Bauhaus

Bauhaus is an early 1900s art movement that combined the ideas of fine art and architecture to make something totally unique. The goal of the movement was to create Gesamtkunstwerk, which is a German term for “total work of art” (Sawyers 18). The teaching methods utilized at the school reflect this idea, which will be expanded upon later. This school began in Weimar, Germany. Teachers taught art in a communal workshop space as opposed to a proper academic studio (Clarke 87). This school moved twice. It’s final relocation to Berlin was an attempt to seek refuge from the Nazis and the rest of Germany. (Wick). Walter Gropius ran the existing arts and crafts house Bauhaus moved into. In describing Bauhaus goals, Gropius stated:

The ultimate aim of all artistic activity is building! … Architects, sculptors, painters, we must all get back to craft! … The artist is a heightened manifestation of the craftsman … Let us form … a new guild of craftsmen without the class divisions that set out to raise an arrogant barrier between craftsmen and artists! … Let us together create the new building of the future which will be all in one: architecture and sculpture and painting (Wick).

Practitioners of Bauhaus had a much more functionalist approach to their art than the expressionists who came before them. This idea of functionalism that Bauhaus has allows for the work to be able to be used in the creation of real buildings. Many art forms that are not based in functionalism are unable to be used to create actual buildings. The Bauhaus school hoped to recreate the bond between art and manufacturing that the leaders of the Bauhaus movement felt society lost during the industrial revolution. Bauhaus was not just a school. It was a commune and a spiritual movement. (Sawyers 20) The Nazi party shut the school down in 1932 and the school never reopened (Clarke 87).

The German word “hausbau” means “building of a house.” Walter Gropius inverted the term when he founded the Bauhaus school. The school’s full name is Staatliches Bauhaus, School of Applied Arts, Design, and Applied Architecture. To create his school, Gropius combined the Weimar Academy of Arts and the Weimar School of Arts and Crafts. (Bayer 55)

One of Gropius’ goals in combining these schools was to close the gap between art and expert craftsmanship. He wanted his students to be trained as artists, but also as skilled craftsmen.

Before students even began their education, they took a six-month course taught by Johannes Itten, Josef Albers, or Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. When they passed this first course, they advanced to the actual workshops. (Naylor 12) A form master and a craftsman taught the following classes. The Form Master taught the artistic perspective, focusing on theory and the Craftsman focused on technical practices.

- carpentry

- metal

- pottery

- stained glass

- wall painting

- weaving

- graphics

- typology

- stagecraft

Gropius directed the school to keep in mind mass manufacture when they were creating. He wanted to appeal to society as a whole, rather than catering to the small circle of upper class citizens.

Bauhaus is a splendid mix of fine art and architecture, this includes jagged edges and simple designs that are rarely seen in the art world.. This unique design can be found in all sorts of places from buildings to paintings. Each one piece of art can be recognized as a bauhaus design from the first glance. The predominant shapes that create many of paintings look back to the Bauhaus roots in constructivism. Bauhaus painting is much more geometric than most [most what?]. It does not have blurred lines, but rather simple blocks of color. This sometimes simple design aesthetics lends an understanding to a more controlled and simplistic look to many pieces. The color schemes are predominantly primary colors comparatively fewer secondary or mixed colors. The geometric designs attempt to be visually pleasing and often attempts to create humanlike features using the geometric symbols. Bauhaus sculpture is very similar to the designs found in Bauhaus architecture.

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