Bauhaus, 1919-1928
Edited by Herbert Bayer, Walter Gropius, Ise Gropius

AuthorBayer, Herbert, 1900-1985
Date

1938
Publisher

The Museum of Modern Art: Distributed
by New York Graphic SocietyISBN

0870702408
Exhibition URL

www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2735
The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history—
from our founding in 1929 to the present—isavailable online. It includes exhibition catalogues,
primary documents, installation views, and anindex of participating artists.

MoMA© 2017 The Museum of Modern Art

BAUHAUS
1919-1928
Bayer,Ise Gropius,

Walter Gropius (Chairman

editedby Herbertof the Department of Architecture,

Harvard

University)

550 illustrations; 224 pages; $3.75
THE

MUSEUM

OF

MODERNART

14 West 49th Street, New YorkWHAT

is the Bauhaus?

The Bauhaus is an answer to the question: how can the artist be trainedtotake his place in the machine age.
HOW

did the Bauhaus idea begin?

As a school which became
importantand influential

the most

institutionofits kind in modern times.
WHERE?
In Germany,first at Weimar,

then at

Dessau.
WHEN?
From 1919 until closed by the National
Socialists in 1933.
WHOwere its teachers?

Walter

Gropius,director,

its founder

Kandinsky,

Schlemmer,

Itten,

and first

Klee,

Feininger,

Moholy-Nagy,Al-bers, Bayer, Breuer, and others.
WHAT

did they teach?

Architecture,
ture,

housing, painting,photography,

cinema,sculp
theatre,ballet, industrial design, pottery, metal
work, textiles, advertising,typography

and, aboveof design.

philosophy

WHYall, a modern

is the Bauhaus so important?

1 Because it courageously

accepted

the machine as an instrument worthyof the artist.
2 Because it faced the problem of good
design for mass production.
3 Because it brought
faculty

togetheron itsmore artists of distinguishedtalent than has any other art schoolof our time.
(continued

on back flap)r

LIBRARY
Museumof ModernArt

ARCHIVEI WUEPlrf—

ADDITIONSAND CORRECTIONS*-The more importantP

5

Footnote,corrections

are asterisked.

line 2: for is accordance

read

in ac

cordance.
*P

17

Caption
read

P

33

for second

WalterCaptionread

plate:

Gropiusfor Walterand Adolf

for second

plate,

Gropius

Meyer.

line 4: for develope

develop.

P

36

Line 22: for Franke read*P

40

Transpose

Francke.

captions.

P

85

Line

*P

91

Illustrations

19: for unprejudisted

P

96

read

are of work done

unprejudiced.

in Moholy-Nagy's

course.
Fi rst column,

line

36: for Six years

line

40:

later

read

In 1930.
Firstcolumn,

Nagy

read

for

Ladislaus

Moholy-Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.

Secondcolumn,line 2: delete

Secondcolumn,line

4: for(Bibl.

XXX).

XXX)

read

lines 3 and 4 of The New

Cur(Bibl.

( Bibl. no. 9).
*P100

I nsert between
riculum:

who hadpreviously

beentrainedinboth craft and theory at the Bauhaus and was

*P

102

thus prepared

to teach

I nsert between

lines

both.

14 and15: order to understand the.
*P

*P

P

103

109

113

Secondcolumn,

lines

I and

architectural

Add

for

to captions

third

fourthdesignedby L. Moholy-Nagy.

Captionfor first

plate:

forplates:read

Ffans Witwerand Hans Volger.

Pp 122,For George

Grosz read127

not the wellknown

who recently

becameCaption

first

131

department.

andInterior

Hans Wittwer*P

2: for administration offices read

for

Georg

Grosz.

(This isdraughtsman

andpainteran American

plate

shouldcitizen.)read:

MarcelBreuer: Nest of four tables. Four different colors.
1926
Captionfor second

Breuer:Harnischmacher

plate

shoulden. View of kitchen and dining
P

156

Captionfor first plate:read:apartment,

space.

for florence

MarcelWiesbad1927

henry readflorence

henri.

P 204

Captionfor first plate:for

1926 read

1925.

P 210

Captionfor first plate:for

1929 read

1931.

P 220

Line

P 224

17: for New York World's

York World's

Fair,

For Henry,

Florence

Under

Moholy-Nagy

Under

Hans Volger

For Witwer,

Fair read

1939.
read

Henri,

add

109.

add

Hans read

Florence.

I 13.
Wittwer,

Hans.

New

BflUHA
editedbyWalter Gropi
ment of Archi
550

illustrai

THE

MUSE

14 West 49th

WHAT

is theThe Bauhau
tion: how ctake his pla
did theHOW

As a schoo
importanta

its kind in m
WHERE?
In Germany
Dessau.
WHEN?
From I 9 19 ur
Socialists inWHO

were its

WalterGrop

director,

Kar

Schlemmer,Ibers, Bayer,
WHAT

did the>Architecture,
ture,

photogrballet, industri
work, textiles,
and, aboveof design.
WHY

ais the Bau

1 Because it ithe machineof the artist.
2 Because it fac
design for m
3 Because it b
facultymore

talent than h<of our time.

UHAU

i(r///er//yI

HERBERTBAYERWALTERGROPIUS
ISE GROPIUS

THEMUSEUMOF MODERNART• NEWYORK• 1938

c - 3L

Copyright,

1938, by The

Museumof ModernArt,

New York
Printedin the UnitedStatesof America
Typography
designHerbert

and
by
Bayer

cover

CONTENTS

Preface by Alfred

H. Barr, Jr.

7

The Backgroundby Alexanderof the Bauhaus
Dorner11

Walter

Gropius— Biographical

Note

16

WEIMAR BAUHAUS 1919-1925

DESSAU BAUHAUS 1925-1928
Bauhaus Building

101

The Masters' Houses
Other Buildings in Dessau

108
110

Architecture

Department

112

Preliminary

Course: Albers

116

Course: Moholy-Nagy

124

From the First Proclamation

18

Preliminary

Teachers and Students

20

Furniture Workshop

TheTheoryand Organizationof the Bauhaus
by Walter
Preliminary

Gropius (Weimar,

1923)

Course: Itten

Metal Workshop:

22

Weaving

32

Typography

Klee's Course
Kandinsky's Course

39
40

Color Experiments

41

Carpentry

128

Lighting fixtures, et cetera

Workshop136
142

Workshop:Printing, layout, posters 148

Photography

154

Exhibition Technique
Wall-Painting Workshop:

158
160

Wall paper

42

Sculpture Workshop

162

Stained Glass Workshop

49

Stage Workshop

164

Pottery Workshop

50

Kandinsky's Course

170

Metal Workshop

54

Paul Klee speaks

172

Weaving58

Administration
Extra-curricular

173
175

WorkshopWorkshopStage Workshop
Wail-Painting Workshop

62
68

Display Design

72

Architecture
Typography

74
79

Weimarand Layout; the Bauhaus Press

Exhibition, 1923

Extra-curricular
Preliminary

Activities

Course: Moholy-Nagy

82
86
90

Preliminary

Course: Albers

91

Opposition

to the Bauhaus

92

Press Comments,

1923-32

The Bauhaus Quits Weimar: a fresh
start at Dessau, April 1925

93
97

Activities

Painting, Sculpture, Graphic
Administrative

Changes,Art, 1919-1928

1928

180
206

Spread of the Bauhaus Idea
Bauhaus Teaching in the United States

207
217

BiographicalNotes by Janet Henrich

220

Bibliography

by Beaumont Newhall

222

Index of Illustrations

224*As explainedon page 149 this and following
sections
book are printed
without
capitalletters is accordance
Bauhaustypographicalpractice

introduced

in 1925.

of thewith

TRUSTEES
A. Conger Goodyear,
John Hay Whitney,

ARCHITECTURE
COMMITTEE

President'

Fhilip Goodwin, A. I.A., Chairman

1st Vice-President

Miss Catherine Bauer, Director of Research andSamuel A. Lewisohn, 2nd Vice-President

Information,

Nelson A. Rockefeller, Treasurer andUnited States Housing Authority

John Coolidge, Art Department,

3rd Vice-President

Vassar College

Prof. Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Jr., Wesleyan
University

Cornelius N. Bliss
Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss
Stephen C. Clark

Dean Joseph Hudnut, Graduate
Design, Harvard University

Mrs. W. Murray Crane

Winslow Ames, Director, Lyman Allyn Museum,The Lord Duveen of Millbank

New London

Marshall Field

George Nelson, Associate

Edsel B. Ford

The Architectural

Philip Goodwin

Carl Feiss, Constructor
Officer,Mrs. Charles S. Payson

School of Architecture,
Honorary Members

Mrs. Stanley Resor
Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Mrs. John Carter
Mr. Philip Johnson

Mrs. John S. Sheppard
Edward M. M. Warburg
Honorary Trustees
Frederic Clay Bartlett
Frank Crowninshield
Duncan Phillips
Mrs. Rainey Rogers
Mrs. Cornelius J. Sullivan

Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Director
Thomas Dabney Mabry, Jr., Executive Directorof Architecture

Industrial Art
Frances Collins, Manager

of Publications

andand Coordinating

Planning and Housing Division,Beardsley Ruml
Paul J. Sachs

Editor,ForumWilliam S. Paley

John McAndrew, Curator

School of

Columbia

University

PREFACE
It is twenty years since Gropius
Weimararrivedinto found the Bauhaus; ten years since

he left the transplanted
institution

and greatly

stand in

Berlin.
Are this book, then, and the exhibition
supplements

it, merely a belated

upon the tomb of bravewhich

wreathevents, important

their day but now of primarily

historicalrenderings ofor ending them with elaborate

for colonial

gymnasiums

and Romanesque skyscrapers. The more radical

practice; five years since the Bauhaus was forced toclose its doors after a brief rear-guard

Doric capitals,
projects

enlarged

at Dessau to return to private

ginning our courses with gigantic

Americanarchitects and designers in I 925, ignoring Frankeyes toward

theeclectic "good taste" of Swedish "modern"

Lloyd

Wright,turned

their

and

laid

the trivial bad taste of Paris "modernistic."It
is shocking to recall that only one year later theingreat new Bauhaus building at Dessau was com
pleted.

inter

no! The Bauhaus is not dead;

It is no wonder then that young Americans

it lives and grows through the men who madebegan to turn their eyes toward the Bauhaus asit, both teachers and students, through their dethe one school in the world where modern prob

signs, their books, their methods, their princi

lems of design were approached realistically ina modern atmosphere. A few Americanpilest? Emphatically,

ples, their philosophies of art and education.
It is hard to recall when and how we in America first began to hear of the Bauhaus. In theyears just after the War we thought of German

grims had visited Dessau before Gropius left in
1928; in the five years thereafter many went
to stay as students. During this time Bauhaus

art in terms of Expressionism, of Mendelsohn'smaterial,

streamlined

art, architecture,

EinsteintAensch, Wiene's

tower,

CabinetToller's

Masse

of Dr. Caligari.

may not have been until after the great
haus exhibitionof 1923 that reportsIt
BaureachedAmerica of a new kind of art school in Germany
where famous expressionist painters such as
Kandinsky

were combining

forces with crafts

includedtypography,

paintings,

industrial

in American

prints, theatre

objects,

exhibitions

had been
thoughnowhere so importantly

as in the Paris Salon desArtistesof 1930. There the whole

Decorateurs

German section was arranged under the direc
tion of Gropius. Consistent in program, brilliant in installation,

it stood like an island of inmen and industrial designers under the general

tegrity,in a melangeof chaotic

direction

caprice,demonstrating(what was not generalof the architect,

Gropius. A little later

modernistic

we began to see some of the Bauhaus books,

ly recognizednotably

trial design, thanks largely to the Bauhaus, wasSchlemmer'samazingtheatre and Moholy-Nagy's

volumeon theMa/ere/, Photogra-

at that time) that German

indus

years ahead of the rest of the world.
And the rest of the world began to accept

phie, Film.

Bauhaus lighting

fix

leges where courses in modern art began withtures and tubular steel chairs were imported

orRubens and ended with a few superficial

the designs pirated. American

Some of the youngerof us had just left colandthe Bauhaus. In America

Bauhaus students

often hostile remarks about van Gogh and Ma

began to return; and they were followed,

tisse; where the last word in imitation

the revolution

dormitories
crackedhadwindows

withone carefully

pane to each picturesque

Others of us, in architectural

Gothiccasement.

schools, were beof

1933, by Bauhaus and

after
ex-

Bauhaus masters who suffered from the new gov
ernment's illusion that modern furniture, flatroofed architecture

and abstract

painting

weredegenerate

or bolshevistic.

In this way, with thehelp of the fatherland, Bauhaus designs, Bauhaus men, Bauhaus ideas, which taken together
form one of the chief culturalcontributionsofmodern Germany,out the world.

have been spread throughThis is history.
we in America

men who are in advancethat the school of design should, as the Bau
bring

painting,architecture,

But, one may ask, what haveweaving,typography,

today

thesis whichhaus? Times change and ideas of what consti
tutes modern art or architecture
shift with bewildering

rapidity.

or education
Many

Bauhausdesigns which were once five years aheadoftheir time seem now, ten years afterward,

tohave taken on the characterof period

pieces.

togetherthe various

theatre,arts ofphotography,

etc., into a modern syndisregards

conventional

distinc

tions between the "fine"and "applied"arts;

that it is harderto design a first rate chairthan to paint a second rate painting— and much
more useful;that a school of design should have on its
faculty

the purely

creativeand disinterested

And some of its ideas are no longer so useful as

artist such as the easel painterthey once were. But this inevitablecounterpoint

process ofprofession
in the rearguard;
haus did,to learn from the Bauof theirrather than safely and academicallyto the practical

as a spiritualtechnician

in or

obsolescence was even more active in the Bau
haus while it still existed as an institution for, as

der that they may work and teach side by side
for the benefit of the student;

Gropiusthat thorough manual experience of materials is essential to the student of design— expe

has often insisted, the idea of a Bau

haus style or a Bauhaus dogma
fixed and permanent
the inaccurate
servers.

as something

was at all times merely

conclusionof superficial

Looking back we can appreciatethan ever certain

magnificent

more fully

achievements

the Bauhaus which are so obvious
might be overlooked.

obofthat they

It is only eight years sincerience at first confined to free experiment

andthen extended to practical shop work;that the study of rational design in terms oftechnics and materials

should be only the firststep in the developmentof a new and modern

sense of beauty.

the I920's came to an end yet I think we canand, lastly, that because we live in the 20th
century, the student architect or designer should

now say without exaggerationthat the Bauhaus

be offered

no refuge in the past but should be

the most

equipped

for the modern world

And we can

aspects,

artistic,

ask if in modern times there have ever been so

spiritual,

so that he may function in society not

many men of distinguished

as a decorator

building

at Dessau was architecturally

importantstructure of its decade.

talent on the faculty

technical,

in its various

social,economic,

but as a vital participant.

of any other art school or academy.
Andthough the building is now adorned with a ga

junction with the Museum's exhibition,

bled roof and the brilliant

1919-28. Like the exhibition

teaching

been dispersed there are certain
ideas developed
still ponder.

force hasmethods andby the Bauhaus which we may

There are, for instance, the Bau

haus principles:that most students should face the fact that
their future should be involved primarily withindustry and mass production rather than withindividual

craftsmanship:that teachers in schools of design should beThis book on the Bauhaus is published in con
Bauhaus

it is for the mostpart limited to the first nine years of the institu
tion, the period
rector.

during which Gropius

For reasons beyondof the individuals

was dithe control of any

involved, the last five years of

the Bauhaus could not be represented. During
these five years much excellent work was done
and the international
increased

rapidly,

reputationof the Bauhausbut, fortunately

poses of this book, the fundamental

for the purcharacterof the Bauhaus had alreadyunder Gropius' leadership.
This book is primarily—photographs,

been establisheda collection of evidence

articles and notes done on thefield of action, and assembled here with a mini
mum of retrospective

revision. It is divided

two parts:

1919-1925,

Weimar,and

1925-1928. These divisions indicate
a changeof location

stances, for althoughter, formalistic

Mr. Brinton Sherwood, who, as volunteers, haveassisted Mr. Bayer and the Museum staff; also

and

into

Dessau,more than

external

circumthe expressionist and, laexperiments

at Weimar

werethose who havegenerously

lent material

tothe exhibitionand contributed

photographsfor

reproductionin the book.

The Museum assumes full responsibility

forhavinginvitedProfessor Gropius,and their colleagues to collaborate
and its accompanying
rial included

exhibition.

in the exhibition

Mr.

Bayer,

in the book
All the matehas been lent at

varied and exciting it may be said that the Bau

the Museum's request, in some cases without
the consent of the artist.*

haus really found itself only after the move to

AlfredDessau. This book is not complete,

H. Barr, Jr., Director

even within

its field, for some material could not be broughtout of Germany.

At some time a definitiveon the Bauhaus should be written,

work

a well-or

dered, complete and carefully documented

history preparedbutby a dispassionate

time and other circumstances
sible at present.
paredmake this impos

Neverthelessby HerbertBayerauthority,

this book, preundereditorshipof Professor Gropius

generous

collaboration

the general
and with theof a dozen

Bauhausteachers, is by far the most complete

and authoritative

account

tempted.
The exhibition
stalled by Herbertof the Bauhaus so far athas been organized

and inBayer with the assistance ofthe Museum's Departmentof ArchitectureandIndustrial Art.
The Museum of Modern
especially

HerbertArt wishes to thankBayer for his difficult,sive and painstaking

exten

work in assemblingandinstalling the exhibition and laying out this book;
Professor

Walter

Gropius,

School of Design, Harvardof the Graduate
University,

for hissupervision of the book and exhibition;

Mrs. Ise

Gropiusfor her assistance in editing

the book;

Alexander

Schawinsky, formerly of the Bauhaus,and Josef

Albers,Professor of Art

at Black

Mountain College and formerly of the Bauhaus,for their help in preparing the exhibition.
Also Miss Sara Babbitt, Mrs. John W. Lin*The

coln, Mr. Paul Grotz,

names

Mr. Philip Johnson andworkof many

artistsin thisbook

is being

shown

without their consent. When the book was at the point ofgoing to press it was consideredadvisable
to delete theof severalof these

artists.

'tHfinitcr
tm6Srauettwit|
Weimar! ®
"Men and women of Weimar!
Our old and famous Art School is in danger!
All citizens of Weimar to whom the abodes of our art
and culture are sacred, are requested to attend a publicdemonstration on Thursday, January 22, 1920, at 8 p.m.
The committees, elected by the citizens . . ."Unftte oltBcrflguiteH n n ft f dj u t e, bercn bcjonnenc
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@1

THEBACKGROUNDOFTHEBAUHAUS
byALEXANDERDORNER
Director of the Art Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design
Formerly Director of the Landesmuseum, Hanover, Germany

It was with such alarms that the peopleofunanimity
novelty

post-war

Germansfound

a sign of some ideologicalin everyprogram,

Weimar greeted the appearance of the Bauhaus in their midst. This reception was not to be

and this fact in part explains the force of theblamed on the traditional

attack launched against the Bauhaus.

"spirit of Weimar,"atown living more in the past than in the present,—a "Goethe

town,"

anywhere in Germany

shevism*

it would have been muchthen there were appeals to the "national

the same in the stormy cultural atmosphere
lowing the catastrophe

folGermanopinionwas divided

who could

not understandthat

all thosethe pre-war

world was dead;on the other stood men andwomen determined

to learn from the debacle,latter,even

outsideGermany,weredrawn to the Bauhaus as to a magnet;

but tothose who clung to the past, the Bauhaus waslike a red rag.

It was a feverish and tormented

the old and new and madeimpossible.

growthYet this very tension and alertness

may have contributed
development

peacefulna

betweento the quick and clear-cutof the Bauhaus.

First to protest against the Bauhaus were, ofcourse, the adherents of the old art academies

and to find a new way of life.
The

Ger

of artists who were to "rescue mation that drew such drastic distinctions

into extreme

On one side were aligned

which must be wiped out" and evenman spirit"
ture art."of 1918.

The Confusion of the Post-War Period
factions.

As early as 1919 there was talk of "art-Bol

an "Athens-on-the-llm":

It was remarkablewith what*lt is interesting to note that the same phrase wasused in an attack on the exhibition of Impressionist andPost-Impressionist Paintings at the Metropolitan Museumin New York in 1921.

and of the bourgeoisie

whom the academies

supplied with art— an art carrying
tion of eclectic architecture,on the tradi

of monuments andportraitsin the grand manner, the depiction

historicalglory and decorativeart acceptingoflandscape— analmost any historical"style"or

had to make their way in solitude.
were there any positive,
achieving

Products of the French official

a new productive

cooperation

perceived

this goal and directed

thedemicism and the late Romantic

intendedtoof thei r contemporaries.

train designers for the royal manufacturiesof

The Deutsche Werkbund

hadporcelain,
rativeoriginallyfurniture, tapestries and other deco

material

destinedfor the courts

upper classes. This "applieddifferentiateddependent

on the acceptedthoughof court life and caste ruleof themarket of these state manufacturies
passed into private

The "modern

principal

which, conhands.

all over Europe as wellpresented a bewilderingly

conExpressionism

The Werkbund idea had been foreshadowed
in the I880's by William
Morris in reactionof his day.

He

called for a return to the cultural integration

againstthe artistic

confusionofthe great periods of the past, wherein art, mo
rality,politics and religion

all formed one liv

ing whole. To him, the ideal was the Gothic
cathedral,in the creation

joined together

art" movements which were op

posed to the academies
as in Germany

equally

styles of the past.

the disappearance

sequently,

andart" was carefully

from "fine art,"

The disappearance
spelledbeen

their efforts

it, steering clear both of the late aca

tradition,

academiesbetween art and life, until the handful of people
who made up the German Werkbund at last
towardeclectic stylistic melange.

Nowhereclear suggestions forof which all artists

in the role of craftsmen.

Morris, in some ways a retrogressive

Romantic, would have nothing to do with machine pro
duction.

He strove, rather, for a revival of me

fused picture. In Germany there were Expres
sionism and Dadaism, both forms of unbridled

dieval handicrafts.

in the industrial

revoluindividualism;tion, and with the new mass demand,

his conin Italy, Futurism; in Holland, Rus

sia and Hungary,structivist

different

movements;

abstract

and Con-in France, Cubism,

ism and Dadaism.

These revolutionary

ments were often

mutually

sessed no common program

hostile;

Pur

move

they possave that of oppo

sition to the academies and the academic

artist.

It is hard to think of anyone at that time who
thought

in any terms other than "artfor art's

sake," who saw beyond the purely personal andproduction
centration
dicraft

But, with the means of massdeveloped

on the obsolescent techniques of hanbrought about one of the very things he

was trying to prevent— the isolation of the individual artist-craftsman
able to produce
made objects only for a select few.

The progressive phases of Morris' ideas werecarriedfurther, towardon the Continent

the end of the century,and in the UnitedStates. In

contrast with England and its "arts and crafts"

romantic experiments of artists trying to express

movement, the Continentand America

their individual

somewhatto glorify

views. The tide of Romanticism

was rising to a new height in this post-war
riod. Called
Romanticism
vaunting
academicpetheoretically,

Expressionism, it was still the samewhich

our times, and announced

individualism
traditions.

had

been

the engineer as the true architect ofthat the new mateagainstrials developedby modern

The purpose of that strug

steel, reinforced

concrete,in its struggle

began,

technology.

In the '90's, the Belgian Henry van de Velde*proclaimed

for a century

handscience,such asaluminum,and lino

gle had been to enrich art and extend its holeum, called

rizons. But, because it had taken place isolated

ture. (At the same time, however, he was pre-from life and its practicaldemands,

the creative geniuses of the 19th century and early 20th

for a new type of logicalstruc*Gropius' predecessor at the Weimar Academy of Arts
and Crafts.

occupied with Art Nouveau ornament.) By I 900,
Adolf

Loos, a Viennese partly

UnitedStates, daredfrom his buildings.

trainedin theto banish all ornament

In America,a countryofamazing technical proficiency,
Louis Sullivan
and then Frank Lloyd Wright were the first to
insist that "formshould follow function."work was a great inspiration

Their

to their European

contemporaries.
In Germany,

Hermann

Muthesius sought asynthesis between the "machine
Morris "arts and crafts"

style" and the

movement.

He founded the Deutsche Werkbund in 1907 in an effort
to effect real cooperation

between the best art

ists and craftsmen on the one hand, and tradeand industry on the other. At the first session of
the Werkbund Theodor Fischer said, "Mass pro
duction and division of labor must be made to
produce quality."

Therewith the fallacy of Mor

ris' "craftsman's

culture"overcome.

seemed to have been

But no one had yet devisedmeans of absorbing,thetically,

eitherpracticallythe spirit of engineering

The cultural coordination

theor es-

into art.

of art and econom

ics, sought but not found by Morris, was not tobe achieved
Architects

even by the Werkbund movement.
and designers,

as well as paintersand sculptors, were for the most part still ro
mantic individualists.

Muthesius admitted:"We

ourselves do not know where we are drifting."
Walter

Gropius

It was the youngest of the Werkbund leaders,
Walter Gropius, who, by founding the Bauhaus,began really to solve the problem.
It would have been unnatural
Gropius

to have been entirely

for the young
untouchedbylate Romantic influence. But, from the very be
ginning, he differed
the driving
the problem
trialized

from his contemporaries

inearnestness with which he attackedof reconcilingart and an indus

society.

As early as 1910 he and his master, the architect Behrens, had drafted a Memorandum
the Industrial
UnifiedArtistic

Prefabri cationonof Houses on a

Basis. The idea of the prefab-

Henry van de Velde:
Weimar Bauhaus build
ing, 1905

Students' studio building,called Prellerhausricatedhouse was borrowed

from the UnitedStates, but Gropius'insistence on solving the

problem on a "unified

artistic basis" was a new

move toward

the synthesis of technology

art. In 1911 he demonstrated
building

at Alfeld,

andthis in his factory

and again in 1914 in his office building at the Werkbund Exposition at Co
logne (both in collaboration
These buildings

with Adolf

the elements of a new architecturalfrom traditional

Meyer).

were the first to show clearlystyle— freemassiveness, exploiting the newlightness of modern building construction.
The Early Bauhaus at WeimarStarting with architecture,

Gropiusextended

his interests into the whole field of the arts. Whilestill at the front, he was at work on a new proj
ect for art education,encouraged

Duke of Saxe- Weimarby the Grand

who had alreadydiscussed with him the possibilityof his assuming

the directorship

Art Academy.

of the Weimar

Gropius wanted to combine the Academy
the Weimar

Arts and Crafts

a "consulting
trades."art center for industry

By achieving

with

School to create
and thethis union in 1919 at the

Bauhaus, he took a most important

Goethe'sneargardenhouse,

Goethe'shouse, Weimar

Weimarand decisive

new step, for every student at the Bauhaus wastrained by two teachers in each subject— by anartist and a master craftsman. This division of
instruction

was unavoidableat the beginning,for no teachers were to be found with sufficientmastery of both phases. To develop
creative "ambidexterity"
the Bauhaus.

ofof the artists on thefaculty, the first products of the new education
quite naturally

showed the influence of contem

porary "modern" movements, particularly Cub
ism, evidenced by a somewhat formalistic andarbitrary

attitudetowardquite understandably,

design.

The press,

sometimes confused theaims of the Bauhaus with the "isms" seen else
where, and debatedthe "entryof Expression

ism into the Bauhaus." Today, consideringwhat

the Bauhaus eventually became, it is astonish
ing to realize that it ever had anything to do

Set in charming

surroundings,

a centerof classic

Germanculture.
Residence of the poets Herder,
Wieland,Goethe, Schiller, during the golden era of German
poetry,and, later, of Liszt and Nietzsche. Here, after the revolutionof November,
1918, the National
Convention
assembled
and adopted
the Constitutionof the new German
Republic.

just such

was the purpose

Because of the character

Weimar.

Weimarwith Expressionism and Dadaism, but it must be
remembered

how very confused the world ofart was when the Bauhaus began.
No one would have prophesied
Gropius.

In the world

success forof art his ideas stoodalone amid the chaos of uncoordinatedCreative

instinct combined

charactermade his leadershipforces.

with his strength of
unique. At thevery start he stood firm against relentless oppo
sition and the economic

difficultiesof the infla

tion period. With equal perseverance

he strug

gled to develop

within thethe right program

Bauhaus itself.
Fortunately,
velopment

the first and difficult stage of de

was over fairly quickly, and Gropius'

idea soon achievedfamiliar
unite

realization:

modern artists,

with science and economics, began tocreativeknowledge

imaginationof craftsmanship,witha practicalEand thus to devel

op a new sense of functional design.
The Bauhaus at Dessau
In 1925 the Bauhaus was moved from hostile

15

Weimar to hospitable Dessau. By this time, a newgenerationof teachers had been trained,

eachof whom was at once a creative

artist, a crafts

man and an industrial

and the dual

designer,system of instruction could be abandoned.

New

ideas beganandto flow forth in abundance,from the Bauhaus of this period

derivefamiliar adjuncts of contemporary

life— steel fur

niture, modern
typography

many

textiles, dishes, lamps, modern

and layout. The spirit of functional

design was carried even into the "fine arts" andappliedto architecture,city and regional

planning. But to speak of a cut and dried "Bauhaus
style" would be to revert to the cultural paraly
sis of the 19th century with its "free styles." Its
integralpart, namely the functionalfoundationof design, was just as full of changing
ties as our own "technicalthat we have only glimpsed
tialities of this technicalage."

possibili

We believe

the greatpotenage, and that the Bau

haus idea has only begun to make its way.

is
Map of Germany showing
location of Weimar and
DessauGROPIUS,
1^03
1905—1907

Walter.
StudiedStudiedArchitect,writer. Born,architecture,
Municharchitecture,
Berlin1907-1910
19 10-19 14

Assistant to Peter Behrens,
Private practiceI 9 14—19 I 8Served'918

Appointed

Director

Sachsische

Kunstgewerbeschulein the Germanarmyof the Grossherzogliche

'9'9

Union

1925

Bauhaus (Staatliches
The Bauhaus moves

schools

andResignation
Bauhaus

from

under

the

name

Bauhaus Weimar)
to Dessau with all

post

to resumethe

Hochschuleteachers
and students(Bauhaus
Hochschule
fur Gestaltung)
1928

1883

BerlinGrossherzogliche
Sachsische
fur Bildende Kunstof the two

Berlin,Dessau,as

Director

privatepracticeoftheMemberof the board of the ResearchInstitute for Building Economy of the German

Reich
1929

Appointed
Dr. ing.
Universityof HanoverMoved to London

honoris1935

Went into
A.R.I. B.A.

with

'937

Appointed
Senior Professor, Department
Architecture,
Harvard
University

of

1938

Appointed
Architecture,

of

1934

From a photographof 1923Ise Gropius,
nee Frank,
joined the Bauhaus com
munity in 1923

partnership

Chairman
Harvardcausa,"

MaxwellbyFryof the Department
University

Walter
Meyer:

Gropius
Fagus

Factory,
Leine.

and Adolf
Shoe-last

Alfeld-on-the1911

Walter
Gropius:CologneExpositionof the German
Werkbund.

