BAUHAUS ART MOVEMENT
BAUHAUS TIMELINE:
Started: 1919
Ended: 1933
The Bauhaus is known as one of the most influential modernist art school of the 20th century. Its’ approach to teaching, and comprehending art's relationship to society and technology, had a huge impact both in Europe and the United States long after it closed. It was shaped by 19th and early-20th centuries trends such as Arts and Crafts movement, which had sought to level the distinction between fine and applied arts, and to reunite creativity and manufacturing.
The school is also renowned for its faculty, which included artists Wassily Kandinsky, Josef Albers, László Moholy-Nagy, Paul Klee and Johannes Itten, architects Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and designer Marcel Breuer. (Borteh, 2018)
Key Aspects of The Bauhaus:
-The motivations in creating the Bauhaus lay in the 19th century, in anxieties of art's loss of purpose in society and the soullessness of manufacturing and its products. Creativity and manufacturing were drifting apart, and the Bauhaus aimed to restore them once again, rejuvenating design for everyday life.
-Although the Bauhaus abandoned much of the ethos of the old academic tradition of fine art education, it maintained a stress on intellectual and theoretical pursuits, and linked these to an emphasis on practical skills, crafts and techniques that was more reminiscent of the medieval guild system. Fine art and craft were brought together with the goal of problem solving for a modern industrial society. In so doing, the Bauhaus effectively leveled the old hierarchy of the arts, placing crafts on par with fine arts such as sculpture and painting, and paving the way for many of the ideas that have inspired artists in the late-20th century.(Borteh, 2018)
-The stress on experiment and problem solving at the Bauhaus has proved enormously influential for the approaches to education in the arts. It has led to the 'fine arts' being rethought as the 'visual arts', and art considered less as an adjunct of the humanities, like literature or history, and more as a kind of research science.(Borteh, 2018)
Central to the school's operation was its original and influential curriculum. It was described by Gropius in the manner of a wheel diagram, with the outer ring representing the vorkurs, a six-month preliminary course, initiated by Johannes Itten, which concentrated on practical formal analysis, in particular on the contrasting properties of forms, colors and materials. The two middle rings represented two three-year courses, the formlehre, focused on problems related to form, and werklehre, a practical workshop instruction that emphasized technical craft skills. These classes emphasized functionalism through simplified, geometric forms that allowed new designs to be reproduced with ease. At the center of the curriculum were courses specialized in building construction that led students to seek practicality and necessity through technological reproduction, with an emphasis on craft and workmanship that was lost in technological manufacturing. And the basic pedagogical approach was to eliminate competitive tendencies and to foster individual creative potential and a sense of community and shared purpose.
Import Artworks and Artist of The Bauhaus Movement:
Bauhaus building in Dessau, Germany (1919-1925)
Artist: Walter Gropius
Club Chair (Model B3) (The Wassily Chair) (1925)
Artist: Marcel Breuer
Universal Bayer (1925)
Artist: Herbert Bayer
Model No. MT 49 (1927)
Artist: Marianne Brandt
Light Prop for an Electric Stage (Light Space Modulator) (1930)
Artist: László Moholy-Nagy
MODERN VIEW ON THE BAUHAUS MOVEMENT
2008 Berlin Campaign
for
President Barack Obama
There are several main characteristics that make it clearly influenced by the Bauhaus Movement. The block colours are stereotypical of the Bauhaus movement. Also, Bauhaus is very well known for the use of a simple sans serif typeface, that is used across a range of medias. One of the main things that the Bauhaus Movement are well known for, is the simplicity of the design. The designers pride themselves on their function over form approach to design. This can be seen in the right hand side of the page. Also, seen in the left is a basic image of the subject and with all the information that is required, there is nothing more for decoration or to make it look attractive. This is typical of Bauhaus. The design is based around the use of geometry and the geometric shapes. This can be seen in the right hand side of the campaign image. (ncsgraphicsguy, 2013)
The Bauhaus can be seen as one of the most influential movements in the 21st up till today, as it always for versatility and is not subjected to a specific form of art.
Designers are meant to be loved, not understood. — Fabien Barral
Bibliography:
Borteh, L. (2018). Bauhaus most important arts and artist. Retrieved August 23, 2018, from TheArtStory: https://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus-artworks.htm#pnt_1
Borteh, L. (2018). Bauhaus Movement Overview and Analysis. Retrieved August 23, 2018, from TheArtStory: https://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm
ncsgraphicsguy. (2013, January 23). Bauhaus influence in the 21st century. Retrieved August 24, 2018, from Graphic Design- The Sequel: https://ncsgraphicsguy2.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/bauhaus-influence-in-21st-century/
