Bauhaus

Bauhaus

The word Bauhaus mean ‘building house’. It was founded by the architect Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919. It was closed down by the Nazis in 1933. Bauhaus was a modernist art school of the 20^th century. It was formed by centuries such as Arts and Crafts movements, which had sought to level the distinction between fine and applied arts, and to reunite creativity and manufacturing. This included artists Wassily Kandinsky, Josef Albers, Laszlo Itten, architects Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe and designer Marcel Brever.

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

Nagy is one of the greatest influences on post war art education in the united states. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy was formed by the Dadaism, Supermatism, Constructivism and debates about photography. It was Walter Gropius that invited him to the school Bauhaus in Germany. Nagy gave the course more political, experimental and technological bent. Later he moved into various fields, from commercial design to theatre set design, and also made films and worked as a magazine art director.

Johannes Itten

The Bauhaus education initially established by Johannes Itten. Johannes Itten founded an art school of his own in Berlin to train painters, printmakers, photographers and architects.

Herbert Bayer

Bayer was a teacher and even a student in Bauhaus and worked in a variety fields including paintings, sculpture, typography, advertising and architecture. After a while studying began teaching at Bauhaus first classes on typography. Herbert Bayer was head of printing workshop at Bauhaus at 25 absorbed the principles of De Stijl and Constructivism. Apart of teaching in Bauhaus he also was working as an Art Director for the Container Corporation and as an architect in both Germany and America. He also spent some time as the Art Director of the Vogue magazine’ Berlin office, that his contribution were typography and advertising. His design for typography was consisted of entirely lowercase letters. His designs show direct and simple typography, non-decorative, strong horizontals and verticals. Bayer also developed a sans-serif alphabet of lowercase letters titled “Universal”. The Universal typefaces using lines and 45 degree angles. Intended to facilitate universal communication. Made from simple geometric shapes and not looking at historical German models. He also designed architecture and posters for Aspen in Colorado. In 1959 he developed another sans serif alphabet that was called “fonetik alfabet” that contained special characters for the endings –ed, -ion, -ory and –ing.

Posters of today inspired from Bauhaus:

References:

Bauhaus Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story. 2014.Bauhaus Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm. [Accessed 02 November 2014].

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works | The Art Story. 2014. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works | The Art Story. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/artist-moholy-nagy-laszlo.htm. [Accessed 02 November 2014].

Johannes Itten Biography - Infos - Art Market. 2014. Johannes Itten Biography - Infos - Art Market. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.johannes-itten.com/. [Accessed 02 November 2014].

Herbert Bayer : Design Is History. 2014. Herbert Bayer : Design Is History. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.designishistory.com/1920/herbert-bayer/. [Accessed 02 November 2014].