Walter

Gropius'mostimportant

works

before

the

Hall

of

chinery.

1914.

WalterdrivensignedGropius:locomotive
for a firm

Ma

Bauhauszig.

Dieselcar dein Dan1914

Walter

Gropiusand Adolf

Meyer:
CologneExposition of the German
Werkbund. Administration
Building.

Front view.

1914

From
theFIRSTPROCLAMATIONof theWEIMARBAUHAUS:

WithinThe complete

buildingis the final aim of thevisual arts. Their noblest function was once thedecoration
lation,_ IB

Set*' inD* -> >1
flfYj

of buildings. Today they exist in iso

from which they can be rescued only

through the conscious, cooperative

NATlONWH'RTtR

i.v» "atu, rtHP»"WMNlcraftsmen.

Architects,

must recognizePeter Rohl
Program of the opening cele
brationsof the Bauhaus at
the German
National
Thea
ter at Weimar,
1919

of a building

painters

effort of all

andsculptors

anew the composite

characteras an entity. Only then will theirwork be imbued with the architectonic
which it has lost as "salon art."

spiritArchitects, sculptors, painters, we must all
turn to the crafts
Art is not a "profession."

There is no essential

difference between the artist and the craftsman.
The artist is an exalted craftsman. In rare moments of inspiration,

moments beyond the control of his will, the grace of heaven may cause

14

his work to blossom into art. But proficiency

18

inhis craft is essential to every artist. Therein lies
a source of creative imagination.
The contract for the directionof the Bauhaus was con
cluded at Weimar
AprilI, 1919, between the architect
Walter

GropiusofBerlinandmarschallof Weimar
with thevisional Republican
Government
sen-Weimar-Eisenach)
Ministryof State.

and

the

the

officeof theHof-agreementof the proof Saxe-Weimar(SachDepartments

of

the

Let us create a new guild of craftsmen,
the class distinctions
barrier

without

which raise an arrogant

between craftsman and artist. Together

let us conceive and create the new building of
the future, which will embrace
sculpture and painting

architecture

andin one unity and which

will rise one day toward heaven from the handsof a million workers like the crystal symbol of a
new faith.

The first Bauhaus

seal

LyonelFeininger:

Woodcutfromtheproclamation,
1919

first
N\\\N \

Wz

r

/.

WHO

WERE

THE

TEACHERS?

During the war some vacancies
occurredon the staffs
of the two schools (the Academyof Pictorial
Art andthe Academy
united in theof Arts and Crafts)
which Gropius
Bauhaus. This enabled
him to havemasters appointed
atItten, Lyonel Feininger
1919.

They

Laszlomembers

the very beginning:
Johannes
and Gerhard
Marcks in May,

joined

later

by

Adolf

Meyer,, 1920, Paul Klee, January,
April,
1921, Wassily
Kandinsky,

Schlemmer,
and

were

Moholy-Nagy,of the old

later
three

1923. Replacement

staff,

who

did

1919,

1921, Oskar
June, 1922,
of certain

not fit into

the

new

educationalline at the Bauhaus, led to bitter contro
versy with the older generationof artists in Weimar.

WHERE

DID THE STUDENTS

COME

FROM?

The students of the Weimar
Bauhaus came from all overGermany,
north and south, and from Austria. They werefromseventeen

to forty

years

old,

most of themin their

early twenties.
Two-thirdsof them were men, halfwhom had served in the army during
the last years
the great war. Most
living,and Gropius
Ministrymore,ofof the students had
therefore
persuaded

Education

he managed

tocancelto givethose students
who
Bauhaus workshops.

producedto earn their
the Weimar

tuition

some

of
of

fees.

financialsaleable

Further

support

goods

in

to
the

20

FROM A STUDENT'S
LETTER
When I saw the first Bauhaus proclamation,

ornamented

withas to what

Feininger's

woodcut,

I madeinquiries

the Bauhaus reallywas. I was told that "during
theentrance
examinations
every applicant
is locked up ina dark room. Thunder and lightning
are let loose upon
him to get

him into

a stateof agitation.

His beingadmitted depends on how well he describes
his reactions."
This report,
althoughit exaggerated
the actual
facts,
fired my enthusiasm.
My economic
future was far fromassured,but

was during

I decided

to jointhethe post-war

years,and to this day

Bauhausat once.

If

I wonderwhat most Bauhaus members
lived on. But the happi
ness and fullness of those years made us forgetourpoverty. Bauhaus members came
They made a vivid appearance,from all social classes.
some still in uniform,

some barefootor in sandals, some with the long beardsof artists or ascetics. Some came from the youth movements.

The student

bodymans, fourteen

was composed

Austrians,

threeof twoGermans

hundredfromGer

the Baltic

countries,
two Sudeten Germans
and two Hungarians.
The Bauhaus budgetin
1920:206,406
marks ($50,000.00).

PAUL KLEEGERHARD MARCKS

LYONEL FEININGER

ADOLF
MEYER

LOTHAR
SCHREYER

OSKAR SCHLEMMERWASSILY KANDINSKYLASZLO MOHOLY-NAGY

JOHANNES ITTENTHETHEORY
ANDORGANIZATIONOFTHEBAUHAUS
byWALTERGROPIUS
Translation of Idee und Aufbau des Staatlichen
Bauhauses Weimar.

Published

IDEE undin

1923 atBa u ha usverlag

Aufbauduring

DESSTAATLICHENBAUHAUSES

the, Munich,the 4th yearof theBauhausat Weimar.

A few

paragraphs

andoccasional sentences
have
been
omitted,for the sake ofbrevity.
Many of the sub

WEIMAR

vonWALTER GROPIUS
BAOKAttSVCULO*

The dominantheadings
ed.

have

been

add

spirit of our epoch is alreadyrecognizable

althoughits form is not yet clear

The decadence of architecture
The character of an epoch is epitomized

ly defined.

The old

dualistic

its buildings.

which envisaged
universe is rapidly

world-concept

the ego in opposition
losing ground.

to theIn its place

In them, its spiritualinand material

resources find concrete expression, and, in con
sequence, the buildings

themselves offer irrefu

is rising the idea of a universal unity in whichtable evidence of inner order or inner confusion.

all opposing

A vital architecturalbalance.

forces exist in a state of absolute

This dawning

recognitionof the essential oneness of all things and their appear
ances endows creative
tal inner meaning.
ist in isolation.
embodiment

effort with a fundamen

No longer can anything

We perceiveexevery form as theof an idea, every piece of work

as a manifestationof our innermost selves. Only

work which is the productcan have spiritualof inner compulsion

meaning.

Mechanizedwork

spirit, rooted in the entire

life of a people, represents the interrelation
all phases of creativeniques.

Architecture

today

status as a unifying
scholarship.
rootedhas forfeitedart. It has become

Its utter confusion

its
mere

mirrors an up

world which has lost the common

necessary for all correlated

New structural elements develop very slowly,
for the evolution of architecturalform is depend

ent not only upon an immense expenditure

long, however, as machine-economy

technical and material

end in itself rather than a means of freeing thethe emergence

intellect from the burden of mechanicalderiving

the individuallabor,

will remain enslaved and society

will remain disordered.

The solution depends ona change in the individual's

attitudework, not on the bettermentof his outward

cir

The evolutionof new philosophicalof form, therefore,

concepts

perceptions.
lags far behind the ideas which engender it.
The art of architecture
cooperation

is dependentof many individuals,

and the acceptanceof this newreflects the attitude

for new cre

contrast, certain

ative work.

ofresources, but also uponfrom a series of intuitive

is of decisive importancecumstances,principle

toward his

willeffort.

is lifeless, proper only to the lifeless machine. So
remains anofeffort, all arts, all techupon thewhose workof the entire community.

Inother arts reflect only narrowsections of life. The art of architecture

and its

many branches should be not a luxury, but thetechniques or economics.

life-longnection with the life of the community

led inevi

tably to barren esthetic speculation.

The funda

preoccupation

widespreadof a whole people. Theview that art is a luxury is a corruption born of the spirit of yesterday,
lated artistic phenomena
thus deprived(I'artthem of vitality.

set the new architectural
conditions for all creative

which isopour I'art)

andAt the very out

spirit demands
effort.

new

The "academy"
The tool of the spirit of yesterday

was thementalpedagogic

Lack of all vital con

mistakeof the academy

arose from its preoccupation

with the idea of

the individual

genius and its discounting

value of commendable

achievement

theon a lessexalted level. Since the academy

trained a myriad of minor talents in drawing

and painting,of whom scarcely one in a thousand became a"academy."

It shut off the artist from the world

genuine architector painter,

the great mass ofof industry

and handicraft,

and thus broughtthese individuals,

fed uponfalse hopes andfrom the commu

trainedabout his complete

isolation

as one-sided

academicians,

was connity. In vital epochs, on the other hand, the art

demned to a life of fruitless artistic activity.

ist enriched all the arts and crafts of a commu

equipped

nity because he had a part in its vocationaland because he acquired

life,

for existence, they found themselves numberedthrough actual pracamong the social drones, useless, by virtue oftice as much adeptness and understandingas

any other worker who began at the bottom andworkedhis way up. But lately

the artist

been misled by the fatal and arrogant
fosteredhas

fallacy,by the state, that art is a profession

which can be masteredby study.

Schoolingalone can never produce art! Whether
ished productUnto function successfully in the struggle

the finis an exercise in ingenuity

or atheir schooling, in the productivetion.
With the development

life of the naof the academies genuine folk art died away. What remained
drawing-room

was a

art detached from life. In the I 9th

century this dwindled

to the production

vidual paintings totally divorcedtion to an architecturalof indifrom any relaentity. The second half

work of art depends on the talent of the indiof the 19th century saw the beginningvidualwho creates it. This qualitybetest against

the devitalisingtaughtand cannot

On the otheracademies.

Ruskin and Morris in England, vanbe learned.

cannothand, manual dexterity and the thorough knowl

de Velde in Belgium, Olbrich,edge which is a necessary foundation for all cre
ative effort, whether the workman's or the art

ers in Germany,
Werkbund,and,of a proinfluenceof theBehrens and oth

finally,theDeutscheall sought, and in the end discov

ist's, can be taught and learned.

ered, the basis of a reunion between creative

Isolation of the artist

artists and the industrial

Academic

training,

the development

however, brought about

of a great art-proletariat

desworld.

In Germany,

arts and crafts (Kunstgewerbe) schools were
founded for the purpose of developing, in alulled into a dream of genius and enmeshed in

new generation, talented individuals trained inindustry and handicraft. But the academy was

artistic

too firmly established:

tined to social misery. For this art-proletariat,
conceit,"profession"or graphic

was being

prepared

for theof architecture,

painting,

sculptureart, without being given the equip

advancedpractical

beyond dilettantism,

and rendered"design"never

remainedin the fore

ment of a real education— which alone could

ground.

have assured it of economic

laid neither wide enough nor deep enough todependence.

Its abilities,

and esthetic inin the final analysis,

were confined to a sort of drawing-painting

had no relation

to the realities

thatof materials,

The foundations

trainingand draughted

avail much againstof this attempt

werethe old I'art pour I'art at

titude, so alien to, and so far removed from life.

Dearth of industrial designers
Meanwhile,

hand masters matterthe crafts— and more especiallythe industries— began to cast about for artists.
A demandtractivearose for products

as well as technicallyly acceptable.

atand economical

startedthe crafts,

andConception
multaneous.

and visualization

are always si

Only the individual'scapacitytofeel, to know and to execute varies in degree

The technicians could not satisfy

it. So manufacturers"artisticoutwardly

throughwith the help of tools and machinery.

to buy so-called

designs." This was an ineffective substi

and in speed. True creative

work can be done

only by the man whose knowledge and masteryof the physicallaws of statics, dynamics,

optute, for the artist was too much removed fromtics, acoustics equip him to give life and shape

the world about him and too little schooled intechnique and handicraft to adjust his concep

to his inner vision. In a work of art the laws oftions of form to the practicalduction. At the same time, the merchants andthe world of the spirit function and are expressed
simultaneously.

technicians lacked the insight to realize that ap

The Bauhaus at Weimar

pearance,

efficiency

multaneously

processes of pro

and expense could be si

controlled

only by planningandproducingthe industrial object with the careful

cooperationof the artist responsible for its design. Since there was a dearth
quately trained

for such work, it was logical toestablish the following

basic requirements

the future trainingof all gifted

thoroughmanualpractical,

shops activelyof artists ade
forindividuals:aworld,

Every factor
educational

the intellectual

worldthat must be considered

alysis of the creative

process. At the "State

Bauhaus at Weimar"

the attempt was made forthe first time to incorporate
a consistent program.

all these factors in

In 1915, during the war, the author had beensummoned to an audience with the Grand

engaged in production,

coupledof Saxe-Weimarin the laws

AcademyThe objective of all creative effort in the vis
ual arts is to give form to space. . . . But what isspace, how can it be understoodform?

and given afor Arts and Crafts

from the distin

Henry van de Velde,

who had himself suggested Gropius as his successor. Having asked for, and been accorded,full powers in regard

to reorganization,in thespring of 1919 the author assumed the director
ship of the Grandwe may achieve an awarenessDuke

to discuss his taking over theguished Belgian architect,Analysis of the designing process

in ancreative human beings is implicit in such an an

in work

instruction

andsystem which is to produce actively

trainingwith sound theoreticalof design.

. . . Although

the physical

Pictorial

Art

Ducal Saxon Academy(Grossherzogliche

for

Sachsischeof the infinite we can give form to space only

Hochschule fur Bildende Kunst) as well as of thewith finite means. We become aware of spaceGrandthrough our undivided

Crafts (Grossherzogliche
Sachsische Kunstgewerbeschule) and united them under the newEgo, through the simul

taneous activityof soul, mind and body. A like

concentrationof all our forces is necessary togive it form. Throughmetaphysicalterialthroughhis

powers, man discovers the imma

space of inward

This conception
in the material
complished

his intuition,

vision and inspiration.

of space demands
world, a realization

realization
which is acby the brain and the hands.

The brain conceives of mathematicalin terms of numbers and dimensions.

Ducal

Saxon Academy. . . The

andname of "State Bauhaus" (Staatliches Bauhaus).
The theoretical
combined

curriculumof an art academy

with the practicalcurriculumof anarts and crafts school was to constitute the basisof a comprehensive

system for gifted students.

Its credo was: "The Bauhaus strives to coordi
nate all creative

space

for Arts

architecture,

effort,to achieve,

the unification

arf and design. The ultimate,in a newof all fraining

in

if distant, goal ofthe Bauhaus is the collective

work of art— the

Human achievement

depends on the proper

Building— in which no barriers exist between thecoordination

structural

not enough to school one or anotherof themseparately:

trainedand the decorative

The guiding

principle

arts."of the Bauhaus wastherefore

the ideaof creating

through

the welding

togethera new unityof many "arts"and movements: a unity having its basis in Man

of all the creative

faculties.

they must all be thoroughly

at the same time. The character

It isand scope of

the Bauhaus teachings derive from the realiza
tion of this.

himself and significant only as a living organism.

THE CURRICULUM
The course of instruction

at the Bauhaus is divided

into:

1. Instruction in crafts (Werklehre):
STONE

WOOD

METAL

CLAY

GLASS

COLOR

TEXTILES

Sculpture

Carpentry

Metal

Pottery

Stained glass

Wall-painting

Weavingworkshop

workshop

workshop

workshop

workshop

workshop

workshop

A. Instruction in materials

and tools

B. Elements of book-keeping,

estimating,contracting

II. Instruction in form problems (Formlehre):
1. Observation

2. Representation

3. Composition

A. Study of nature

A. Descriptivegeometry

A. Theory of space

B. Analysis of materials

B. Techniqueof construction

B. Theory of color

C. Drawing of plans and build

C. Theory of design

ing of models for all kindsof constructions

BUILDING

practical
buildinq
experience-buildinq

experiments

DESIGN

Buildinq and tnqineerinq

color

'*h

4,

TheorySupplementary instruction
Lectures in fields relatingtion and representation
to art and science,

past and present.
The curriculum includes three departments(compare with the plan):—with the intention

tent—define the limits of the preliminary course.
Its chief function is to liberate the individual bybreaking down conventional

1. The preliminary

course, lasting half a year.

of

showing the desired identity of Form and Con

patterns of thought

in order to make way for personal experiences

Elementary instruction in problems of form, com

and discoveries which will enable him to see hisbined with practicalown potentialities

materials

experimentswith different

and limitations.

For this rea

son collective work is not essential in the prelim

in the workshops for beginners.

Result: Admission to one of the workshops.

inary course. Both subjective and objective

2. Instruction in a craft in one of the workshops

servation will be cultivated:

after signing

abstract laws and the interpretation
tive matter.

advancedlegal articles

of apprenticeship;

instruction in form. Three year course.

Result: Journeyman's

Diploma of the Chamberof Crafts (Gesellenbriefder Handwerkskammer)

and, under certain

circumstances,

Diplomaof objec

Above all else, the discovery and proper val
uation of the individual'sofobboth the system ofmeans of expression

shall be sought out. The creative

possibilities of

the Bauhaus.

individuals

3. Instruction in architecture.

pressions in rhythm, another in light and shade,

Practical
struction

participationin buildings

and, for especiallymen, independent

under contalentedarchitectural

journeytraining

in theBauhaus Research Department.
Duration:

dependingcial circumstances.
experimental

on achievement
Architecturaland spe

activity

andwork represent a continuation
DiplomaCrafts and, under special circumstances,

tions between one and another, or between the
two to a third or fourth.
Allthe work produced

a practical

relationships

direct and logicallyDiplocourseof sound, color

expression of anwhich serves to lay the foundationsof creative

discipline

can be called art.

Instruction in crafts and form problems
In earlier

centuries when there was no aca

physical and psychic qualities of the individual.

were taught

The Preliminary Course (Vorlehre*)

was a craftsman

studies are carried

developed

individual

demic instruction

and theoreticalin the preliminaryofand form is followed, designed to harmonize thePractical

space, an eighth in the relacourse is done under the influence of instructors.

ma of the Bauhaus.
in the fundamental

umes or abstracta fifth ina seventh in vol

It possesses artistic quality only in so far as anyof the Chamber

During the entire curriculum

a third in color, a fourth in materials,
sound, a sixth in proportion,

exof

instruction in crafts and form.
Result: Master'svary. One finds his elementaryin the crafts or arts, students

independently

by a master who

as well as an artist. Such instruction would still be the best. But, because ofin order to release the crea

the disastrous secession of art from the worka

tive powers of the student, to help him grasp the

day life of the people, in our time such creative

physical nature of materials and the basic laws

versatilityof design. Concentration

impossible for one man to undertake a student's

on simultaneously

on any particular

istic movement is studiously avoided.

styl

Observa-entire art education.
tion:*The preliminary course was developed by Johannes
Itten; he continued and enlarged at the Bauhaus thecourses he had already been giving in 1918 in Vienna.
At the Bauhaus, the preliminary course was required as
preparation for work in the workshops.

no longer

coordinatedone a craftsman,
bly trained,

exists and it is therefore
Synthesis is the only solu

instruction

by two masters,

the other an artist. Thus, dou

a future generationof creatively

gifted workers may once more achieve a new
productive

coordination,andmay gradually|lcs

become indispensable collaborators in the work
ing life of the people. With this in mind the Bauhaus has ruled (I) that every apprentice andjourneyman is taught by two masters, a crafts

with the feeling for work which, as an artist, heinevitably has, and it is therefore his best opportunity for practical training.
The principal

difference between factory pro

man and an artist, who work in close coopera

duction and handicrafttion;

superiority(2) that instruction

in crafts andtheory of form are fundamental:
or journeyman

in theno apprentice

can be excused from either.

strument of technicalthat in the factory
manufacturing

Production
work in the,1.
,.
workshop ot the prelim.
inary course. Work in
„ ,
.
,
,
all the cratts under the
i .
i
. .
f
technical supervision ot,.
the respective
masters.

_,.
Studies in ma. , _terials. Free.
,
creative work.
in different. ,materials

Theorylies not in the machine's

over more primitive

tools as an inprecision,

but in the fact

each operation

involved

by a different man, whereas the craft productis madeentirely by one person. But if industry is to deofform andcolor

velop, the use of machineryand the division oflabor must be maintained.

Neither

itself responsible

factor is infor the loss of creative

which has resulted from technologicalunity

development. The root of the evil exists rather
Drawing

Mathe-

I Draughting

from

ma
Physics ^Mechanics

1 and technical
I Construction
1

Natureina product is performed

Syntheticstudy of space(Synthetische
Raumlehre)much too materialistic

in theattitude of our times andin the loss of contact between the individual
the community.

andIt follows that the Bauhaus does not pretend
to be a crafts school. Contact
Generalcoordination( Harmonisierungslehre)

consciouslywith industry issought, for the old trades

longer very vital and a turning
Instruction in crafts
Training

would therefore be an atavistic

in a craft is a prerequisite

lective work in architecture.

This training

posely combats the dilettantism
erations in the applied

for colpurof previous gen

arts. Every apprentice,manship

and industry

proaching

are noback to them
mistake. Crafts

are today

steadilyap

one another and are destined eventually to merge into one. Such a new produc
tive union will give every individualthat underby signing the articles issued by the Chamberstandingof Crafts, engages himself to work through theis essential to creative work. In this union the old

lawfullyprescribedperiodof apprenticeship.

of and desire for cooperation

craft workshops will develop into industrial

The teaching of a craft serves solely to train theoratories:

hand and to ensure technicalstandards for industrial

proficiency;

it isby no means an end in itself. Its aim is to add toa many-sided

educationrather than to develop

the specialized craftsman.

whichfrom their experimentation

The teachingfor designinglab

will evolve

production.

of a craft is meant to prepareformass production.

Startingwith the simplest tools and least complicated

The Bauhaus believes the machine to be ourjobs, he gradually

modern medium of design and seeks to come tomore intricate

terms with it. But it would be senseless to launchchinery,a gifted apprentice

touchinto industry without prep

aration in a craft and hope thereby to reestabacquiresability

to master

problems and to work with ma

while at the same time he keeps inwiththe entire

processof production

from start to finish, whereas the factory worker

lish the artist's lost contact with the world of pro

never gets beyond the knowledge of one phaseduction.

of the process. Therefore

He would be stifled by the materialis

tic and one-sided
tories today.

outlook predominant

in facA craft, however, cannot conflictthe Bauhaus is con

sciously seeking contacts with existing industrial
enterprises,

for the sake of mutual stimulation.

From these contacts with industry the appren

grammartice and, later, the journeyman

then can we communicate

learn not only

to extend their technical experiencebut also toin order to speak a language;

only

our thoughts.

Man,

who creates and constructs, must learn the spe

consider, in carrying out their work, the unavoid

cific language

able demands which industry makes on the indi

others understandvidual to economize on time and means. In thesists of the elements of form and color and theirsame measure, the academic

superciliousness

structuralof constructionin order to makehis idea. Its vocabularycon

laws. The mind must know them andof another day constantly dwindles, and respectcontrol the hand if a creative idea is to be madefor hard realities unites individuals
a common work.

visible. The musician who wants to make audible

After

three years of thoroughapprentice

undergoesence of a committee
Havingtifiedengagedintraining,thea musical idea needs for its rendering
theory.

of establishednever emerge from chaos.

craftsmen.

Everyjourneyman

at theBauhaus who is publicly

certifiedsoon as he considers

himself sufficiently

is entitled,

Without

this knowledge,

A corresponding

his ideaknowledge of theory— whichasestablished as a basis for practiceadarts. The academies,
been to cultivateman";completelyof this test are more

of
will

existed in a more vigorous era— must again bevanced, to a further test as "Bauhaus journey
the requirements

not only

but also a knowledge

a work-test in the prespassed this, he becomes a publicly cer
journeyman.

a musical instrumentin the visual

whose task it might haveand develop

such a theory,

failed to do so, having lost contact

severe than the public test, especially in regard

with reality. Theory is not a recipe for the manu

to the journeyman's creative ability.
Instruction in form problems

element of collectiveIntellectual
ual training.

education

facturingruns parallel

The apprentice

to manis acquainted

withof works of art, but the most essential

the common

construction;

it provides

basis on which many individuals

are able to create together

a superior

his future stock-in-trade— the elements of form

work; theory is not the achievement

and color and the laws to which they are subuals but of generations.

ject. Instead of studying
ualisticandacademies,

stylised

the arbitrary

formulaeindividcurrent

at thehe is given the mental equipment

The Bauhaus is consciously formulating
coordination
be impossible.

training

not to be obtainedof the individual,
different

establishing

individuals

ing their artisticchitecturaling, is capablea basis on which

can cooperate

independence.

work becomes

every individual,

prepared

powerswithout losCollective

his independent,

theorywith manual

training.

thus losing theirgain new significancethe abilities and talents of various individuals.

Only anapparent

unity can be achieved

if many help

ers carry out the designs of a single person. In
fact,

withinthe group

should exist as his own independentaccomplish

the idea of thement. Real unity can be achieved

only by cotoeven if limited, ac
on in close contact

Drawing

purelyin a group issolely by correlating

schoolwork. Instruction in theof form is carried

For collaborationby properof understanding

tivity with the collective

andthis, its ultimate aim would

possible only when

whole, and thus has the means harmoniously
coordinate

ar

a new

of the means of construction

expression. Withoutwith which to shape his own ideas of form. This
opens the way for the creative

unit ofof individ

and planning,academic

as auxiliary

character,means of expression. We must know both vocabulary

andthe individual's

laborherent restatement of the formal theme, by rep
etition of its integral

proportions

the work. Thus everyone
must understandprincipal

engagedin all parts ofin the work

the meaning and origin of thetheme.

Forms and colors gain meaning only as they
are related to our inner selves. Used separately
or in relation to one another they are the means

of expressing

different

move

draughtingof their own.

partment,

emotions

andments: they have no importanceoffice adjoining

the Research Deas well as to all the workshops, in orRed, for instance, evokes in us other emotions

der to enable them to study other crafts than

than does blue or yellow;

their own. They are invited to collaborate

differently

round forms speak

to us than do pointed

or jagged

forms. The elements which constitute the "gramon the plans and the actual
missioned,

portion, of light values and full or empty space.

ence of cooperating

Vocabulary

and, at the same time, earn their living.

the most importantcan be learned, but

factorof all, the organicso that they may have the experi
with all the building trades

In so far as the Bauhaus curriculumin the crea

provide advanced

accompanies

statics, mechanics,

physics, industrial

the studies in form is founded as much on obheating,technical

servation, on the exact representationconsidered

life of the created

work, originates

struction

tive powers of the individual.
The practicaltraining

which

or reproduction of nature, as it is on the creation
dividualcompositions.

profoundly

different.

discriminate

These two activities
The academies

betweenthem, confusing

Art wants to triumph

areceased to

and art— though by their very origin
antithetical.

of innaturethey areover Natureand to resolve the opposition

in a new unity,

and this process is consummatedin the fight ofthe spirit against the material

world. The spirit

creates for itself a new life other than the lifeof nature.
Each of these departmentsin the course on

in

steel

practicecomplete their education

schools. As a matter

principle,

journeymen

should have experience(machinework)

in manufacturingofworkshops

other than those at the Bauhaus.
The new approach to architecture
The most importantlaboration

condition

on architectural

understanding

for fruitful colproblems is a clearof the new approach

tecture. Architecture

to archiduring the last few gener

ations has become weakly sentimental,
decorative.

Its chiefmotifs, ornaments
perficialandIn this decadence

instruction

study of form is ready to collaborate
ing.

in thein buildconcernesthetic

has been

with the formalistic
and mouldings

use ofon the extewith pracin the Research Department*architecturein academic

narrow conventions,lost touch withthe architect

estheticism,

wasa slave toand the planningof cities

was no longer his job.
This kind of architecture

we disown. We want

as well as on actual

buildings

tion. No apprentices

are admitted

to the Re

inner logic will be radiant and naked, unencum

search Department:

only certified

journeymen

bered by lying facades and trickeries; we wantcapableunder construcmass—not as part of a living organism.

new methods and materials;
engulfed

stage of Bauhaus

education is the course in architecture
tical experience

with courses at techni

cal and engineering

who has been seasoned

The last and most important

methods,

chemistry— it isrior of the building— as if upon a dead and su

Instruction in architecture
by workshop

concrete,desirable for promising architecturewith ornamentation,

Only the journeyman

reinforced

students, after consultation with their masters, tothe theory of form functions in close association
which preandplumbing,with the workshops, an association

off into academicism.

does notcourses in engineering— con

andvents their wanderingofbuildings for which the Bauhaus has been com

mar" of creation are its rules of rhythm, of pro
and grammar

bothconstructionof working out by themselves technicaland formal problems. They have access to the*The Research Departmentfor experimental
only partiallyrealized,
due to lack of spacework wasand funds.

to create a clear, organic

an architecture

adaptedarchitecture,

whose

to our world of machines, radios and fast motor cars, an architec
ture whose function

is clearly

the relation of its forms.

recognizable

in

With
modernthe increasing

firmness and density ofmaterials— steel, concrete,glass—andwith the new boldness of engineering,

the pon-derousness of the old method of building

is giv

units for industrial

production

will requirethegenerous cooperationof all concerned,

ness, in engineering,in art. Such cooperation

would be a real demonstrationin busiof farsighted

ing way to a new lightness and airiness. A new

ness. It would, in the end, prove more economi

esthetic of the Horizontal

cal than the use of substitutes.

is beginning

op which endeavors to counteract
gravity.

to develthe effect ofAt the same time the symmetricallationship of parts of the building

reand their ori

The Bauhaus has taken the first steps toward
such collaboration
perimental

with the building

entation toward a central axis is being replaced

was an actual demonstration

by a new conceptionof housing as well as of new technicalof equilibrium

which transmutes this dead symmetry of similar parts into
an asymmetricalbut rhythmical

spirit of the new architecturebalance.

