When I had to decide for a topic in this weeks Arts and Books category, my first thought was, „That’s too tough a decision to make. There were just too many great Artists in the 1920s.“ But then I realised that it is really simple because a great number of them were members of the most impressing School of Crafts and Fine Arts ever… the Bauhaus.
So many of my Art icons were active there, as teachers as well as creators. Among them were heroes like Kandinsky, Feininger, van der Rohe, Moholy-Nagy, Marcel Breuer… and many, many more. The Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius 1919 in Weimar, it later moved to Dessau in 1925 and then to Berlin (1932) until it was closed under the pressure of the Nazi regime in 1932.
The goal of the Bauhaus was to combine all disciplines of Art and thereby creating a new design that brings everything together. Today one would say it was one of the first interdisciplinary approaches in the Design field and the work of the school had an enormous influence in the world of Fine Arts, Architecture and Style, which is still noticeable until today.
Painting:
Kandinsky Composition VIII (1923) … I would love to have a teacher like him!
László Moholy-Nagy Composition A XXI, 1925 …I still remember the occasion when I. and me were standing in front of a Moholy-Nagy at the Guggenheim Exhibition in Bonn, back in 2006. Both of us were incredibly fascinated by the beauty of his composition, his techniques and the obtained effects.
Everyday items:
Teapot by Marianne Brandt (1924) …The design didn’t lose anything of its modernity.
Wassily chair by Marcel Breuer (1925) …Love at first sight. And it lasts and lasts… Please, can someone buy me one? Please!
Photo:
Selbstportrait vor der Bauhaus-Fassade / Self-portrait in front of the Bauhaus Facade by Hayo Rose (around 1930) …What a creative idea – a self-portrait with the place you are most related to.
Architecture:
The Bauhaus Building in Dessau, designed by Martin Gropius (1925-26) …It is far too long ago since I last visited it. The atmosphere in its floors is indescribable and the light that is gleaming through the window frames is adding the most wonderful effect to the live inside this building.
Barcelona Pavilion by Mies van der Rohe (1929, reconstructed) …I mentioned this architectural digest already in my Barcelona Favs. Strictly speaking, it is not a Bauhaus building since van der Rohe only started to teach at the school in 1930 (he was the director!), but its forms are already highly influenced by the Bauhaus concept!
Like always: All credits appear after clicking the links.