The Bahaus
The BahausThe Bauhaus was a modernist school in Germany that played an instrumental role early in
the twentieth century in shaping today’s modern tastes and art education. At a time when
industrial society was in the grip of a crisis, the Bauhaus questioned the ideas of traditional
design and asked themself how the modernisation process could be mastered through design
and architecture. It was founded in1919 and headed by Walter Gropuis, with a faculty
including Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky and Marcel Breuer. The Bauhaus
began with a Utopian definition: “The building of the future”, trying to combine all arts in
ideal unity.
The Bauhaus was a reaction to social changes that captured the spirit of change in a
young generation willing to rebuild a bankrupt post-world war 1 Germany. The influence of
the end of world war 1 had and impact on the Bauhaus and there approach, ideas and art
making. After world war 1 industrial art was no longer and individualistic phenomenon. It
was here in 1919 that a new revolution of art took place that dealt with life with an aesthetic
approach. In 1923, the Bauhaus reacted with a changed program, with a major exhibition
which was to mark it’s future image under the motto: “art and technology - a new unity”.
This exhibition provided a glimpse of a residential building of the future. The Bauhaus
educated, by developing workshops and courses that all who entered the school must attend.
The characteristics of different materials, their form, texture and suitability for art were
discussed during worships. Structure, composition, colour and use of light became objects of
study. Three-dimensional objects that were seen as functional were often created and primary
colours were used. The Bauhaus style was characterised by a serve geometrical form, and by
design that took into account the nature of the materials being used. Bauhaus designs and
buildings were functional, with a clean, geometry style line. In 1925 the Bauhaus moved to
Dessau, Germany. On the basis of his experiences gained at the Weimar Bauhaus, Gropius
talked about the aims he had for the Bauhaus in 1925 and what they were trying to achieve.
He said “ Bauhaus wishes to serve the actual development of the housing, from simple
utensils to the complete dwelling house. Bauhaus tries to find the form of every object in it’s
natural functions and presuppositions by systematically experimenting in theory and practice.
The result are forms that - differing from the common ones - often feel strange and startling”.
During this year and around the 1927 many things were going on in Germany that influenced
the way the Bauhaus sort to interpreted the world. The greatest advances in research took
place in Germany, the country began to grow in technology, science and wealth launching
the first liquid-fuelled rocket.
On the 1st of April 1928 Walter Gropius resigned as Director of the Bauhaus and
return to private architectural practice, as a result of the constant struggle and pressure for the
Bauhaus’ survival. His successor was the Swiss architect Hannes Meyer who was replaced in
1930 as he failed as a leader due to political disagreements within the Bauhaus. German
architect Ludwig Van der Rohe was invited as director and the Bauhaus approached a type
of ‘ vocational university”. It began to loose the support from Dessau so the school was then
moved to Berlin where it became hated by the Nazis for it’s ideas and different approaches
taken.
With the Great Depression beginning in 1930 and spreading across the world most of
Europe was in political and economic shambles. However during this time the Nazis’ rose in
Germany with it’s own dreams of conquest and a superior race, at this stage the Bauhaus
became stronger expressing ideas and new forms of art. As a result of Germany being
dictated by Adolf Hitler and the degeneration of culture, the Bauhaus under pressure from
the Nazis was closed by police on the 11th of April, 1933.
The Bauhaus was a very influential group of artists that changed the way of
traditional art forms and sought to interpret the world in new ways. The significance and
influence of the Bauhaus is still being carried on today, this can be seen in many cities, with
their geometrical buildings and the use of glass windows. This group of artists and school
interpreted the world in new ways through their unusual aims and goals. The school had
three main aims that stayed basically the same throughout the life of the Bauhaus even
though the direction of the school changed significantly and repeatedly. the first aim of the
school was to “rescue all of the arts from the isolation in which each then found itself”, to
encourage the individual artists and craftsmen to work co-operatively and combine all of
their skills. Secondly, the school set out to promote crafts, chairs, lamps, teapots, to the same
level enjoyed by fine arts, painting and sculpting. the third aim was to renew architecture and
unify all of the creative arts in architecture. Above all the intention with Bauhaus was to
develop creative minds for architecture and thus influence them so they would be able to
produce artistically, technically and practically balanced utensils. These aims and intentions
were the basis of the Bauhaus that began to influence our lives immensely in ways that most
people probably take for granted.