Bauhaus
“House of Building”
Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 in Weimar, Germany. It was a school dedicated to reunite the applied arts and manufacturing and to restructure education.
Gropius envisioned the school to display a new respect for craft and technique in all artistic media, such as including a return to attitudes to art and craft once characteristic of the medieval age. In addition, aspiring to influence all artistic media, including fine art, industrial design, graphic design, typography, interior design, and architecture.
Gropius introduced a craft-based curriculum that would allow the creation of useful and beautiful objects applicable to this new system of living from artisans and designers. The craft-based curriculum included specialized workshops, which included metalworking, weaving, cabinetmaking, pottery, wall painting, and typography.
The Bauhaus was characterized to be minimalist, geometrical, anti-ornament and Fundamental understanding of the material. Bauhaus design attempts to solve functional issues with a minimum of decorative elements. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe adopted the phrase, “Less is More” which was a precept for Bauhaus, Minimalist design and modern architecture. In addition, the Bauhaus School believed that form should always reflect and enhance function.
Image 1: The Wassily Chair; (Breuer, 1925)
The image above displays an example of Bauhaus created by Marcel Breuer, this tubular steel chair is known as “The Wassily Chair” which is one of the developments that depicts the characteristics that Bauhaus adopted. One can see the minimalist and geometrical form of the design, as well as the ideology that, “Less is More” based on the understanding of materials and to solve functional issues with minimal aesthetics. The design is lightweight, allows manoeuvrability and easily mass produced, therefore the precept that Bauhaus believed that form should always reflect and enhance function is achieved within the design.
Bauhaus influences on Modern Design
Image 2: Chicago Modern Chair; (Richard Abedu BCN, 2018)
The image above displays an example of how modern design was influenced by Bauhaus, the design was created by Richard Abedu BCN, a manufacturer of design products. The "Chicago Modern Chair" contains elements similar to Bauhaus principles by the minimalist and geometrical form of the design. The simplicity of the chair frame strengthens the view that "Less is More" adopted by the Bauhaus school and the understanding of materials and to solve functional issues. Lastly, it adheres to the main principle of Bauhaus that "Form follows function" based on the design of a chair, which serves a basic function to be sat upon.
Bibliography
Image 1: Breuer, M. (1925). The Wassily Chair. [Image] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/images20/works/bauhaus_2.jpg [Accessed: 16 May 2018].
Image 2: Richard Abedu BCN. (2018). Chicago Modern Chair. [Image] Available at: https://crowdyhouse.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Furniture-Dining-chairs-Chicago-Chair3.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress [Accessed: 16 May 2018].
Encyclopedia Britannica. (2018). Bauhaus | German school of design | Britannica.com. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bauhaus. [Accessed 15 May 2018].
Widewalls. (2018). Timeless Examples of Bauhaus Design Still Relevant and Popular | Widewalls . [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.widewalls.ch/bauhaus-design/. [Accessed 16 May 2018].
Winton, A.G. (2018). The Bauhaus, 1919–1933 | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm. [Accessed 16 May 2018].
