Less Is More

What is a chair? For most people that would be a simple and mostly stupid question, but for the members of the Bauhaus school it was deeper. To them, a chair was not just an object with four legs and a seat; it was a chair with an endless possibility of design options of structures that would support weight and the form of a human. The thought that established ideas and things could be changed was one of the central points in the curriculum of the Bauhaus. It was a school of design that emerged in Germany as a response to the mass production of goods and the lack of design that accompanied it.

Its curriculum of hands on work as well as teachings of modern design blurred the lines between craftsman and designer, a staunch division in most cultures. This new outlook on functionality and design spread throughout the world influencing a new age in design and thought.

The Bauhaus emerged in a setting much like the enlightenment emerged in 16th and 17th centuries. Once the German monarchy collapsed after WWI, it allowed people to freely share their ideas. The art world was rapidly changing as well with the popularization of the modernist movement.

Germany, a country that had many suppressed ideas, and needed to reinvent itself, turned to art as a part of its image. Schools of design existed but they still lacked a unified curriculum; so in 1919 the famous architect Walter Gropius chose to lead the new school called Bauhaus.

As the 1920s were the crux of the industrial age, Gropius chose the school's motto “Art into industry.” This slogan was meant to represent the link between production and design, to blend the two, and influence mass producers of the value in design. The school's core curriculum was built around core classes encompassing every aspect of design from color theory to carpentry. This meant that even though their students may have specialized in architecture or furniture design, their education allowed them to transfer their skill into any medium. Just as enlightenment thinkers reinvented how people thought of philosophy, the Bauhaus taught people how to reinvent design.

The Bauhaus school’s ideals of free thinking and reinterpretation were meant to be in the context of design, but as political tensions over Communism, Fascism, and Democracy rose in Germany around the start of WWII, its ideals were thought of as a threat. For instance, due to shifting political views in Germany, the Bauhaus lost funding and was forced to move from its iconic campus in Dessau to Berlin.

Three years after this change, the Nazi regime shut down the school due to a supposed printing of pro-Communism propaganda. The Nazi’s allowed the school to reopen only if its left leaning staff were fired. The school refused to lose its amazing staff, such as the Russian Expressionist Wassily Kandinsky, so they decided to close for good. Although the Bauhaus was closed, its director Mies Van Der Rohe pushed its ideals further, even to Hitler. Mies was the star architect of the crumbling Weimar Republic, and even after the Nazis came to power, influential people such as Joseph Goebbels supported him as the chief Nazi architect. Mies almost achieved this position, but Hitler found another architect who was more willing to allow him to channel his visions through him.

Although Mies failed to plant the Bauhaus ideals in Nazi architecture, the Bauhaus trained designers were planning even in imprisonment. The Communist Franz Ehrlich was sent to the concentration camp Buchenwald where its SS officers found his skill in design to be useful. He had an elevated position above the other prisoners and was asked to not only design plans to build other buildings at Buchenwald but to redecorate the inside of his SS officer’s homes. Ehrlich used his position to acquire plans of SS construction management and helped corroborate with secret resistance networks. Somehow, even when the school failed to live on in Nazi Germany, its students were still valued for their amazing skills and spread them through this era.

Although the influence of the Bauhaus is visible in Nazi Germany, many members of the Bauhaus fled Germany soon after Hitler's rise to power. The worldwide spread of the Bauhaus movement established its ideals in the new generation of artists and designers coming out of the war. Before its collapse, the Bauhauses faculty included iconic artists in many different mediums. Once the school closed many of these artists fled to the top schools in America. Great artists like Marcel Breuer and Josef Albers started teaching at Yale while Walter Gropius went to Harvard. Even Mies Van Der Rohe immigrated to the US to get work from the wealthy American capitalists.

Eventually, the end of the great depression marked a period where wealthy Americans and corporations would build extravagant skyscrapers and houses designed by the finest architects, many of whom were trained by the Bauhaus. The influx of teachers into the top design schools transformed their curriculums so much so that the Harvard Graduate School of Design during this era came to be referred to as the “Harvard Bauhaus.” The Bauhaus influence can be seen from the skyline of New York City in buildings like the Seagram building to the skyline of Tel Aviv in Israel, a city which contains more than 400 Bauhaus designed buildings. Although it is not directly called the Bauhaus style, much of today’s emphasis on design mixed with functionality is a result of the spread in teachings of the Bauhaus.

