ART 313 Lecture 3 Study Guide
BAUHAUS
1919 - 1933
Weimar Bauhaus early Curriculum:
After passing Itten's 6 month preliminary course (as decided by the Council of Masters at the end of the semester), students then went on to join a workshop. Practical workshop training overlapped with theoretical form teaching. Each student was assigned a Master of Form and a Master of Craft. It was necessary to work with both because the craftsmen didn't have the artistic skills and the artists didn't have the technical skills to take charge of workshop operations. (according to Gropius)
Printing and Advertising Workshop
All the printed materials of the Bauhaus were designed by Herbert Bayer Design and production under one roof— • sans serif type • red and black • photos • typographic elements (points, rules, etc.) Arrangement according to significance of the text— often asymmetrical— text angled or vertical. Universal type was introduced in 1926. Rejected historical forms and old style type. Eventually, abolished capital letters. Sought an internationally valid & legible style of lettering. Like modern machines, Architecture, and cinema— was to be an expression of the times. Bauhaus Books and the Bauhaus Journal were designed and printed.
The new school building as well as the Master's housing was designed by Gropius.
Became the epitome of Modern architecture in Germany • Construction of detached houses and a studio apartment block for students, taken on by Gropius' firm and the students 3 main sections of the new Bauhaus complex: • 1. 4 story workshop wing with a glazed facade • 2. Arts & Crafts school wing • 3. Administrative section joining the two Later... with the official opening in December, 1926: • 5 story student accommodation block (The Studio Building) • Auditorium, theater, and canteen on the first floor • Working, living, eating, sport, parties, and theater were under one roof Every part of the Dessau building was designed— • colors of the walls • furnishings created in the Joinery workshop under Marcel Breuer (Tubular steel furniture) • lamps from the Metal workshop • signage from the Printing workshop
New Teaching Philosophy at the Bauhaus Furthered
By 1924, Moholy-Nagy was officially appointed at Itten's successor and new changes were implemented. The new slogan for the school was changed from Art & Craft: A New Unity to Art & Technology: A New Unity. There were changes to Vorkurs: drawing (so important to Itten) was virtually dropped. Moholy-Nagy believed that 3-D objects and exercises in spatial equilibrium based on an asymmetrical balance using materials such as glass, wood, and metal was more important. The preliminary course was extended to 1 year, and Klee and Kandinsky's courses became part of the preliminary course. The materials course was led by Josef Albers. In preparation for the workshops, students visited factories and businesses and familiarized themselves with tools and materials. All of these reforms, especially the appointment of Moholy-Nagy, marked a new chapter for the Bauhaus.
Weimar Bauhaus: 'Expressionist Bauhaus'
Following the release of the Manifesto, 150 students enrolled (1/2 were women). The Bauhaus was the first art school reformed after the war to take up teaching in the new republic. Similar to other art schools before the war— students would study handicrafts, drawing & sciences. However, new, was Gropius' overall goal: the jointly erected BUILDING to which all would contribute through CRAFTSMENSHIP. Students were taught by a Master of Form and a Master of Craft— Gropius' effort to break the barrier between artist and artisan and clear the way for 'The new building of the future.' (The school was run by a Council of Masters who appointed new masters) Gropius hoped the students would carry the Bauhaus ideals into society at large. Gropius said our duty was to enlist powerful, famous personalities wherever possible. One of the first artists appointed was the art theoretician and painter, Johannes Itten. He developed VORKURS— the preliminary course (that we know of as 'foundations' today) It became the core of the Bauhaus program.
'To build is to shape the patterns of life.'
Gropius
Théo van Doesburg
He visited the Bauhaus in 1920 and was critical of the school, but recognized its potential. He moved to Weimar and started a De Stijl course out of his house, which was very popular and influential on the students.
New Teaching Philosophy at the Bauhaus
Itten's resignation (1923) cleared the way for a new philosophy of teaching centered not on the individual personality but upon the creation of new products to suit industrial requirements. (smaller role for handicrafts and handmade products) His successors were Josef Albers & Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. They retained the basic principles of Vorkurs, but dropped the aspects related to personal development.
Dessau Changes:
More of a curriculum under Joost Schmidt. • systematic practice in combining photos and text • accurate 3-D perspective drawing • lettering course Photography workshop became its own separate workshop from Advertising. Workshop activities were based on questions of utility, economy, and social target groups (more like design today) Constructivism and 'style' disappeared and products became 'necessary, correct, and neutral.'
