It is already evident that inventions no longer are, as they had been in

earlier times, means for warding off want and for helping consumption;
instead, want and consumption are the means to market the inventions.
The order of things has been reversed. …The abundance of means is the
first serious danger with which art has to struggle. Where will the
depreciation of material that results from its treatment by machines, from
substitutes lead? –Gottfried Semper, 1852

How should designers deal with industrialization?

6 years after German unification, the

nation had the chance to show their
industrial ability at the Philadelphia
Centennial Exhibition of 1876.
However, visitors commented that
the German goods were “cheap and
nasty.” The German government
was embarrassed and angry.

How did Germany become the world leader in superior industrial design?
1890: resignation of Bismark
rise of the demand for improved design in craft and industry

Why did Germans see good design as their path to becoming an economic
powerhouse?
-raw material poor
-no ready outlet for cheap goods (market already filled)

Why did they embrace machine production?

-only economically feasible way to manufacture and mass-market goods

(unlike William Morris, Germans were not interested in one-off craft produced
pieces for a small, well-educated, upper-class. To build their GDP, they need
to mass produce goods. The idea was to appeal to the middle class’s desire
to ‘buy up.’ Naumann reinforced this idea in his 1904 essay, “Art in the
Epoch of the Machine.”)
1907: Muthesius, Naumann, and Schmidt
founded the Deutsche Werkbund

The English Arts and Crafts Movement had seen a

contradiction between art and industrial methods of
art-production. The Werkbund aimed in the first place
to bridge this contradiction without denying the reality
of industrial production. The Germans spoke "of the
artist on the one, of the worker on the other side" -
they accepted the reality of the division of labor
(Pevsner 24).

1907: Behren (a Werkbund member) is

appointed as AEG’s chief architect and
designer

Peter Behrens. Fan Model No. GB 1.

1908. Painted cast iron and brass,
mfg by A.E.G., Germany.

Behrens.
Nitralampe. 1910.
Mfg by A.E.G.
 Behrens’s accepted of
industrialization as
Germany’s destiny. He
built “a temple to
industrial power” while
bringing to the workers a
sense of common
purpose that was lost
when they moved from
the farm to the city
(Frampton 111-12).
Behrens. AEG Turbine Factory. Berlin, 1908-09.
“What is Monumental Art?” –Behrens, 1908

Behrens argued that such art is an expression of the dominant power group
in any given epoch. He also rejected Semper’s theory that form comes
from technical criteria in favor of Riegl’s theory that talented individuals are
ordained to design through their ‘will to form’ (note the Nietzschian influence).

He fell on the Form (individuality) side of the Werkbund style argument (as
opposed to the advocates of Norm, or type.)

Schinkel. Altes Museum. Berlin, 1824-30. Behrens. German Embassy. St.

Petersburg. 1912.
Gropius and Meyer. Werkbund Pavilion. Van de Velde. Werkbund Exhibition
View from front showing Theater. Cologne, 1914.
glass stairs. Cologne,
1914.

Norm Form

Hermann Muthesius’s address at the Werkbund Exhibition advocated

Norm. He argued that architecture and industrial design can attain
significance only through the development of types that can be mass-
produced and sold to the world.

Van de Velde countered by rejecting that the goal of design is export

products and proclaiming the creative sovereignty of an individual artist.
He advocated Form, not Norm.
Bahaus –Weimar, oras fanion al culturii si academismului german
“Bauhaus” provine din germana si desemnează de obicei Staatliches Bauhaus, o
școală de artă, design și arhitectură, precum și un curent artistic extrem de influent în
arhitectura, artele plastice, designul, fotografia, mobilierul și decorările interioare ale
secolului XX. Această școală și mișcare artistică, generată de către arhitectul și
pedagogul german Walter Gropius în orașul Weimar în 1919, a funcționat la maxima sa
anvergură între anii 1919 - 1933 în trei orașe germane: Weimar, Dessau și Berlin,
devenind în timp, în ciuda interzicerii lor de către naziști în 1933, unul dintre cele mai
importante și inspirante curente ale arhitecturii moderne și, mai ales, al stilului cunoscut
sub numele de stil internațional. Chiar mai mult, odată cu emigrarea fondatorului lui
Bauhaus, Walter Gropius, în Statele Unite ale Americii, această mișcarea artistică
cunoaște o renaștere cunoscută sub numele generic de “Stilul The New Bauhaus”,
numit și “Stilul New Bauhaus”. La rândul său, The New Bauhaus devine un factor
educativ, inspirant și stimulativ pentru multe alte generații de arhitecți și artiști plastici,
care au propagat sau încă propagă esența stilului originalului Bauhaus până în prezent
(sec. XXI).

