Bauhaus: Workshops for Modernity

Bauhaus' change of location and leadership throughout the years shifted the focus, techniques, instructors and politics over time. However, Bauhaus was founded on the key idea of bringing all the arts together. As we saw in the Moma exhibition, a large array of very different works were created that influenced the development of art in architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography. The unification of art, craft and technology taught students basic design principles to create original works.

The Bauhaus style also known as the International style influenced many 19th century artists such as the designer William Morris. Morris stressed the fact that art should meet the needs of society and there should be no distinction between fine and practical craft. Form and function goes hand in hand in the Bauhaus style. All simple minimalist art should also be designed with a function. Morris believes that the absence of ornamentation and pretentious covers and harmony between function and the artistic and technical means will make the work successful.

However, Bauhaus diverges from Morris’ beliefs in certain cases. For instance, the school believed modern pieces could be mass-produced with out compromising artistic design, while William Morris believed mass production was “dubious”. In Morris’ novel “The Ideal Book”, he describes to the reader what properties “a printed work with quality and moral value” must feature. These set attributes that a book MUST have are pushed aside in many of the Bauhaus students works. Keeping the basics in mind the work strays from Morris’ path, showing the artistic originality each artist is unique to.

For instance, Lyonel Feininger’s work breaks all the rules, yet he somehow manages to create several successful works. Lyonel’s book covers for Neue Europaeische Graphik are extremely out of the box and very technically ornate, yet I found them so mysterious and visually appealing. These books are definitely being judged by their covers. The Program of the state Bauhaus in Weimar also known as the Bauhaus Manifesto is woodcut with a letterpress onto green paper! (which Morris refers to in his novel as a no no). By lowering the tone of the paper, the page grays which is tiring to the viewers eyes. This effect is more prominent however in Feiningers preliminary design. Herbert Bayers works experiment in type with color, size, medium, and arrangement. His book cover though very different from Feiningers is also very substantially functional. The variations of design options in his very different pieces all serve their function beautifully. Bayers use of accent color is eye-catching and really brings his works together. Josef Albers work was most inspirational to me. His varying pieces and multi media assemblages are simply based on basic art principles such as color relationships, shapes, line and space. His final works include everything from lettering sets to arm chairs to the grid pictures. Albers letterheads are most interesting because he combines several letterheads into one. I also enjoyed Paul Klee’s abstracted use of oil and other mediums. Though not concerned with text, the 19th century designers and artists such as William Morris also influenced Klee’s work.