The

wants to overcome

inertia, to balance contrasts.
Since architecture

Every architect

art, its wel

fare depends on the whole community.

As anextreme instance, the monument is only signifi

which

of new conceptions

must understandmethods.
the signifi

cance of the city in order to be able to engage
activelyin city"simplicity

is a collectiveof an exhouse at its 1923 exhibition,planning;

he must recognize

in multiplicity"

as a guiding

ciple in the shaping of its character.
ments of typicalprin

Form eleshape should be repeatedincant when it springs from the will of the whole

series. All the building parts should be func
tional limbs of the comprehensive
organismnation. This will does not yet exist today.

whicheven the constructionof absolutely

But

necessary

housing is at a standstill thanks to the makeshiftdepends

simultaneouslyonbuilding,

street and means of transportation.
The investigationof these problems

constieconomies of our time. Nowhere are the fundatutes the final stage of the course in building.

mental problems of building

student who has achieved

Standardization

studied as such.

of units

and absorbed

For this reason the Bauhaus has set itself thetask of creatinga center for experimentation

where it will try to assemble the achievements

Thus the culminating

to applyworking correlationarchi

a master.

The goal of the Bauhaus curriculum
teachingof domesticA

perfection

all that the Bauhaus can teachhim can be certified

of economic, technical and formal research andthem to problems

technical

is a demand

point of the Bauhaus
for a new and powerfulof all the processes of cre

tecture in an effort to combine the greatest pos

ation. The gifted student must regain a feelingsible standardization

for the interwoven

variationwith the greatest possibleof form. Therefore the buildings which

are to be thought of as outgrowthsof moderntechnique and design may be conceived
assemblyof prefabricatedparts so applied

and

as an

standardized

as to fulfill the varying

requirements of those to be housed.

meaning of that word, must replace the paper
work of design. Architecture
tive task all creative

unites in a collec

workers, from the simple

artisan to the supreme artist.

„must collabo

out this task. Any industriallytion must be sufficiently broad to permit the developmentof every kind of talent. Since a uni

produced object is the result of countless experi

versally applicablements, of long, systematic

research,

in whichtalent does not exist, the individual

business men, technicians

and artists

partici

pate to determine

a standard

and forin the broadest

For this reason, the basis of collective educa

The artist and the technician
rate in carrying

strands of practical

mal work. The joy of building,type. To an evengreater degree, the standardizationof buildingof his developmentof activity

method for the discovery ofin the course

must find for himself the field

best suited to him within the circle ofthe community. The majority

become interested

in production;

the few extraordinarily

ones will suffer no limits to their activity.
they have completed

ventions,

painting,

maintaina thoroughAfterquestionsagitatingthe course of practicaland formal instruction, they undertake
pendent research and experiment.
Moderngiftedbreaking

has releasedindethrough old con

countlesssuggestions

understanding

spite of all the practicaldifficulties,

the growing

work of the Bauhaus can never be
Its responsibility

is to educate

and women to understandthe world

bolizing that world.

tional field must be enlarged

training

values have had practicalin the industrial

world, they will themselves possess the means for realizing those val
ues immediately.

They will compel

industry to

For this reason the educa

extended into neighboring
fects of new experiments
The educationon all sides andfields, so that the ef
may be studied.

of children

when they

The new types of schools emphasizing

utilize their comprehensive

exercises, such as the Montessori
vide an excellent preparation

The Stage
Theatricalorchestral

performance,

which has a kind ofunity, is closely related

ture. As in architecture

to architec

the characterof eachareyoung and still unspoiled is of great importance.

serve their idea and industry will seek out andtraining.

men

in whichthey live and to invent and create forms sym

cal world.

sense new creativeInthe basis of

too broad.

which are still waiting to be used by the practi
But when, in the future, artists whoof all thethe rest of the world.

tive program

practical

schools, pro

for the construcof the Bauhaus since they develop

the entire human organism.

The old conserva

tive schools were apt to destroy the harmony

unit is merged into the higher life of the whole,

within the individual

so in the theater

work. The Bauhaus keeps in touch with new ex

a multitude

of artistic

problems form a higher unity with a law of its own.
In its origins the theater grew from a meta
physical longing;consequently

it is the realiza

tion of an abstract

idea. The power of its effecton the spectatorand listener thus depends on

the successful translation
cally and audiblyof the idea into opti

perceptible

This the Bauhaus attempts

forms.

problems

peculiarto the stage.

of allThe special

problems of space, of the body, of movement,of form, light, color and sound are investigated;training

is given

modulationin body

movements,

in theof musical and spoken sounds; thestage space and figures are given form.

periments in education.
Duringthe first four years

work, many ideas and problems
from the originalidea

of constructive
have evolvedof the Bauhaus. They

have been tested in the face of fierce opposition. Their fruitfulness and salutary effect on allphases of modern life have been demonstrated.

to do. Its program

consists in a new and clear formulationby all but exclusive head-^

The Bauhaus theater seeks to recover primor
dial joy for all the senses, instead of mere es
thetic pleasure.
Conclusion: the Bauhaus in education
An organization
based on new principles
easily becomes isolated if it does not constantly
The later Bauhaus seal, designed by Oskar Schlemmer, 1922

PRELIMINARY
COURSEPRELIMINARY

COURSE:The backboneof the Bauhaus system was thepreliminary

ITTEN

course, the foundationsof whichwere laid by Johannes Itten. Gropius

had metItten in 1918 in Vienna, where he was directing
a private school, and— impressed by his theoryof education— Gropius

calledhaus as the first collaborator.
damentals

him to the Bau
The following funof Itten "s teachings were retainedinpart at the Bauhaus, in spite of various addi
tions and changes made by other instructors.
1 Detailed study of nature (see plates opposite),
especially:(a) representationof materials

and(b) experiments with actual materials.
2 Plastic studies of composition,materials

with various(see plates, page 35).

3 Analyses of old masters (see plates, page 36).

Herbert Bayer: Drawing
in various media of differ
ent textures. 1921

H.

Hoffman:Drawingfrom nature. Various
materials.
1920

E. Dieckmann:tion usingmaterials.
signedComposicommonplace
Exercise de

to develope

senseof touch and subjective
feeling for material

Drawing
materialsof contrastingL. Leudesdorff-Engstfeld:
Drawingteristic
1922

showing
structure

characof wood

Max

Bronstein:

Composition. Various materials
different
in character,but unified

by rhythmic

arrangement.

1922

LudwigHirschfeld-Mack
Line drawing(curvedshapes).
Ink. 1922

LudwigHirschfeld-Mack

Line drawing(straightlines). Ink. 1922

N. Wassiljeff:

Composition. Exercise in combina
tion of simplest plastic andrhythmic

forms.

1922

PRELIMINARY

COURSE,

Each

Bauhausstudent

periodof six months

April/May,WEIMARis at

to work

first

admitted

1922

for

a trialin the preliminary

course.

This course

is intended
to liberate the student's creative
power, to give him an understandingof nature's materials, and to acquainthim with the basic
principles

which
Every

underlyall
new student

accumulated

creativearrives

informationi

activityin the visual arts.
encumberedwith a mass ofwhich

he mustabandonbefore he can achieve
perception
and knowledge
thatare really his own. If he is to work in wood, for example,
he must know his material
thoroughly;
he must have a"feeling"
for wood. He must also understandits relation to other materials,
to stone and glass and wool.
Consequently,

he works

withcombiningand composing
tionships fully apparent,
y"

these
them

materials

to

make

as well,
their

rela

Preparatory
work also involves exact depictionof actual materials.
If a student draws or paints a piece ofwood true toto understand36

nature in every detail,it will help him
the material.
The work of old masters,such as Bosch, Master Franke or Griinewald
also offers
instructionin the study of form, which is an essential
partof thepreliminary

course.

This

instruction

is intended to enable the student to perceive the harmonious
relationshipof different
rhythms and to express suchharmony
through
The preliminary

the use of one
course concerns

or several materials.
the student's
whole

personality,
since fit seeks to liberatehim, to makestand on his own feet, and makes it possible forto gain a knowledge
direct experience.

of bothmaterial

and

form

him
him

through

A student is tentatively
admitted
into a workshop
a six months'
trial
periodif he has sufficiently

after
mas

tered form and materials
to specialize
in work with one
material
only. If he has a talent for wood, he goes into
the carpentry
shop; if his preference
is for woven ma
terials, he goes into the weaving
workshop.
At the con
clusion of a second successful trial period of six months
he is definitely
admitted
to the workshop as an appren
tice. Three years as an apprenticemakefor examinations
to becomea journeyman.

him

As a matterha/to

do hisown designing.
No outside
designs,
not even
madeby Bauhaus masters,
may be executed
workshops,(from Bibl. no. 6)

designsin theof principle,

eachapprenticeeligibleairs

ad =&-tULe3 A«5d?

ftMPaol =£ =(Ewtu*

dt\(^jouoGb deltti

fjoAinoTJohannes

Itten:

Diagram-mafic analysis of theAdorationof the Magi
MasterFrancke.

From Johannes
Tagebuch

Erna

Itten'sNiemeyer.

Light

shade analysis
Annunciation.

of an
1922

Johannes

Itten:

byc. 1919

and

Study

of

hand positions while
drawing
the figure eight.
1919. From Johannes
Itten's Tagebuch

Johannes
Itten: Geometricanalysisof the Adorationof the Magi, by MasterFrancke (Hamburg,
Kunsthalle) . c. 1919. From
Johannes
Itten's Tagebuch

IJrejtaufjtuMiui
jeu,de\ fta iu4

diu^^eicA ua> dxx Qch f~.OO

Theo van

Doesburg

andC. van Eesteren: House
for an artist. 1923
THEO

VAN

Attracted

DOESBURG:

by the endeavoursof theBauhaus,

Theo van

Doesburg and several other artists not belonging
to theBauhaus organized
a section of the "Stijl"
movement*in Weimarin 1922. Doesburg's

lems of pure form
ideal of educating

preoccupation

with prob

was not in harmony with the Bauhaus
the individualin the interests of thewhole community,
nor with its emphasison technicaltraining.
His influence on a group of the students gradu
ally waned,to Weimar
design.

thoughthere is little
helped to clarify
the
V

doubt
that his visit
problemof creative*The "Stijl" group was formed at Leyd.en in 1917 and includedin addition to Doesburg, the painter Piet Mondrian, the archi
tect J. J. P. Oud and many others. The "Stijl" artists developed
a style in which the principle form was the rectangle, theprinciple colors pure red, blue and yellow, and principle
compositional
device a carefully balanced asymmetry. The
Bauhaus published books by all the leading "Stijl" designers(Bibl. nos. 20, 21 and 25). For an account of the Stijl, see
Cubism and Abstract Art, the Museum of Modern Art 1936
pp. 140-152.

K. Schwerdtfeger:
space. 192 1

Study

i

E. Mogelin:
sition.

Cubic

Exercisecompo

in observa

tion of static-dynamic
relations.
1922

KLEE'SCOURSEWj.
5

J mnutversakiet ung

MediaegeGietPaul Klee: Line and plane:
three stages. At left, theactiveline (producedbya moving point);
at right,
theactive

plane

(pro

^ini'eHvemcUefun

duced by a moving line);
in the middle,
intermediPaul Klee:
Active,intermediateand passive fac
tors: the watermill.
(I) Theate or transitional
territorywithlinearforms
givingthe effect of planes

conflictof the two forces,(a) gravity
and(b) theresisting
mountain(both

active factors) , is expressedby (II) the diagonal
water
fall
(intermediate
which turns (III)(passive factor)

I
11
1 \ Vc^fer
1 \
1 \

I

/

/

/

^1

71
5»S1
5-^1

j*l
k1

!*

1 •t
Paul

Klee:

Activeintermediateand passive fac
tors: (I) the waterfall(active);(II) the mill wheels(intermediate);
(III)
the
trip

hammer(pqssive)

Paul Klee:
Earth,
and air. Symbols

waterof theprovince

are theof statics

plummet,which points toward
the centerof theearth, and the balancefactor)the mill

KANDINSKY'SCOURSE

M.

Rasch:

Study

from

nature.
Constructional
analysis.
1922

I.

Kerkovius:

nature.
1922

Linear

Study

from

analysis.

COLOR
EXPERIMENTS
LudwigHirschfeld- Mack:Experiments in the qualitiesof black and white. Whiteis aggressive,advancing,
centrifugal
and dynamic;
black is passive, receding,centripetaland static

LudwigHirschfeld- Mack:LudwigHirschfeld- Mack:Experiments in the qualitiesof black and white when

Experiments in the qualitiesof black and white. Sim

mixed
mixed

ilar
ing

with
with

colors. Colors
black tend to

recede;colors mixed withwhite tend to advanceshapes in tones shadfrom black
to white

appearto be advancing
or recedingaccordingtothe orderin whichtheyaresuperimposed

CARPENTRY
WORKSHOP

THE

ROLE

Gropiusthose

OF

HANDICRAFTS

was subjected
who

took

AT THE

to numerous

a friendly

interest

BAUHAUS

attacks,evenin his work,fromon theground that his insistence on the value of training
in acraft was anachronistic.
They denied that industry
had
any use for handicrafts.
But Gropius
stuck to his guns.
He saw that there
craftsmen
to supply
ers it needed

andwere not enoughmen trainedasindustry with the specialized
work
that

industry

was therefore

tryingtogive craft instructionin its own workshops. He concluded
from this that the handicraft
tool and the industrial
machine differedin scale but not in kind and that even
the

most

refinedmachinecould

be operated

productively only by a man whose understandingof its devel
opment derived
from his own thoroughanalysis of therelation
between tool and material.
Hence he consid
ered instruction
in crafts at the Bauhaus a means ofachievingthat understanding
taneous schoolingof hand and

and
mind

gogic

training.

principleof allBauhaus

FUNDAMENTAL

DIFFERENCE

HAUS

CONTEMPORARY

and OTHER

The
first

discrepancy
few years

and

even

of form
was often

by friends

establishedas the basic

BETWEEN

simul
peda

THE

BAU

ART SCHOOLS

in Bauhaus productsof themisinterpretedby the pressof theBauhausognize in this variety
a logical
educationalplan.
In contrast

who failed

to recresult of the director's
to other contemporary

art schools whose students were trained
to learn fromexisting forms produced
by artists of former periods orby their own teachers,
themethod of creative
approach.

Bauhausemphasized
It strove to provide

objective
education
in design
as a whole participated.
Eachin which
individual,

theanthe institution
accordingly,

had to find, even if indirectly,
his own way toward thecommon aim. His initiativeand probabledetours were
not to be obstructedby authoritative

no seeming

in style

harmony

outsidepressure;

was to be achievedprematurelyby the adoptionof ready-madeforms. Thesepedagogic
methods
insured a slow organic
development and brought
about
the genuine
unity of form
which

all

Bauhausproducts

attainedin lateryears.

/ /////
Marcel Breuer: Polished
black table. 192 1

E. Dieckmann: Bed. 1922
Marcel Breuer: Dressing
table. 1923

Alma Buscher. Toys.
Brightly lacquered wood.
1923

Marcel Breuer: Chair.
1922

Josef Albers: Shelves formagazines. Light and darkoak. 1923

gjggjgg£g«

Josef

Albers:table.
1923

Light

Peter Keler:

WalterBauhaus.
1923

Conference
and

dark

Cradle.

Gropius:
Director's

oak,

1922

Weimarroom.

MarcelBreuer: Bed.
Lemonwoodand walnut.
1923

MarcelFabric
1924

Breuer: Chair.
seat and back

rest.

bh
H. Nosselt: Chess table.
Red beechwood,
partlystainedblack.

1925

J. Hartwig:
1924
Pawn and

Chess set.

Castlelines parallelof the board:

move

on

to the edges
expressed by

the cube.

Knightmoves on aangle:
right
angle
mountingsquare.
Bishop

moves

right
sur

diagonally:

cube with cross
top on diagonal.

cut

from

King
moves
one squarestraight
or diagonally:asmall cube set diagonallyon a larger cube.
Queen,

themostactivepiece,

moves

any

numberof spaces

straight

or diagonally:cylinderand ball,in sharp
contrast
to thecube, symbolof weight

andmass, which characterizes
the King, Castle and Pawn.

J. Hartwig:
1924

Alma

Chess

Buscher:

set.

Play

cupboard
cabinets

in use. Storage
can also be used

as tables,

chairs,and carts

MarcelBreuer:

KitchenAlma

cabinet.
in color.

Wood
1923

lacqueredcommode.
lacqueredBuscher:

Nursery

Brightly
wood. 1924

.fe
:

mmmm

MarcelBreuer:ioa eked

with

Desk

.bookshelves.

Plywood lacquered
colors. 1924
. 'in twos r •* ufst&s

w<-

MarcelBreuer:Showcase.

Glass and wood lacqueredin black and white.
1925

MarcelBreuer:Woodenchair. Fabric seat andback rest, ] 92.6

STAINEDGLASSWORKSHOP

Stainedglass workshop.

1923

ill

i|-<^

i!i»* ::::::::
il
iMmilflPB

Josef Albers:
Stainedglass in the stair well,Sommerfeld house in
Berlin,1922

by Gropius.

<>«n—

i

49

POTTERYWORKSHOP
In Dornburg

near Weimara traditional

pottery

centerPottery workshop,
Dornburg.

DORNBURG.
town on the

Romantic
river Saale.

One of Goethe's
retreats.

favorite

O.

Lindig:Plastermodel

of a coffee pot designed
for mass production

O. Lindig:
jug.

GerhardO. Lindig:

Water

pitcher

Earthenware

Decorated
Marcks.

by
1922

Left T. Bogler: Cannisters.
Right O. Lindig:
Cocoa
set. Porcelain

designed

Executedby the Alteste
Porzellanfabrik.

Volkstadter
1923

O. Lindig:
Glazedenware cocoa pot.

O. Lindig:

Coffeeset. 1922

formass production.

earth
1922

T. Bogler:
kitchenEarthenware

containersdesigned for mass production. Executed by the
Steingutfabrik,
VeltenVordamm.
1923

O. Lindig:
Earthenware
coffee pots designed
formass production.

Left O. Lindig:

Cup.

Cast.

Right Margarete
Friedlander:
Mugs.Turned.
Bottom T. Bogler: Teapot.
Cast.

1923

T. Bogler: Coffee machine
designedfor mass production.

Executedby theStaatliche
Porzellanmanufaktur, Berlin. 1923

WW,'"?&£

J. Pap: Steel and nickeled
brass floor lamp. 1923

J. Pap: Water
Copper,1922

K. Jucker:
linedpitcher.

bronzeand brass.

Brass samovarwith silver,c. 1922

Marianne
Brandt:teapot. 1924

Metal

M. Krajewski:
tea-glassebony

Silver-bronze

holders

handles.

with
1924

J. Knau: Samovar withspirit lamp and small pot
for teaessence.

Silver-bronze with silver lining
and ebony handles.
1924

Naum

Slutzky:

Silver,wood,

Pendant.

quartz.

1923

Naum

Slutzky:settingdesigned

ivory

and

Ring withto permitchange of stones.
Component
parts and thewhole.

1924

Marianne
andBrandt:teapots

Coffeedesignedmass production.

for

1926

Walter Gropius:Lighting
fixture of tubular
bulbs.
Wiredthroughthin
aluminumtubes.

Marianne

Brandt:1923

Silver-bronze
tea set withebony handles. 1924

Metalworkshop,

K. Jucker

Weimar.

and

W. Wagenfeld:

Glass

lamp. Shade of milky glass.
Wiredthrougha silverbronze tube within theglass tube. 1923 -1924

O. Rittweger
and
W. Tumpel: Silver-bronze
tea balls and stand. 1924

Josef Albers:
Glass berry
dishes with metal rims andwooden ball feet. 1923

WEAVING
WORKSHOP^
MWMiMIMiaNH

mm*mi
GunthaWall

Sharon-Stolzl:

hanging,c. 1924

B. Otte: Wall hanging.
Yellow, gray, brown, violet,
white.

Cotton.

1924

g g|

mp»

miu

Guntha

Sharon-Stolzl:

Wovencover,

white.
1923\'* "£H II. II H- U. II JU II HIM «Ruth Hollos: Woven cover.
Repeated pattern adapted
for machine production
derivedfrom handwoven
cover at right

i

*. i

i.

Ruth Citroen-Vallentin:
Appliqueand embroid
ered hanging
room. 1923

for child's

H

Wool

and

Gray
rayon.

andGuntha Sharon-Stolzl
Tapestry.
1927

G. Hantschk:
Smyrna wool.

Knotted1924

rug

MarthaErps: Knotted

Smyrnawool

rug

STAGE
WORKSHOP

Kurt Schmidt:

Stage

The Mechanical1923

set forBallet.

Oskar Schlemmer:
Figurefrom The Triadic Ballet

Kurt

Schmidt:

T. Hergt:

design;execution.

Marionettes

for TheAdventures
Hunchbackof the Little

Kurt Schmidt with
Bogler and Georg

F. W.

Teltscher:
MechanicalFigures
Ballet.

for TheFirst

producedin Jena,1923

Oskar Schlemmer: The
Figural Cabinet. Second
Version. Photomontage.
1922

Oskar Schlemmer:
Costume designs for
The Triadic Ballet. 1922
Oskar Schlemmer: Design
for a scene of TAeta, or the
Pantomime of Places. First
produced in Weimar, 1924

Oskardancers
Ballet.

Oskarof space

from

Disk

The Triadic

Photomontage

Alexander
Schawinsky:
Tap dancer and tap

Schlemmer:

Delineation

Schlemmer:

bydancing

robot,

1925

human figures. Theoreticaldrawings.
1924

Farkas Molnar:in action

U-Theater

OskarSchlemmer:

Ballett"),

begun

Balletin threescenes,

the

acts;

meaningcomes earnest.
The first act, gaylemon-yellow
The second

BalletThe Triadic
at Stuttgarta climacticof whichandTriadischedevelopment;

is intensified

burlesque,stage sets.
act is a festive("Das

in 1912.

ritualis danced
on a pink

Oskar

dance

as jest be
againststage.

Schlemmer:

Costumes for the three actsof The Triadic. Ballet

The thirdact,

on an allblack

stage,

has a mysterious,

fantastic
character.
The twelve different
dance scenes in eighteen
different
costumes are executedby three dancers
in turn, two
maletightsand one female. The costumes consist of paddedon one side and, on the other, rigid papier-macheforms,

withcoloredor metallic

surfaces.
(from

Bibl.

No.

19)

Oskar Schlemmer:
Figuresin space for The Triadic
Ballet.

Photomontage

Oskar

Schlemmer:

FlguralversionCabinet.

Schawinsky

and

The
Later

Fritsch:Scene from The Circus.
First produced
at theBauhaus, 1924

:-

K. Schwerdtfeger:
Reflected light composition

THE REFLECTEDLIGHTHIRSCHFELD-MACK
Analogous

COMPOSITIONS

to the abstract

films of Eggeling,
Richterand Ruttmann were the reflectedlight compositions( Reflektorischele) of Ludwig
Mack.

He

LichtspieHirschfeld-

first

producedthese at the Weimar
Bauhaus in 1922 and later at
the People'sTheater(Volksbuhne)inscribedBerlin.

He

de

OF

squares,
polygons — andagain
in curved
formscircles,

arcs and wave-likepatterns.
They join, andoverlappings
andcolorblendings
result.
"At the Bauhaus in We
mar we worked
for twoyears on the development
ofthesereflected

light compositions,which
had begun as a chance discovery
duringa simple shadow-

his innovationasfollows in the Berliner
senkurierof AugustBor24,

1924:"Yellow,
red, green,in glowing
intensity,

blue,
move

controlachieved

wassuccessfully
over what had

dark backtransparent

originallybeen accidental

about on the
groundof aplay entertainment. . .
"Aftermuch
experiment,

linen screen— -up,down,
sideways— in varying
temand by the time it was
ready for public
display,
the process had been ma

pi. They appear
now asangularforms — triangles,

tured

technicallytistically. .

pARBEN-SONATINE n (Rot)

Ludwig
Color

and

ar

Ludwig Hirsch feld- MacK.

Hirschfeld-Mack:
sonatina

in redLudwigCentered light

Hirschfeld-Mack:
and bottom
compositions

Reflect

WALL-PAINTING
WORKSHOP

Oskar Schlemmer: Muralat the head of the stair
well, Weimar Bauhaus.
1921-1922

The

followinginteriors

were

executedin colorbythewall-painting
workshop:
Theaterin Jena,
1922 (building
by Gropius)Sommerfeld
House, Berlin, 1922 (building
by Gropius)
Otte House, Berlin, 1922 (building
Room at the No-jury
Exhibition
designs by Kandinsky
House "Am Horn,"
Weimar,with collaboration
partment)
Many

privateof theinby Gropius)
Berlin,1922,

1923 (building
Bauhausfromby MucheArchitectureDe

residences

Oskar

Schlemmer:

Mural

in fresco

and

oils

entrancehall,

WeimarBauhaus.

1921-1922

Oskar

Schlemmer:

andreliefhall,

Weimar1921-1922

in theMuralsi-n the entrance
Bauhaus.

Questionnaire
given to all
Bauhaus
members
to investigate psychologicalrelationshipbetweenform
and color.

Speciality
Sex
Nationality(Profession):..

For experimental
the wall-painting

purposes
workshopofBauhausthe

Weimarasks you to do the follow
ing problems:
1. Fill in these 3 forms with
3 colors:
yellow,
red
and

blue.

Each

form

shouldbe completely
filled by one color.
2. If possible,
distribution
Explanation:W.

Menzel:wall-painting
Weimarexplain yourof colors.

Frescoin theworkshop,Oskar Schlemmer:
Reliefin the entrance
hall,
WeimarBauhaus.
1921-1922

Left

wall:

HerbertBayer:

Sgraffito
Right wall:

R. Paris:

Calcimineused in various

ways

HerbertBayer:

Designformuralsin the stair well,
WeimarBauhaus. Various
techniques.
First floor: com
positionin dark

blue;

cir

cle. Second floor: compo
sition in bright red; square.
Third floor: composition
inlight yellow;
triangle.
Applicationof experiments
inthe relationshipbetweencolorsandforms.

1923

HerbertBayer:Muralinthe stair well, ground floor,
WeimarBauhaus.

1923

DISPLAY

DESIGN

Althoughtechnique,principles

there was no specificworkshopfor exhibition
new ideas were developed
and fundamental
outlined

HerbertBayer:

Project

forsmall exhibition
pavilion at
an industrial
fair. Tooth
paste foradvertised

sale inside andoutside by ( I )a film (projectedin), (2) electricfrom withsign, (3)loudspeaker,(4) lettersformed by smoke. 192472

HerbertBayer:
tower advertising

Exhibition
electrical

products.
Letters in elec
tric
bulbs
revolveabout
the shaft. 1924

HerbertBayer:

pavilion.

Revolving

Exhibition
spherecovered1924

with electricbulbs.

Herbert
Bayer: Kiosk designed for the sale and ad
vertisementof newspapers.
Small base supportingtall
angularmany

superstructurewithdifferent
coloredareas for posters.

1924

HerbertBayer:Open

streetcar waiting room with news
stand. Colored
advertisements for various productson the roof. Simple
construction
adaptedto mass
production.
1924

HerbertBayer:

Kiosk

designed for the sale and ad
vertisementof a brand ofcigarettes.

1924

ARCHITECTURE
W00&

Walter

Gropiusand Adolf

Meyer: Model of proposed
academyof philosophy.
1923

EINZEL - PAUMKOgPEP 1 6

OBBD

KOMBlNATtONEN

Architecture

department:

Standardized
serial houses.
Drawing shows the various
units of which

the houses

are composed
accordingto the needs of the
inhabitants.

192 I
we ire pi komaa
UiaaaraTHE

ARCHITECTURE

DEPARTMENT

It had been Gropius'intention
to reinforce
the courses
in architecturewith a broad programof practicalwork,
but he was hinderedin this by lack of understandingon
the part of the authorities
and by the effects of infla
tion. He raised money privately
to build the house "AmHorn" for the 1923 exhibition,
the beginningof an extensive

hoping that it would
housing development.

Thuringian

the landgovernment

leasedmarkThesurrounding

thehouse "AmHorn"to the Bauhaus and an elaboratebuilding
scheme for additional
houses was drawnup,
but the funds for their construction
were never forthcoming.*
The correspondence
ministrationand the various
both the bureaucratic
cial impotence
which

betweenpolitical

the Bauhaus adregimesreveals

indolenceand the tragic
finan
prostrated
the country at the time.

Nevertheless,in orderto assure the workshops
somemeasure of practicalbuilding
experience,
Gropiusem
ployedthem on his privatearchitecturalcommissions,
includingthe constructionof the theaterin Jena andthe Sommerfeld
residencein Berlin.
* In order to use the land the director could, therefore, do
nothing but turn it over to the students, to be cultivated intheir spare time as a service to the Bauhaus community. The
garden produce was sold in the Bauhaus canteen. When the
progressive catastropheof inflation
menaced this activity
Gropius sold an historic family heirloom-a silver table service
and linen which had belonged to Napoleon.

Architecture
department:
Below models showing
variationsof houses
posed of standardisedunits; aboveplans.

com

1921

UQIiBia

W. Gropius:Sommerfeld
House,
Berlin,1921. For
the first time Bauhaus work
shops actuallycollaborat
ed in decorating

and

fur

nishing

the rooms.