Paul Klee - Ancient Sound, 1925 and Mies van der Rohe - Farnsowrth House, 1951
Often associated with being
anti-industrial, the Arts and
Crafts Movement had
dominated the field before
the start of the Bauhaus in
1919. The Bauhaus’ focus
was to merge design with
industry, providing well
designed products for the
many.

The Bauhaus not only

impacted design and
architecture on an
international level, but also
revolutionized the way
design schools conceptualize
education as a means of
imparting an integrated
design approach where form
follows function.
Perioada Weimar, 1919 – 1925

Gropius a argumentat în mod repetat că odată cu terminarea războiului o nouă perioadă

istorică începuse. Ambiția sa declarată era ca să creeze un nou stil arhitectural care să
reflecte această nouă perioadă. Întrucât această perioadă era perioada producției de
masă, care începuse să ia avânt pretutindeni în lumea industrializată, arhitectura,
designul,mobilierul, artefactele și decorațiunile interioare trebuiau să reflecte aceasta în
cel mai tranșant mod posibil.

Viziunea programatică a lui Walter Gropius era ca să creeze spații ambientale

funcționale, ieftine, practice și reproductibile cu ajutorul producției de masă, fiind în acest
fel accesibile absolut fiecăruia. Strâns legate de cele de mai sus, Gropius dorea ca
artefactele să constituie un alt grup de produse, de data aceasta, relativ accesibile
material, dar care să se încadreze armonios în spațiile ambientale construite cu ajutorul
producției de masă.
Corespunzând viziunii sale artistice și a felului în care Staatsliches Bauhaus fusese
gândită și concepută inițial, Walter Gropius a dorit (și a realizat, de altfel, în bună parte)
ca instituția Bauhaus să fie locul în care artiștii,arhitecții, inginerii, proiectanții și
constructorii se găsesc, creează și lucrează împreună realizând orice produs final
ambiental, de la clădirea propriu-zisă până la acea combinație unică de decorațiuni
interioare și artefacte care s-ar potrivi numai unui client anume.
Despite
Despite its
its controversy
controversy the
the list
list of
of influential
influential artist
artist and
and architects
architects that
that worked
worked and
and
studied
studied at
at the
the school
school grew
grew throughout
throughout the the years
years toto a
a point
point where
where they
they managed
managed toto lift
lift
its
its reputation
reputation to
to a
a global
global level.
level. Amongst
Amongst manymany others
others were
were Walter
Walter Gropius,
Gropius, Mies
Mies van
van der
der
Rohe, Johannes Itten, Paul Klee and Avgust Černigoj (Slovenian). The
Rohe, Johannes Itten, Paul Klee and Avgust Černigoj (Slovenian). The impact of the impact of the
school
school was
was immense
immense and and the
the effects
effects of
of their
their designs
designs had
had already
already taken
taken place
place before
before its
its
main players fled or were exiled by the Nazi party. Most of them settled
main players fled or were exiled by the Nazi party. Most of them settled in England andin England and
The
The States
States where
where the
the knowledge
knowledge was was passed
passed on on at
at Harvard
Harvard School
School ofof Design
Design producing
producing
more
more great
great names
names such
such as
as I.M.
I.M. Pei
Pei and
and Phillip
Phillip Johnson.
Johnson.

