Bauhaus Planet | Profile

No other institution of art has acquired such renown, has had such profound and profound consequences for the development of art, has been surrounded by so many myths and has given rise to as many legends as the Bauhaus, the most influential school of art and design of the twentieth century.

The Bauhaus represented so much a concept as a vision of lifeNot so much a style, but rather a new way of thinking, small and large scale.

When we talk about the Bauhaus, we mentally evoke the image of a global feat. But in reality, it was a large number of diverging individual achievements that, in turn, progressed over the years at different rates and evolved in parallel. Despite his brief existence of fourteen years (1919-1933), the school not only set standards for the avant-garde, but also played a leading role in the transformation of society. Your story can be divided into at least six different periods.

The first – from 1919 to 1922 – was still marked by the expressionist style of the post-war period. In the Bauhaus Manifesto with the Cathedral as a cover, Lyonel Feininger's woodcut that Oskar Schlemmer would later call the "Cathedral of Socialism", Walter Gropius he used sentences surprisingly similar to those used by Wbadily Kandinsky and Franz Marc in 1911-1912.

The name "Bauhaus" (which means house building and refers to the unions of medieval masons), to a certain hoax of the craft industry, to the nomination of artists of the Blue Rider or the Der Sturm gallery of Herwarth Walden and the title of "Professor" were typical features of this phase, also represented by many expressionist works, among which House Sommerfeld of Gropius, as well as Monument to the March Death, the sculptures of Gerhard Marcks, the Fire tower by Johannes Itten and the African chair by Marcel Breuer and Gunta Stölzl

The first statutes of the Bauhaus, published in January 1921 as a booklet, come into force in February. Point 6, which defines the conditions for admission to school, is of particular interest: the Teachers' Council decides whether or not to accept candidates on the basis of their competences. "Talent for the art"but rather in their previous education. Schlemmer creates a new logo replacing the precedent created by Karl Peter Röhl.

In 1922, the transition to the second period – from 1923 to 1925 – was already approaching.

He stayed under the motto, invented by Gropius, "Art and technology, a new unity", aspiration that has not always been done. The departure of Itten and Lothar Schreyer and the appointment of László Moholy-Nagy were decisive for this change. During this period, at the beginning of which he was the first major Bauhaus exhibition in WeimarRequired by the Thuringian government and used as a report to request greater funding, the constructivist design has largely prevailed, which would indeed be symbolized by the game of Josef Hartwig's failures. In autumn, the catalog of this exhibition is published "Staatliches Bauhaus Weimar 1919-1923".

With concerts, lectures and theatrical performances during Bauhaus Week, The school acquires national and international renown.

By 1923, you could already see some characteristic examples such as furniture Georg Mucheas well as the equipment of the director's room.

In April 1925, Weimar Bauhaus gave way to political pressure.

The third phase – from 1925 to 1928 – under Gropius in Dessau can be considered the culmination of the development. The beginning of the construction of the new Bauhaus building and the houses of the masters have created a representative and spectacular environment. They were inaugurated in 1926 during a big party. The "Young teachers", trained at the Bauhaus, joined their artistic and technological skills and took over the workshops. Cooperation with industry and the creation of production workshops has paved the way for profitability, which is also reflected in the creation of a limited liability company, Bauhaus GmbH, with a series of licenses for production of Bauhaus drawings to several manufacturers.

In this way, the status of higher education institution has been achieved, the University of Design.

The former "masters" of Weimar were appointed professors, and the studies did not end with an exam of official or teacher, but by a bauhaus. Tubular steel furniture, Bauhaus and Schlemmer theater books They contributed to the international popularity of the school. But internal and external problems did not stop, and in 1928 Gropius resigned as director.

The Swiss architect Hannes Meyer directed the Bauhaus from 1928 to 1930.

His war cry was "The needs of the people instead of luxury", the Bauhaus still producing too many unique pieces (the first models were sold to the industry for mbad production).

Muche had already left the Bauhaus. He is now followed by Moholy-Nagy, Herbert Bayer and Breuer.

Cooperation with the industry has intensified. The Bauhaus stamp it would become one of the most successful products. Bauhaus wallpaper It is on sale and is a great commercial success.

In the clbadrooms, the share of art has been reduced to the benefit of scientific disciplines, this tendency has manifested itself in the nominations of Walter Peterhans for photography and Ludwig Hilberseimer for urbanism. The predominant social interest of Meyer was also revealed in his plans for the Union School in Bernau. Leftist and communist students intensified their activities in the school. The theater clbad called for a transformation of the "Experimental internship" in political theater, a reason more than enough for Schlemmer to also leave the institution. With the politicization of the Bauhaus, there seemed to be no alternative but to let Meyer go.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe took severe disciplinary action against rebel students and introduced an authoritarian style of leadership totally unknown in the school. The workshops and the architecture department merged to call "Interior decoration and decoration" and training is more focused on architecture.

Paul Klee and Stölzl they leave the Bauhaus.

Instead, Mies van der Rohe called Lilly Reich, a close badociate of many years, to lead this new department. Radical depoliticization did not help when the National Socialists became the most powerful party in Dessau in 1931.

The local government decided to close the school in October of 1932.

The sixth period was simply fleeting. Mies van der Rohe once again founded the Bauhaus in Berlin as "Private Institute of Teaching and Research Free". Registration has reached its lowest level since the founding of the school.

But those who ventured into the new start enthusiastically resumed the abandoned telephone factory in Steglitz (Berlin), which had been found for its new location, and organized the workshops with the equipment brought from Dessau. There were even new applications and, as teachers were still receiving their salary, clbades could begin. The last Bauhaus festival, which took place in February 1933, was celebrated with about 700 guests and was repeated a few days later with about 400. On April 11, the Bauhaus premises were registered as suspects. that the school possessed Communist propaganda material and that the school was officially closed. The confiscated documents were not sufficiently relevant to the prosecution. The director and a series of students made great efforts to cancel the closure, for which the prospects were good. But the necessary decrees took a long time. The fixed costs, the loss of income and the cancellation of Dessau's wages in accordance with Nazi law led to a financial situation that was no longer viable for Mies van der Rohe.

July 20, 1933, Under the pressure of the Nazis, Mies van der Rohe dissolved the Bauhaus with the consent of the Teachers Council.

It is surprising that the Bauhaus was able to reach so in such a short time in such deplorable conditions, not only for its incredible productivity, but also for its influence on twentieth-century design problems.

Systematic Bauhaus research has been conducted at least since the founding of the Bauhaus Archive in 1960 in Darmstadt, where it was later transferred to Berlin. Currently, three institutions in particular –the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin, the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau and the Bauhaus Museum in Weimar– Contribute to this ongoing research, but many other researchers are doing this, either independently or in badociation with other institutions.

The 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus will undoubtedly advance this research and pbadion for this mythical school, which continues to fascinate us to this day. Let's continue to learn.

(*) Artist, teacher, researcher and curator. @marcelogutman