The Bauhaus School of Art, Architecture and Design - Essay Example

Bauhaus by Frank Whitford Total Number of Words 497 Introduction The Bauhaus is a school of art, architecture and design located in three German cities particularly in Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin. (Bahaus Dessau, 2008 ) The Bauhaus did a successful job not only by teaching the students the basic of art but inspired them to serve the needs of the society as a whole. (Whitford, 1985: p. 46) The Bauhaus which was founded by Walter Gropius back in 1919 lasted until 1933 mainly due to financial problems that occurred after the war in Germany. Since Bauhaus was able to contribute a lot on the international modern designs we see mostly in the present interior design, art, furniture manufacturing, and architecture; Frank Whitford wrote a book entitled ‘The Bauhaus’ in order to provide an informative information with regards to the architectural development and progress that has occurred in Bauhaus many years ago and up to the present time. (Whitford, 1985) The Bauhaus was intentionally written and compiled for the use of professional artists and students. For this reason, Whitford inserted some black and white as well as colourful photographs in order to give the readers a better understanding with regards to the individual work and artistic styles used by each of the famous Bauhaus artists. For the purpose of this study, the student will provide a clear overview with regards to the main factors that has inspired the author to complete the book. Eventually, famous artists and other personalities that were given importance by the author will be identified. Prior to conclusion, the impact of Whitford’s work towards its target audiences will be thoroughly examined and discussed. Bauhaus Overview The ability of the artist to combine space, form, and colour as well as the culture and tradition of the people within the society tells us something about an architectural design. In line with this matter, the author of Bauhaus discussed how the school became a strong influence in the training and development of craftmanship among the modern painters, achitects, and sculptors. (Whitford, 1985: p. 11) One of the school’s strong influence of Bauhaus started when the school decided to effectively train the painters, architects and sculptors to become artistically inclined. This was done by enabling the students to understand the importance of combining their suggested ideas, concepts, knowledge on new materials and available technology including their individual skills when creating a new concept or design. In fact, one of the many goals of Bauhaus is to enable the readers to fully understand the importance of craftmanship especially when it comes to modernization of art designs. The Bauhaus started in Weimar between the years 1919 to 1925 when the school was temporarily closed because of the lack of financial capabilities to continue its operations. Between December 1926 up to 1932, the Bauhaus in Dessau became operational. Eventually, Bauhaus in Berlin managed to served the public only between 1932 to 1933 since the Bauhaus was closed down because of the political decisions of Hitler under the Nazi regime. Famous Artists and Other Personalities that Strongly Influenced the Modern Artists and Students The training provided by Bauhaus to its students was not limited to designing on papers. Since Wiener Werkstдtte as well as the reformers of British education suggests the importance of actual training programmes and workshops, the school – under the supervision of Hermann Muthesius encouraged the students to practice and learn the development and creation of art designs by doing. (Whitford, 1985: p. 20) Walter Gropius was the director of Weimar Bauhaus before it was foreclosed back in 1925. When it comes to art and craft designs for a cathedral, Gropius suggests the use combination of architectural design using scuptures and paintings whereas Lyonel Feininger suggest the use of a woodcut reminiscent as a way of expressing a cathedral art. Aside from the unique ideas of Groupius when it comes to cathedral art, the architect also contributed a lot when it comes to the application of amalgamation (also known as the separation of precious metals from ore). (Tamborrino, 1998) Bauhaus also strongly influenced the furniture designs. Marcel Breuer who was a young master at Dessau Bauhaus suggests the use of metals in furniture designs as part of the modern era. (Whitford, 1985: p . 178) Due to geographical shift from the Bauhaus in Weimar to Dessau, it became difficult on the part of Bauhaus to maintain the type of school management that was first implemented at Weimar. At first two years of Bauhaus in Dessau was handled by Gropius. When Hannes Meyer was appointed to manage the school between the years 1927 to 1930, Gropius including some of the pioneers of the Bauhaus decided to leave the school. In 1926, Meyer was forced to resign from the Bauhaus from his position as a director because of his lack of capability to manage a government funded educational institution. As soon as Meyer left the school, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was appointed the next director of Bauhaus. Under the leadership of Meyer, he exerted a lot of effort in trying to control the mission / vision of the school based on his own personal preferences. Since Meyer strongly believed that architects is partly responsible in improving the physical appearance of the entire society, the management and staff of Bauhaus started to inspire the students to become active in terms of improving and addressing the specific needs of the society. (Whitford, 1985: p. 180) For instance: Students were inspired to design a low-cost housing to meet the needs of the low-income individuals. Aside from the typical production design like the use of paintings, the Bauhaus introduced new interior designs and techniques such as the use of multiple templates that were purposely designed for a wall paper manufacturer. (Whitford, 1985: 190) The leadership of Mies van der Rohe was very much contradicting with the principles set by Meyer. Instead of focusing on the specific needs of the low-income earners, he started to introduct the importance of luxurious housing designs which will cater the needs of the high-income earners. (Whitford, 1985: p. 192) Eventually, the Bauhaus started to integrate the different workshops that were designed intendedly for the use of furniture designs as well as the metal and mural-painting workshops into a universal department called the ‘interior design’. (Whitford, 1985: p. 193) Impact of Whitford’s Work on Modern Artists and Students Architectural ideas and development that existed at the Bauhaus long time ago serves as a template for most of the modern architectural and fine arts schools all over the world. Based on the historical events that has occurred at the Bauhaus, modern architectural and fine arts schools were able to fully understand the distinctive differences between the two subjects. For this reason, most of the modern architectural and art schools were able to draw the line between the two different subjects. Aside from being able to distinctively identify the difference between fine arts and architecture, modern architectures acknowledges the importance of both designs for low-cost housing as well as the luxurious housing designs for the rich individuals. Over the years, architects in the past make used of their personal experiences in building houses and buildings as a stepping stone for modern architectural designs. Based on the individual experiences of the past architects, architectural schools were able to formally introduce new concepts and theories in order to enable the students to easily learn and understand important key points that contributes to a successful foundation for houses, mid-rise and high-rise buildings. The Bauhaus did not only play an important role in giving rise to the importance of architecture. The past experiences of the Bauhaus also strongly influences the type of housing materials that are currently available in the market. For example: The use of wall paper was strongly accepted in the global market between the late 1980s to 1990s. Even though the demand for wall papers gradually decrease since the 20th century, the use of wall paper still exist around us today. Because of the global economic situation wherein inflation has become unavoidable, the use of good paint combined with stylish metal stairway railings and compact furniture designs are strongly patronized in the global market for modern housing designs during the 20th century Conclusion Even though the Bauhaus existed in Germany only for a short period of time, the school has played an important contribution in terms of giving rise to the importance of architecture and art designs within the local society and around the world. Basically, different ideas, theories, and concepts that has emerged out of the leadership of Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe were all equally important in the study of modern architecture. Based on the situational insights that were discussed by Whitford (1985), the audiences could easily learn from the architectural designs that has existed in the past. As a result, the study of modern architecture and fine arts were strengthened out of the historical events that the Bauhaus had to go through in the past. References: Bahaus Dessau. (2008 ). Retrieved July 18, 2008, from Bauhaus 191 - 1933: http://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/index.php?bauhaus-1919-1933 Tamborrino, R. (1998). Exhibition: Bauhaus 1919 - 1933: Da Kandinsky A Klee, Da Groupius a Mies van der Rohe. The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians , 57(1):68 - 71. Whitford, F. (1985). Bauhaus. London: Thames & Hudson. Read More