The Bauhaus was one of the first colleges of design. It came Into being from the merger of the Whimper Academy of Arts and the Whimper School of Arts and Crafts" (Unknown author, www. Google web page source withheld) The word 'Bauhaus' literally means 'house of construction' in German. The Bauhaus School was founded by Walter Groping.
Its original building was in Whimper, Germany where It started in 1919. He Is the main reason for all Its Influences and the great Impact It had on the design world for all future generations.Groping was director for nine years in two separate cities: Whimper and Odessa. However he was not the only leader, Haines Meyer continued on from Walter and was in charge from 1928 - 1930. Following from him was Ludwig Miss van deer Ruche, who was director for the last three years where the school was moved from Odessa and lastly Berlin before it is was closed down by pressure form the Nazis.
This being said the Nazi's never directly closed Bauhaus but rather shifted It from city to city hoping to decrease Its popularity.The three directors obviously had their own ideas that linked their personal view of he Bauhaus set up. Walter Groping was very involved in crafts making and believed in precision and formal design. He preferred all products to be clear and neat.
Walter felt the only way of passing this on to his students would be making them take their first SIX months In pre-luminary apprenticeship focused on open experiment with color. When this 'basic training' period was over they began their year In the workshop where they got tested and trained on their artistic and handcraft skills.This was very interesting for no other leader set up rules like this, Walter had strict spieling when it came to making his outlook on what Bauhaus was about known to the population and carrying out its signature look. Haines Meyer, director who took on the leadership role from Walter had a different perspective.
He thought standardization was key to helping the basic needs of the people because they could then mass-produce which would save time and would not require such talented artist to be continually crafting products that could be easily made and therefore offer Jobs to the lower classes.Although only in charge for two years, his approach to the Bauhaus school as a little more scientific than Walter Groping and Miss van De Ruche, and because of this he Incorporated new subjects to the school Like economics; psychology and sociology. In the years of 1930 - 1933 Miss van deer Ruche led the Bauhaus School but could not tolerate any of Haines Meyers influences. He did not allow any students in support of him into the School. Miss definitely changed it rapidly when he made it a private university, only allowing In people who he approved of.
Miss was very Interested in experimenting with new materials.Bauhaus was originally in Whimper from 1919 to 1925, it was then moved to Odessa for he next seven years before finally being moved to its last destination in Berlin for the last year. Of course, these moves and change of leaders had a huge influence on the sole purpose of the school. There was a constant tug of perspectives on the technique of the school the politics and the main focus. A prime example of this was shown when Groping was in power.
The pottery sector of the school had been an important aspect of the university yet when the shift of city from Whimper to Odessa was taking place Walter decided to completely discontinue it.This obviously affected the students who specialized in pottery and this change would probably have never taken place if it were not for the sudden change in venue. There were also positives in the move however, for example when in Odessa Bauhaus became even more population and open to the public, it was directly linked to any style that was geometric, modern of functional. The three main colors that stood out in classifying a Bauhaus product were the colors orange, purple and green.
Those were not the only characteristics of Bauhaus though, the distinct grid structure ND order of asymmetry was particularity eye catching. There were no flow lines everything was strictly geometric shapes. The typography used was very specific to the Bauhaus era. There were only the very bare minimum lines, no unnecessary curves used. All letters were exactly the same in width and height.
Photography and photometer was extremely praised and the 'sans serif type was considered essential. Bauhaus had some extremely talented students that later went on to be some of the most famous designers of their time. The design school saw the likes of designers such as Peter Barrens who was a major designer at AGE electronics in Germany as well as Marcel brewer most famous for his use of chrome in curved shapes as well as the use of leather such as the 853 chair that he designed. But the best designer of this period to me was Walter Groping himself, he designed the Bauhaus design school, which was a modernist building with ribbon fenestration windows, he also designed the Fag's factory with free Faustus windows. His designs where part of those that became the international style.