WalterMeyer:

Gropius and Adolf
Model for a house,

1922

Fred

Forbat:Atelier-houseand typicalfloor plan.
Three studios andadjacent
bedrooms,
kitchenette
and lavatory.
1922

"The
Bauhaus
was also born

settlementfrom nec

essity. A vegetable
andfruit farm, leased from theState, was worked by the
Bauhauskitchenandmadeindependent

the
of

price
fluctuationsin themarkets. A plan was being
evolvedfor single houses
and apartments
for Bauhaus members in a beau
tiful
sectionof Weimar,adjoining
the farm.
The
constructionof these com
munity buildings
was to bedirectedby the Bauhaus
and to provide
contracts
for the workshops. Inquiries
concerningtheBauhaussettlement
were answeredby the 'Bauhaussiedlung
G. m. b. H.,' Staatliches
Bauhaus, Weimar."( From

Bibl. no. 4F)

Architecture
department:
Generalview of the
Bauhaus community
planned for Weimar.
The house "Am Horn," 1923
(lower left), was the only
building
Drawingcompleted.
by F. Molnar.

Farkas Molnar:
Project fora house, "The Red Cube."
1922

Farkas Molnar:
Plans for
"The Red Cube."Left:first floor. Right: second
floor. 1922

Walter

Gropiusand Adolf

Meyer: Entrance fagadeof remodeledmunicipal
theater, Jena. 1922

Walter
Gropius:
Designfor a study. Drawing by
HerbertBayer.

1922

rr

FarkasMolnar:Project

FarkasMolnar;a woodframe

Project
house.

for
1922

for

a U-theaterr!
nnrrr^rnWalterMeyer:

Gropius
Project

and Adolf
submitted

to the Chicago
TribuneCompetition.
Reinforced
concrete.

1922

TrrrirrniTTrFiritiiSfev.
.
r~:r" I rrmP^'1 -H^TTIlTFTratBgBEm

' ;a

I

I
|
|
|

g
g
I

-y «j"'

liawaBI

1

I: Project for
an apartment
house.
Reinforced
concrete.
1924

MarcelBreuer: Model
proposedapartmenthouse. 1924

of

TYPOGRAPHY
ANDLAYOUTAlbumsof lithographs,

woodcuts

andcopperplateengravings( Bibl. nos. 2, 3A, B, C, D, 5, 7) were printed
in a workshop equipped with hand presses. The albums
were

bound

in the well equipped

Bauhaus

Lyonelbindery.

Feininger:

page. Europaische
Graphik.
Woodcut.

Title
1921

a•

!r-Q^«T
CH
SI

DKiftS

A L L E s "-^^FORMEN3©i3juuej

USR5D

sieee
Of FENB

AR IN

MifTffff

DIE FORMEN SINDGEF A S S E DER BEWBGUNGUND BE WEGUNGEN DASWFSENDER FORM

Johannes

Itten:

Typographical
design.
Page
from Ufopia.
1921

TYPOGRAPHYAS A MEANSOF
COMMUNICATION
by MOHOLY-NAGY

AUHAUS

It must be clear communication
vivid form.

in its mostClarity must be especially stressed for clarity
is the essence of modern printing in contrast toancient picture writing.
Therefore,
typographical
WEIMAR- MUNCHEN

to labor

first of all: absolute

claritywork. Communication

under preconceived

in allought notesthetic notions.

Letters should never be squeezed into an arbi
trary shape— like a square.
A new typographic
language must be cre
ated, combining elasticity, variety and a fresh
approach
L. Moholy-Nagy:

Title

to the materials

of printing,a language whose logic depends on the appropriate
application of the processes of printing.

page. Staatliches
Bauhausin Weimar
1919-1923(fromBibl. no. 8)

THEBAUHAUS
PRESS
On the occasion of the I923 exhibition,
publication
was issued by the newly

the first Bauhaus
foundedBauhausPress ( Bauhausverlag) , Weimar-Munich(laterAlbertLangenVerlag,Munich),in collaboration
with Karl
Nierendorf,
Cologne.
The book, STAATLICHESBAUHAUS IN WEIMAR
19 19- 1923, edited by Gropius
andMoholy-Nagy,
is chiefly a record
during the first three years.

of Bauhaus

activities

The further

aim of the Bauhaus

of books
problems.

as evidenceof the integration
These Bauhaus books are listed

liography.

igj—t.

L. Moholy-Nagy:
HerbertBayer: Coverdesign. First Bauhaus
book. 1923

layout.

Staatliches

Bauhausin Weimar

1919-1923

Page

Press was to edit a seriesof culturalin the bib

L. Moholy-Nagy:

Title

page.
tisingadver
Bauhaus

Prospectus
Sfaailiches

in Weimar

1919-1923-n—t

STAATLICHESAU H AU S
OS
<

&
4~

' '

tu

s

1919
| 1923Ul

3: Title

>
c
>
1Z S
>n ?
z

s

*

11
i I
rr ;

z :

1)

page.

SpecialBauhaus numberof Junge fAenschen. 192481

THE 14 VOLUMESOF THE BAUHAUS
PRESS

grvpins
fesmltansItnult'H
ilessau
PAUL KLEEPUDAQOGISCHISSKI2ZCNBUCM

iRCHITSXTUR

i WSTANOSlOSt

BAUHAUSBUCHtR

WEIMAR
EXHIBITION,
1923//,'t,/y^"//,'/

ft, if///tf/ifif'f-Sj

In 1923 the Thuringian
asked for a Bauhaus
a report on what had

ff^Aetli

Legislative

C

Assembly(Landtag)exhibition —which would serve as
been accomplishedin four years.

EXHIBITIONSIN THE

MAIN

BAUHAUShummedwithactivityin orderthat

presentationof the ideas
Gropius stated the theme-AND
TECHNICS,
included:

NEW

A

UNITY."

The

which
"ART

exhibition

reliefs

tionalexhibition
ern architecture.

the exhibition

might be a thoroughanimated
the Bauhaus.

murals,ofmodin the workshops:

products

in the classrooms:

theoreticalstudies; the preliminary
course.

in the State
Weimar:on theMuseumgroundatof theBauhaus "settlement"(Siedlung):"BAUHAUSWEEK'of the workshops.

Bauhaussculpture.

painting

andone-family

house

"Am

Horn,"

and furnishedbuilt

by the Bauhaus

workshops.

PROGRAM:lectures:

Walter

Gropius,Technics,

performances:

5TAATLICHE5BAUHAUS

"Art

a New

and

Unity"

Wassily
Kandinsky,
Synthetic Art""On

J. J. P. Oud, "Newing in Holland"

Build

Oskar Schlemmer,
TriadischeBallett"
the

class

C. Koch,"Dasin stagecraft,mechanicalvaudevillelecturewith films

concerts conducted
Scherchen
Program:by H.

Hindemith,Busoni,

Krenek,

Strav

insky
(Most of the composers
were present at the con
certs.)
other

EntranceMS*

to the

1923

Exhibition.
PosterHerbert
Bayer

by

Oskar

Cover

WINH

Schlemmer:

design for prospectus
the 1923 Exhibitionofentertainments:

PIE
ERSTE
BAUHAUSAUSSTELLUNG
IN WEIMAR
JUL! BIS SEPTEMBER

Fifteen thousand
personsin Weimar,
1923.

visitedtheBauhausexhibitioninvariousvestibules,
staircases and rooms; interna(This was contrary
to the intentions of the Director,
whowould have preferred
to postpone a public display until
more mature results had been obtained.)
Every department

BUILDING:

designs,

1923

paper lanternworks, dance

festival, firewith musicby Bauhaus

jazz-band,

flectedcompositions

light

j

re

pte
8er

5£

Postcards printed for the1923 Exhibition>

GeorgeTeltscher Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack Herbert Bayer
Herbert Bayer
Farkas Molnar
Lyonel Feininger
Paul Klee
Wassily KandinskymExperimentalbuilding,
house "Am Horn,"
Weimar.
1923

The house "Am Horn,"
Weimar.
Floor plan

The house "Am
Weimar.
bedroom.

Horn,"Left Corner ofRight KitchentheEXPERIMENTAL
BUILDING"AM HORN"
It is hard to realize today to what impassionedpronouncements
the first experimental
Bauhaus building,the house "Am Horn,"
inspired its critics. Their
reflected
the conflict
between their prejudicedtion of a homeandof house conceived
The Bauhaus had

the effectproduced

opinions
concepby a new typein new terms.
attempted
to crystallize

the

still

un

formulated
desires of a new man— the post-war German—who had not yet realized
what he needed. This man
had to construct a new way of life from the debris of a
wreckedworld— a wayof life utterly

different

from

that

of pre-war times. He had to recreate
the world aroundhim with limitedmeans in a limited space: a task pre
cededof necessity

Conservative"Goethehaus"
ateness
pectedlydian,

by psychologicalof the famous Weimar
againstthe appropriof the "Hausam Horn."counteredby a young

But they were unex
unprejudisted
CanaMiss G. Wookey,

observed

readjustments.

critics made muchas an argument

thatof the University

Goethe'sgardenpark was the only

building

certainrelationshipcongenialof Toronto,

house

in Weimarto thein thethat

HerbertBayer:
Poster for 1923 exhibition

who

85

WeimarpossessedaBauhaus.

WEIMAR,
The last

1924
Leipzig

haus workshops

Fair
were

was a distinct
busy for fivesuccess.

monthsAllfillingBauorders.

At this time more than fifty firms were buying
Bauhausproducts to such an extent that the scarcity of machineryand capitalmade it impossible
to fill all orders.
Orders were received
from abroad,from Austria,
land,

Holland,Five hundredEng

America.
and twenty-six

students

were trained

Bauhaus between
October,
1919, and April,large number of others took only the preliminary

in the1924. Acourse.

In 1923, in order to maintainthe highest possible standard, forty-sevenof these students were not admitted
tothe advanced

courses.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR
ACTIVITIESThekite-festival"

was a big yearly

event.

Every autumn

a troop of Bauhaus students went out into the fields to
fly the amazing
kites which they had built. In the sum
mer, there were paradesat night through the peacefulstreets of Weimar
with paper
lanterns of the students'
own invention.

Postcards£

designedforkite-festivals
andlanternparadesby Klee, Molnar,
Klee,
Hirschfeld- Mack,Feininger,
1923

Peter Rohl: design
program,
1921

BAUHAUSEVENINGS

Architects,

scholarsandpainters

who wereforain sympathy

j

)*

."t-

r.

with the ideals of the Bauhaus generously
contributed
their services
for "Bauhaus
evenings."
Among
them
were such celebrities
as the architects
Oud,
andPoelzig ; the pianist
RudolfSerkin;theBerlageviolinist

Adolf
Busch; the composer
Palucca;the writer Theodor

Bela Bartok;
the dancer
Daubler;
Professor Freund-lich of the Einstein

the physio-chemist

Institute;Wilhelm

Ostwald ; and the biologist
Hans
Driesch.
Thus theBauha us strove to keep in touch with the best and newest
in otherfieldsof scienceandart. The lectures,concerts

and dance
recitalsbrought
together
not only thoseactually
connected
with the Bauhaus but also the towns
people interested
in the school. In this way they served
as a link between the Bauhaus and the community.

THE

FRIENDS

OF

THE

.S3?

&8U1WVutimm

t<?ximrtcnenze:

BAUHAUSThe association
known as "The Friends of the Bauhaus"
provedof invaluable
moral and financial
help during
the stormy years of development.
posed of the following:
H. P. Berlage, The Hague
Peter Behrens, Berlin
Adolf Busch, Berlin
Paris
Leipzig

Marc
Hans

Chagall,
Driesch,AlbertEinstein, Berlin

HerbertEulenberg,

Kaiserswerth
Ed win Fischer,

BerlinIts council

Gerhartwas com

Hauptmann,

Agnetendorf
Josef Hoffmann,

ViennaOskar Kokoschka, Vienna
Hans Poelzig, Potsdam
Arnold Schonberg,
Adolf Sommerfeld,

ViennaBerlinJosef Strzygowski,
ViennaFranz Werfel, Vienna

The

Bauhausband

startedwithtions of a groupof paintersaround Weimar.
Accordion-music

the musicalimprovisa

and sculptors
on trips
and the poundingofchairs, the rhythmic
smackingof a table and revolver
shots in time with fragmentsof German,
Slavic, Jewish
andHungarian

folk

songs

would

swing

the

company

into a dance. This dancemusic soon became
known
all over Germany
and was played
at artists' festivals
everywhere;
but since it could
never be successfullytransferred
to paper, it remained
gaily impromptu,
evenlater when the instrumentation
was expanded
to include
two
bone,

Ludwigpianos,twobanjos,saxophones,

traps,

clarinet,

trumpet,

trom

etc.

Hirschfeld-Mack-.

S Dancesaa-Tani

EVERY

EINE MILLION

MARK

MAN

A

MILLIONAIRE

The rapid devaluationof the German
mark during the
inflation
years led to incredible
grotesquenessin dailylife. At the height of the economiccrisis in 1923, money
receivedin the morning
had to be disposedof before
evening of the same day for by that time it was likely
to be valueless. When the Bauhaus Exhibitionof 1923
opened,a million
marks in paper
money equaled
invalue one mark forty-sevenpfennigs

in gold.

Four months

later one reckoned in billions;a man paid for his lunchin billion
mark notes. The one million
mark note wasdesigned by Herbert
Bayer in 1923 for the State Bank ofThuringia.Two
days later it was issued with the ink still wet.

Bouhous

whistlingtnne

St/BSJIOH

y

j—j

,

JI*

11 - ten Mu-cht Nai-daz-*(\nANSWER
Maz-daz-HanMaz-daz-Hcw

Top, Oskar Schlemmer,
1922; bottom, Alexander
Schawinsky,

1924: Impro

vised sketches at Bauhaus
dancesMarcelBreuer: Birthday
greetings to Walter
GropiusThe Bauhdusler

presented

a highlycuriousappearance

to the provincial
eyes of the Weimar
citizenry.
Partlythroughpure fantasy,
and partly
throughenthusiasm
for clothes

intended

to forecast

futurestyles,he wanted

to express in dress his entire independenceof conventional modes. He was so wrapped
up in the fascinatingtask of discoveringand shaping
his own ego and his
environmentthat he scarcely observed the radical
con
trast between his own intensive existence and the ordi
nary small-townlife which surrounded
him. Still less did
he thinkof recording

in wordorphotograph

the

life

of those first few colorfuland explosive
years at the
WeimarBauhaus. Absorbed
in living, he found no time
for the task of observing

andrecording.

MarcelJosef

One

student

didtailoringwork.

Breuer:Albers.

Under

PortraitofEtching

Itten's

influence,

he made fantastic
Bauhaus clothes: wide trousers without creases, narrow at the feet, high closed jacket with
a

belt,

scarf

held

by

a

pin.

After

the

first

romantic

years these clothes were discardedin accordance
Gropius'opinionthat the artist of today should
conventional

clothing.

Like so many
students went

generationsof young
south to Italy. Mostly

bonds,

they earned

their

men,

mechanics

The

Bauhaus canteen

livingalong

enabledwas done

Every

Saturdaythe way as crafts

the students

by theaBauhausBauhaus

to eatwellof a great many Bauhaus
made the canteen a vital

It was made possible
members
and friends.

work

Germans,
Bauhauson foot, like vaga

or painters.

for little money. The poverty
apprentices
and journeymen
necessity.
Bauhauswithwear

by the unselfish aid ofSome of the canteen
members

dance

was

themselves.
held

eitherin

Weimaror in one of the many nearby country inns. The
great enthusiasmof the early days in Weimar
found
an outlet in spontaneousshows and parties for whichfantasticmasks and costumes were improvised.
Impro
vised, too, were the
Bauhaus
lobby
every

posters which appearedweek to announce
thein thedances.

For private
celebrations,such as birthdays,a specialkind of "giftdesign"(Geschenkgraphik)
was devel
oped. Somewhat
influenced
by Dadaism,
these uncon
ventional
and imaginative
part in the development

designs played an importantof lay-out
and typography.

HerbertBayer:

PosterBauhausdance.

1923

forPRELIMINARY
COURSE:MOHOLY-NAGY

Owing
to differencesof opinion
as to the actual
conduct of the course, ITTEN left the Bauhaus in the springof the teaching.
Because of his unusual pedagogic
gifts,
Alberswas formallyoffereda positionas teacher
atof 1923. About
this time Josef Albers,
who had beena student at the Bauhaus, began
to work actively
onthe Bauhaus after the institution
had moved to Dessau.
From then on, he directed
the preliminary
course during
the first term, while Moholy-Nagy
took over the second

the developmentof the preliminary
course.
Hechargeof the studies in materials
and continued
work even when Moholy-Nagy
was called to thehaus shortly
Each taught

afterward
to direct
independently
and

took
this
Bau

the preliminary
course.
thus widened the scopeterm. When Gropius and Moholy-Nagyleft the Bauhaus
in 1928, Albers continued
to teach in both preliminaryclasses until the closing of the Bauhaus in April,
1933.
Suspended
923

IrmgardSuspended
1924

Sorenson-Popitz:
construction.

construction.

CharlotteVictoria:
Studyin volume and space.
Glass and calico.
1923

PRELIMINARY
COURSE:ALBERS

The work with materials
plannedto preparein this course was

the first semester students

for later craft-studies

in the various

Bauhausworkshops. The students were introduced
simple and elementary,
the most importantwood,

metal,

craft

materials,

balance,Studyof their relationships

as well as the differences

between them. In this

based

ment,

in

to

on speciandwithout

developfundamental

fic gravities
of various
woods. Right half is madesuch asand to an understanding

shop practice,
Grote:

use ofglass, stone, textiles and paint,

way we tried, without anticipating

Toma

to a

but appropriate

principles

later work

workshopanunderstanding

propertiesof materials

equip
of

the

and theof construction.

To this end we analyzed

typicaltreatmentsof heavy wood to balance
projectionof left half

and

which

them out with our hands. For instance, we vis

is of light wood.
Whole construction rests
in perfect balanceuponsingle point. 1924

combinationsof materials,

andited the workshops of box, chairamakers, of carpentersand basket-

and cabinet-makers,

coopers and cartwrights,
different

andof

in order to learn theuses of wood, the different

istics of flat grain

workedcharacterquarter-sawing,

split,

bent and laminated wood, and to learn thevarious methods of joining: glueing, nailing,
pegging and screwing.
We tried to apply our knowledge to the mak
ing of useful objects:

simple implements,

containers, toys and even toy furniture, first of one
material alone, later of several combined
rials, but, as alreadyindicated,chines and only simple everyday
at first, we studied materialmateusing no ma
tools. Thus,

more or less on a

traditional handicraft basis.
Soon, however, we expanded

our practicalwork to allow more inventiveness and imagina
tion, as a fundamental
ized design.
Paul

Reichle:

tion.

1924

Construc

scribedin my article

preliminary

training for later special

This development

is briefly

deon our more developed

course at Dessau, (pageI 16).

*OPPOSITION
TO THE BAUHAUS(n//ie yicrvf(^

The Non-PoliticalThe

mi/Ztoi't'/e'eS

Characterto the "People's

attitudeBauhaus as a naturallinkthey fought it, and fearedof the Bauhaus

Throughout
its existence,
the Bauhaus found itself involved in the politicalconvulsionsof post-war Germany.
In Thuringia, the government ran the gamut from Left
Socialist

shortsighted

of thecraftsmen'sorganizations in Germany
was one of the greatest
obstacles
the Bauhaus encountered.
Insteadof recognizing
theParty,"

the forerunneracceleratefrom 20th

betweencraft andit as a new factor

that decline of the crafts which
century
industrial
development.

industry,
likely to

had resultedof theNational
Socialist Party. The fact that the Bauhaus hap
pened to open during a Socialist regime(the program

had beenGrand

initiatedearlierunder the patronageof theDuke of Saxe-Weimar), caused it to be attacked

by all subsequent
governments
Socialists had started it.
Gropiusforesaw

on the grounds

these difficulties.

He found

that

the

it necessary

at an early date to prohibit
political
activityof anykind in the Bauhaus, and faculty and students held themselves aloof from participationin the work of any polit
ical party. Although
the enemies of the school tried inevery conceivable
way to confirm their suspicions(theyeven went so far as to order house-to-housesearchesby the military
authorities)
they never succeededinproducingany

convincing

proof.

But without

partisanattitude,
the institution
come to a premature
end.

would

its noncertainly

Bww

have

From a newspaper:(m /A'e
From a letter from the Business Manager
the Bauhaus to the Director. . . Since

October,

1922, I have

done

(Syndikus)ofmy utmosttofurther the developmentof the Bauhaus. Cooperation,
which should have been a matter of course on the partof Government
officials,
notably
the Department
ofFinance,has- not been forthcoming;by superior officials
is malevolent,ible

as constantly

to endanger

the attitude
shown
obtuse and so inflex

the growthof theinsti

tution;furthermore,this attitude
has entailed
financialloss. Until recently
it was possible
to avert the mostpressing dangers,
but since the advent of the new gov
ernment
the official
attitude,which
indifferent,
has changed
into open(signed)had hitherto
beenanimosity
. . .
Emil

Lange
29/3/1924(xi //> ?y*(f(/y/ /A(The Bauhaus workshops
mannerof a laboratory
Not
tion

ci'rtj/y.i
prepared
designs much in thefor industrial
and craft use.

only was this in accordof the Bauhaus;it alsoattacks(foreseenwhich

opposedfromwith the original
conceptook the sting out of thethe start!)

the sale of actualof craftorganizations,objects

producedatpublicly
financedschools as unfair
competition
withprivateenterprise.
But the sale of Bauhaus designs inreturn for royalties
on mass produced
objects
could
not be denounced

as competition

withthe handicrafts.

Sdjlonermeiftet
Sfrno Bravo, Locksmith Arno
Miiller,
for your telling
fut tie trcff- words
against the
fidjenSBortecontra Bauhaus!
How long . . .?
Sou^aus!
Quousque tandem?
m

PRESSCOMMENTS1923-1932
The critics of the Bauhaus showed a tendency,
the period, to narrow down the comprehensive

Bauhaustypical of
Bauhausprogramdifferent

in order to make it fit in with one of the many
culturalideologies
then current.
However,theBauhausneverforcedits natural

growth,

never

chose

a

policyprematurely
source of strength.
pearedin Stavba,

andpreserved
therebyits main
A characteristic
criticalestimate ap
the leadingarchitectural
periodicalin Czechoslovakia,

where,

in 1924, Karel". . . unfortunately,thea school for architecture,withthe questionof applied

art school,no matteranachronism

and

Teige

wrote:

Bauhaus is not consistent,as
as long as it is still concernedarts

or 'art'how good,

nonsense.

...

as such.

Any

can today

be onlyan

If Gropius

wants

his

school to fight against dilettantism
in the arts, if he as
sumes the machine to be the modern means of production, if he admits the division of labor, why does he suppose a knowledgeof the crafts to be essential for indus
trial manufacture?
Craftsmanshipfundamentallydifferent
approach,and industry
theoreticallyhave aas wellas practically.
Today, the crafts
supportedby the bourgeoisie

are nothing but a luxury,
with their individualism

and snobbery

decorative

Like any
improving

and

their

purelypointof view.

other art school, the Bauhaus is incapableofindustrial
production;at the most it mightprovidenew impulses.
"The architects
at the Bauhaus propose to paint muralcompositions
on the walls of their rooms, but a wall is
not a picture and a pictorial
composition
is no solutionof the problemof space.

at last come to denyIn contrast. . . Modern

painting

to the above

1923 by the Swiss art

artistic

vitalityand sculpture

is a review
historian,of the exhibition

Siegfried

Giedion*,Dos Werk, Zurich, September,
1923:"Afterthree and a half years of existenceat Weimarthemselvesrespecthas

as such."

the

of
in

Bauhauscalledin its friends and foes to judge for
its aims and achievements.
It is assured ofin any case.

It pursues

withunusualenergythesearch for the new principles
which will have to befound if ever the creativeurge in humanity
is to bereconciledwith industrial
methods
of production.
The
Bauhaus is conducting
this search with scant support inan impoverished
Germany,
hamperedby the cheap derision and malicious

attacksof the reactionaries,and even

by personal differences
within its own group.
"The Bauhaus is undertaking
the bold and, in thesetimes, almost presumptuous
task of revivingart. It tears
down

the barriers

nizes andThe opinion(Stonebetweenemphasizes

Woodof a German
Iron),

individual

the common
trade

paper,

on the inauguration

at Dessau, 1926.
"On December
4th, the formal
Charles

arts.
root

Stein Holz

Eisenof the Bauhaus

inauguration

Eliot Norton Lecturer, Harvard. . It recogof all the arts."of the new

University,

1938-1939.

building

will

take

place.

The

word'Bauhaus'

has become a rallying-cry
for friend and foe. To do it
justice, we must don neither the rose-coloredglasses ofboundlessenthusiasm

refusal-to-see.

nor the black

It is possible

spectacles

to statequiteof blindsoberlywhat

the Bauhaus is worth to Germany
and what it may be
worth in the future. It should be valued as the first and,
until now, virtually
the only institution
for practicalexperiment

in new materials,

the only

institution

new methods

concerned

andnew forms,

with the integrationof allaspects of contemporary
culture.
human that such an experiment,

It is understandableandin the midst of present-day

not proceedwithout

clashes

is not the mainthing.

The Bauhaus

chaos,

shouldion. ...

But thatnational

importance;

WalterCurt

it concerns

Behrendf*

ung, October

is of

all Germany."in the Deutsche

2, 1923, commenting

1923:"Apprentices
a craftsmanof opinAllgemeine

Zelt-on the exhibitionofat the Bauhaus are taught by two masters,
and an artist, working in close cooperation.

The difficultiesof this novel

here. The dualism

methodof this systemof education

begin

never

to thatcanleadunity of art and technics of which Gropius
dreams. . . .
And after a careful
scrutiny of the results obtainedin
Weimar,it is to be feared

haus cannot
dilettantism.

that

this method

at the Bau

avoid creating
again the same dangerous. . . The problem
remains, as before,
howto educate

humanin the fieldof industrial

beingsto meet the most urgent
production.

The roadneedschosenby

the Bauhaus
Nevertheless,will not, we believe,
lead to this goal. . . .
the experiment
begun here by a few coura

geous

steadfast

and

men

remainsa valuable

spite

of all the problems

it raises,

lowed

to continue

all circumstances."

under

Theo van Doesburg,
1924:
"When
I first becameacquainted
Bauhaus, I was not only amazedelse in the world was it possible
for a systematic

art education,

to assert itself in all countries

and

one

it should

withthe aims

in

be al

of thebut enthusiastic.
Where
to satisfy the new desire
a desirewhich

in the fields

had begunof art, scienceand technics?
Where
else but here in Weimar
was ageneration
struggling
for self-expression
offered the pos
sibilityof developing
France,nor Englandinstitution
where
aged to create,

its creative
powers?
Neither
nor anywhere
else was there

the students themselves
instead of being taughtinanwere encour
merely to repeat that which had alreadybeen created.
. . The Bau
haus is open to criticism in many respects; as a whole it
shall

not andmust not be attacked."

Inspired by the Bauhaus Exhibitionof 1923 Dr. Harkort,
the proprietor
and manager
of a ceramics
plant at Velten, near Berlin, wrote in the periodical
Topferkunst(The arts of tile and pottery):Die

Kachel-&Speciallecturer at Dartmouth College, 1934; now Technical
Director of Research Station, Buffalo City Planning Associationand lecturer at the University of Buffalo.

93

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"It

is evident

trial

that

production,necessary,a fundamental
which

depends

all

improvement

informedlargely

in indus

personsagree

ison the widespread

and

en

thusiastic
participationof artists. They should not remainaloof from this importanttask but undertakeit as themost pressing
theyproblemmust sacrifice

cupations.
"The Bauhausof the present

their

wants

day;

own pleasanttoenlistan

for its benefit

individual

entireofartists in a struggle
to solve the creative
problemsofindustrialism.
It used to be more or less a chance occur
rence for a creative
artistand master the problems
done

consciously

tance
"The

of these problems.
ceramics
industry,

considerations
requirements

andto find his way into a factory
put to him. This will now be

to an extent
inworthyparticular,of the imporwherehouses for display purposes, but in this case it is a question of a new type of building,
the realizationof which
is likely to have far-reaching
culturaland economic
consequences.
The need for a strictly economical
methodof construction,

preoc

generation

cution in an exhibition
than the one submitted.
As a matter of principle,
I am skeptical
about the constructionofesthetic

are so imperative
and where industrial
have had a particularly
devastatinginflu

as wellas our alteredwayof life seemto call for a new treatmentof the one-family
house inwhich it ceases to be an imitationof the villa with roomsof equal

size. Thereis developing
rooms aroundpletechangeis evidence

in form

all the plans
apt to clarify

thata typewhich organicallyunitesa large one, thus bringing
as well as in manner

I have seen, none appears
and to solve the problem

of design

severalsmall
about a com

Ofof living.

to me to be soas the one sub

mitted by the Bauhaus. The plight in which we find ourselves as a nation necessitates
our being the first of allnations

to solve

newproblemsofgo far towardtheblazinga new trail."building.

