Bauhaus

Bauhaus was a very influent artistic current from the 20^th century expanding in design, plastic arts, architecture, furniture and photography.

Foundation place: Weidar, Germany, famous for its cultural heritage

Foundation year: 1919, after the First World War

Style:

• Functional, practical
• Rational, without any decorative or “bourgeois” elements
• Simple and straight lines
• Pure architectural shapes
• Colors: white, gray, beige, black, yellow, red, blue

Notable people:  Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Oskar Schlemmer

Locations:

• Weimar (1919-1925)
•  Dessau (1925-1932)
•  Berlin (1932-1933)

Main roots:

• William Morris’s design principles in the 19^th century
• “Arts and Crafts” books

1928: Gropius quits from the Bauhaus school in Dessau; Hannes Meyer takes the lead

1930: Ludwig Mies van den Rohe replaces Hannes Meyee

1932: The school moves to Berlin

1933: Bauhaus school is closed by the Nazis

Later: Walter Gropius immigrates to USA where Bauhaus reinvents itself under the name of “International Modernism”. It also became the symbol of capitalism as it was used in constructing many office buildings and metropolitan apartments

It seems to me that this is the very essence of what design means today. Adapted to the elgance of simplicity and the functionality of the 21st century, it became the " best seller" all around the world. Ikea, YSL or Castelbajac, they all took a glance behind and made a few steps further.