The Bauhaus school and it's impact on art and design

Bauhaus logo

Staatliches Bauhaus, commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was an art school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught.

The Bauhaus is widely regarded as one of the greatest influences of the modern era. Famous for its “uncluttered and clinical” approach to design the Bauhaus very much focused on simplicity and elegance as the basis of modern design. “Ideas from all the advanced art and design movements were explored, combined, and applied to problems of functional design and machine production.”

History

The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 in the city of Weimar by German architect Walter Gropius (1883–1969). Its core objective was a radical concept: to reimagine the material world to reflect the unity of all the arts. Gropius explained this vision for a union of art and design in the Proclamation of the Bauhaus (1919), which described a utopian craft guild combining architecture, sculpture, and painting into a single creative expression. Gropius developed a craft-based curriculum that would turn out artisans and designers capable of creating useful and beautiful objects appropriate to this new system of living.

The Bauhaus style later became one of the most influential currents in modern design, Modernist architecture and art, design and architectural education. The Bauhaus had a profound influence upon subsequent developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography, the blooming of the Bauhaus school had to do with the fall of the Germany Monarchy and the abolition of censorship under the new liberal Weimar Republic. This allowed an upsurge of radical experimentation in the arts suppressed by the old regime.

The most important influence on Bauhaus was modernism, a cultural movement whose origins lay as early as the 1880s, and which had already made it’s presence felt in Germany before the world war. The design innovations commonly associated with Gropius and the Bauhaus - the radically simplified forms, the rationality and functionality, and the idea that mass production was reconcilable with the individual artistic spirit - were already partly developed in Germany before the Bauhaus was founded.

The Bauhaus combined elements of both fine arts and design education. The curriculum commenced with a preliminary course that immersed the students, who came from a diverse range of social and educational backgrounds, in the study of materials, color theory, and formal relationships in preparation for more specialized studies. This preliminary course was often taught by visual artists, including Paul Klee (1987.455.16), Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944), and Josef Albers (59.160), among others.

Following their immersion in Bauhaus theory, students entered specialized workshops, which included metalworking, cabinetmaking, weaving, pottery, typography, and wall painting. Although Gropius’ initial aim was a unification of the arts through craft, aspects of this approach proved financially impractical. While maintaining the emphasis on craft, he repositioned the goals of the Bauhaus in 1923, stressing the importance of designing for mass production. It was at this time that the school adopted the slogan “Art into Industry.”

The Bauhaus had a major impact on art and architecture trends in Western Europe, the United States, Canada and Israel in the decades following its demise, as many of the artists involved fled, or were exiled by, the Nazi regime. Tel Aviv in 2004 was named to the list of world heritage sites by the UN due to its abundance of Bauhaus architecture;it had some 4,000 Bauhaus buildings erected from 1933 on.

In 1925, the Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau, where Gropius designed a new building to house the school. This building contained many features that later became hallmarks of modernist architecture, including steel-frame construction, a glass curtain wall, and an asymmetrical, pinwheel plan, throughout which Gropius distributed studio, classroom, and administrative space for maximum efficiency and spatial logic.

The Bauhaus building in Dessau

The cabinetmaking workshop was one of the most popular at the Bauhaus. Under the direction of Marcel Breuer (1983.366) from 1924 to 1928, this studio reconceived the very essence of furniture, often seeking to dematerialize conventional forms such as chairs to their minimal existence. Breuer theorized that eventually chairs would become obsolete, replaced by supportive columns or air. Inspired by the extruded steel tubes of his bicycle, he experimented with metal furniture, ultimately creating lightweight, mass-producible metal chairs. Some of these chairs were deployed in the theater of the Dessau building.

The textile workshop, especially under the direction of designer and weaver Gunta Stölzl (1897–1983), created abstract textiles suitable for use in Bauhaus environments. Students studied color theory and design as well as the technical aspects of weaving. Stölzl encouraged experimentation with unorthodox materials, including cellophane, fiberglass, and metal. Fabrics from the weaving workshop were commercially successful, providing vital and much needed funds to the Bauhaus. The studio’s textiles, along with architectural wall painting, adorned the interiors of Bauhaus buildings, providing polychromatic yet abstract visual interest to these somewhat severe spaces. While the weaving studio was primarily comprised of women, this was in part due to the fact that they were discouraged from participating in other areas. The workshop trained a number of prominent textile artists, including Anni Albers (1899–1994), who continued to create and write about modernist textiles throughout her life.