Nowadays the teachings of the Bauhaus school seem almost trivial. The entire definition of design is open ended, but it was not always that way. Although most do not know its name, the Bauhaus school is still an inspiration to artists all over the world as its teachings are what can now be found at almost any art school. It is amazing how its ideals were unanimously valued everywhere regardless of the places cultural or political ideologies. It transformed chairs from wood with four legs to leather between metal tubing. It is often said that it is impossible to reinvent the wheel, but the Bauhaus school proved that nothing was impossible.

Three years after this change, the Nazi regime shut down the school due to a supposed printing of pro-Communism propaganda. The Nazi’s allowed the school to reopen only if its left leaning staff were fired. The school refused to lose its amazing staff, such as the Russian Expressionist Wassily Kandinsky, so they decided to close for good. Although the Bauhaus was closed, its director Mies Van Der Rohe pushed its ideals further, even to Hitler. Mies was the star architect of the crumbling Weimar Republic, and even after the Nazis came to power, influential people such as Joseph Goebbels supported him as the chief Nazi architect. Mies almost achieved this position, but Hitler found another architect who was more willing to allow him to channel his visions through him.

Although Mies failed to plant the Bauhaus ideals in Nazi architecture, the Bauhaus trained designers were planning even in imprisonment. The Communist Franz Ehrlich was sent to the concentration camp Buchenwald where its SS officers found his skill in design to be useful. He had an elevated position above the other prisoners and was asked to not only design plans to build other buildings at Buchenwald but to redecorate the inside of his SS officer’s homes. Ehrlich used his position to acquire plans of SS construction management and helped corroborate with secret resistance networks. Somehow, even when the school failed to live on in Nazi Germany, its students were still valued for their amazing skills and spread them through this era.

Although the influence of the Bauhaus is visible in Nazi Germany, many members of the Bauhaus fled Germany soon after Hitler's rise to power. The worldwide spread of the Bauhaus movement established its ideals in the new generation of artists and designers coming out of the war. Before its collapse, the Bauhauses faculty included iconic artists in many different mediums. Once the school closed many of these artists fled to the top schools in America. Great artists like Marcel Breuer and Josef Albers started teaching at Yale while Walter Gropius went to Harvard. Even Mies Van Der Rohe immigrated to the US to get work from the wealthy American capitalists.

Eventually, the end of the great depression marked a pe

riod where wealthy Americans and corporations would build extravagant skyscrapers and houses designed by the finest architects, many of whom were trained by the Bauhaus. The influx of teachers into the top design schools transformed their curriculums so much so that the Harvard Graduate School of Design during this era came to be referred to as the “Harvard Bauhaus.” The Bauhaus influence can be seen from the skyline of New York City in buildings like the Seagram building to the skyline of Tel Aviv in Israel, a city which contains more than 400 Bauhaus designed buildings. Although it is not directly called the Bauhaus style, much of today’s emphasis on design mixed with functionality is a result of the spread in teachings of the Bauhaus.

Nowadays the teachings of the Bauhaus school seem almost trivial. The entire definition of design is open ended, but it was not always that way. Although most do not know its name, the Bauhaus school is still an inspiration to artists all over the world as its teachings are what can now be found at almost any art school. It is amazing how its ideals were unanimously valued everywhere regardless of the places cultural or political ideologies. It transformed chairs from wood with four legs to leather between metal tubing. It is often said that it is impossible to reinvent the wheel, but the Bauhaus school proved that nothing was impossible.

Sources:

http://bauhaus-online.de/en/kalender

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm

http://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/english/home.html

http://www.walter-gropius.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/arts/design/27webe.html?pagewanted=all&_r=3&

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2002/nov/30/architecture.artsfeatures

http://www.jstor.org/stable/991314?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

http://bauhaus-online.de/en/atlas/personen/walter-gropius