Laszlo Maholy-Nagy,
Untiteled, 1921 and
Johannes Itten, Farbkreis,
1921

As
As the
the schools
schools reputation
reputation grew,
grew, so
so did
did the
the political
political (Nazi)
(Nazi) pressure
pressure onon the
the director.
director.
Ultimately
Ultimately Gropius
Gropius resigned
resigned from
from the
the school
school and
and left
left Germany
Germany toto live
live in
in the
the States.
States. The
The
Bauhaus school legacy is priceless both in products and in philosophy of
Bauhaus school legacy is priceless both in products and in philosophy of building and building and
designing.
designing. Influencing
Influencing life
life the
the way
way it
it did,
did, there
there really
really was
was nono other
other school
school or
or ‘trend’
‘trend’ that
that
would sweep the world of design off its feet in a similar way. Some examples
would sweep the world of design off its feet in a similar way. Some examples of the of the
schools
schools work
work follow.
follow.
Listă a artiștilor conectați de mișcarea artistică Bauhaus.
Anni Albers
Josef Albers
Herbert Bayer
Marianne Brandt
Marcel Breuer
Lyonel Feininger
Naum Gabo
Walter Gropius
Ludwig Hilberseimer
Johannes Itten
Wassily Kandinsky
Paul Klee
Hannes Meyer
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Piet Mondrian
László Moholy-Nagy
Georg Muche
Hinnerk Scheper
Oskar Schlemmer
Joost Schmidt
Lothar Schreyer
Timetable of the preliminary course for the summer
semester of 1924.
Droste, M. "Bauhaus 1919-1933
The infinite
movement,
chromatic
Klee, P.
"Pedagogical
Sketchbook."
Three
conjugations:
active, medial
and passive
(linear and
planar)
Klee, P.
"Pedagogical
Sketchbook."
Diagrammatic indication of the line-plane-colour
relationships
Kandinsky, W. "Point and Line to Plane"
Tension from the center and distribution of weights
Organic man: movements and emanations create an
imaginary space
Schlemmer, O. et al. "The Theatre of the Bauhaus."
The laws of cubical space are the linear network of
planimetric and stereometric relationships
Schlemmer, O. et al. "The Theatre of the Bauhaus."
Paul Klee. "Full
Moon". 1920
Istoric
Școala de artă Bauhaus a existat în trei orașe diferite sub conducerea a trei directori
diferiți, toți arhitecți. A fost creată și a început să funcționeze la Weimar, între 1919 și
1925, a continuat și a atins apogeul artistic la Dessau (unde se găsește și cunoscuta
clădire Bauhaus), între 1925 și 1932, și a fost mutată la Berlin, unde a funcționat între
1932 - 1933, cunoscând atât declinul său artistic, cât și brutala ei închidere de către
naziști, în 1933.
Cei trei directori ai școlii Bauhaus au fost fondatorul acesteia, Walter Gropius, între 1919
și 1928, continuatorul “tradiției Bauhaus”,Hannes Meyer, între 1928 și 1930, și directorul
declinului artistic și existențial, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, între 1930 și 1933.

În afara celor trei orașe diferite și a celor trei arhitecți-directori foarte diferiți, mișcării
Bauhaus i-au fost oferite continue provocări, schimbări și redefiniri. Alături de continua
lipsă de fonduri, întrucât Republica de la Weimar era nu numai extrem de conservatoare,
dar și relativ săracă, opoziția inflexibilă a unora din liderii de “modă veche” ai Germaniei
anilor 1920, continua schimbare a profesorilor precum și puternicele tensiuni interne și
externe au fost tot atâtea cutremure puternice.
Aceste modificări continue, afectând sub toate aspectele funcționalitatea școlii, au făcut
ca în decursul existenței sale relativ scurtă, de doar 14 ani, școala Bauhaus să fie
supusă unei continue “goane” pentru flexibilitate, schimbare, delimitare, definire,
actualizare, redelimitare, redefinire, etc.. În ciuda acestor avataruri, ceea ce rămâne
remarcabil la stilul Bauhaus sunt extrema sa unitate și puternica individualizare artistică,
fapte care fac orice astfel de artefacte și clădiri să fie ușor de recunoscut.
1. Feiniger. Zukunftskathedrale Woodcut for the Bauhaus Proclamation. 1919. 2. Van de
Velde. Grand Ducal School of Arts and Crafts (Bauhaus). Weimar, Germany. 1904-1911.