Metalworking was another popular workshop at the Bauhaus and, along with the cabinetmaking studio, was the most successful in developing design prototypes for mass production. In this studio, designers such as Marianne Brandt (2000.63a-c), Wilhelm Wagenfeld (1986.412.1-16), and Christian Dell (1893–1974) created beautiful, modern items such as lighting fixtures and tableware. Occasionally, these objects were used in the Bauhaus campus itself; light fixtures designed in the metalwork shop illuminated the Bauhaus building and some faculty housing. Brandt was the first woman to attend the metalworking studio, and replaced László Moholy-Nagy (1987.1100.158) as studio director in 1928. Many of her designs became iconic expressions of the Bauhaus aesthetic. Her sculptural and geometric silver and ebony teapot (2000.63a-c), while never mass-produced, reflects both the influence of her mentor, Moholy-Nagy, and the Bauhaus emphasis on industrial forms. It was designed with careful attention to functionality and ease of use, from the nondrip spout to the heat-resistant ebony handle.

The typography workshop, while not initially a priority of the Bauhaus, became increasingly important under figures like Moholy-Nagy and the graphic designer Herbert Bayer (2001.392). At the Bauhaus, typography was conceived as both an empirical means of communication and an artistic expression, with visual clarity stressed above all. Concurrently, typography became increasingly connected to corporate identity and advertising. The promotional materials prepared for the Bauhaus at the workshop, with their use of sans serif typefaces and the incorporation of photography as a key graphic element, served as visual symbols of the avant-garde institution.

Gropius stepped down as director of the Bauhaus in 1928, succeeded by the architect Hannes Meyer (1889–1954). Meyer maintained the emphasis on mass-producible design and eliminated parts of the curriculum he felt were overly formalist in nature. Additionally, he stressed the social function of architecture and design, favoring concern for the public good rather than private luxury. Advertising and photography continued to gain prominence under his leadership.

Under pressure from an increasingly right-wing municipal government, Meyer resigned as director of the Bauhaus in 1930. He was replaced by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1980.351). Mies once again reconfigured the curriculum, with an increased emphasis on architecture. Lily Reich (1885–1947), who collaborated with Mies on a number of his private commissions, assumed control of the new interior design department. Other departments included weaving, photography, the fine arts, and building. The increasingly unstable political situation in Germany, combined with the perilous financial condition of the Bauhaus, caused Mies to relocate the school to Berlin in 1930, where it operated on a reduced scale. He ultimately shuttered the Bauhaus in 1933.

During the turbulent and often dangerous years of World War II, many of the key figures of the Bauhaus emigrated to the United States, where their work and their teaching philosophies influenced generations of young architects and designers. Marcel Breuer and Joseph Albers taught at Yale, Walter Gropius went to Harvard, and Moholy-Nagy established the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937.

Impact 

The influence of the Bauhaus on design education was significant. One of the main objectives of the Bauhaus was to unify art, craft, and technology, and this approach was incorporated into the curriculum of the Bauhaus. The structure of the Bauhaus Vorkurs (preliminary course) reflected a pragmatic approach to integrating theory and application. In their first year, students learnt the basic elements and principles of design and color theory, and experimented with a range of materials and processes. This approach to design education became a common feature of architectural and design school in many countries. For example, the Shillito Design School in Sydney stands as a unique link between Australia and the Bauhaus. The colour and design syllabus of the Shillito Design School was firmly underpinned by the theories and ideologies of the Bauhaus. Its first year foundational course mimicked the Vorkurs and focused on the elements and principles of design plus color theory and application. The founder of the school, Phyllis Shillito, which opened in 1962 and closed in 1980, firmly believed that "A student who has mastered the basic principles of design, can design anything from a dress to a kitchen stove".

One of the most important contributions of the Bauhaus is in the field of modern furniture design. The ubiquitous Cantilever chair and the Wassily Chair designed by Marcel Breuer are two examples.

Many of the same ideals that Apple represents directly come from the teachings of the Bauhaus. One of the quotes that designers regularly throw around, or post, on their Facebook wall and Twitter feed, is Jobs’ famous “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” This quote, however, shows specifically how much Jobs, and Apple as a whole, was influenced by Bauhaus.

Take the iPod as an example. The iPod is what revolutionized the music industry leading people towards the digital music trend and away from transferable media. The iPod, however, wasn’t the first portable MP3 player nor was it the one that had the most features and functionality. The iPod was simple and effective. Bauhaus modernism first utilized this approach of striping down the object, like furniture, to its bare essentials while maintaining its beauty. Looking at Wagenfeld’s Bauhaus lamps compared directly to the fourth generation iMac you see that these objects are nearly identical in their aesthetics.