These

ence on artistic
quality,should feel obliged
to partici
pate in the effort made at Weimarand should be eager

plans clearlyto accept

The relation
between the Bauhaus and the State Gov
ernment
presented
a problem
which confronted
almostanddevelopwhat

has been

Dr. E. Redslob,

National

Art

Directorof Germany,com

on the plans for the Housefor the proposed
exhibition"Am Horn"in 1923:

to bementing
erectedbegun

there."

all publicly
appointed
in the new democracy:of the vote should

directorsof cultural
how far the democratic

be allowed"Invitedby the Director of the Bauhaus to make a state
ment concerning
the plans for a house in the proposedcalmatters.

nallysettledthe dispute

exhibitionin 1923, I affirm
under present circumstances,publicvotingon questions

that I can hardly imagine,a plan more suited for exe-

Koch,

The Deufsche
ident,
point

to interferea democratic

IYerkbund,with non-politi

Secretary

by declaring

institutions
principle

thatof State,

fi

any

of

kind

of art was an absurdity.

under

the leadershipthe architect
Hans Poelzig,
of view, in a letter addressedof its presadoptedthe sameto the governmentof the free state of Saxe-Weimar:"The public controversy
now raging around the Bauhaus
at Weimar
is no local matter;in more ways than one,it concerns
A

FEW

HEADLINES

The Collapse
Disintegrationof Weimar Art
of the Staatliche

Swindle-Propaganda
Storm over Weimar
Staatliche
RubbishBauhaus Scandal
Save the Bauhaus!
The Menace of Weimar
The Art War in Weimar
The Assault on the Bauhaus
Culture Demolitionin Weimar
The CulturalFight in Thuringia
Protest of the Weimar
Artists

all those interested

in the growth

and

devel

opment of our art. It is always undesirable
to confuse
problems of art with politicaltrends. The fury of political
strife injected
Bauhausin Weimarof the work andpurposeof the Bauhaus impedes
any real consideration
great and important
experimentboldlygoingof theforwardhere. We trust that the officials and departments
jurisdiction
over this matter will do their utmost

havingto prevent politicalwhich should

into all discussion

passions from destroying
an undertaking
not be measured
by personal
prejudicesor by considerations

foreignstraightforwardness

andto art, but solely

its ownby its own

unimpeachable

objec

tives."
F. H. Ehmke, a well known art teacher and typographer,commenting
on the cover of the book, Staatliches
Bauhaus Weimar (Bibl.
"Wholly
concerned

no. 8), 1923:
with shopwindow

effects,

wants

sheer

in coloring,

to be nasty,out refinement
Bruno

Taut,

Course:"The methodof form

bluff;

brutalor, if one
with. . ."

architect,commenting

on thePreliminaryof testinga student

by letting

him experi-

*

ment

independently

andfreely

often

seems

curioustoandwhetherhe canfied

workshop.

profitably

This methodof the most important
Kole

Kokk

in thebe admittedof selection

achievements

one

lecturesxxx).

entitled

BasingThe Conception

his viewsof the Bauon the theses set forth

synthesis"of the Bauhaus with its "social

quoting

the Gropius

synthesis."thesis "mechanized

work

is

lifeless, proper only to the lifeless machine. . . . The solu
tion depends
on a change
in the individual's
attitudetowardhis work, not on the bettermentof his outward

February,

Berlin,theticAfterof the Bauhaus."

8 Uhr Abendblatt,twoby Gropius
in his essay, The Theory and Organizationofthe Bauhaus (Bibl. xxx), Dr. Emge comparedthe "es

to a speci

is, perhaps,

lishedhaus (Bibl.

the layman;
but for the teacher
it is the most infallible
indicationof whether a student has any creative
ability

1924, wrote of the Bauhaus dances:"The llmschlosschen(an inn) is far out in the country,incircumstances,"

Oberweimar.

aMarxismand kindred
Utopiasis inconceivable.
It isclearly stated here that harmonious
creation is an ethicalWhat

a delicate

shack thus decorated! Throughpenetrates

into

a dancepoeticname,a narrowhall

and whatpassagewayof mediumone

size, of luxuri

ant ugliness. The decorative
murals date assuredly fromthe '80's; they represent
maidens
playing
the harp on
some

green

meadow

in paradise.

Can

it be

that

the

pupils of Lyonel Feininger,of Kandinsky
or Paul Klee
are going to dance here? Idle doubts disappearedafter
an hour's

enthusiastic

participation!

In this throne-roomof Kitsch [cheap
bad taste] there is more real youthfulartistic
atmospherethan in all the stylishly decorated
artists' balls of Berlin. All is primitive,
there is not theleast refinement,
nor is there that yawningblase demeanor nor that overheatedatmospherewhich necessi
tates the stationingof a policeman

recess at our ballsin Berlin.

in front of every

Everythingdark

has beendoneby the Bauhaus students themselves.
First of all, there is
the orchestra,
the best jazz band that I ever heard rag
ing;

they

and

glorious

anything
Bauhausform

aremusicians

to theircoloring

thefingertips.

costumes

In invention

leave

far

behindthat can be seen at our performances.
. . . The
community,
masters, journeymen,
apprentices,a smallislandin the oceanof the Weimar

Six years

and vice versa.
later

the

Salon

. . ."des Artistes

DecorateursinParis included
an exhibitionof the Deutsche Werkbund,organized
under the directionof Walter
Gropiuswiththe collaboration
Ladislausof Herbert

Moholy-Nagy.

Bayer,On

Marcelthis occasion

BreuerPaul

andFierens

wrote in the Journal des Debats, June 10, 1930:"In all European
countries,
the same ideas havebeen

advanced,the same efforts are being made. In our own
country they are too dispersed.
In Germany,
they aremore

concentrated;artists

anding together
in the same spirit.
represents
a whole generation
exploiting

thenumerous

it is a school andmany has realized

industrialists

are

work

The Bauhaus at Dessauof explorers
capableofresourcesof moderntechnics;

a laboratory
at the same time. Ger
the importanceof the problem,which

she has considered

in connection

ment now goingarchitecture
andon. And thatthe industrial

Germany

will have the lion's

In June,1924, Dr. August

EconomyandPhilosophy

with the social

readjust

is why, in the history ofarts of the 20th century,

share."
Emge,

Professor

at the Universityof Nationalof Jena,

tion

pub

"A

blunter

rejection

to be solved by the individual."
he alludes to the relation of the Bauhaus

to the contemporary

world:"A

movementof

concepwhich

istimely in the best sense of the word cannot be said todeny history. ...
It is difficult
to determine
just how theartist is affectedby tradition.
man— it cannot
be cultivatedTraditionmust live in a
in him. 'Oncespirit has

taken

Hegel,

on material

form,'

says'it is futile

to tryto impose on it forms evolved
by earlier
cultures;are like withered
leaves thrust aside by buds which
been nourishedfrom the same roots.'

they
have

It may be true evenin other fields of endeavorthat tradition
self felt harmoniously,
unobtrusively
andmust make it
subconsciously,

but it is especiallyappliablein the realm of art. Es
thetic tradition
is embodiedin style. But a style must be
inbornin the artist

andgeneric

to its epoch

as were thegreat styles of the past. All conscious attempts
to gaininsight into the essence of a style, all artificial
preservation, lead to an historicalattitudeand, considering
the multiplicityof style, in one and the samebour

geoisie.
Four years of serious labors
have not beenable to accustom
the Bauhaus people to the good folksof .Weimar—

problem
Later

Dr. Emge writes:

Attacks on the Bauhaus
The following
quotation
printedin the politicalwhich is hostile to lifeof choice, to a chaos

period."from an article
byweekly "Die Tat" in

H. Pflug,
1932, describes the unceasing
warfarethe Bauhaus was forced
to wage against its adversaries.
"Different
valuations
may be placed on the role of the
Bauhausin the developmentof modernsign,undoubtedly

role

but

that

architectural

was a great

one.

de
The

violenceof the attacks testified to the strength and his
toricalsignificanceof Bauhaus ideas. The politicalattacks had as their basis psychologicaland philosophicalresentment.

Those

no longerable

or not yet willingtochange and learn, realized that the Bauhaus stood for a
new life and a new style in a new time. Philistines andreactionaries
unloadbodiment

rebelled.

elsewhereAllthe animosity

was directedof what they feared."against

could

not

the visible

they

em

The following

personsandfloodof protests
againstBauhaus at Weimar
whichernmentsocieties

participatedin thethe discontinuanceof thewere addressedto the Govof the State of Thuringia:
Professor

Bernhard

PankokProfessor Peter Behrens
Professor Lovis Corinth
Professor Albert
Einstein
Dr. Alexander
DornerDr. Max Osborn
Professor Dr. Hans Thoma
Professor Josef Hoffmann

J.J. P.Oud
Professor Dr. C. Fries
Dr. Gerhart Hauptmann

Hugo von Hoffmannsthal
Professor Oskar Kokoschka
Professor Max Reinhardt

Ludwig Justi
Mies van der Rohe
Dr. Roland Schacht
Hermann Sudermann

ArnoldProfessor Rohlfs
Prof. Dr. Riemerschmied

Dr. N. Muthesius
and many others

THE BAUHAUSQUITS WEIMAR

Schonberg

Professor

Strygowski

From

Professor

Hans Poelzig

Leagueof German

Architects

tekten)Architects

Society"Architectura

damGermanAustrianSociety

WerkbundWerkbundof Social[Bund

The Director
andWeimar,compelled

DeutscherArchi-et Amicitia,"

Amster(Deutscher
Werkbund)(Osterreichischer
Werkbund)Building
Trades(Verband
SozialerArt

Critics(Verband

from

the

following

continuanceof the Bauhaus:citiesBerlinApoldaBielfeld
WeimarLeipzig
Hamburg

DresdenDarmstadt
Jena

MunichFrankfort
Stuttgart

BremenChemnitz
Magdeburg

Heilbronn
HanoverKarlsruhe

Weimarwere

thediscontinuancefollowingrecommend

Die Tat
Der Cicerone
Weltbuhne
Die Bauwelt
Kunstchronik
Schatzkammer

Neue Zuricher
Das Werk

Zeitung

contracts,

that

is, Aprilfirst,of Thuringia

nineteenhunof havingpermitted and approved
the frustrationof culturallyimportant and always non-politicalefforts through the intrigues
of hostile

political

a letterparties.

. . .
(signedby all the masters)

to the Government

the

97

of Thuringia

Weimar,of the actions

Menacedbygovernment

an

and

January

13th,

1925

of

of the State Government. . .
(signed by all the students)

uncomprehending
conscious

as foundersof theof masters decided,of theirandsolidarity

antagonistic
andrightsinstitution,
the director
and council
at Christmas
time, 1924, on the disatsolution of the Bauhaus in order to forestall
its destruction. In spite of all prophecies
to the contrary,
this step
proved to be wise. The esprit de corps which had gradu

Bouwerkundig
Nieuwe Rotter-ally developed
among
the students and masters withstood this trial. Of their own accord,
the students informed the governmentthat they stood with the director
and masters and intended to leave with them. This unitedtheschoolpublications:

Courant

Czechoslovakia:

attitude

Pragertageblatt

the future of the Bauhaus. Various cities, Dessau, Frankfort, Hagen, Mannheim,
Darmstadt,
opened negotiations
with a view to transplanting
the Bauhaus. On the initia

Hungary:
A Magyar,

Switzerland:of theirbecausedamschein Kunstmarkt

1924

We notify the Governmentof Thuringiathat we, collaborators
at the State Bauhaus at Weimar,shall leave
the Bauhaus together
with the leaders of the Bauhaus,

Holland:Telegraaf,
Weekblad,Germany:

26th,

Deutscher

ErfurttheDecemberof Thuringia,
herewith announce
their decision
to closethe institution
createdby them on their own initiative
and according
to their convictions,on the expiration

From

Newspapersof Thuringia

mastersof the State
Bauhausatby the attitudeof the Government

dred and twenty-five.
We accuse the Government

Kunstkritiker)

protesting

to the Government
Weimar,date

Baubetriebe)
Societyof GermanAlso

a letterFranz Werfel
Grafin Kalkreuth

Budapest

U. S. A.:The Freeman,

New

York

was reflectedin the entirepress anddecidedtive of Mayor
Hesse, Dessau, in the center of the midGerman coal belt, invited the entire Bauhaus to reestab
lish itself there. This invitation
was accepted
and, after
carrying
out their contracts
in Weimar,
masters andstudents moved to Dessau in the springof 1925 andthere began the reorganizationof the Bauhaus.

DESSAU,APRIL,1925

ADVANTAGES: cover froma prospectus advertising
Dessau. 1928

OF THE SMALL TOWN

Only those familiar with the cultural quality and importance of the provincial German town can understand
why on two occasions a small town was chosen as thesite of the Bauhaus. Germany has an unusually large
number of small towns unique and inimitable in character. Thanks to their civic structure and their spiritualvitality, they provide an ideal environment for cultural
movements which require strong personal direction anda favorable atmosphere. Comparatively simple adminis
trative machinery; comparatively few authorities (whose
decisions can be quickly carried out); a community
whose various elements are clearly differentiated anddefined— these are the advantages of the provincial city.
Both in Weimar and in Dessau a fruitful working atmos
phere, free from distraction, and the proximity of beau
tiful natural surroundings were indispensable factors in
the lives of those who worked at the Bauhaus.

DESSAU. Mentioned for the first time in 1213. Since
1603 the seat of a line of the house of Anhalt. Important
industrial town and transportation center: Junkers Works(all-metal airplanes), chemical industry, manufacture ofmachinery, railroad cars, wooden articles, chocolate,sugar. Renaissance palace, residence of the Dukes ofAnhalt; small palaces and town houses in baroque andneo-classic styles. Near the town, at Worlitz, are large
18th century parks in the English "Romantic" style.

FACULTY
AlmostAND
all

Kandinsky,
remained

STUDENTS

theformermasters,

Feininger,

Klee,
Moholy-Nagy,
with the Bauhaus when

Gerhard
Marcks,since there was

Gropius,

Muche,
Schlemmer,
it moved to Dessau.

however,
went to teachnot money or room tonear Hallereinstallhisceramics
workshopin Dessau.
Five former students, Josef Albers, Herbert
Bayer, Mar
cel Breuer, Hinnerk
Scheper,
Joost Schmidt,
were ap
pointedmasters,

moved

from

diately

begun

NEW

BUILDINGS

and

Weimar

The mayor

nearlyall

to Dessau,

in provisionalof Dessau

had

the

Bauhauswhere

work was imme

quarters.

approved

for seven houses with studios formasters and for a new building
Bauhaus and the Municipal
Arts
Construction,
from
Gropius'once. Especially
noteworthy

students

an appropriation
the former
Weimarto house both theand Crafts
School.

designs,
was begun
was the city's decisionatto

add to the Bauhaus building
proper a wing with twentyeight studio apartments,
baths, laundry and dining
hall•"fxpr"for the students.

THE

NEW

CURRICULUM

The curriculum
underwent
severalchanges:
joint instruction
by a craftsman
and an artist was abandoned.
Hencefortheach workshop was directedby one master.

100

The

departmentof architecturewasconsiderablyenlargedand the teachersof the Municipal
School co
operated
with it.
A departmentof typography
and lay-out was added.
The principles of the Bauhaus were again clarified:
The

BauhausIts purpose
1. TheDr. Fritz Hesse, Mayorof the City of Dessau

is an advanced

schoolfor creative

work.

is:

intellectual,manualandtechnical

men and women of creative
talentative work, especiallybuilding.
2. The executionof practicalfor allexperimental

trainingofkinds of cre
work,

espe

cially building
and interior
decoration,
as well as thedevelopmentof models for industrial
and manualpro
duction.
A business organization,
the Bauhaus Corporation,wasestablishedto handle
the sale to industryof modelscreatedin the Bauhaus workshops.
The Mayorof Dessau,

Dr. Fritz Hesse, was an eminently
The Transitional

the Junkers airplane
works moved to Dessau. He
couraged
culturalactivity
with the same tenacity.

of its new building
at the end of 1926. The workshops
were set up on a floor of the Seiler factory;
classroom

his initiative,

the Bauhaus

was transferred

to Dessau;
he loyally
supportedits
thanks to him it was able to develop
turbed for a number of years.

from

en
On

Weimarprinciples;
relatively

and
undis

After

leaving

temporary

Periodat Dessau

farsighted
person, one of those notable individuals
whodemonstrate
the importanceof the small Germancity
as a cultural
factor. Owing to his energy and courage,

Weimar,quarterstheBauhausin Dessau,hadpending

instruction
took place in the rooms
and Crafts School, which had also

to moveinto

the completionof the existing Arts
been placedunder

Gropius'supervision;and ateliers were provided
for theartists in the old and, at the time, empty Art Museum.

Walter Gropius: Dessau
Bauhaus. View from northwest. 1925-1926

Walter

Gropius:Bauhaus.

Air

Dessauview.

1925-1926

A

characteristicoftheBaroquericalbuilding

Renaissanceor
has a symmet

facade,withthe entrance on the central axis.
The view offeredto thespectator
near

is

as
flat

he

draws

and

two-dimensional.
A building
expressing
themodern spirit rejects sym
metry and the frontispiecefacade.
One
must walkaroundthisstructure

three-dimensionalter of its form
functionincharacand theof its parts.

Plan of the Bauhaus:
Ground Floor(02

Considerations
to be kept
in mind in organizingaplan:properorientationsunshort,

time-saving

to thecommu

nicationclean-cut

separationdifferent

parts of the whole

flexibility,

makingof thepossiblea reassignmentof roomuses,
iforganizationalchangesessary.

make

this

nec

A Studio wing
B Auditorium,
stage

and

dining-hall
C Laboratory
workshop
D Bridge(administration
offices)
E Technicalschool
(from

Bibl.

no. 27)Walter Gropius:
DessauBauhaus. View from south
west. 1925-1926

THE BAUHAUS
BUILDING

the bridge, containing

designedby WALTERGROPIUS

fices and Professor Gropius' office.
The auditorium (B.) on the ground floor, only

the administrationof

one story in height, is connected with the
A. Studio wing, which contains scholarship stu
The Bauhaus building

wds begun by the city cf

dents' quarters. The stage, situated between

Dessdu in the dutumn cf 1925 end wes com

the auditorium

pletely finished in time for the fcrmcl

and the dining hall, can bededica-opened on both sides, so that spectators canticn in December, 1926.
The whole building occupies on oreo of about

sit on either side with the stage between
them. On gala occasions, all the walls sur

28,300 square feet, the volume is approximate

rounding the stage can be removed, and thus

ly I , I 50,000 cubic feet. The total cost amounted

all the space occupied by the dining hall,
stage, auditorium and vestibule can be com

to 902,500 marks, about $230,000.00, or roughly twenty cents per cubic foot. The cost of furbined into one large hall for the occasion.

nishing the building amounted to 126,200 marks.

The dining hall communicates

The building consists of (see plate opposite):
E. The wing which contains the Technical Schoolen and several smaller rooms. In front of thedininghall is a spaciouswith the kitch

terrace,which in(later Professional School), its classrooms andturn leads to the sports areas.

administrative

library, physics hall, room for models. TheseIn the five upper stories there are twentyeight studio apartments for students, and inare housed in a three story block (with baseadditionment). The two upper floors are connectedbasement of the studio building there arebaths, a gymnasium and locker-room, andwith a bridge

quarters, instructors' rooms,

across the street, carriedonpiers. On the lower floor of this bridgearethe administrative

officesof the Bauhaus,and, on the upper floor, the architectural
partment. The bridge
C. The laboratorydeeach floor has a kitchenette.

In thean electric laundry.
Material and construction of the project
Reinforced

concrete skeleton with "mushroom"

columns, brick masonry, hollow tile floors. Steel(D.) leads toworkshops and the classrooms. In the basement, half below and half

window-sashwith double weathering

contacts.

The flat roofs designed to be walked on are cov

theered with asphalt tile, welded together,

the tile

dye-works, the sculpture room and the packing and storerooms, the servants' quarters

laid on insulation boards of "torfoleum"

(com

above

ground,are the printing

plant,

pressedpeatmoss); regularroofs haveand the furnaces.
On the ground (first) floor are the carpentry

same type of insulation mentioned

shop and the exhibition rooms, a large vesti

ping.

bule leading to the auditorium

with a raised

stage at one end.
On the second floor,

the weavingrooms for preliminary

courses (grundlehre),a large lecture room. The bridgeroom,

conectingbuildings I and 2 joins this floor.
On the third floor, the wall-painting

work

shop, metal workshop, and two lecture halls

ered with lacquered
Drainagebuilding.

theabove, cov

burlap and a cement top

by cast iron pipes inside theExterior finish of cement stucco, painted with mineral paints.
The interior decoration
was executedof the entire

by the wall-painting

building
workshop,the design and execution of all lighting

fixturesby the metal workshop. The tubular

steel fur

niture of the assembly hall, dining

room andstudios was executed from designs by Marcel

which can be connected to make a large ex

Breuer. Lettering

hibition hall. This leads to the upper story ofworkshop.

was executed by the printing

On

Decemberaugurated.

4,

1926, theThe inaugural

hibition,
lectures,the new building.
by National
Art

Bauhauswascelebrations

formally

inc ludedinan ex-

motion pictures, as well as a dance in
The inaugural
address was delivered
Director( Reichskunstwart)
Erwin Red-

slob who had beenborn

in Weimar

and who had, fromthe very beginning,
shown great interest in the Bauhaus.
The reopeningof the Bauhaus under more prosperous
conditions
was regarded
as a great cultural
event andbrought more than 1500 visitors to Dessau. Two thousand
attendeda Bauhaus ball that evening.
Sixty press representatives
were present
opening
Reports

in 1925.
in the press indicatedderstoodthat the interior

at the Bauhausthat only a few critics

had been

designed

mainlyunby

the workshops themselves.
Most of them believed
it hadbeen designedby the architects
and only executedbythe workshops.

^J /////m:
Walter Gropius: Dessau
Bauhaus. Staircase.
1925-1926

Walter Gropius. Dessau
Bauhaus. Corner of theworkshop wing, bridge
and technical school
beyond. 1925-1926

Walter Gropius: Dessau
Bauhaus. Night view.
1925-1926

Walter Gropius: Dessau
Bauhaus. Office of the
Director. 1925-1926
J

ma

Walter Gropius: Dessau
Bauhaus. Dining room.
View toward stage end.
1925-1926

Walter Gropius: Dessau
Bauhaus. View from thestaircase toward theworkshops. 1925-1926

Life at the Bauhaus
in Dessau

Room
wing

in the studioWalter Gropius: Dessau
Bauhaus. View of students'
studio building fromsoutheast. 1925-1926

Walter Gropius: Dessau
Bauhaus. Balconies of thestudents' studio building.
1925-1926

Walter Gropius: Masters'houses, Dessau. 1925-1926

A few hundred yards from the main Bauhaus building
were three double houses and one single house built by
the town of Dessau for the Bauhaus masters. The interiors
were designed and executed by the Bauhaus workshops.

Walter Gropius: View ofmasters' houses, Dessau.
1925-1926

Walter Gropius: Director'shouse, Dessau. 1925-1926

Walter Gropius: Studioin a master's house,
Dessau. 1926

Walter Gropius: Livingroom in master's house,
Dessau. 1926

Walter

Gropius:

City

Employment
Office,Dessau. Interior view.
1929

Walter
Gropius:ployment
Office,View

showing

entrances
vocationalIn

mid-September,standardized

1926,

units were

new housing
projectfor
Gropius
was the architect.
316 houses, whichworkshops.

were

60

radiatingfor various
groups. 1929

one-family

begunCity Em
Dessau.

in Torten,housesusing

as partof athe city of Dessau. Walter
By 1928 he had completed

partlyfurnishedby the Bauhaus

Walter

Gropius:

Torten,a community

workers' houses.
view. 1926

Walter

Gropius:Dessauof

GeneralDessau-Torten.
Structuralschemeof typicalunits. 1926

Walter Gropius: City
Employment Office,Dessau. 1929

Anonymous: "Minimal
dwelling"•c^ur-

Walter Gropius: Dessau
Torten. Site plan. 1926

Marcel Breuer: Bambos
Houses. A project to house
five Bauhaus masters. Twolarge rooms, separated aswell as connected by theentrance hall and the
kitchenandbathroom
units are planned with aneye to the dual phases offamilylife (husband —wife; parents — children;day — night). A variationof the plan below includes
a studio unit. An attempt
was made to depart fromthe rigid horizontal— vertical composition preva
lent in modern architec
ture. The saw-tooth designof the roofs allows forclerestory windows, thusincreasing
sunlight andadding interest to the interior design. 1927

ARCHITECTURE
DEPARTMENT
Specialists in Construction, Statics and Descriptive
Geometry were appointed to the staff in Dessau inorder to widen the scope of the architectural training.
In 1927 Gropius succeeded in bringing the Swiss Hannes
Meyer to the Bauhaus as instructor in Architecture.
Hannes Meyer became head of the Architecture De
partment and, after Gropius left in 1928, Director of theentire Bauhaus for a short period. The pedagogic pro
cedure followed in the architectural courses, as in allothers, was the inductive method, which enables thepupil to form conclusions on the basis of his own ob
servation and experience. Some of the points of Gropius'program were never realized, however, because of theshortage of funds.

HANNES

MEYER, 1928mm

Hans Witwer:
House forDr. Nolden.
Mayen.
1928

MarcelBreuer:Plan andisometric
drawingof smallmetal house designedforprefabrication.
1925

Hannes Meyer: Trade
Union School, Bernau.
Isometric view. 1928

PRELIMINARY
COURSE:ALBERS

In order to insure first-hand,edge of the material

manualknowl

we restrict the use of tools.

As the course advances the possibilities in theuse of various materials as well as their limita
tions are gradually discovered. The most fa
miliar methods of using them are summarized;
and since they are alreadythe time being forbidden.

in use they are for
For example:

paper,

in handicraft and industry, is generally usedlying flat; the edge is rarely utilized. For thisreason we try paper standing upright, or evenas a building
plicated

JOSEF ALBERS, 1926

material;

folding;

we reinforce it by com

we use both sides; we emphasize the edge. Paper is usually pasted: insteadof pasting it we try to tie it, to pin it, to sew it,-y \to rivet it. In other words, we fasten it in a mul
titude of different

ways. At the same time we

CONCERNING
FUNDAMENTALDESIGN learn by experience its properties of flexibility
by JOSEFALBERS
and rigidity, and its potentialities in tension andcompression. Then, finally, after having tried all
Learning through experiment

116

Economy of form depends on function andmaterial. The study of the material must, nat
urally,precedethe investigationof function.

Therefore our studies of form begin with studies
of materials.
Industrial

methods of treating

raw materials

represent the results of a long technologicalvelopment. Technical education,
consisted chiefly in the teachingprocesses.

detherefore, hasof establishedother methods of fastening we may, of course,
paste it.
Our aim is not so much to work differently
to work without

copyingor repeatingasothers.

We try to experiment, to train ourselves in "constructive thinking."
Constructions

To increase our independence of the tradi
tional use of materials we solve certain given
problems in technique and form by making
original

constructions

out of a great varietyofIf such training is given alone, it hinders cre
ation and invention.

materials; out of corrugatedpaper and wire
netting, for instance, or with match-boxes, pho

The learning and application of establishedmethods of manufacturing develop discernment

nograph needles and razor blades. These con
structions must demonstrate the qualities andand skill, but hardly creative

potentialities.

to constructinventively

throughobservation

is developed— at least in

the beginning

and

The

ability— by undisturbed,

to learn

uninfluenced

and unprejudiced

experiment,

in other words,

by a free handlingcal aims.

of materials

without practi

To experimentto produce:is at first more valuable

free play in the beginning

than
devel

ops courage.

Therefore,

we do not begin witha theoreticalthe material.

introduction;...

we start directly withpossibilitiesof the materials

the technical requirements
ing of the problem.
Sometimes

used by fulfilling

set forth in the word

the results of these experiments

represent innovations in the application or treat
ment of material. But even when we evolve
methods which are alreadyin use, we have ar

rived at them independently,

through direct ex

perience

and they are our own because they

have been re-discovered

rather than taught.

We know that this learning

throughexperiment takes more time, entails detours and in-Study in plastic use of
paper.
Cut without
waste
from one piece of paper.
The twistingis automatic
result of lifting
stretching

Exerciseorin transformation

on one plane

G.

Hassenpflug:

Study

in

plastic use of paper.
Cut
without waste from one
sheet of paper. 4 feet highmmmmwmmmmmm

MargritFischer:materials
ilar andcombiningsim
different
textures

Study

in

directions;but no beginning

ward. Consciously

can be straightfor

roundabout

ways and con

trolled mistakes sharpen criticism
a desire for improvement. . .
As the proportionand promoteof effort to achievementisa measure of the result, an essential point in our
teaching

is economy.

Economy is the sense of

thriftiness in labor and material

and in the best

possible use of them to achieve the effect thatis desired.
Economy of labor is as importantof material.

as economy

It is fostered by the recognitionofquick and easy methods, by the constant use of
ready-madeand easily procuredmeans, thatis to say, by the correct choice of tools, by theuse of ingenious

substitutes for missing imple

ments, by the combination
or by restrictingof several processes

oneself to a single implement.

Learning in this way, with emphasis on technical and economical
siderations

rather than esthetic con

makes clear the difference

betweenthe static and the dynamic properties of materials. It shows that the inherent characteristics
of a material

determine

the way in which it is

to be used. It trains the student in constructive
thinking. It encourages the interchangeof experience and the understanding of the basic lawsof form and their contemporary interpretation.
It counteracts the exaggeration
ism without hampering individualof individual
development.

TextureExperimentwith surface qualities

is anothermethod for the study of form and the develop
ment of individual

sensibility. These exercises intextures alternatewith the "construction"ies describedwith the inner qualities of the material,
its appearance.

stud

above. They are not concerned
but with

Just as one color influences another by its value, hue and intensity, so surface
qualities,

both tactile

and optical,

can be related.
We classify the appearance
a material

which we differentiate
of surfaceof the surface ofas to structure, facture and texture,
carefully. These qualities

can be combinedand graduatedsomewhat as colors are in painting.

The syste-Werner Feist: Construction. Matchboxes

Studies in plastic use oftin. Transformation of acone by cutting, bending,stretching and compress
ing. This sort of exercise
replaced final examina
tions

Study in plastic use ofpaper
Study in plastic use of
paper. Curved folds/ /////
Study in plastic use of
paper. Cut without wastefrom one sheet of paper.

First attempts to use cardboard plastically

4 feet highStudy in plastic use ofpapermatic arrangement of surface qualities in scales
and series makes one sensitive to the minutest
differences

and the subtlest transitionsin thetactile qualities of surfaces, such as hard to soft,
smooth to rough, warm to cold, straight-edged
to shapeless, polished to mat; also in the visualqualities

of surfaces such as wide-meshednarrow-meshed;
and clouded.*Throughtransparent

discussion

andand opaque; clearof the results obtained

from the study of the problems of materials, we
acquire*exact observationand new vision. We

learn which formal qualities

are importantday:

free or measured

harmonyrhythm,or balance,geometric

symmetryor arithmetricor asymmetry,toproportion,

central or peripheralemphasis. We discover what chiefly interests us:complicatedor elementary

form, mysticism or

science, beauty or intelligence.
To summarize briefly:

the inductive

methodof instruction proposed here has as its goal selfdiscipline and responsibility toward ourselves,
towardthe material

and towardhelps the student, in choosing

the work. It

his vocation,torecognize which field of work is closest to him.
It develops
form.

flexibility.

