What Was The Bauhaus And What Was Its Purpose?

What was the Bauhaus and what was its purpose?

The Bauhaus was a school of art, architecture and design that existed in three German cities including Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin. The school was founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 and it lasted until 1933. During its time, Bauhaus went through different distinct periods under different directors and cities including expressionism, constructivism, functionalism and architecture. The Bauhaus was the start of modernism, at the same time, it changed the face of graphic design, interior design, art and architecture. The Bauhaus’s life was limited because of the political world but Bauhaus continued to have its influence all over the globe even after it dissolved. The most influential architects and designers of modern age come from the Bauhaus and that’s the reason the Bauhaus continues to influence us today as elements of its period are still visible in many modern environments.

Art in the second half of the nineteenth century had been dominated by historicism and the foundation of the Bauhaus was the climax of the reaction against it. On March 20 of 1919, the Art Academy of the Grand Duchy of Saxony changed its name to Staaliches Bauhaus Weimer and a month later, Walter Gropius was appointed director. Bauhaus existed in Weimer from1919 to 1924 under Gropius. This time period was dominated by Expressionism and was also the most exciting period. The experiments made during this period eventually formed the basis for the teaching program, which gradually evolved into a firmer pattern. Most of the painters attached to Bauhaus came from mature Experssionism: Lyonel Deininger, Johannes Itten, Georg Muche, Oskar Schlemmer, Paul Klee, Lothar Schreyer, Wassily Kandinsky, and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. The citizens of Weimar, who had supported the Nazis from an early stage, made sure that Weimar Bauhaus was dissolved. The 1924 elections brought to power Thuringia, a right-wing coalition of nationalist parties. With the funding for Bauhaus cut so drastically, at the end of 1924, Weimar Bauhaus was closed by the Thuringian Provincial Assembly. “Art and technology - a new unity,” was the motto of the Bauhaus Exhibition of 1923, and it could be used to describe the next period of Bauhaus which was from 1925 to 1928 in Dessau under Gropius. On May 25, 1925, the town council of Dessau with the help of its mayor Fritz Hesse, took over Bauhaus. Gropius drew up the plans for the new building in 1925 and by March 1926, the major building work was completed and the school was in residence by October. The Bauhaus became a laboratory for the development of industrial design and of prototypes for mass production, and it was ensured that there was a balance between the aesthetic and the functional. “A down-to-earth atmosphere of self-confidence, sobriety, and purposefulness replaced the hectic fervour, overwrought ideology, and religiosity that had left their mark on the intensive work of the first few years.” The teaching block and staff houses made by Gropius gave visible expression to the constructive spirit of the Dessau Bauhaus. Constructivism had become dominant and it showed in the works of teachers during this period including Klee’s works, as well as of Kandinsky and of Schlemmer’s. In 1926, the Bauhaus was granted university status as it was considered an institution before. As students and teachers had grown closer to each other, former students were able to join the teaching staff. On February 4, 1928, Gropius announced his resignation and announced a Swiss architect Hannes Meyer, who had been teaching in Bauhaus since 1927, as his successor. Hannes Meyer took over the leadership on April 1, 1928. Under Meyer’s direction, the Bauhaus gained the characteristics of a college of technology for architecture and the building trades, with purist overtones. Bauhaus was more influenced by sociological considerations, with special emphasis on urban planning. Hannes Meyer had many enemies and as a director, he rain into trouble trying to run the school. He rejected as formalistic most of the ideals inherited from the Gropius period. In May, 1930, he dissolved the student Communist group and the town council of Dessau was afraid that there was a crisis developing, it dismissed Meyer from his post on April 1, 1930. On Gropius’ recommendation, Miles van der Rohe, the famous architect was appointed on April 5, 1930 as Meyer’s successor. Under his direction (1930-33), formal discipline was tightened up but he was also unable to suppress the political tension coming from right and left. The nationalists, who had become dominant in Dessau parliament, became successful in forcing the closure of the Bauhaus in 1932. Miles van der Rohe continued to run Bauhaus as a private establishment, reopening it in Berlin. The teaching resumed in the autumn of 1932 but on April 11, 1933, the Nazis searched the building on a writ and ordered its provisional closure. The last painters to teach at Bauhaus were Wassily Kandinsky and Josef Albers.

The Bauhaus Manifesto and Programme of 1919 formulated Gropius’ initial priorities. Gropius’ first concern was to establish architecture as the dominant forum. The second concern dealt with undermining traditional hierarchies by elevating the status of crafts skills to a level equal to fine arts. “The third aim recalled the doctrines of the Deutsche Werkbund, an organization founded in Munich in 1907 which looked to the improvement of industrial products through the combined efforts of artists, industrialists and craftsmen,” wrote Gropius. "The ultimate aim of all creative activity is the building,” the Bauhaus manifesto proclaimed back in 1919. Although architecture was not initially taught at the Bauhaus, it was Walter Gropius private architectural practices that gave architecture training