The Bauhaus was also known for its bright primary color palette. Early versions of the iMac featured a very similar color palette. Though not directly primary colors Apple utilized these bright colors throughout many of their designs and maintained a strict palette. Even today, each new product they come out with is available in three colors. The new color palette, however, is much more sophisticated than the early iMac colors but the strictness remains. If you don’t like Silver, Space Gray or Gold you might want to shop another brand.

These colors, however, aren’t chosen arbitrarily. Just as the Bauhaus was careful to use primary colors for their simplicity, Apple is using colors based on the materials they’ve chosen. Bauhaus believed in technology and evolution in production. “They believed the machine should be exploited, creatively.” (Bartram) Like the Bauhaus, Apple has chosen manufacturing processes that push the boundaries of conventional wisdom and methodology. Several years ago Apple introduced the aluminum uni-body for the Macbook Pro. This new concept allowed for the minimization of craftsmanship. No longer were all the pieces held together with screws, tabs and connectors. Now, the case held all the components with minimal connectors. Even the choice of aluminum itself was intentional for its cooling characteristics and the ability to pull heat away from the processors.

Even the user experience of Apple products is based on Bauhaus ideals. Like the Bauhaus, Apple almost exclusively uses sanserif typefaces. Both believe that typography is a “tool of communication. The visual aesthetic of all of Apple’s products focus on simplicity and functionality rather. Every icon, image or concept Apple creates is boiled-down to the very simplest form. Like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Bauhaus final director said, “less is more”

There's another man whose products are at the heart of Apple's design philosophy, an influence that permeates every single product at Apple, from hardware to user-interface design. That man is Jonathan Ive and he owes a lot to Dieter Rams, who took Bauhaus functionalism and made it genuinely popular. His vision has become so universal that you have to remind yourself that it's the product of a very particular time and place. Much of the impetus for his designs came from his collaborations with the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm, the successor to the famous Bauhaus design school of the 1930s.

Rams is synonymous with the German company Braun, the wildly versatile manufacturer of everything from record players and televisions to food blenders and watches. He joined Braun in 1955, and under his creative direction from 1961 until the mid-1990s, the company exemplified high-end, no-nonsense design. Rams's ethos was essentially modernist functionalism inflected with a touch of Japanese minimalism. Every object, whether it was a radio or a lighter, was reduced to an essential form, erased of unnecessary detail. Walking through the Design Museum retrospective, it might seem hard to imagine what all the fuss is about; these days many things look like this. But that's a mark of his extraordinary influence. Before Rams, electronic devices like televisions and speakers were disguised as furniture, covered in wood veneer and bits of carpet. Rams gave products their productness. He took boxes full of wires and made them into objects of desire. They were hi-tech, but sexy, idiot-proof hi-tech.

Rams's take on design is, after all, rather puritanical – you might even say totalitarian. There's no sense of humour at work here. Colour is all but forbidden, except where Rams deems it necessary, yet these design principles have proven inspirational and timeless, many modern designers and many "Revolutionary" products are inspired in Ram's old designs for Braun during the '50s and '60s just to give an example, these hold all the clues not only for past and present Apple products, but their future as well:

When you look at the Braun products by Dieter Rams—many of them at New York's MoMA—and compare them to Ive's work at Apple, you can clearly see the similarities in their philosophies way beyond the sparse use of color, the selection of materials and how the products are shaped around the function with no artificial design, keeping the design "honest."

This passion for "simplicity" and "honest design" that is always declared by Ive whenever he's interviewed or appears in a promo video, is at the core of Dieter Rams' 10 principles for good design:

• Good design is innovative.

• Good design makes a product useful.

• Good design is aesthetic.

• Good design helps us to understand a product.

• Good design is unobtrusive.

• Good design is honest.

• Good design is durable.

• Good design is consequent to the last detail.

• Good design is concerned with the environment.

• Good design is as little design as possible.

Ive's inspiration on Rams' design principles goes beyond the philosophy and gets straight into a direct homage to real products created decades ago. Amazing pieces of industrial design that still today remain fresh, true classics that have survived the test of time.

The similarities between products from Braun and Apple are sometimes uncanny, others more subtle, but there's always a common root that provides the new Apple objects not only with a beautiful simplicity but also with a close familiarity.

Braun Atelier TV and latest iMac 24.

Braun T1000 radio and PowerMac G5/Mac Pro.

Detail of the radio perforated aluminum surface.

Braun T3 pocket radio and Apple iPod.

Braun L60 sound system and Apple iPod Hi-Fi.

Braun LE1 speaker and Apple iMac.

If it’s true that “the Bauhaus invented the modern art student (Bauhaus: The Face of the 20th Century),” then it must also be true that Steve Jobs was one of these modern art students. It’s clear that the Bauhaus’ influence not only permeates design and modern furniture but also one of the most regarded businesses in the world today.