It leads to economical

We must, as students and teachers, learn fromeach other continually, in stimulating competi
tion. Otherwise
poor business.

teaching

is a sour bread and a(from "Werklicher

Formunterricht,"

published in Bibl. no. 30, 1928, nos. 2-3)
* "Structure"
revealrefersto those

how the raw material

the grainof wood"Facture"refersqualities

or the composite
to thoseof surface

grows or is formed,
qualities

whichsuch as:structureof granite.

of surface

which

re

veal how the raw material
has been treated technically,such as the hammeredor polished surface of metal, or
the

wavy

surfaceof corrugatedpaper.

"Texture"is ageneral term which refers to both "structure"and "facture," but only if both are present. For instance, the "texture"of polishedwood(grain)and the "facture"These

surfacequalities

revealsboth(polishing).
can

the

be perceived"structure"
usuallybysight and often by both sight and touch. Examples:
structure of highly polished wood can be perceived

theby

eye but not by touch;canthe factureof a printed

page

be perceived
by sensitive fingertips
but, of course, farmore easily by the eyes; the texture of a carpet is eas
ily perceived
by both hand and eye.

Exhibition of a student's
first semester work. These
are chiefly studies in theproperties of wire. 1927

Study in plastic use of
paper. 1926

..a,
i

.. •
' J&Zt*gan-t'Ml'ii'r
:

••••-

1

.

1

*

Study in illusory three
dimensions
Studies in plastic use of
paper. Transformation ofa cylinder through cutting
and bending/ m/////>SAFFORD
I.NGEBORC
WWK

Study of three dimensions,actual and illusory

••' M
^

Wnc««J posdeBK . I !E

-~r>

.D2C7
7.

.I

5

•

LOUIS
ASCHENFELI

ij

r" ?)

enaSi. • .
M. DNIKO-T'
Music. Art:•

TheAm,

c.CA.MlLLO\„-

IERKASSKALTIIOI'S

Study in optical illusion.
Flat wire netting arranged
in one planemun;

REELANf

friJsh"'™" .

IXwotii. (**&»<-i

sjjTi" '' "iR'-CHEMET*?

blasterClai*Study in optical illusion.
Flat wire netting

G. Hassenpflug: Study inrelationship between
colors and forms. Inverse
use of colors and forms.
1929

Above George Grosz; be
low P. Toli ner: Stud ies in
optical illusion. Threedimensional effects
achieved by repetition of
two-dimensional elements:
circles and parts of circles

G. Hassenpflug: Study inplastic use of glass

Construction. Wooden
sticks fastened together
with razor blades. 9 feethighDetail of construction atright

PRELIMINARY
COURSEMOHOLY-NAGY
THE CONCEPTOF SPACE
by MOHOLY-NAGY
We are all biologicallyequipped

to experience space, just as we are equipped

to experience

can becolors or tones. This capacity

developed through practice and suitable exer
cises. It will, of course, differ in degree in dif
ferent people,
principle

as other capacities

do, but inspace can be experienced

by every

one even in its rich and complex forms.
The way to learn to understand architecture
is to have direct experience of space itself;that is, how you live in it and how you move init. For architectureis the functionallyand emotionally
satisfactoryarrangementof space.
Naturally, just as in every other field, long prep
aration is necessary before one can appreciate
this essential characterof architecture.

Most people, unfortunately, still learn archi
tecture out of books. They learn how to tell the"styles"of the great

how to recognize
capitals,monuments of the past-

DoricRomanesquecolumns,

Corinthianarches, Gothic

rosettes,

etc. But these are only the tags of architecture;
those who learn by the historicalmethod canseem to know a lot when all they have reallylearnedis to classify and date the monumentsof the past. In reality, only a very few ever learn
really to experiencearranged space.

the miracle of esthetically

In general the "educated"
man today is incapable of judging works of architecture in atrue way, for he has no idea of the real effectof pure space arrangement,of the balanceoftense contrary forces, or of the flow of interweaving space.
Today

spatialdesign is an interweaving

shapes; shapes which are ordered
well defined,

if invisible,

space relationships;

shapes which represent the fluctuating
tensions and forces.
Pure space arrangementtion of building
space compositionmaterials.

ofinto certain
play ofis not a mere quesHence

a modernis not a mere combination

J:

y
A

/////
m

Klaus Neumann: Con
struction. 1928

Hinrick Bredendieck:
Suspended construction.
Glass tubes fastened
together with thin wire.
1928/ /////
Marianne Brandt: Study irbalance. 1923

Gerda Marx: Study intexture. Below: An attempt
at graphic transcription.
1928/ /////
Werner Zimmermann:
Construction. Wire andtubes. 1928

of building
differently

stones, not the putting

togetherofshaped blocks and especially not thebuilding of rows of blocks of the same size or ofdifferent

sizes. Building

materials

are only ameans, to be used as far as possible in express
ing the artistic relations of created and divided
space. The primarymeans for the arrangementof space is still space itself and the laws of spacecondition

all esthetic creation in architecture.

That is, architecture will be understood, not
as a complex of inner spaces, not merely as ashelter from the cold and from danger, nor as afixed enclosure, as an unalterable arrangementof rooms, but as an organic component in liv
ing, as a governable

creation for mastery of life.
(Adaptedfrom Bibl. no. 29)

/ w:
/////

^

Above Lothar Lang; below
Siegfried
Griesenschlag:
StudiesVin texture.

1927

(////

Construction.
wood

Wire

and

SCOPE

OF

THE

BAUHAUSTRAINING

Gropius:"What
the Bauhaus preachedin practice
was the com
mon citizenshipof all forms of creative
work, and theirlogicalinterdependence
on one anotherin the modern
world. It wanted to help the formal artist to recover the/ /////
G. Hassenpflug:
illustrating

Bridgevibrationandpressure of various materials. Below: an attempt at
graphictranscription.

1927

fine old sense of design and execution being one and thesame, and make him feel that the drawing-board
ismerely a prelude to the active joy of fashioning.
Build
ing unites both manual and mental workers in a common
task. Therefore
all alike, artist as well as artisan, shouldhave a common
training;and since experimental
andproductive
work are of equal practicalimportance,thebasis of that training
should be broad enough to giveevery kind of talent an equal chance.
As varietiesoftalentcannotbe distinguished
beforethey manifest
themselves,the individual
must be able to discoverhispropersphere of activity
in the course of his own development.
Naturally
the greatmajority
will be absorbed by the building
trades, industry,
etc. But there
will always be a small minorityof outstanding
abilitywhose legitimate
ambitions
it would be folly to circum
scribe. As soon as this elite has finishedits communal
training
it will be free to concentrateon individual
work,
contemporary
problems,
or that inestimably
useful spec
ulative research to which humanity owes the sort of val
ues stockbrokers
call 'futures.' And since all these com
manding
brains will have been through the same indus
trial mill they will know, not only how to make industry/ /////A

W

Georgetion.

Grosz:

1924

Construc

adopt their improvements
and inventions,
to make the machine the vehicle of their( frombut also
ideas."

how

Bi b I. no. 32 )

FURNITURE
WORKSHOP

A piece of furniture is not an arbitrary
sition: it is a necessary component
vironment.

In itself

impersonal,

compoof our en
it takesonmeaning only from the way it is used or as partof a complete scheme.
A complete scheme is no arbitrary
either but rather the outward
everydaycomposition

expression of ourneeds; it must be able to serve boththose needs which remain constant and thosewhich vary. This variationis possible only if thevery simplest and most straightforward
are used; otherwise changing
new pieces.
Let our dwellinghave

but only the imprint
The architect,dwelling;

pieceswill mean buying

no particular"style,"of the owner's character.

as producer,

creates only half athe man who lives in it, the other half.
Marcel Breuer (from Bibl. no. 15). . . the new interior
128

portrait

should not be a self-of the architect,to fix in advancethe occupant.

nor should it attempt

the personal environmentofAnd so we have furnishings, rooms and build
ings allowing

as much changetranspositions

anddifferent

and as many

combinations

possible. The pieces of furnitureasand even thevery walls of a room have ceased to be mas
sive and monumental,

apparently

and built for eternity.

Instead they are more

openedimmovableout, or, so to speak, drawn

in space.

They hinder neither the movement of the bodynor of the eye. The room is no longer a selfbounded

composition,a closed box, for its dimensions and different
in many ways.

elements can be varied

One may conclude
and practicallythat any object

designed

properly

should "fit"in anyroom in which it is used as would any living
object, like a flower or a human being.
MarcelBreuer (from das neue frankfurt,

1927)

Josef Albers:
armchair
1926

Woodenwith spring

G. Hassenpflug:
woodentable.

back.

Folding
1928/ /////
Marcellar chair.
and arm

Breuer:First tubu

Fabric seat, backrests. 1925

MarcelBreuer: Chair.
Metal tubes and wood
Designed for a dining
room. 1926

MarcelBreuer:chair. 1928

FoldingMarcelBreuer:Piscator

House, Berlin.
room. 1927

DiningMarcelDessau130

Breuer:Bauhaus.

BedroominDirector'shouse.

1926

Marcel Breuer:Standardized
furniture

rnasseinheit

units. 1927

vorderonfichl

3J cm

MarcelBreuer:chairs.

Fabricbackrest.

1926

Walter

Gropius:Tubularseat

andDessauBauhaus Auditorium.
Chairs by Marcel
Breuer.
1926

Walter
Gropius:DessauBauhaus. Auditorium.
Chairs1926

byCarpentry
DessauMarcelworkshop,

Breuer.

1925

19??

<JL
s-

V

A Bauhaus
Author:Operator:Movie

lasting

Life demanding
MarcelBreuerfive years.
its rights.
who recognizes

these rights.

Better and better every year; in the end we will sit on
resilient
air columns,(from Bibl. no. 30, 1926, no. I)

T. Mizutani:

Collapsiblestool. Stretchedfabricseat. Below: Legs without
seat. 1926

Carpentry

workshop:Desk composedof tableand drawer unit. 1928

Carpentry

workshop:Drawerunit for desk.

1928

MarcelBreuer: Dining
room cabinet.
1926

G. Hassenpflug:
Foldingchair. Fabric seat andbackrest.

MarcelBreuer.

table

with tubular

1928

Woodensupports

P. Bucking: Chair.
Plywood seat. 1928

Lotte Gerson:
rocker. 1928

Child's

/HN3MN\/HM
nX

39NHNH0Nk..v^armsiH
After

MarcelBreuer

had completed

the first steel chairat the Bauhaus, the Mannesmann
Works were asked toput steel pipe at our disposal
for further experiments.
The request

was refused

periments were unimportant.
the productionof tubularon the grounds
Today, after
steel furniture

tremendous
proportions.
Itworld,
exercisinga decisive
aspects of interior
design.

that

such

ex

thirteen years,
has taken on

has spreadall over the
influenceon many other

_
31

N3(Bn
SON\M

NimwosN

T>ftS

UBSESSEL

Ineue
ImQBEL

Some pages from catalogs
of factories producing
furnituredesignedat theBauhaus

ARMLEHNSTUHl

MarcelBreuer: Swivel
chair. Steel tubing andplywood

THONETStahlrohrmobel,

During

1925 the work

COOPERATION

shops of the Dessau Bauhaus executedordersforfurniture,lighting
fixtures,anddesigns

the following

in

color

for

firms:

Nierendorf

Gallery,

BerlinNew

Gallery,

Fides,Art

WITH

INDUSTRY

The practicalobjectiveof the Bauhaus workshops— toevolve designs satisfactoryfrom formal
and technicalpoints of view which should then be submitted
to in
—was

pursuedonly after the Bauhaus hadfor furniture,lamps, textile

dustryfor

moved
fabrics,

ware
were

production

were
then

acceptedbyoften visited

manufacturers.
by Bauhaus

King Albert

nicians to simplify and improve the designs. Conversely,
the factories often sent their techniciansto the Bauhaus

Showroomsof the"Abstracts,"

Berlinused andThe factories
designers
whostudiedMuseum,processes

scale

Dresden

Zwickautheon a large

to Dessau. Designs
metal- and glass

cooperated

with

tech

workshops
to keep them informed
about the develop
ment of designs. This was a great
improvementover
the ineffective
dependence
on paperprojects
againstwhich the Bauhaus
of communication

Children'sHome,
Oranienbaum

had rebelled as an inadequate
means
betweendesigners
and industry.

ROYALTIES
Uncle Tom's Cabin,
restaurant,
Berlinandfor a numberofprivate apartments,
including the masters' houses in
Dessau and thehaus building.

new

Bau-

Each

workshopwithindustrial

had
firms

right

to conferindependently

regardingthetechnical

problems,

butcommercial
negotiations
were handled
by the Bauhaus
Corporation.
Whena workshop
considereda design
ready for sale it was turned over to the Business Man
ager of the Corporation
togetherwith all the necessary
drawings
and descriptionsof the processes involved
sothat contracts
could be drawn up.

The income

wasdividedbetweenthe

BauhausCor

porationand the school itself, which paid the designer.
Half the royalty
paid the school was credited
to theBauhaus fund, while the otherfund used to pay for designs

half went to a welfare
which were consideredvaluablebuttime being.

be disposed

which

could

Incomefrom royalties
directionof Mies van
30,000 marks.

Bauhausproducts

Leipzig

SpringGesolei,

Diisseldorf

GermanSociety

KestnerTradeArtrose steadily,
der Rohe, inwere exhibitedof fortheuntil, under the1932 it exceeded

at:

Fair

en's Apparelin various

notof WomandCulture,towns
Society,

Museum,MuseumHanoverBasel( Kunsthalle),

Mannheim
WerkbundThe

Exhibition,

Bavarian

National

Tokio

Museum,the Trade

MuseumofBasel, the Art Museum,
Mannheim,and the Werkbund
Exposition,
Tokio, purchased
Bauhaus products
for their
respective

collections.

135

METAL
WORKSHOP
FROMWINE JUGSTO
LIGHTINGFIXTURES
by MOHOLY-NAGY
When Gropius

appointed

me to take over the

metal workshop he asked me to reorganizeitas a workshop for industrial design. Until my arrival the metal workshop had been a gold andsilverworkshopelaborate

where

jewelry,

made. Changing

wine

coffeejugs, samovars,

services, etc., were

the policy of this workshop in

volved a revolution,for in their pride the gold-and silversmiths avoided

the use of ferrous met

als, nickel and chromium plating and abhorred
the idea of making models for electrical house
hold appliancesor lighting fixtures. It took quitea while to get under way the kind of work which
later made the Bauhaus a leader in designing
for the lighting fixture industry.
I remember the first lighting fixture by K. Jucker,
done before I 923, with devices for pushing andpulling, heavy strips and rods of iron and brass,looking more like a dinosaur than a functional
object.*But even this was a great victory,

it meant a new beginning.
oped

lighting

fixtures introducing

ideas as: the close-fitting
nations of opaquefor

After this we devel
such usefulceiling

cap;

combi

and frosted glass in simple

forms technically determined by the action oflight; securing the globe to the metal chassis;
the use of aluminum,

particularly

etc. All of these were adopted
duction. In addition
mentioned

for reflectors,

for industrial pro

to these innovations may be

one which even today

presents avery useful solution of one lighting

fixture problem, especiallyin localities

wheresettling of dust makes ordinary
cient. This principle

the quicklighting

ineffiinvolves the use of concen

tric glass cylinders to avoid a glare.

From thisoriginated the louvre system of concentric ringsof metal and, recently, of translucent plastics.
The metal workshop also handled* Reproduced, Bibl. no. 8, page 116.

other prob-

<-mDraughting
metal

room

workshop,

Marianne
Egg-boiler.

Brandt:1926

Marianne

Brandt:of theDessauM. Krajewski

andW. Tumpel:

Individualteaset. 1923 -1925

fixture.

FrostedandLighting
plain

glass globe. Chains holdglobe
while electricbulb
is being changed.
1925

Marianne

Brandt:Fishcasserole. Silver-bronze
lined with silver. 1926

Josef Albers:
set. 1925

Marianne
MovableBrandt:wall fixture

withadjustablereflector.

1925

Glass

tea

lems of industrial
hold appliances.
The function

design:utensils and houseof the metal workshop

special one, involving simultaneously
andproduction.

young

apprentices

We

therefore

problems

was aeducation

selectedforfrom which

theuse of materials, tools and machinery

could belearnedand which were at the same time ofpractical

use. During those days there was soconspicuous
objectsa lack of simple

andfunctional

for daily use that even the young ap

prentices were able to produce
dustrial production
which industry
were paid.

models for in(ash trays, tea holders, etc.)

boughtand for which royalties

Marianne Brandt:
Industrially produced
lamp shades. 1926

M. Krajewski: Chromium
and frosted glass lighting
fixture. Hooks supporting
the globe are easilyadjustable. 1925

Marianne
Chromiumglass

Brandt:and frosted

lighting

fixture.

Marianne
fixture,Brandt:Wallc. 1925

1924

Marianne

Brandt:Night

table lamp with adjustable
shade. 1928

m
Metal

workshop,

Marianne

Brandt:DessauMirrorfor shaving or makeup.
Dull aluminumreflector
lit by electric
mirror. 1926

bulb

behindMarianne
fixtureBrandt:Ceiling

Metal workshop, Dessau.v

Marianne Brandt: Spunchromium lighting fixture
for corridors. 1925

M. Brandt and
H. Przyrembel: Adjustableceiling fixture. Aluminum
shade. 1926•

Marianne Brandt:
Lighting fixture for walls
or low ceilings. 1925

BauKauvModf

Dectsenbpiecchiangen Alum.

Metal

workshop:

Adjustable

desk

lamp.

1924

PertdeiPages from

catalogs

factories

manufacturing

lighting

fixturesBauhausdesignsfromof

BsiihaiisModeiw

Anni Albers: Doublewoven wall hanging. Silk.
1925
Anni Albers: Tapestry.
Red and yellow silk. 1927

THE WEAVINGWORKSHOP
by ANNI ALBERS
Any reconstructive

work in a world as chaotic

as post-war Europe had, naturally, to be experi
mental in a very comprehensive

sense. What

had existed had proved to be wrong— even toits foundations.
At the Bauhaus, those starting

to work in

weaving or in any other craft were fortunate tohave had no traditional

training.

It is no easytask to discard conventions, however useless.
Many students had felt the sterility of the art
academies

and

their

too

from life. They believed

great

detachmentthat only manual work

could help them back to solid ground and put
them in touch with the problems of their time.
They began amateurishlyand playfully, but
graduallysomethinggrew

out of their

which looked like a new and independent
Technique was acquired
as a foundation
with materials

as it was needed andfor future

dened by any practicalplaytrend.

attempts.

Unbur

considerations,this playproducedamazing

results, tex

tiles striking in their novelty, their fullness of color
and texture, and possessing often a quite bar
baric beauty.
This freedomof approachseems worth retaining for every novice. Couragetant factor in any creation;is an impor

it can be most active

when knowledge does not impede it at too earlya stage.

The weaving

improvisations

furnished a fundof ideas from which more carefully

considered

compositions

were later derived.

the attentionof the outside world was aroused

Little by little
Weaving class, Dessau

and museums began to buy.
It was a curious revolution when the students
of weaving became concernedwith a practical

purpose. Previously they had been so deeply interested in the problems
and in discoveringof the material

itselfvarious ways of handlingthat they had taken no time for utilitariansiderations.

Now, however,Anni Albers: Woven ruq.
c. 1927itcon

a shift took placefrom free play with forms to logicalcomposi-tion. As a result, more systematic training in themechanics of weaving

was introduced,

as a course in the dyeing

as wellof yarns. The whole

range of possibilities had been freely explored:
concentration on a definite purpose now had adisciplinary effect.
The physical qualities of materials became asubject of interest. Light-reflecting
absorbingmaterials

sire to reachbroughta largeraboutmachine-work:and sound-

were developed.
group

a transition

The deof consumers

from handwork

towork by hand was for the lab

oratory only; work by machine
production.

was for mass

The interest of industry was aroused.
The changing moods of the time affected the
Bauhaus workers and they responded according
to their ability,

helping to create new art forms

and new techniques. The work as a whole was
the result of the joint efforts of a group, each individualbringing

to it his interpretation

mutually accepted
more instinctiveof aidea. Many of the steps werethan conscious and only in retrospect does their meaning become evident.

1927-1928
Anni Albers:
Wall covering. Tan cotton, paper fibreand cellophane

Anni Albers:
Draperyma
terial. Wool and rayon
Anni

Albers:Draperymaterial.
Two shades ofbrown. Cotton and rayon

Anni Albers:
Wall covering. Tan, brown. Cottonand cellophane

Anni

Albers:terial.
Wool

Blue and white.
and rayon

Draperyma

Weaving

workshop,Dessaut. .«*»«*(*4

R.1.4: ,mm

OttiBerger:

KnottedBlack, blue,

red, grayrug.

GunthaCoat

Sharon-Stolzl:material.

GunthaCurtainWool

Sharon-Stolzl:material.

Cellophane

Otti

Berger:cellophane

Textile.

White

and cotton

if? 9v

Lis Volger:
wool

Otti

Berger:black,
yellow.

and

Rug.

Heavy

fine hemp

Rug. White,brilliantSmyrnablues, red,wool andhemp
Anni Albers:
Draperyma
terial. Black and white.
Cotton,

rayon

and

wool

Anni Albers: Wall covering. Cellophaneand cotton

Anni Albers: Knotted rug.
Gray, red, black. Smyrna
wool.

1925

typography
workshopherbert bayer: page layout. bauhaus prospectus,
printed at the bauhaus
workshop. 1925
TiSCfilMfl

LEIBNIZ-

SCBLEMttER
H0I2ELVORVERKAUFBE!KETTNERGEORG5TR3A
k UNDED.LEIBNIZAKA0EMIEG0ETHESra2*

oskar schlemmer: poster.
the friadic ballei.
lithograph. D1ENSTAG
19.FEBRUAR
QUHRI• DIENSTAG
26.FEBRUAROaBUAUHAUSBOCHER
I. moholy-nagy: title
page, neue arbeifen derbaubaus werkstaffen.
1925
NEUE

ARBEITENDERB AU H AU S WE R KST ATTE NKOHLEPAPIER
O

typography
byHerbert
bayer
why should we write and print with two alphabets?

both a large and a small sign are notnecessary to indicate

EIN SPIEL/.F.UC,

one single sound.

A= a
we do not speak a capital

A and a small a.

we need only a single alphabet,
practicallyit gives us

the same result as the mixture

Firms

PAUL

HKNKA.

WEI MAS

37

SPIELYYARENFABRtK

ofupper- and lower-case letters, and at the sametime is less of a burden
school children,on all who write— on

students, stenographers,pro

fessional and business men. it could be writtenoimuch more quickly, especially on the typewriter,r iKOHLEPAPIER

since the shift key would then become unnecessary.

typewriting

could

quicklymasteredand

therefore

typewriters

be

more

would

cheaper because of simpler construction,

be

print

ing would be cheaper, for fonts and type cases
would

be smaller,

so thatprinting

establish

ments would save space and their clients money,
with these common

sense economies

in mindthe bauhaus began in 1925 to abandon

capitalletters and to use small letters exclusively,

thisstep towardandprinting

the rationalizationof writing

met with outraged

protests, especiallybecause in german capital

initials are used for

all nouns,

moreover,the bauhaus had always

used roman or even sans serif letters instead of
the archaic and compltcateti gotfjtc alphabet
customarily employed in german printing, sothat the suppressionof capitals

insult to old injury,

nevertheless the bauhaus

made a thoroughin allalphabeticalits printing,eliminatingbooks, posters, catalogs,
and even calling
dropping

added

fresh

house-cleaning
capitalsfrommagazines, stationery

cards.

capitals

form in english.

would be a less radical

reindeed the use of capitalletters occurs so infrequently

in english in com

parison with german that it is difficult to understand why such a superfluous alphabet
still be consideredtorecallshouldnecessary,

this typographicalbalanceof this volume,

printedwithout

experimenttheto page 221 , will beusing capitalletters.

herbert bayer: cover
design, bauhaus pros
pectus. 1926
I. moholy-nagy: cover
design, magazine
qualitai. 1926

l
:;

M-

:

trf

lit

OFFSETSlLIU

S|BUCH UNDVERBEKUNST

mm
design,1926

150: covermagazine
offset.

herbert1926

bayer:

poster.

anhaltischebn

KUNSTVERE»
johannisstr.

VCANDINSKYOeBURTSTAG

herbertbayer:
poster, printed
bauhaus1926

printing

exhibitionin theshop.

obcdefqhijKl
mnpqrstuvui
herbertbayer:

universal

type, condensedbold,charactersat base show
medium and light weights.

xqzag ddiherberttype,
show
herbertbayer:
basic elements from which the uni
versaltype

is builtup:bayer:

universal

charactersat basebold, medium
andlight weights,
proved, 1928

1925. ima

few arcs, three angles, vertical and horizontal
lines

herbert bayer: research
the developmentof theuniversal type

book

.iu

,

'Uttivr0

Qbcdefqhi
jxlmnopqr
s tuvwxuz
a
dd

nn M
ii n,,..

I. moholy-nagy:
jacket. 1924

y.,-

1

N i ,

151

UU X
u u uuAX X

MONDRIAN

m

IneueHESTALTUNG«|M|lf x.rlu vxv\i|*
IT ill «l:l*

HIUTrt:i'flTI|tl.
josef albers: stencil letters,
design based on threefundamental

shapes.

josef albers:

stencillimoioiT^iu

1925

letters,

basic elements from which
the letters are built up.
1925(iiiMiiilrililii

Criiiiilforiui-nl.»iiil»iii<if'ioii^*

i-iiil iiilu r :l<niinl-f-alexander schawinsky:
poster advertising hats.
1928. executed in italy.
1935

alexander schawinsky:
poster advertising men's
clothing. 1928

Xaniir~-„- V

coursea anonymous:studies incontrast,
given: a crossc anonymous:studies in
illusion of distance andproximity
for purposes
layout and display,b anonymous:studies incontrast,
given: form ofletter T

given:

form

free choiceelementsaof letterd anonymous:composition,ofz.

of additional

K*

©
+
+\

*

u

+

+
T

\T > T,T"""""7Tlsseven bars of equalsize

e anonymous:studies incomposition,
given: nine
squares of equal size

1Mil fil-—X

j"Jifer*

s

Vt t

V:

c

111.1

r/

i
m

/>

p~\.

|
i

-^
f anonymous:studiesthematic
and optic
contrasts

l\

b

—1

in

III

X

5

3
/
studies
given:

*11

/m

^4

SI

\ $

in

photography
no technicaluntil 1929.

photographic
photography,

workshop
was in existence
however,
had a very important influence on all bauhaus work.
it was moholy-nagy
who first encouraged
the bauhaus
to consider
photographic
problems,
his course as wellas his own photographic
work
or exposure without a camera)
to make

their

own

(such as the photogram,stimulated
the students

experiments,

the bauhaus

students,

deeply concernedwith new problems of space relations,
respondedeagerly
to the new artistic
possibilitiesofphotography:
bird's eye and worm's eye view, "negative effects,"
doubleexposureand double
printing,
microphotography
and enlargements,
not only was pho
tographythus considered
as an end in itself, but it was
put to practicaluse in advertisinglayout, posters andtypography,
thus the bauhaus took an active part in thedevelopmentof photographic
art.

applied photography,
by moholy-nagy
the most importantdevelopment

affectingpres

ent day layout is photo-engraving,the mechanical reproduction

in any size,an egyptian
tion

and

of photographs

pictographthe individual

thanks to photography,
through

was the result of tradi

picturesthe camera's

artist'sability;now,

the expression of ideas

is far more exact,

objective

frees the onlooker

presentationof facts

from dependence

on someone else's personal description

and makes him

more apt to form his own opinion,
the inclusion of photography

in poster design

will bring about another vital change,must convey instantaneouslyof an idea,

the greatest possibilities

development

lie in the propergraphic
graphic

a poster

all the high points
for future

use of photomeans and of the different phototechniques: retouching, blanking out,

double printing,distortion,

enlargement,etc.

the two new resources of poster art are:(I)

photography, which offers us a broad and pow
erful means of communication;(2) emphatic
contrast and variations
includingthe bolder

in typographicallayout,use of color.
1923 (from bibl. no. 8)

I. moholy-nagy:
1926

dolls.

I. moholy-nagy:

leda

the swan, photomontage.
1925: studioreflected
in garden
crystal.
1923

and

I. moholy-nagy:
photogram.
1922

florence
henry:
photograph.
1927

lux feininger:
photograph.

herbert1928

werner1928

feist:

thepipe.

bayer:

1928

balcony.

B&T'ON !

anonymous: attention!
photomontage

I. moholy-nagy:
negative print. 1927

i
*3Pde /«t«herbert bayer: photograph for cover of magazine bauhaus. awarded
first prize in the exhibitionof foreign advertising
photography at the art
center, new york, 1931jdie«e»n«Hag<snkl*r«n»ta<tu>TOmaMerner rechn«hg undr n grclft man no- irgendete
sldi «r*ii>iJpfend«i orfetttUsr*®,*«• yvi rattooellem vofjehtn Mnd
und w uit*wv«5rlSa«l«*ro
vermu--* »uf ctn gtckhn

daB tcdca >nateriattep
ng und fal•mobile w«
am die mttj
dclbt die is|<(r'*chaftikh<.

fndalrl
(
k^ *

jnd,
.alll wcrdfn kdnneo. ohmv©j..
_ ncrxtellunfi veriorCA geht, d. h.,
Ihre dsHditunj werdeo In ihrrr ficsamtcrseheimmg ent»pr«d
Mod *rt direr bcwobricr vcrschteden *eio. dagegeo die ein*«lte$le.-uaammendc»e»*l *ind. die gkichcn. dcr typ an »kh tat nidi

exhibitiontechniquein addition
to exhibitions
lowingexhibition
designs
mentioned :herbertbayer,
exhibition
zerbst, berlin,
1927
herbertbayer,
press exposition,at the bauhaus
itself, the fol
by bauhaus
peoplemay beof thetowns

of dessau

andhall of elementarycologne,1928

typography,

atherbert bayer and herman paulik,
ion for exhibition
purposes, ventzki,transportable
1928

pavil

alexander
schawinsky and joost schmidt,
gas and water exhibition,
berlin,1928
waitergropius,marcelberlin,breuer,1929

moholy-nagy,
exhibition

alexanderof housing

moholy-nagy,

waitergropius,bayer,
herbertwerkbundexhibition,
bayer,
moholy-nagy,of thebuildingbuilding
unions(sozialeexhibition,
berlin, 1931

waiter gropius
and alexander
position, berlin,
193 I

junkers

marcelpavilion,schawinsky,

problems
breuer,paris, 1930
waiter gropius,(gagfa),herbertexhibition

baugewerkschaften

schawinsky,

thebuilding),
ex

SCHMUTZ
OEFAHBDITSAU8EBKEIT

BEUOTM
BANKHEITENVOBUNDHE1T

OBEBFAUENNUB OSB Ct v.