The Bauhaus resulted from the merger of the former Grand-Ducal Saxon
Academy of Art (Mackensen) with the former Grand-Ducal Saxon School of Arts
and Crafts (directed by Van de Velde, Behrens a teacher), and also was
influenced by the Norm ideology of the Deutche Werkbund.
The ultimate, if distant, aim of the
Bauhaus is the unified work of art – the
great structure – in which there is no
distinction between monumental and
decorative art. –Gropius

The Bauhaus was founded with the

visions of erecting the cathedral of
socialism and the workshops were
established in the manner of the
cathedral building lodges.

The artist was no longer “above” the

craftsman, but both were equals.
1. Fritz Mackensen. Der Säugling (Moor Madonna). 1892. 2. Itten. Horizontal-Vertical.
1915. 3. Klee. Twittering Machine. 1922.

Fritz Machensen thought that designers should be educated in a fine art

academy. Gropius believed that designers and craftsmen should be
educated together in a workshop-based program. Gropius prevailed, but
Itten had the most influence during the first 3 years of the school. He
aimed to release individual creativity and enable each student to access his
own ability. (A 1900s reformer like Dewey)
Wassily Kandinsky. Improvisation 31 Theo van Doesburg. Counter-Composition XIII.
(Sea Battle), 1913. 1925–26.

Can the artistic mind grow in an institutional setting? Can creativity be

taught?
The emotive, mystical approach vs. the rational, anti-individualist aesthetic –
the battles escalates in 1921 when these two artist join the faculty.
Frank Lloyd Wright. Ward Willitts House. Highland Park,
IL, 1902. As published by Wasmuth in 1910.

Van Doesburg’s influence at the Bauhaus was

immediately felt. He helped Gropius resolve his
dilemma of desiring both continuity and spatial
movement and a closed, hard, machined
aesthetic. He did this through the influence of
Wright (published in German by Wasmuth in
1910-11). Van Doesburg’s painting is derived in
part from the linear pattern of the Willitts House.

Theo Van Doesburg. Rhythm of a Russian Dance. 1918.

Frank Lloyd Wright. Ward Willitts House. Highland Park, IL, 1902.

Vantonerloo’s construction
can be derived by
concentrating on the George
advancing and receding Vantongerloo.
Construction of
volumes. A Neo-Plastic Volume Relations.
house if arrived at by reading 1921.
the planes as forming hollow
interlocked boxes.

Rietveld and Van

Doesburg. Project for a
Private House. 1920.
Frank Lloyd Wright.
Ward Willits House.
Highland Park, IL,
1902.

Rietveld’s Schroder
House is arrived at by
separating some of
the planes even
further.
In all of these cases, a
linear and planar
clarity of separate
parts has been
combined with
continuously shifting
sets of spatial
relationships. The
result is a machined
freedom.

Gerrit Rietveld. Schroder

House. Utrecht, 1924-25.
 Gerrit Rietveld. Schroder
House. Utrecht, 1924-25.

Café de Unie takes all of the prior

experiments and smoothes them
out into a single plane –
combining strict linear and
rectangular order with the flux
and movement of calculated
asymmetries.

J.J.P. Oud. Café de Unie. Rotterdam. 1924.

Gropius.
Bauhaus.
Dessau. Finally, by joining all the
1925-26.
planes firmly into boxes
and interlocking their
separate volumes into an
asymmetrical composition
like the continuous
mechanical movement of a
set of gears, Gropius’s
Bauhaus emerges.
 Metal Workshop at the The form of the
Bauhaus (Dessau) Bauhaus also
reflects Van
Doesburg’s
influence on the
pedagogy.

In 1922, Gropius changed the focus

of the school from craft to the
understanding of industrial methods
of production.

Metal workshop
1923 in Weimar
The classrooms/
administration offices
were built on one
side of the road,
while the studios
were across the
street.
These two volumes
were connected by
the bridge where the
professors had their
offices.

The teachers had

mastered both the
intellectual and
technical knowledge
needed to produce
artistically designed,
economical goods.
 Moholy-
Nagy. Light-
Space
Modulator.
1921-30.

Albers. Skyscrapers on Transparent Yellow. 1927

Sand blasted flashed glass

Itten left in 1923. His position was filled by Moholy-Nagy, who taught first
year studio with Albers. They reworked the studio so that it concentrated on
revealing the statical and aesthetic properties of free-standing asymmetrical
structures, which portray both a machined purity and a modern continuity of
space.
Albers’s student’s work. 1927-28.

