Art Movements (part 1): Bauhaus

Art Movements



Bauhaus:

     Bauhaus was a school that was founded in Germany, in 1919 by Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus school was created from the merging of the Grand Ducal School of Arts and Crafts and the Weimar Academy of Fine Art; which became famous due to its approach to design that it publicised and taught. Bauhaus was run from 1919-1933, throughout that time the school had moved from Weimar in 1925 to Dessau, and then in 1932 it moved to Berlin where it only lasted one more year before it was closed due to their leadership being under pressure from the Nazi regime.

Bauhaus was mainly influenced by Modernism, by 1923 Walter Gropius moved Bauhaus in a new direction, stating that "we want an architecture adapted to our world of machines, radios and fast cars"; he wanted this style that carried over architecture and consumer goods to be functional, cheap and consistent for mass production.

In 1928 Walter Gropius resigned as director of the school and in his stead came, Hannes Meyer; Meyer brought on the two most significant architectural commissions the school had taken up until that point: the headquarters of the Federal School of the German Trade Unions (ADGB) in Bernau and five apartment buildings in the city Dessau. Meyer was a very political man and a vocal communist, Meyer made multiple changes to the Bauhaus school which was politically dangerous.

In 1930 Walter Gropius fired Meyer from his directorial position and instated Ludwig Mies van der Rohe as the new director, but in the final years of the Bauhaus school matters only became more difficult. Once the Bahaus school was moved from Dessau to Berlin; Mies rented a derelict factory, with his own money, which the faculty and students painted and rehabilitated the inside of the building. For ten months the school was uninterrupted until the Gestapo closed the school in 1933, though the faculty protested against the closure and received a letter stating they could reopen the school, they soon closed the school again later on in 1933, but this time they closed permanently.

The Bauhaus style is something that caught my eye due to its modern style buildings and architecture; some of the features in the buildings or homes, I find are very modern and inspiring to think they were able to design such practical, yet eye pleasing architectural pieces of art.

The city Tel Aviv has just over 4000 pieces of Bahaus architecutre, and it has been named a World Heritage site due to its large influence from the Bauhaus art movement.

Historical information; Wikipedia's information page on Bauhaus. (n.d.). Retrieved from:
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus

Quotes; Wikipedia's information on Bauhaus. (n.d.). Retrieved from:
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus

 Pictures; Website Telaviv 4 fun. (n.d.). Retrieved from:
     http://www.telaviv4fun.com/bauhaus.html