UNO .GIPFISCTKCBPER KAMI.
SICK iHBER
EBWEHplM

1ES

lwiii
'W
ii

I

wma^m
: part ofdisplay
for junkers gas
water

heaters,

water
1928

exhibition,

gas andberlinherbert

bayer:

designfor a transportableexhibition pavilion
advertising
agricultural
1928

machinery.

alexander

schawinsky:transparent
displayfor
hot water boilers, gas andwater exhibition,
berlin.
1928

alexander
schawinsky:
plastic health poster inJunkers pavilion,
gas andwater exhibition,
berlin.
1928

heinz

loew andfranz

ehrlich:studiesluminous

advertising.

in
1928

alexander
schawinsky:
health poster in junkers
pavilion,gas and water
exhibition,
berlin.
1928

alexander

schawinsky:

pavilionboilers,

for junkers gas
gas and water

exhibition,
berlin.
executed by the bauhaus
workshops.
1928wall-painting
workshopwall-painting workshop,
dessau. on the walls,
experiments in various
techniques and materials

wallpainting

designs.

1927

nil I

itttl

;

Hi • ? hh f

J'instructionin the workshop

of form,color

training

in actual

1 technicalandinstructionin theory

thoroughpractical

and

m

tftl*
Uiti

:: 11

• :

ifulfil tsuf-ill
if ill i4j;

painting.

composition

lime plaster,and alabasterincludedmaterials,< j :jpainting

groundplaster of paris, gypsum
dust plasters for tempera

plaster,painting;

painting(airbrush)arationof the ground2 studyof all knownof theon plaster,wood

for panelpainting

and»v

M.-tiwsm «i\siii *•;marblespatter

metal;

prep

picturestechniquesof the pastr\/

fresco, casein and mineralpaintstempera,watercolor,
calsomine,encausticoilpaint,

lacquer,

3 fundamental
chemicalmetallic

principles

naturepaintof color

harmony.

of oils, varnishes,lacquers,

dryersandpigments
4 practicaleredapplicationof thein the experimental

5 projects

formodels,plans

6 poster

work

color
and

discovschemes

for

given

architecturalelevations

7 knowledgeof tools,

ing of stencils

and cartoons,tives,

new techniques

workshop

erectionof scaffolding,working

the makdrawings,

perspecmodels

8 taking

dimensions,preparingwall paper production
wasplanned under gropius. actual execution
took place
under hannes meyer and,later, mies van der rohe.
the emphasis
patternbut

was not on
on texture:

estimates,

bookkeeping

solidcolorsand a number

were
used,
of new techniqueswere
the influence

introduced,
on german

manufacturers
wasvery
great; bauhaus wall paper
was widely imitated.

\\\\\\

7777/ rmm

. Ws-m i m ":„ *Vsculpture
workshopparaboloid!| WVN0LHI

f. ehrlich:relief.

sculptured

1928

linearplastic

forms

and

composition
plasticofforms.

primary

1926-1928

comparison,
negative: studyinpositive

andconicalvolumes.

1926-1928

BHMi
forms,

transformationof cylinder
to hyperboloid.
boffomtransformationofline
boloid: primary: comparative
fop

and

circleandtospherehyper

plastic

forms.

1926-1928

stageworkshop

trom a lecturewith stage demonstrations

oskar schlemmer,

deliveredbybefore the friendsof the bauhaus, march 16, 1927, publishedbibb no. 30, 1927, no. 3, pp. 1. 2
in weimar,

where we had no theaterinof ourown, we had to use some one of the local stages
for our productions,now, however, in the newbuilding at dessau we are lucky enough to have
our own theater.
we are interested in interior space treated aspart of the whole compositionof the building,stagecraftwith space andis an art concerned

will become more so in the future,a theater(including both stage and auditorium)

demands

above all an architectonicof space;

everythinghandlingthat happens in it is conditioned

space and related to it.

byform (two-dimensional

and three-dimensional) is an element of space;color and light are elements of form.
light is of great importance,

we are predomi

nantly visual beings and therefore purely visualexperience can give us considerable satisfac
tion. if forms in motion provide mysterious andsurprising

effects throughinvisible

devices, if space is transformedchangingmechanicalwith the help of

forms, colors, lights, then all the requirements of spectacle,eyes," will be fulfilled.

a noble "feast for theif we go so far as to break the narrow con
fines of the stage and extend the drama

to include the building itself, not only the interior
but the building as an architectural whole —an
idea which has especial
the new bauhaus

fascinationin view ofbuilding — we might demon

strate to a hitherto unknown extent the validityof the space-stage, as an idea.
let us consider

plays consisting

only in the

movements of forms, colors and lights,
movement

is purelymechanical,

if theinvolvingnohuman being but the man at the switchboard,
the whole conception

could have the precisionalexander schawinsky:stage set for a
Shakespearean play, theunits can be combined invarious ways, executed atzwickau, 1926
alexander schawinsky:
design for a theater
curtainoskar schlemmer: danceof gestures, danced byschlemmer, kaminsky,
siedoff. 1927

/a m/////
alexander schawinsky:
design for georg kaiser'sfrom morn till midnlqht.
1926
oskar schlemmer:
variations on a mask,
drawings for class in stage
theoryalexander schawinsky:
figures for robbers' balletin two gentlemen ofverona. 1925:v

oskar schlemmer: stiltwalkers. design for aballet, drawings for classin stage theory, c. 1927

T

of a vast automaton

requiring

technical equipment,

modern engineering

produce such equipment;of money.

a tremendous
can

it is only a question

but there is also the question of the extent towhich such equipment
effects obtained,

would be justified by the

how long can a spectator'sinterest be held by rotating,swinging, humming

machinery, even if accompanied
by innumer
able variations in color, form and light?
is entirely mechanized

drama

to be thoughtof as an independent

genre, can it dispensewith man except as a perfect mechanic andinventor? *
since

at

equipped

presentnosuchmechanicallystage exists, and since our own exper

imental stage until now has had even less equip
ment than the regular theaters, the human actor
continues to be an essential element of dramafor us.
and he will remain so as long as there is astage,

he is the antithesis of the rationallycon

structed world of form, color and light; he is thevessel of the unknown, the immediate,
cendental—anorganismwell as a phenomenon

the transof flesh and blood asexisting within the limitsof time and space, he is the creatorof an important element of drama,
important— speech.

perhapsthe most

we admitthat we have cautiously

avoidedthis problem

so far, not because

it does notconcern us, but because we are well aware ofits significanceand want to master it slowly,

for the time being

we are satisfied

with themute play of gesture and movement, with pan
tomime, but firmly believe that some day weshall develop speech quite naturally from them,
we want to understandwords, not as literature,but in an elementarysense, as an event, as

though they were heard for the first time.
*1 am speaking of completely independent mechanicalautomata, not of the mechanization and technical reno
vation of stage equipment —the theater of steel, concrete and glass with rotating stage, film projections,etc. —which is meant to serve as a background for per
formances by human actors.

\
j

/////

heinz loew:

modelmechanicalstage set. 1927

of aoskar schlemmer:
spiralfigure from the triadic

balletj((///light play, experimentwith different
ways ofusing light/ /////
alexander
preliminary
space

schawinsky:
sketch for atheater.

1926

alexander
stage

schawinsky:

set. 1926

alexander
schawinsky:
sketch, produced
by stage
class

lii,

oskar schlemmer: box
play, danced by siedoffoskar schlemmer:
musical clown, danced byandreas weininger

andreas weininger:
design for a sphericaltheater, the spectators sit
along the interior surfaceof the globe; eachoverlooks the wholeinterior, is drawn toward
the center and is,therefore, in a new
psychological, optical andacoustical relationship to
the wholeoskar schlemmer:
dance, produced
class

oskar

wives'
by stageschlemmer:

drawingsof the human
body, drawings
for classin stage theory

0S.:lypi5ierungu. Model! ierung der Grundf or men.GiefoBfo

169

alexander

schawinsky:

sketch, dancedbyschawinsky,
kreibig ,schlemmer.
produced
stage

by

class

stage class rehearsingon
the bauhaus roof, black
figure in center: oskar
schlemmer/ /////
oskar schlemmer:
delineationof space byhuman figure, danced bysiedoff.

c. 1927

kandinsky's
courseanalyticaldrawing

the following
1 drawing

first stage:
the students beganwith still-life compositions,and their first analytical
1 reduction

problems were:of the entire composition

must be added:
instruction

at the bauhaus is train

ing in observation,

in exact seeing and exact

rendering,

not of the external appearance

an object, but of its constructional

to a simof their logicalforces or tensions which areple, major form, to be carefully drawn within

to be discovered

certain limits to be determined

and in the logical arrangementby the student

handling

himself.
2 distinguishing

theof plane surfaces is preliminary

toseparately

in my other courses, and which in my opinion
should be the method used in all other fields.

position.
3 renderingof the entire

simplified

composition(from bibl. no. 30)

in aline-drawing.

transition

to the second stage of instruction, briefly described
1 indication

as follows:of the iensions discovered

composition— rendered
2 accentuation
3 indication

tensions throughlines or the use of color.

of the constructional

focal or startingin drawing

in thein line-drawing.

of the principal

the use of broader

net with its

points (see the dotted

opposite;the objects

are a saw, a grindstonelines

suggested

and a pail).

third stage:
1 the objects are considered
tensions; the composition

solely as energyis reduced

to arrangements of lines.
2 different

themselvesof them,in relation to the whole com

forms of sin

gle parts of the still-life, studied

gradualin the objects

the handling of space.
2 drawing instruction is based upon the method

the characteristic

and afterwardsofelements,

possibilities

vious andhiddenof the composition:
constructionob(see draw

ing opposite).
3 exercises in the most drastic simplification of
the whole and of the individual tensions— concise, exact expression.
subjects and methods
very generally

can be describedin these few words,

only

in many

cases there are more possibilities to be consid
ered than have been indicatedhere,

for instance, the main theme of a composition

canbe exploredparin relation to the most varied

tial tensions, such as the significanceparts of the composition,
shape, character,etc.

their weight,of single
center,first stage:
single,combination

similar

top, essential
the compositionofobjects

intoschemeofsecondstage:

objects

recognizable(saw,

grindstone,pail),
tensions indicatedmainin colors, principal
weights
broad lines; focal point

inofthe constructional
dotted lines

net

in

schemeofabove: essential
the composition

third

stage:

left: objects completelytranslated
into energy
tensions,
indicated
above:

main construction
by dotted
lines.
scheme.

ikwm.
paul klee: hall c.
oil on canvas. 1920.
courtesy buchholz gallery

172

paul klee speaks:
we constructand constructand yet intuition

ing to it have been open,

what had alreadystill has its uses, without it we can do a lot, but

been done for music by the end of the eighteenth

not everything,century has at last been begun for the pictorialdifferent

one may work a long time, do

things, many things, important

things,but not everything.
when intuition

is joined

to exact

research

it

arts,

and physics furnishedthemeans in the form of rules to be followed

mathematics

andto be broken,

in the beginningspeeds the progress of exact research,

exactito be concerned

tude, winged

superegardrior.

by intuition,is temporarily

but exact research being exact research,

it can get along, if tempo is disregarded,out intuition,
principle

with

it can get along as a matter ofin mechanics characterize

ing directed

toward the essential and the func

tional, in contrast to the apparent,
to look behindcal, it can construct itself,

it can boldly bridgeof things,

preserve an ordered

attitudein chaos,art, too, has been given sufficient room for exact
investigation,and for some time the gates leadstudies in algebra,

in geometry,it can remain logi
it canwith the functions and to dis

the finished form,

without intuition,

the distance from one thing to another,

it is wholesome

the fagade,learns to dig

the underof the visible,

down, to uncover,cause, to analyze.

one learns

to grasp the root

one learns to recognize

currents, the antecedents

teach

one

to find the(from bibl.

14)

administration
what authorities had to be consulted by the director
when it was necessary to make important decisions
affecting the internal conditions or external relationsof the bauhaus?
at weimar, the whole institute, including the director,
was under the Jurisdiction of the ministry of public edu
cation; at dessau, this authority was vested in the munici
pal council.
the annual budget varied between 130,000 and 200,000
marks, atweimar it was prepared by the minister of public
education and submitted to the thuringian landtag; at
dessau the budget was prepared by the municipal council and submitted to the sfadtparlament.
in the bau
haus itself, the director had far-reaching powers, he
was given "full charge of the creative and administra
tive activities of the bauhaus."in the early years, thefaculty had a nominal right to vote on vital decisions,in the belief that problems affecting creative work cannnever be solved by a majority, the right to vote was dis
carded in subsequent statutes; in fact, decisions by majority vote were dropped altogether,full responsibility
was granted to the director by a unanimous vote,the statutes provided, however, that all decisions had
to be preceded by discussion, all instructors and thestudent representatives had the right to participate inthese discussions, the formal consultants were:
1. for the sale of models to industrial firms: the busi
ness manager (syndikus) who was in charge of the com
mercial activities of the bauhaus and later of the bau
haus corporation.
2. for problems of internal organization and teaching:
the bauhaus council, made up of masters teaching prob
lems of form and technical instructors in the workshops(the latter were included only at weimar), the business
manager, and the student representatives.

173

iTHE.DIET OF THUERINGEN
THETOWNCOUNCIL DESSAVMUNICIPAL COUNCILDESSAUDIRECTORBAUHAUSTRADE
COUNCILBAUHAUSCOUNCILMASTERSSTUDENTCOUNCILSYNDICINDUSTRYdiscussion

in the bauhaus;

the basic conception
ficationsthat it gave
demandingsolution,

influenceof the student

bodyof the bauhaus had so many rami
rise to a vast number of problems
this led to spirited
discussions
inthe early years and even to violent
controversies,
notonly among
facultymembers,
but between
the faculty
and the student body (see klee's letter, righf).
as theyears passed, the educational
system and its organiza
tion were frequently
revised as a result of these discus
sions.
gropiusintendedthat the process of learning
should merge imperceptibly
into a communal
task (asi welcome the fact that forces so diversely
inspiredareworking together at our bauhaus.
i approveof the con

the first manifesto
put it, "the school is the servant of
the workshop;
and the day will come when the school

flict between
product.

will be absorbed
into the workshop"),in accordancewith these views, the students were permitted
to take anactive part in shaping the policies of the bauhaus.
thea real obstacle.
criticalestimates

criticalwere challenged
to formulate
practical
suggestions for improvement,
this gave each student a feeling of responsibility
for the work as a whole, and madeit easier to clarify
the problems
agitatingeveryone,negativejudgmenton another's
work can have no sig
nificance
for the work as a whole.
in general,
there is no right nor wrong, but the work
lives and develops
through the play of opposing
forcesthere can be no doubt thatcreative
activity
contributed
subsequent
successes.

just as in nature
tively in the long

this aspect of the students'
largely
to the institution's

paul

klee:

to attackletterto the facultythemcouncil

if its effectan obstacleis evident

is a good

are

good
run.

alwaysandbadin thefinal

test of strength,

if it issubjective

thus

work

and

a

togetherproduc(signed)paul klee
december,1921

in the course of time it became
possibleto give thestudent
body more and more direct
influencein theaffairs of the whole organization,
originally
there wasa student council which was consulted from time to timeby the director,
later on, the students were granted
theright to send one delegate
from each workshop
to thefacultycouncilwhen vital decisions
were to be made,still later, in dessau, one or two student representatives

fromattendedcussion:allmeetingsof the faculty

council.

amanuscript

used

for

a

bauhauseveningdiseven if i try, i see no chaos in our time,that somepainters
can't make up their minds whether
to paint
naturalistically,
abstractly
or not at all does not meanchaos.
our needs are clear enough;the possibilities
are limited only by ourselves,the main thing is to lend a handwhere somethingneeded is lacking,whateverforces we can command
minded economicalsolution. . . .

in1926 thefirsthaus: zeitschrift
by gropius andissue of the bauhaus

and to move withtowarda singlemarcel breuer

periodical,

bau

fur gestaltung,was published,editedmoholy-nagy,with the collaborationol

all members of the bauhaus.
publication
was continued
for several years, after 1928 under varying
editorship.

extra-curricular
activities

the bauhaus band

I. moholy-nagy: walldisplay for a bauhaus
festival, 1925

FUBDIE

bildende
KUNST

alexander schawinsky:
birthday greetingsmontage from gilt album,
1928

costumes for a bauhaus
party

beach life

mwm

mmmm •: visual report of a trip to jugoslavia
montage. 1926

a bauhaus costume party

DAS WEISSE

FEST
photographby lux feininger

AiJJ.
I

herbert bayer: invitation
to the white festival, theme:
white checked, dotted andstriped. 1925

seinen5teg: page froma birthday album, montage of pictures and news
paper clippings. 1925

DosHnpfftfjiebeti,
Dfig

bebeulef.

tMnten lteQ«ne)e IV_^nde^erStaubf{Kakthew! .rladchensiheu'Rrungeraanw!

iff ea ottTe^eif

aiTneuiite und JrSBtfiSetTsafioi

otti berger: gingerbread
figure baked for a birth
day party___

herbert

bayer:

birthdaygift to waiter
gropius.
screen imprinted
with kissesfrom students
1926

and

nasen
herzens
fast

masters.

der bauhauskapeile

tmend«r d©yHseH»*g«seffeehaft.

h2t

herbertbayer:

invitation

to the beard,
heart festival,

nose andprintedatthe bauhaus
1928

workshop.

alexanderschawinsky:

ter for the beard,
heart

festival.

posnose and1928

painting,sculpture,graphic
arts,1919-1928"iconoclasts"—the"housewithout

pictures"the oppositionof the bauhaus
to conventionalandacademic
ideas led to the charge of "iconoclasm."forinstance,
at one period
the bauhaus
reactedviolently
against the custom of overloading
the walls of a housewith all kinds of pictures,
the bauhaus
felt that the"wall"
itself had to be rediscovered
and its treatment
experimented
with in many ways, so that interest could
be centeredon the mural or relief which would exist
as an integral
featureof the room
ratherthan onframedpictureswhich
were too often casual
after
thoughts.
the "housewithout
pictures"
(haus
ohne
bilder)was merely the short-lived
battle cry of a few
extremists
for, as a matterof fact, the bauhaus
took
the keenest interest in painting
and sculpture,otherwise it would hardly
have invited
world-famous
artists
to join its faculty,
nor would it have included
so many
paintings
in its exhibitions,from the very beginning
the student body included
a number of artists who wereallowed180

paul klee:watercolor.
courtesy

outdoor1923.

sport,

j. b. neumanntodevotethemselves

exclusivelytopainting.

paul

Idee: arcticthaw,

oil on cardboard.
1920.
courtesy nierendorf
gallerylyonel feininger:
nieder-reissen.
oil on canvas. 1924

lyonel feininger:
village.
watercolor. 1923

lyonel feininger: gothen.
oil on canvas. 1919.
courtesy nierendorf gallery

mMwassily

kandinsky:

graduatedblack,

oil on canvas.
1927.
courtesy j. b. neumannwassily kandinsky:
composition
307 modified,oil on composition
courtesy

board.

1925.
nierendorf

wassily

kandinsky:

coloredwoodcut.

gallery

1922

wassilykandinsky:

oil on canvas.
courtesy

serene,1924.

j. b. neumann

johannes itten: cubic
composition. 1919

k. schwerdtfeger: relief,
glass and plaster. 1922

k. schwerdtfeger: torso,
tyrolean marble. 1922

oskar schlemmer
free sculpture,
plaster. 1923

BflHBn.
1gerhard marcks:
the youth,
plaster. 1922-1923

oskar schlemmer:
architectonic relief. 1923
oskar schlemmer:
figure klithograph. 1921.
(from bibl. no. 3a )oskar schlemmer:
architectonic relief. 1923

weimar bauhaus.
sculpture
workshopk. schwerdtfeger:
architectural
sandstone

sculpture,gerhard

marcks:mother cat.
woodcut.
1922.
courtesy

j. b. neumanngerhardmarckscain and abel.
woodcut.
1923

gerhard marcks:
the owl.
woodcut. 1921.
(from bibl. no. 3a)friedl dicker:
fantastic animals,
lithograph. 1922

oskar.
2

oskar

schlemmer:

figure hlithograph.

1921.

(from

no. 3a)bibl.

schlemmer:

dancer, oil on canvas,c. 1923oskar

schlemmer:

the bauhaus stairs,
oil on canvas, c. 1929.
courtesy philip Johnson

I. moholy-nagy:
constructiona II.
temperaon canvas.

1924

I. moholy-nagy:
construction.
temperaon canvas.

1926

: stilllife,
colored lithograph.

paul citroen:
after braque.
etching. 1923

1926

195
herbert bayer: the five,watercolor. 1922

I. moholy-nagy:
construction b 100.
tempera on canvas. 1928

josef albers:
picture,fragmentsof coloredglass bottles. 192 I

josef albers:
glass picture,singlejosef albers:lattice picture,
stained glass.

1921

pane.

1926

\nnn tint »ImuuuIJ
mnirtti
Pffffin

rctWrjjS
Tfrrr rrr

agvgff?j

niinT
ffrm
Him
paul citroen: metropolis,montage. 192 I

rudolf baschant:composition,
etching. 1922:

oskar schlemmer:
variation.
red and black ink. 1924

photograph from magazine showing crowd andloudspeaker, the plates on
this and the opposite pageare individual variations
on this photograph, afteran idea of moholy-nagy,
which were made up into
a portfolio as a birthday
gift to waiter gropius

paul klee: variation,
tempera. 1924

mi
: variation,
pencil and wash. 1924

lyonel feininger:
variation.
watercolor and ink. 1924

I. moholy-nagy:
variation.
pencil and wash. 1924

wassily kandinsky:
variation.
watercolor and ink. 1924

t

200

ludwig hirschfeld-mack:
composition, watercolor.
1922

werner drewes:
abstraction, pencil
1927-1928albert1927

braun:

watercolor.

margritfischer:composition,
monotype,
1928

L schwerdtfeger: view,
etching. 1923
fritz kuhr: watercolor.
1928

waiter gropius:monument, weimar.
concrete. 1921

herbert bayer:
compositionin space,
tempera.
1926--

herbert bayer:
abstraction.
tempera and watercolor.
1928

alexanderschawinksy:suspendedarchitecture,tempera.
1927

alexander
tempera.

schawinksy
1926

administrativechanges,1928
early in 1928, gropius decided to leave the bauhaus.
heissued this public statement:"i intend to leave the present scene of my activities,
in order to exert my powers
more freely in a sphere where they will not be cramped
byofficial

which

dutiesandi foundedconsiderations,

nine

years

lished.
receives

this is indicatedand the steadystudents,

it is therefore

ago,

the

is nowby the growing
increasein themy conviction

bauhaus,firmlyestab

recognition
itnumber of its(especiallysince

my public duties are steadily
becoming
more onerous)that the time has now come for me to turn over the direc
tionof the bauhaus

to co-workers

to whomi amunitedby close personal ties and common interests . . ."gropiusrecommended
as his successor the swiss archi
tect,hannesmeyer,

the architecturetion was ratified
the departure

who was at thatof gropius

coincidedbayer and moholy-nagy.
hannes meyer continued
when

conflicttime

in chargeofdepartment
at the bauhaus.
his selec
by the municipal
council of dessau.

with

the

with

as director
municipal

thatof breuer,

until

june,

authorities

led

1930,
to

his

resignation,
the municipal
counciltried to persuadegropius to take charge once more, but instead he sug
gested the well-known
berlin architect,ludwigder rohe.
this suggestion
was followed
andmies vanmies vander rohe served as directorof the bauhaus
until theschool was closed by the nationalsocialist
regimeinapril,

1933.

at the timeof its closing,

the bauhaus

wasoccupyingtemporaryquarters
in berlin,
where it had
moved
in October,
1932, when the nationalsocialists
took over the governmentof anhalt,of dessau is situated,since april,in which the town
1933, the nationalsocialist

buildingparty

ing school

has used the bauhaus

for politicalnotwithstanding
laborators,

individual

bauhausin appearance,
not the result

as a train

leaders.
differences

products

had

among

the

a certaincolsimilarity

as may be seen in this book,of following
slavishly
a stylized

this wasesthetic

convention,
sincethat the bauhaus

it was against
just such imitativenessrevolted,
it was the outcomeof aunifiedof art developed

conception

by allthe workers

in common,at the same time, however, it was necessary
to combat
imitators
and unintelligent
admirers
whothought that every unornamented
building
or implement
was derived
from thethreatened
to cheapen
expressly
system,stated:dogma,

bauhaus"style"and who thus
the meaningof bauhaus
work,

the goal of the bauhaus
canon,

recipelong as it does not depend
seek behind changing
forms
the

bauhaus

was thefirst

is not a "style,"or fashion,

it will

live ason form, but continues
the fluidityof life itself,
institution

in the

world

to
with

this anti-academic
trend,
it assumed the responsibilitiesof leadershipin order to assure the victory of its ideas
andto maintainthe development

the vitalityof its own community,of a bauhaus

return to academic
stagnation
preserved
from such a death!

"style"andwouldinertia,
(from

but

mean
may

bibl.

a

it be

no. 27)

spreadof thebauhaus
idea
problems

raisedwere soon eage rly deby the bauhausbated by the public at large,
staff in germany
and abroad,numerous
bauhauslectures by thebooks and ex

hibitions and, later, the magazinebauhaus kept the discussion of these problems alive and safe from the perilsof academicism,
those responsible
andtrainedbauhausmethods began to influencefor other public art schools in germany

bauhausstudents

easilyfoundteaching

positions,the academyof fine arts at breslau, the artsand crafts schools in halle, stettin, hamburgand other
citieshaus.

adoptedthe pedagogicalprinciples
johannes itten founded a successfulof the bau
textile schoolat krefeld, and former bauhaus
members
started cen
ters of fresh activity
in hungary, the netherlands,
Switzerland, esthonia and japan.
the following
bauhauspractice.

pictures

idea

was

show somecarriedonexamples
after

above

of how the1928

waiterinprivategropius:apartment development
the city of berlin, berlinsiemensstadt.

for

1929

waiter gropius. adler
mobile. 1929-1931

auto

waiter gropius and e. max
well fry: house for bennlevy, london. 1936

below

gropiusschmidt:
hibition

and

joost

display at an exof copperandbrass products, each plateof the spiralis of a dif
ferentmetal,
thewholespiralslowlyrevolves.

1934

klee andkan-

exhibitions in america
the bauhaus

painters,

especiallyfeininger,

dinsky, participatedin many american
ing the I920's, notably
those organizedexhibitions
dur
by the societea,no nyme of new york, under the directionof miss katherine dreier, and the blue four exhibitions
arrangedin new
york

and

on

the

west

coast

by

mrs.

schlemmer
and others of the bauhaus
at the international
theater
exposition,
the bauhaus

was represented

galka

in the machine

bition,new york, 1927, and in an exhibition
printers and typography,
wellesleycollege,small

exhibitions

given

by the harvard

der the direction
ber, 1930-january,

entirely

devotedsocietyscheyer.

theater exhibited
new york, 1926.
age

exhi

of modern1928.

to the bauhaus

for contemporary

were

art,

un

of lincoln kirstein, Cambridge,
decem193 I ; at the john becker gallery,
newyork, january-february,
chicago,march, 1931.

1931;

and

at the

arts

club

of

marcelbreuer:living unitofanapartment
hotel,
werkbundexhibition,paris.
1930

herbert bayer: scheme fordisplayofphotographs,
page of catalog
for werkbund exhibition,paris. 1930

I. moholy-nagy:

marcelbreuer:designs

tubularchairs,c. 1928

exhibitionof bauhaus

work, werkbund

exhibition,paris.

1930

fc

m.

friedlander:

porcelaintea set designed
for hotel
use. executed by the staatliche
porzellantur, berlin

manufac-g.

hassenpflug:

trellisofmetal tubing
with plants
designedfor a flower
show, berlin.
1935

marcelbreuer:a theater.

projectfor1929

marcelbreuer:diningroom of the boroschek
apartment.
1930

marcelbreuer:a hospital.