The first year studies

taught basic formal
principles of design to all
majors in the school.
After first year, students
chose a specific
workshop.
Each workshop was
headed by both an artist
and a master craftsman.
Herbert Bayer and Joost Schmidt. Poster for
the Bauhaus Exhibition of 1923.

Van Eestern and Van Doesburg. Model of

their “artist’s house” for the Rosenburg
Exhibition. 1923.

Two examples of the changing Bauhaus design approach, which

acknowledges the change in the means of production and no longer searches
to create a “total work of art” that emotively displays the singular creative
force of its designer. This is work that is done collaboratively.
Homogeneous professional
roles started to dissolve in
practice, or at least to change
radically.

At the same time it seemed

necessary for the student to
take personal responsibility for
his or her studies and the
development of professional
skills.

The Bauhaus workshops

( metal, weaving, pottery,
furniture, typology, wall
painting, and architecture
[after 1927]) were the
birthplaces of new industrial
designs.
The Bauhaus was a socially orientated
program. "An artist must be conscious of his
social responsibility to the community. On the
other hand the community has to accept the
artist and support him."

Specialization together with solid basic

knowledge was not a risk when the students
were employed by the production. They were
able to follow the changes in technology and
society in a flexible manner.

Lazló Moholy-Nagy: Folio

Cover, 1923.

RT: Lucia Moholy, Bauhaus Herbert

building Dessau, Balcony of Bayer,
the studio house, 1926. 1932.
 Much & Meyer. Marcel Breuer. Metal Tube Chairs. 1925-29.
Experimental
House. Bauhaus
Exposition. 1923.

The focus on craft continually gave way to the focus on deriving form from
productive method, material constraint, and programmatic necessity.
Breuer’s tubular steel chairs exemplified this approach to creative design
solutions.

“To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of
art designed for reproducibility.” (Benjamin 224)
 Bauhaus
Pendant
Lamp -
Marianne
Brandt and
Hans
Przyrembel,
1925.

Josef Hartwig, 1880 - 1955, Bauhaus,

manufacturer (Weimar), Chess set, 1923.
 Bauhaus light fittings of pressed metal.
Mass produced under Meyer.

Gropius. Main Hall with Breuer Furniture.

Dessau. 1925-26.

Their Dessau building became a showcase for their designs. The school was
coming into its own aesthetic which joined a strong sense of composition
with clean, modern designs easily mass produced in a factory.
 Gropius' interest was to
industrialize the building process
for low cost housing. In the
Bauhaus Exhibition of 1923, he
and Adolf Meyer introduced
prefabricated housing units to
Torten estate, 1930. address Germany’s growing
Haus am Horn. Georg Muche, 1923. housing crisis.
Georg Muche introduced Haus am
Horn that has no servants' rooms,
corridors, or staircases. It
consists of seven small rooms
and a living room in the middle.
It reflects the socialist ideals held
by the majority of the faculty.

New spaces for the new unified

German worker.
 1933 - Police search
the Bauhaus on the
orders of the Dessau
district attorney’s
office, 32 students
are detained for 1 to
2 days and an
application made for
the closure of the
Bauhaus.
Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe dissolves the
Bauhaus at the start
of the summer
semester with the
masters’ consent.

Yamawaki. The End of the Dessau Bauhaus. 1932.

After the school’s closing in 1933,
many of its artists moved to the
United States.
The New Bauhaus, founded in
1937 in Chicago by Moholy-Nagy,
was the immediate successor to
the Bauhaus. The complete
curriculum developed by Walter
Gropius in Germany was adopted
and further developed, aiming at
the education of the widely
oriented universal designer.
The methods which came from
the German Bauhaus were
adopted in manifold modified
form by other American schools.

The Bauhaus is mainly

responsible for the gradual
reduction of the until then
unchallenged predominance in
the United States of the Beaux-
Arts tradition.
Since October 2013, staying at one of the 1920s-style Bauhaus
dorm rooms is even more of an experience: One room was
accurately reconstructed with original objects and furniture.