The Bauhaus: the evolution of an idea (1919-1932)
Let us create a new guild of craftsmen, without the class distinctions which raise
an arrogant barrier between craftsmen and artist. Together let us create and
conceive the new building of the future, which will embrace architecture,
sculpture and painting in one unity and which will rise one day toward heaven
from the hands of a million workers like the crystal symbol of a new faith.
Proclamation of the Weimar Bauhaus, 1919.
The Bauhaus was the outcome of a continuous effort to reform applied art
education in Germany. Walter Gropius became the director of a composite
institution in 1919, consisting of the Academy of Art and the School of Arts and
Crafts, an arrangement that was to divide the Bauhaus, conceptually throughout
its existence. Bruno Taut argued that a new cultural unity could be attained only
through a new art of building, wherein each separate discipline would contribute
to the final form. There would be no boundaries between the crafts, sculptures
and painting; all would be one: architecture.
The Bauhaus proclamation exhorted the members of the Bauhaus to create a
new guild of craftsmen, without the class distinction which raise an arrogant
barrier between craftsmen and artist .
For the first 3 years of its existence the Bauhaus was dominated by the
charismatic presence of the Swiss painter and teacher, Johannes Itten , who
arrived in 1919. The aims of Itten’s foundation course, mandatory for all first year
students were to release individual creativity and to enable each student to asses
his own particular ability. At Itten’s request, the artists Schlemmer , Paul Klee and
Georg Muche joined the Bauhaus. Gerhard Marcks and Lyonel Feininger taught
courses in Ceramics and printing.
Farbkreis by Johannes Itten (1961)
Itten’s anti-authoritarian, even mystical position was substantially reinforced in
1921 by his extended stay in the Mazdaznan center near Zurich. He returned in
the middle of the year to convert his pupils and his colleagues to the rigours of
this updated version of an archaic Persian religion. The cult demanded and
austere life style, periodic fasting and a vegetarian diet flavoured with Cheese
and Garlic. The physical and spiritual well being deemed to be essential to
creativity was further assured by breathing and relaxation exercises.
The growing division between Gropius and Itten was exacerbated by the
appearance of two equally powerful personalities: Theo Van Doesburg and
Wassily Kandinsky who joined the Bauhaus at Itten’s instigation.
Soon after this, Gropius’ carefully worded argument for the reconciliation of craft
design and industrial production brought about Itten’s resignation and his position
on the faculty was immediately filled by the Hungarian artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.
After 1923, the Bauhaus approach became extremely objective, in the sense of
being closely affiliated to the Neue Sachlichkeit movement. This became more
pronounced after Gropius’s resignation in 1928.
The last two years of Gropius’s tenure were distinguished by three
developments: the politically enforced and well-orchestrated move from Weimar
to Dessau, the completion of the Dessau Bauhaus, and finally the gradual
emergence of a recognizable Bauhaus approach.
Furniture workshops were started in 1926 under Marcel Breuer’s brilliant
direction to produce tubular steel light weigh chairs and tables which were
convenient , easy to clean and economical. By 1927 the licensed industrial
production of such Bauhaus designs was in full swing, including the Breuer
furniture, the textured fabrics of Stolzl and the elegant lamps and metal ware of
Marianne Brandt .The year 1927 also saw the formation of the architectural
department under the leadership of the Swiss architect Hannes Meyer.
Early in 1928 Gropius tendered his resignation to the Mayor of Dessau and
appointed Meyer as his successor. This move radically transformed the Bauhaus.
For a variety of reasons Moholy – Nagy, Breuer and Bayer followed Gropious
lead and resigned. Largely liberated from the inhibhiting influence of Gropius’s
star faculty, Meyer was able to steer the Bauhaus towards a more “Socially
responsible” design program. More Bauhaus designs were being manufactured
than ever before although the emphasis was now placed on social rather than
aesthetic consideration. Meyer organized the Bauhaus into 4 major departments:
Architecture, advertising, wood and metal production and textiles.
A remorseless campaign against Meyer forced him to finally resign. The German
right wing political groups required the Bauhaus closed and its liberal artists
banished. The Bauhaus remained in Dessau for 2 more years. In October 1932
what was left of it moved into an old warehouse on the outskirts of Berlin, but by
now the floodgates of reaction were open, and 9 months later the Bauhaus was
finally closed.