1929

projectforI. moholy-nagy,
herbertbayer and waiter gropius:display
unions,berlin.

for the buildingbuilding
exhibition,
1929

waitergropius:submitted
for a city
1928

project

in a competition
hall in halle.

iniii'muni

waiterrooms

gropius:socialof an apartment

hotel with adjoining
swim
ming pool and gymnasium,
werkbund1930

exhibition,paris.

herbert
signboard

bayer;

outdooradvertisingamagazine

herbert bayer: comparisonof the structureof the hu
man
body
with
that
of
buildings,
page from thecatalogof "thelife" exhibition,
1935

wonderberlin.

ofherbertthefuncof the eye. pagecatalogof "theof life" exhibition,
1935

from
won
ber

cm
tion
the
der
lin.

bayer:W

max bill: swiss pavilion
the triennale
exhibition,
milan. 1936

at

I.

moholy-nagy:

mobilesculpture,
glass and differ
ent metals, illuminatedtoproducea variety of lighteffects, shown at the werkbund exhibition,paris.
1930

I. moholy-nagy:
aviation
exhibition,
london.
1936

alexander
schawinsky:
cover of a pamphletadvertisingolivetti
typewrit
ers. 1935

herbertbayer
I. moholy-nagy:

anddisplayforthe building
unions, build
ing exhibition,
berlin. 1929

»EOeiTmax bill: swiss pavilion at
the triennale exhibition,
milan. 1936

naum slutzky: lightingtures. 1928-1932

fix

IMSWiiHii

iiiiBiaii
i MlH HiMPUBjMfji
hans volger: designs foretched glass, executed byaugust keil, wiirzburg

naum slutzky: lighting
tures

fix

christian dell: wall fixturefarkas molnar: apartment
house, budapest. 1933

farkas molnar: privatehouse, budapest. 1933

iwao yamawaki: livingroom in the house of thearchitect, tokio

fred forbat: stadium, zehlendorf. 1926

marcel breuer: table,
glass and rubber on asteel frame. 1928

textiles, new techniquesand materials designed
for industrial production
otti berger: carpeting

otti berger: wall coveringotti berger: washable up
holstery material

otti berger: material
upholstery or curtains

foralexander schawinsky:
display at the building
exhibition, berlin. 1931

wilhelm wagenfeld: wine
glasses, executed by thevereinigte lausitzer
glaswerke. c. 1935

marcel breuer an d alfred
roth: apartment houses,
zurich. 1935

marcel breuer and f. r. s.
yorke: pavilion for messrs.
p. e. gane ltd. at royalshow, bristol. 1936

blackmountaincollegein the united states during the past few years, bauhaus
teaching
methods have been introducedby josef albers
and alexanderschawinsky
at black mountain college,
north Carolina;
by moholy-nagy,
bredendieckand kepes
at the new bauhaus in chicago;
by waiter gropius andmarcelbreuerin the departmentof architectureatharvarduniversity

and

by

mies van

der

rohe,

hilbers-

heimer and peterhans in the departmentof architecture
at the armour institute, chicago.
formerbauhausstu
dents are also teachers at the laboratory
school of in
dustrial design in new york and at the southern California
school of design.

above:

elementary

course,josef albers: study inchanging
a given pattern
to produce
new effects in
textureelementary
course, josef
albers: study in corrugatedpaper,
new patterns andlighteffects

weaving
course, anni
albers: don page: rib
weave developed
fromthree elementary
weavesat leftstage studies,alexander
schawinsky:
paper

costumes.

1936

stage studies,alexander
schawinsky:
designs
carriedthe stagefor forms to be
like shields acrossthenewbauhaus,
Chicago
ffjj/ej'festji
director:dcAot/

I. moholy-nagy

photography

coursenathan lerner: study inlight and volume.
1937

preliminary

courser. koppe:

woodcutting•*|« • *
1W• •

rb ••
••
«• •
1.1&
preliminary
woodcutting,machineacquires1938

coursethroughcutting wood
great elasticity.

laboratory
schoolof industrial
design,newyork

seymour wassyng: metal
construction, problem inbalance. 1937//

study in materials andtextures. 1937

victor sklaire: study insurface effects producedby the use of different tools
on wood and metal. 1938

marco vici: metal construction. problem in tension

BIOGRAPHICALNOTESALBERS,

Josef.

rapher,typographer.

Painter,

Studied,Craftsespeciallyphotog892 Berlin, Academy
I892- 893 Paris, Colarossi

1888

Royal

Berlin;andIllustrator

Academyfor German,
FrenchMunich;Americanperiodicals

School,Art

School,Arts

Essen; Art Academy,(Werklehre),

1933-

glass,
Germany,

Bauhaus, Weimar
Taughtcourses

1923-1933

onBorn, Westphalia,

inFundamental

Designandat theDrawing

Lettering

1894-1906 Berlin
1906-1908 Paris,
1913

and furniture

1919-1933Taught

workshopsof Art,Black

Mountain

North
Carolina.
Lectures
Harvard
University

exhibition

College,andSeminars,

1926

1938
Herbert.

tographer.

Typographer,

Born

Haag,

painter,

Austria,of the Blue Rider

designer,

1900;

early

schooling

19 I 7-1919
1919

Served in the AustrianArmy
Linz, studied
architecture
underSchmidt-

1920

hammerDarmstadt,

1921

Emanuel Margold
Bauhaus,
Weimar,under

Kandinsky.

1923-1924

Travelin Italy

1924
1925-1928

Painting studio in Berchtesgaden
Bauhaus, Dessau, teaching
advertising,

1928-1938

out and typography
Berlin, advertising,

Returnedto
New York
Mural

for

exhibited

UnitedMarineinBerlingroup
Dessau;formedin America

States.

NowlivingTransportation

New York World'spho

to paint.

at the Bauhaus, Weimar,
then lived in Halle until 1936
With Klee, Kandinsky and Jawlensky
Blue Four which

1936

BAYER,

gave up illustrating,began
Influenced
by Cubism,
1912
Associatedwith Marc and Klee

Bauhaus in Weimar,
Dessau and Berlin until it was closed in 1933; also taught in glass
Professor

andin

Building,

Fair

in Linz.

220

andwith the architect,
study

of

Born, Amt

wall-painting

1912

Typographyof Dorland

typography,

painting

advertising

agencylay

Marcel.

and industrial

Bauhaus, Weimar
Master at the Bauhaus,

1925
1928-1931

Invented
Traveled

Italy

and

Born

the

FEININGER,
July

Feininger.
1887
1887-1888

KANDINSKY,

his own schooltaught weaving

Herrliberg
in Berlin andat Krefeld

Lives in Amsterdam
where he is continuing
scientificexperimentsin the expressionofindividual
characterthrough color

Lyonel.

Painter,graphic

17, 1871;

studiedmusicartist.

1903-1905
1906
1907
1908-1914
1911
1912

Born,

New

father,Karl

To Germany
to continue
music
decidedto become an artist

studiesbut

Hamburg,

Art

under

of Industrial

Wassily.

Painter,graphic

artist,writer.

Born, Moscow,
1866, childhoodin Italy;schools
Odessa,Moscow;studiedpainting
in Munich.

London, architect
Appointed
Research Associate
in theDepartmentof Architecture,
HarvardSchoolAryana,Greece,Balkans

University

York,writer.

Dessautubular steel furniture
in Spain,North Africa,

Switzerland,
1934-1937
1937

designer.

1902

1920-1924
1925—1928

artist,Studied in art schools at Berne and Geneva
Germany,
Belgium,
Holland;influenceof

Later founded
more recently

Architectgraphic

1888

Taught at Lebenschulenear Zurich

1938
Pecs, Hungary,

sculptor,

1913-1914 Stuttgart, painting under Adolf Holzel
Vienna, started teaching
1915
Startedmakingconstructions
1916
Went to teach at Bauhaus, Weimar
1919
To Switzerland
1923

New York

BREUER,

Painter,Thun, Switzerland,van Goghphotography

Director
1938—

ITTEN, Johannes.
working

1914
1919

in

Tunis, Cairo, Rapallo
Paris, influenced by Gauguin
BerlinMunichFirst abstract painting
Founded the Blue Rider group with Marc;
published The Art ot Spiritual Harmony
RussiaTaught Moscow Academy; Director,
Museum of Pictorial Culture, Moscow andhelped form other museums throughout theU. S. S. R.

1920

Professor,

University

foundedthe Academy

192 1
1922-1932

To Berlin
Taught,Bauhaus,

1923

Vice-President
New York
Living in Paris

1934-

of Moscow;

Weimar,Sciences

Dessauof the SocietePaul. Painter,graphic
artist,Switzerland,
1879, of Bavarian

KLEE,
Berne,

1921,

of Artistic

Anonyme,writer.
Born
and French

near
par-

entage.
1898-1900
1901
1903-1906
1905
1906-1920
1912
1913
1920-1929
1930-1933
1933-

MARCKS,
Born,

Berlin,Studied, Munich, under Franz von Stuck
Italy
Berne, etchings
Paris
MunichAn original member of the Blue Ridergroup, Munich
Paris, met Picasso, Delaunay, Apoilinaire
Taught at the Bauhaus, Weimar, Dessau
Professor, Dusseldorf Academy; discharged,
1933
Living in Berne

Sculptor,

Gerhard.

graphic

artist,ceramist.

1889

1907

Started studies, atelier of Richard Scheibe,
Berlin, influenced
by Kolbe and Gaul

1914—1918
1919

Served in German
Director,
Dornburg
Bauhaus,

Weimar1925-1933

Teacherofarmy
pottery-workshop,

ceramics

and,School of Arts and Crafts
schule) at Giebichenstein,Lives near Berlin

MOHOLY-NAGY,

Laszlo.

tographer,typographer,Born, Borsod, Hungary,law at University

Painter,later,

constructivist,of Budapest

to painting.

Servedin the Hungarian

1920-1923

Berlin,painting

1921-1922

Cahiers d 'Art, etc.
First constructionsin Germany
Bauhaus,

1928

Berlin,experiments

1937

Director

De Stijl,

teaching

directorof metal

with

light

color

and

and films. Commer
sets for State Opera

Theatreof the New

the

and

painting,
photography
cial typography.
Stage
and Piscator's
Londonfor MA,

Dessau,Course,1935-1937

army

and writing

Weimar,Preliminary
workshopphodesignerfor the theatre, writer.
1895; turned from the study of

1915—1918

1923—1928

Director,( Kunstgewerbenear Halle

Bauhaus,

ChicagoinBIBLIOGRAPHY
of BAUHAUS
PUBLICATIONS

1

61919 Programm
The first
bydes Staatlichen

Bauhauses in Weimar.

proclamation,

4 pp.,

includingwoodcut

Feininger.

Prefaceby Walter

Gropius.

von Lyonel

Feininger.

Lyonelcover

1922 Ausstellung
Staatlichen
Single2

von Arbeiten der Gesellen und Lehrlinge
Bauhaus, Weimar, April/Mai
1922.

im

sheet.

7

1921 Zwolf

Holzschnitte

Portfoliolichesof 12 woodcuts
Bauhaus,printedand

1923 Das Wielandslied

bound

der

von K. Simrock.

in the Staat-chen-Weimar,

Weimar.

Portfolio

alten

Edda,

in derHolzschnitte

von Gerhard

Bauhaus-Verlag,

1923.

of 10 woodcuts,with 4 pp. text.

Ubersetzung
Marcks.

Miin-

Printedat theBauhaus.

3
1921 Neue

europaischegegebenGraphik

1921; zu beziehen
PlannedCo. Verlag,

im Jahre

14 woodcuts,

inger,

Itten,

donk,

Dexel,

theBauhauschen, Bauhaus-Verlag.

title-page

table

of

contents.

226 pp., 147 il I us., 20 colored
plates. Publishedby theBauhaus in collaboration
with Karl Nierendorf,
Cologne.

andandMarcks,

Muche,

Fischer,van

Schwitters,
Stuckenberg,
Hoetger
was substituted

etchings

byFein

Schlemmerand

14 lithographs,

Kiinstler.

cuts by Bauer,

Baumeister,

Ffeemskerck,woodCampen-Hoetger,

Topp,
Waver.
The
for the announced

Marc,
plate
plate

by
by

Kiinstler.

II

Ernst.

D

VierteMappe:

etchings
Chagall,

and lithographs
by Archipenko,
Boccioni, Carra,
Chirico,Gontcharova,
Jawlensky,
Kandinsky,

Italienische

Larionov,

Prampolini.

nouncedbut neverFiinfteMappe:

Au.

Russische

12th plate,by Soffici,

Typography

by

Moholy-Nagy,

cover

by

Herbert91923 Walter Gropius:
hauses, Weimar.

Idee und Aufbau des Staatlichen
Bau
Miinchen, Bauhausverlog
G. m. b. H.

12 pp. Also appearedin 8 pp. 7-18.

10
1924 Bauhaus Weimar.

was anissued.

Specialnumberburg,

1924, vol.

periodical

Junge

Menschen,5, no. 8, withofarticlesbyHam

Bauhausstu

dents.

Deutsche

Kiinstler.

13 etchings,

litho

11

Kubin,

1924 Presse-Stimmen

Pechstein,

L.

Bayer.

graphs, woodcuts
and linoleum
cuts by Beckmann,
Burchartz, Gleichmann,
Grosz, Heckel, Kirchner,
Kokoschka,
Mense,

19 19- 1923. Weimar-Miin-(from

Deutschelinoleum

Bauhaus, Weimar,of 5 portfolios

lithographs

Klee,

Schreyer.
Dritte Mappe:
cuts andC

8
1923 Staatliches

Potsdam.

Portfolio 2, French artists, was not issued.
Erste Mappe:
Meister d. Staatlichen
Bauhauses in Wei
mar.

B, withund heraus-

Bauhaus in Weimar

durch Miiller

as a series

bookbindery)A. . . Hergestellt

vom Staatlichen

Rohlfs, Scharff,

Schmidt-Rotluff.

(Ausziige)

fur das Staatliche

Bauhaus,

Weimar.

4
1922 Satzungen,
Paper

Staatliches

folder,A

72 pp. Two supplements
were issued:
Nachtrag zu den Pressestimmen . . . (Marz-April

B

paged 73-104;
KundgebungenBauhaus in Weimar.

containing

six leaflets:

tober,

8 pp.

fur das Staatliche

1924, paged

A

I. Lehrordnung.

B
C
D

II. Verwaltungs Ordnung. 4 pp.
Anhang I : Lehrkrafte und Plan der Lehrgebiete. 4 pp.
Anhang 2: Lehrgebieteder Werkstatten;
Prufungs-

12E

Ordnung. 4 pp.
Anhang 3: Verlag,

1926 bauhaus, dessau
Prospectus, designed

FAnhangBiihne. 2 pp.

4: Kuche, Siedlung.

Bauhaus, Weimar,

1924),
Ok-

105-143.

by Herbert

Bayer.

2 pp.

13

5

1926 Bauhaus-Heft.

1922 Kandinsky.

Kleine Welten:

Berlin, Propylaen

zwolf Blatt originalSpecialnumberkunsf, .Leipzig,

Verlag.

Portfolioof 4 etchings,
4 woodcuts
andprintedat Staatliches
Bauhaus, Weimar,

Verlag.

Graphik.

4 lithographs,
for Propylaen

by Gropius,
Schlemmer;
by Joostof periodical
1926, No.

Ofhek,

7, pp.

Buch- und Werbe-

356-410.

Contributions

Breuer, Moholy-Nagy,
Albers,Bayer, Stolzl,
collected
by Moholy-Nagy.
Cover designed

Schmidt.

23

14
with words"jungemenschenkommt

ans bau

haus!" on rear cover. 44 pp., with articles by Klee, Kandinsky, Albers,Peterhans,
Riedel,Meyer,
scheduleofclasses,

photographsof students'

work,

list of faculty.

pp., illus.
2d edition,of Bauhaus exhibition,

figs,

Basel.

1925 Bauhausbiicher.

phy,

Film,

1927, 140

Kandinsky: Punkt und Linie zu Flache; Beitrag
der malerische
Elemente.
1926. 198 pp.,in text, 25 plates,

I colored

plate.

Typography

zur
102
by

25
editedby Gropius

by Albert
bindings,

otherwise

andLangen,jackets)

Moholy-Nagy,

Munich.
byandDesigned

Moholy-Nagy

pub

exceptHollandische

10 J. J. P. Oud:where

indicated.

2d edition,

1926.

Die gegenstandslose

Welt;

107 pp.,

1929.

26
I I Kasimir

Malewitsch:

ung u. Erklarung
Gropius:Architektur.

inc. 55 illus.

(typogra16
I Walter

Fotografie,

1925. 133

HerbertBayer.
2d edition,
1928.

to

lishedMalerei,Film.

pp., illus.

9 Wassily
Analyse1929 Catalog

with title

Photographie,

24

15

1930
SeriesMa/ere/,8 L. Moholy-Nagy:

1929 bauhaus
Prospectus,

Internationalepp., i 11us. Jacket designed
2d edition,
1927.

Architektur.

byFarkas

1925.

pp.,

Molnar.

des russischeninc. 92 illus. Translated

Suprematismus.
by A. vonBegrund1927. 104

Riessen.

27
12 waiter

gropius:bauhausbauten

Gleizes:

Kubismus.

dessau.

1930.

221

pp.,

17
2 Paul Klee:
i 11us.
2d edition,

Padagogisches

Skizzenbuch.

1925. 51 pp.,

87

28
13 Albert

1928.

223

Translated

by Frau

1829

3 Adolf Meyer, ed.: Ein Versuchshaus des Bauhauses in Wei
mar. 1925. 78 pp., illus. Typography
by Meyer.

14 moholy-nagy:

19

von materialinc. 209 illus.
For English translation,

101 pp.,inc.

47 illus.

Grohmann.

zu architektur.

1929. 241 pp.,see no. 31.

30

4 Oskar Schlemmer,

ed.: Die B'uhne im Bauhaus.

87 pp., illus., inc. I folding
signed by Oskar Schlemmer.

color

plate.

1925.

Title-pagede1926 bauhaus:to1931
Quarterlyzeitschrift

periodical,

fiir gestaltung.

1926-1929,

1931.

Editors: Gropius
and Moholy-Nagy,
Kallai,
1929; Hilbersheimer,
Albers,20
5 Piet Mondrian:
Neue Cestaltung,beelding.
1925. 66 pp. Translated
and Max Burchartz.

Neoplastizimus,
nieuweby Rudolf F. Hartogh

BOOKS

1926-8; Meyer andKandinsky,
1931.

IN ENGLISH

31
L. Moholy-Nagy:
The New Vision, From Material
to Architecture.
Translatedby Daphne M. Hoffmann.
New York,

21
Grundbegriffe

6 Theo van Doesburg:aen

Eulein

1928.

Kunst.

1925. 40

Translatedby Maxvan Doesburg.

pp.,

plus

Burchartz.

der neuen gestalten-

32 illus.,
Jacketpartlycolored.

designedby Theo

Warren& Putnam,Inc., n.d.

of 29. 2d edition,
1938.

New

York, W.

W.

Nor

32
1936 Walter Gropius: The New Architecture
and the Bauhaus.
Translated from the German by P. Morton Shand, with a

22
7 Walterstatten.

Brewer,A translation
ton and Co.,

Gropius,ed.:
1925. 115 pp.,

Neue
illus.

ArbeitenderBauhauswerk-

preface by Joseph Hudnut.
New York, Museum
ern Art; London, Faber and Faber, Ltd.

of ModINDEXOFILLUSTRATIONSBYARTISTS'
NAMES
Albers,Albers,Anni 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 217
Josef 43, 44, 49, 57, 129, 137, 151, 196,217

AnonymousIII,

153, 157

Baschant, Rudolf 197
Bayer, Herbert
32, 70, 71, 72, 73, 80, 82, 83, 85, 87, 89,148, 149, 150, 151, 156, 157, 159, 177, 178, 195, 204,

Lang, Lothar 126
Lerner, Nathan 2 I 8
Leudesdorff-Engstfeld,

L. 34

Lindig,O. 51, 52, 53

Loew,

Heinz

Marcks,159, 166

Gerhard188, 190, 191

208, 210, 211, 212
Berger, Otti 145, 147, 177, 215
Bill, Max 21 I, 213
Bogler, F. W. 62
Bogler, T. 52, 53

Marx, Gerda
128
Menzel, W. 70
Meyer, Adolf
17, 74, 75, 76, 77

Brandt, Marianne
54, 56, 124, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140
Braun, Albert 201
Bredendieck,
Hinrick
125, 218

Mogelin,
E. 38
Moholy-Nagy,
Laszl6 80, 81, 148, 149, 151, 154, 155, 157,

Breuer, Marcel
42, 43. 45, 47, 48, 78, 88, 89, 113, 128,
129, 130, 131, 132, 134, 208, 209, 215, 216
Bronstein, Max 35
Bucking, P. 133
Buscher,Alma43, 46, 47

Citroen,Paul 194, 197
Citroen-Valentin,
Ruth 59
Dell, Christian
2 I3
Dicker, Friedl 191
Dieckmann,
E. 33, 42
van Doesburg,
Theo 38
Drewes,WernerMeyer, Hannes
114, 115
Mizutani,
T. 132

175, 193, 195, 199, 208, 210, 212
Molnar,Farkas 64, 76, 77, 83, 86, 214
Neumann,
Klaus 124
Niemeyer,
Erna 37
Nosselt, H. 46
Otte,

B. 58

Page,

Don 2 I 7

Pap, J. 54
Paris, R. 70
Preliminary
Courses,
38;

200

Przyrembel,

Erps,

Rasch, M. 40
Reichle, Paul 91
Rittweger,
O. 57

Marthawork:

90, 91,

Itten's

124-126,

course,218;

32-35,
Albers',I 17-123, 217

van Eesteren, C. 38
Ehrlich, F. 159, 162

Feininger,

students'

Moholy-Nagy's,

61

Lux 156, 177, 179

H. 140Feininger,
Lyonel 19, 79, 83, 86, 182, 183, 199
Feist, Werner
118, 156

Rohl, PeterRoth, Alfred

Fischer, Margrit
I 17, 201
Forbat, Fred 75, 214
Friedlander,
M. 208
Fritsch 66
Fry, E. Maxwell
207

Schawinsky,
Alexander64, 66, 88, 152, 158, 159, 164,
165, 166, 167, 168, 175, 179, 205, 212, 216, 217
Schlemmer,
Oskar 31, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 82,

Gerson,Lotte

148, 165, 167, 168, 169, 187, 188, 192, 198
Schmidt,
Kurt 62

132

Griesenschlag,

Siegfried

126

Gropius, Walter
17, 44, 56, 74, 75, 76, 77, 101, 102, 104,
105, 107, 108, 109, I 10, III,
131, 203, 207, 210
Grosz, George
122, 126
Grote,

Toma

91

Hantschk,
G. 60
Hartwig,
J. 46
Hassenpflug,
G.
Henry, Florence
Hergt, T. 62

117, 122, 123, 126, 129, 133, 209
156

Hirschfeld-Mack,
LudwigHoffmann,
H. 33
Hollos,Itten,
Jucker,35, 41, 67, 83, 86, 87, 200

Ruth 59
Johannes

36, 37, 79,

186

K. 54, 57

Kandinsky,

Wassily

18, 862 16

83, 184, 185, 199

Keler, Peter 44
Kerkovius,
I. 40
Klee, Paul 39, 83, 86, 172, 180, 181, 198
Koppe, R, 2 18
Knau, J. 55
Krajewski,
M. 55, 136, 138
Kuhr, Fritz 202

Schwerdtfeger,
K. 38, 67, 186, 187, 189, 202
Sharon-Stolzl,
Guntha58, 59, 60, 145
Slutzky, Naum 55, 213
Sklaire, Victor 219
Sorenson-Popitz,
IrmgardStolzl, see Sharon-Stolzl
Teltscher,
Georg
Toliner, P. 122..

62, 83Tumpel,

136

W.

57,

van

de Velde,

Vici,

Marco

Henry

13

2 19

Victoria,
CharlotteVolger, Hans 2 I 3Volger, Lis 147

90

Wagenfeld,
W. 57, 216
Wassiljeff,
N. 35
Wassyng,
Seymour 219
Weininger,
AndreasWitwer,Hans I 13
Yamawaki,Yorke,

Iwao

168

214

F. R. S. 216

Zimmermann,

Werner124

90

ADDITIONSAND CORRECTIONS*The

more importantP

5

corrections

Footnote,

are asterisked.

line 2: for is accordance

read

in ac

cordance.
*P

17

Caption
read

P

33

for second

WalterCaptionread

plate:

Gropiusfor second

for Walterand Adolf
plate,

Gropius

Meyer.

line 4: for develope

develop.

P

36

Line 22: for Franke read*P

40

Transpose

Francke.

captions.

P

85

L ine

*P

91

Illustrations

19: for unprejudisted

P

96

read

are of work done

unprejudiced.

in Moholy-Nagy's

course.
First column,

line

36: for Six years

line

40:

read

later

In 1930.
Firstcolumn,

Nagy

read

for

Ladislaus

Moholy-Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.

Secondcolumn,line 2: de lete

Secondcolumn,line

4: for(Bibl.

XXX).

XXX)

read

I nsert betweenlines 3 and 4 of The New

Curriculum:

had(Bibl.

( Bibl. no. 9).
*P

100

who

previously

beentrainedinboth craft and theory at the Bauhaus and was

*P

102

thus prepared

to teach

I nsert betweenlines 14 andboth.
15: order to understand the.
*P

*P

P

103

109

113

Secondcolumn,

lines

I and

architectural

Add

for

to captions

third

fourthdesignedby L. Moholy-Nagy.

Captionfor first

plate:

forHans

plates:read

Witwerand Hans Volger.

Pp 122,For George

Grosz read127

not the wellknown

who recently

becameCaption

first

131

department.

andInterior

Hans Wittwer*P

2: for administration offices read

for

Georg

Grosz.

(This isdraughtsman

andpainteran American

plate

shouldcitizen.)read:

MarcelBreuer: Nest of four tables. Four different colors.
1926
Captionfor second

Breuer:Harnischmacher

plate

shoulden. View of kitchen and dining
P

156

Captionfor first plate:

rea d: M arcel

apartment,

Wiesbadspace.

for florence

1927

henry readflorence

henri.

P 204

Captionfor first plate:for

1926 read

1925.

P 210

Captionfor first plate:for

1929 read

1931.

P 220

Line

P 224

17: for New York World's

York World's

Fair,

For Henry,

Florence

Under

Moholy-Nagy

Under

Hans Volger

For Witwer,

Fair read

1939.
read

Henri,

add

109.

add

Hans read

Florence.

1 13.
Wittwer,

Hans.

New

(continued from front flap)
4 Because it bridged the gap between
the artist and the industrial

system.

5 Because it broke down the hierarchy
which had divided
the "applied"
6 Becauseitthe "fine"

from

arts.
differentiatedbetweenwhat can be taught (technique) andwhat cannot (creative
7 Because its buildingarchitecturally

invention).
at Dessau was

the most important

structure of the I920's.
8 Because after much trial and error
it developed a new and modern kindof beauty.
9 And,

finally,

becauseits influence

has spreadthroughout

the world,andis especiallystrongtoday

England and the United States.

inPUBLICATIONSOFTHEMUSEUMOFMODERN
ART
Selected
THE NEW
AND

S/ti/decfa

ARCHITECTURE

ALVAR AALTOARCHITECTURE

THE BAUHAUS

By Walter Gropius, with an introduction by
Joseph Hudnut, Dean of the School of Architecture,
Harvard University
Professor Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus and apioneer of the new architecture, presents a plea forthe reconsiderationof all building problems interms of current materials and current tools.
90 pages;

16 plates;

A NEW HOUSEBY FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

Wright's most recently completed work, a week
end house spectacularly cantilevered over a wild
mountain torrent, illustrates his genius for harmo
nizing a building with its natural setting. With anote by Frank Lloyd Wright.
18 pages;

MODERN

19 illustrations;

ARCHITECTURE

boundin stiff paper$.50

IN ENGLAND

With essays by Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Jr.,FURNITURE

The first American survey of the work of Alvar
Aalto, who is recognized as one of the most origi
nal and successful architects of the present decade.
Handsomely designed, Aalto's mass-produced andlow-priced birch furniture can now be bought inthis country, and may soon oe manufactured here.
52 pages;$1.75"A little volume that will be heartily welcome in that it statesvery clearly and succinctly the philosophyof Walter Gropius
and his ideas on architectural
education."
Architectand Engineer

AND

With essays by Simon Breines and
A. Lawrence Kocher

35 halftones

and plans;

boundin boards$1.00

POSTERS BY CASSANDRE
Foreword by Ernestine M. Fantl
A monograph on the distinguished French com
mercial artist whose style and technique have been
widelyimitated.

16 pages;

9 plates;

POSTERS BY E. McKNIGHT
Foreword by Aldous Huxley

paper

bound

$.25

KAUFFERIn an astute and illuminating foreword Aldous Hux
ley identifies those qualities which have made E.
McKnight Kauffer one of the leading poster designers of our time. Kauffer himself contributes abrief autobiographicalsketch and notes on his
technique.

28 pages;

12 plates;

paper

bound

$.50

and Catherine K. Bauer
Some of the most exciting developments in modern architecture today are taking place in England—work that is as sound esthetically as it is interesting technically.
104 pages; 53 plates; $1.85"This is the most serious and the most constructive
evaluation of modern architecture
in Englandthat has yet beenmade."
Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects"The book, which shows an astonishingknowledgeof what ishappeningin this country, consists of a valuable
survey andestimate of the most recent "modern"buildings
and the influences which have affected
them. Together
with the illus
trations, it makes an extremely interesting
record and a valu
able historical
document."
The Manchester
Guardian

MACHINE

PHOTOGRAPHY,A SHORT

CRITICALHISTORY

By Beaumont Newhall

The onlycomplete history available
in English
which describes the rise of photography as a sci
ence and an art. Special attention is given to theinterdependenceof photographic
technique andphotographic esthetic. Included are discussions ofnews, color and scientific photography
and themoving picture.
225 pages; 95 plates; $3.00"This book is comprehensive
as well as concise, but even if
its text were far less enlightening
than it is it would be well
worth having and keeping for its photographs."ART

New York Times

Edited by Philip Johnson with a foreword by
Alfred H. Barr, Jr.
Illustrating machine parts, household and officeequipment, kitchenware and household furnishings,
scientific instruments and laboratory
equipment,
together with their prices, and the names of designer, manufacturer and distributor. A handbook
for those who wish to study the art of the machine
as well as a guide for potential purchasers.
I 16 pages;

121 plates;

paper

bound

$1.50

"The importance of this book is out of all proportion to its
size and form. We heartiiy recommend
its careful study."
The Times Literary Supplement,
London"Mr. Newhall's
preface constitutes one of the most efficientand comprehensive
monographs
on a subject which has as
yet received scant attention
in English literature."
Art News"An

excellent

and well-printed

selectionof plates."

The Times Literary

Supplement,

GERMAN PAINTING
By Alfred H. Barr, Jr.

AND

LondonSCULPTURE

The development of contemporary
German art.
Included is the work of the leading German painters and sculptors, almost all of whom are now
officially out of favor in their own country.
91 pages;

49 plates;

paper

bound

$1.50