painting by Klee, in black and
white, “Struck From The List”. Even
though it was in black and white she
saw blue, red and a little green. She
thought the composition looked like a
poised feminine lady with a hair bun.
This figure looked nurturing pragmatic
caring attached bored. Immediately
it reminded me of a picture I took of
my friend Heather many years ago,
detached cold yet inviting, looking
forward.
FEELINGBAUHAUS
HOME
WANG PHAN
27
I
see her on Thursdays at three oʼclock.
Thatʼs the time when lives intersect, like
accidental grid patterns.
HOME
history resources
Bauhaus, bauhaus archiv magdalena droste 1919-1933.
2002 Published by the Bauhaus-Archiv fur Gestaltung
Klingelhoferstr. 14, D-10785 Berlin
interview resources
Arthur, Sarah. Personal Interview. 22 October 2003.
image resources
4 above: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
4 below: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
5 above: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
5 middle: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
5 below: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
6 above: Bauhaus Jeannine Fiedler & Peter Feierabend
6 below: Bauhaus Jeannine Fiedler & Peter Feierabend
sandra bradley
7 above: DeStijl Visions of Utopia
7 below: DeStijl Visions of Utopia
8 above: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste kimberlee osmun
8 below: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
9 above left: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
9 above right: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
9 below left: Guggenheim Collection
greg ciro tornincasa
9 below middle: Guggenheim Collection
wang phan
9 below right: Guggenheim Collection
10 above: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
10 below: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
11 above left: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
11 above middle: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
11 above right: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
11 below left: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
11 below middle: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
11 below right: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
12: Bauhaus Archiv Magdalena Droste
13 left: Guggenheim Collection
31
13 middle: Guggenheim Collection
13 right: Guggenheim Collection
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