Principles, Practices, and Examples of Products Associated With the Bauhaus - Assignment Example

Modern design What was the Bauhaus? In the answer, identity the principles, practices and four examples of products associated with the Bauhaus? In 1991, Walter Gropius, a renown Germen architect, openned the Bauhaus in Weimar as a new type of design school. Its development was as a result of the consolidation of the Weimar’s Academy of Fine Arts and the Arts and Craft school located within the city (Raizman 184). Bauhaus originated from the German verb bauen which means to build. The core objective of the Bauhaus was to initialize a radical concept of reimagining the material world in order for them to reflect the unity of all other arts. Gropius explained the need for this union of art and design during the proclamation of the Bauhaus in 1919. The proclamation also described the utopian craft guild that combined architecture, painting and sculpture into a single but creative expression. The craft-based curriculum used at the Bauhaus was designed to turn out designers and artisans into beautiful and useful objects that are appropriate for the new system of living. The Bauhaus was designed to combine the elements of design and fine arts education. The curriculum started with a preliminary course that provided a brief background to the students who were admitted from a wide range of social and educational framework. The preliminary course was taught by veteran visual artists such as Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Josef Albers among others. The immersion of the students in the Bauhaus educational framework allowed them to participate in specialized workshops. The workshops often included cabinetmaking, metalworking, pottery, weaving, wall painting and typography (Raizman 188). Even though the initial aim of the Bauhaus was to unify the arts through craft, the aspects of the approach proved financially impractical. Gropius found it important to maintain the aim of the Bauhaus and decided to reposition its goals in 1923. He stressed on the benefits of designing for mass production and encouraged the school to adopt the “Art into Industry” slogan. The Bauhaus later moved from Weimar to Dessau in 1925, where Gropius set up a new building to accommodate the school. The building contained several features that later formed the hallmarks of modern architecture. The modern architecture included a glass curtain wall, steel-frame construction, and pinwheel plans among others. Today, the Bauhaus is still an experimental design and research and teaching which are dedicated to the development and communication of the Bauhaus legacy. It also seeks to work on contemporary issues affecting the urban sector. What was Russian Constructivism? In the answer, identify the principles, major designers, and four products associated with Constructivism? The Russian constructivism was the last but most influential modern art movement that occurred in the 20th Century (Raizman 172). It came into place just as Bolsheviks came into power during the October Revolution in 1917. The initial stages of development of the Russian Constructivism served as a lightning rod for the ideas and hopes of the most advanced Russian artists who supported the goals of the revolution. At the heart of the movement was an entirely new approach towards making objects. It sought to abolish traditional artistic concerns and replace it with construction. Constructivism, unlike cubism, futurism and suprematism called for more technical analysis of the modern materials. It was expected that the investigation done during this process would be put in mass production to serve the needs of the modern communist society. But, the movement also foundered, its efforts in transitioning from the studio to the factory. Constructivists intended to replace the art’s traditional concern with a primary focus on construction. Artistic objects were never to be created for purposes of expressing beauty and the artist’s outlook. Instead, they were meant to represent the world and carry a fundamental analysis of the forms and materials used for art, with the idea of designing functional objects. For most constructivists, the movement entailed an ethic of truth and the belief that the materials used should be employed in accordance with their capacities. The art designed by constructivists also aimed at demonstrating how materials behaved (Raizman 174). For instance, they could demonstrate the different properties exhibited by materials such as glass, wood, and metal. According to the movement, the form an artwork takes would be determined by the type of materials used in the design. The major designers of the Russian Constructivism were Alexander Rodchenko, Kasimir Malevich, and El Lissitsy among others. Most of these constructivists designed utilitarian products such as clothes, chairs, and dishware. The major aim of introducing the Russian constructivism movement was due to the desire to express the experiences of modern life. The experiences covered its dynamism and its qualities of time and space that were constantly disoriented. More crucial was the desire to invent a new form of art that was more appropriate to the modernizing and democratic goals of the Russian revolution. Constructivists were meant to be constructors of a new society. They were to be cultural workers working closely with scientists in search of solutions for the modern society. What was New Typography during the 1920s and 1930s? In the answer, identify innovations and designers. Give four examples to support your answer? The New Typographic movement brought more graphics and information at the forefront of the artistic avant-garde in the 1920s and 1930s. The modernist designers involved in the development of the movement rejected the traditional arrangement of symmetrical columns and adopted more organized and printed pages of posters on a blank field of blocks and illustration (Raizman 194). Jan Tschichold, a designer behind the model took his lead from the Bauhaus in Weimar and Soviet Russia. Overwhelmed by regular visits to the 1923 exhibition of Bauhaus, Tschichold identified a new abstract painting suitable for the new visual thinking. After the introduction of the new movement, printers and typographers adapted the new way of working for a wide range of printed matter. The movement was used in the printing of brochures and business cards, magazines, advertisements and books. Painter – designers like Lajos Kassak, Max Burchartz, and Laszio Moholy-Nagy practiced a new abstract of art (Raizman 198). But, the graphic design industry considered esthetics to be less important and passing the message to the reader more important. Tschichold was later expected to become the most important propagandist of the New Typography. He consistently insisted on the benefits of art to design in his articles, books, and public lectures. Some of the leading designers during the same period were Richard Paul Lohse, Max Bill, and Karl Gerstner. For the other designers, the discipline of concrete art lay behind the other formal geometrical organization of graphic work. According to Tschichold, the new typography is the metaphor for the new world and model for graphic design. Works Cited Raizman, David. History of modern design : graphics and products since the industrial revolution. London: Laurence King, 2003. Print. Read More