BAUHAUS

What was it? ■ The Bauhaus movement began in 1919 when Walter Gropius founded a school with a vision of bridging the gap between art and industry by combining crafts and fine arts. Prior to the Bauhaus movement, fine arts such as architecture and design were held in higher esteem than craftsmanship (i.e., painting, woodworking, etc.), but Gropius asserted that all crafts, including art, architecture and geometric design, could be brought together and mass-produced. Gropius argued that architecture and design should reflect the new period in history (post World War I), and adapt to the era of the machine. The Bauhaus movement is characterized by economic sensibility, simplicity and a focus on mass production. “Bauhaus” is an inversion of the German term “hausbau,” which means “building house” or house construction.Bauhaus movementWalter Gropius

Building then and today…importance of quality design.

At the height of Modernism Examples of Bauhaus design

Modern art is the creative world's response to the rationalist practices and perspectives of the new lives and ideas provided by the technological advances of the industrial age that caused contemporary society to manifest itself in new ways compared to the past. Artists worked to represent their experience of the newness of modern life in appropriately innovative ways. Although modern art as a term applies to a vast number of artistic genres spanning more than a century, aesthetically speaking, modern art is characterized by the artist's intent to portray a subject as it exists in the world, according to his or her unique perspective and is typified by a rejection of accepted or traditional styles and values. The Scream by Edvard Munch Period lasted from about

■ Prior to the 19th century, artists were most often commissioned to make artwork by wealthy patrons, or institutions like the church. Much of this art depicted religious or mythological scenes that told stories and were intended to instruct the viewer. During the 19th century, many artists started to make art about people, places, or ideas that interested them, and of which they had direct experience. commissioned scenes Napoleon Crossing the Alps by David

Kandinsky

■ Wassily Kandinsky was born in Russia, but later moved to Germany after becoming disenchanted with the Communist movement. He taught at the Bauhaus from 1922 to 1933 and is credited with creating the first purely abstract painting.

■ Wassily Kandinsky wrote extensively about composition – how objects relate to one another on the page, and how to guide the viewer’s eye. Wassily Kandinsky

Bauhaus closure ■ Although neither the Nazi Party nor Hitler himself had a cohesive architectural 'policy' in the 1930s, Nazi writers like Wilhelm Frick and Alfred Rosenberg had labeled the Bauhaus "un-German," criticizing its modernist styles, deliberately generating public controversy over issues like flat roofs. Increasingly through the early 1930s, they characterized the Bauhaus as a front for Communists, Russian, and social liberals. This characterization was helped by the actions of its second director, Hannes Meyer, who with a number of loyal students moved to the Soviet Union in 1930.RussianSoviet Union ■ Under political pressure the Bauhaus was closed on the orders of the Nazi regime on April 11, The closure, and the response of Mies van der Rohe, is fully documented in Elaine Hoffman's Architects of Fortune.

1. What did Bauhaus do away with in it’s design aesthetic? A.Functionality B.Ornamentation C.Quality craftsmanship 2. Who painted this? >>>>> A.Van Gogh B.Gropius C.Kandinsky