Bauhaus

The Bauhaus  was a short-lived but groundbreaking German school of art and design which existed from 1919 to 1933, launching new thinking and styles with huge influence even into the twenty-first century. The Bauhaus intended to respond to industrialisation by bringing together all art forms, and by changing design methods to shape the new era and its new materials.  Bauhaus in English today refers to both this historic school and its thinking, and also to a widespread modernist style of architecture and design, and even furniture, which originated there. In architecture this may be called the International style, or Modernist Architecture, and is characterised by clean, simple lines, an absence of ornamentation, and a focus on function. The new Bauhaus school building depicted here was designed by Walter Gropius and opened in Dessau in 1927  having been commissioned by the city itself, and typifies the Bauhaus movement’s style.

The Bauhaus school chose to shut down in 1933 under strong pressure from the Nazi party, who had taken power in Germany in that year and were highly critical of  what they claimed were Bauhaus values and influences.  In 1937 the Nazi party even arranged a now famous exhibition titled Degenerate Art showcasing works they despised, many by artists widely respected to this day. Many Bauhaus teachers and practitioners continued to spread Bauhaus ideas, often in exile and so reaching even wider audiences.  The global proliferation of sometimes homogeneous Bauhaus style prompted US author Tom Wolfe to publish a critical  essay in 1981 titled From Bauhaus to Our House, in particular lamenting the lack of ornamentation.

2019 is the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Bauhaus, with celebrations, commemorations and reflections taking place around the world.