Bauhaus
On April 12, 1919, it opened as Das Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar (The State Home for Building) and Walter Gropius was appointed as Director
DESSAU BAUHAUS: INSTITUTE OF DESIGN
Opened April 1, 1925 A number of cities expressed interest in the Bauhaus because it was a new type of school. In Dessau, what had been a state school, became a municipal institution. • Dessau Bauhaus was governed by the Social Democrats • It was a center for mechanical engineering
Hannes Meyer took over as Director in 1927
Reorganization again: • Expansion of the preliminary course Albers: Materials Course Kandinsky: abstract form elements & analytical drawing Joost Schmidt: lettering course Klee: elementary design of the plane • Workshops based on 2 poles: science & art • Architecture was divided into 2 parts: theory & building • advertised and promoted to recruit more students
The Exhibition of 1923:
Requested as stipulation to a loan by the government in1922. The New Typography was revealed: • De Stijl & Russian Constructivism were starting points (mainly from Maholy-Nagy) The school's printed materials claimed Modernity: • Black, white, and red were the colors primarily used • Hierarchy was emphasized • Created asymmetrical layouts with equilibrium— used blocks, bars, and lines for balance and emphasis
Closure of the Bauhaus at Weimar and the move to Dessau:
Right-wing conservative parties had long been demanding closure of the Bauhaus because of the Communist and Boshevist tendencies they suspected was going on in the work there. • The government cut funding & terminated Gropius' contract
New Curriculum in Dessau:
School reforms of 1925 and 1927: # of workshops was reduced to 6: • joinery • metal • mural painting • textiles • book and art printing (advertising) • sculpture • theater Several former students were appointed 'Young Masters' And there was a new generation of Bauhaus philosophy. Dropped the Masters, Journeyman, and Apprentice system, and replaced it with Students and Professors. Architecture department finally opened in 1925 under Hannes Meyer. The timetable was completely reorganized: • Architecture was 1st and divided into 1. Building and 2. Interior Decoration (metal, textiles, joinery, & mural painting under Architecture) • Advertising was next category new name for old printing workshop. Included sculpture &photography • Theater was 3rd on timetable— more important role than before • 4th was 'Seminar for free sculptural & pictorial design (painting classes of Klee & Kandinsky) * Main teaching focus was shifted to Architecture. From 1927 on, students weren't allowed to work with materials at random. Albers progressed systematically through glass, paper and metal. Moholy-Nagy concentrated his exercises on Design Studies and organization in space.
Johannes Itten and Vorkurs:
Taught his students the fundamentals of color and form + theory, composition and design. His teaching was also aimed at the inner being. Students were to find their own rhythm and develop a well-tuned personality.
The Weimar School of Arts & Crafts
was founded by Henry van de Velde. He resigned in 1914 (end of WW I) to return to Belgium. The school was closed during the war, and in 1919, merged with The Weimar Art Academy.
In the Bauhaus Manifesto, which was published throughout Germany, Gropius set out the program and aims of the new school:
• Artists and craftsmen were together to create the building of the future • No barriers between handicrafts and sculpture or painting • For Gropius, the 'new building of the future' was everything in one form: architecture, sculpture and painting, and handicrafts was declared the foundation of art education. • Gropius adopted a concept of a 'Council of Masters': hierarchy of master, journeyman, apprentice • Building was a social, intellectual, and symbolic activity. It reconciled previously separate disciplines and callings and united them in a common task. • Building was to level class differences and bring laymen and artists together.
Situation in Germany at the time (Bauhaus):
• Following the English example of guilds & workshops (Arts & Crafts movement), small private workshops sprang up all over Germany. • However, German workshops embraced machine production (conceptually & stylistically), thereby having nothing left in common with Arts & Crafts. • Germany became the leading industrial nation until the outbreak of WWI. . • A very nationalistic climate. They searched for a stylistic language to complement the Industrial reputation. 1907: German Werkbund was founded in Munich. • Was the best example of the marriage of Art and Industry before WW I.
Tschichold's objective:
• Functional design by the most straightforward means. • Delivery of a message in the shortest, most efficent manner. • The nature of machine composition and its impact on the design process and product. • Rational design that communicated functionally • Utilitarianism + modernism... but spiritual content too. ("a beauty bound to the materials") • Type in motion and not at rest • Pure form before the meaning of the words • Favored flush left (rag right) • Kinetic asymmetrical design of contrasting elements • Sans serif, range of weights, range of proportion = modern type • Range of values in black and white • Designs constructed on an underlying horizontal and vertical structure • Rules, bars, boxes used for structure, balance, and emphasis • Photography over illustration
Other teachers at the original Bauhaus:
• Lyonel Feininger (painter) • Paul Klee (painter) • Wassily Kandinsky (painter) • Georg Muche (painter) • Oskar Schlemmer (painter) • Gerhard Marcks (sculptor) • Lothar Schreyer (theatre dept.)
Some of the founding artists and architects of German Werkbund:
• Peter Behrens • Josef Hoffman • Joseph Olbrich • Walter Gropius joined in 1912 They held their own exhibitions, organized touring exhibitions, published yearbooks, and worked with art schools.
Goals of the German Werkbund:
• cooperation of arts, industry, and crafts • ennoblement of commercial activity by means of education, propaganda, & a united stand on pertinent issues. • QUALITY of work was an ideal & catch phrase