Editing Bauhaus (section)

== History of the Bauhaus ==
=== Weimar ===
[[File:Bauhaus weimar.jpg|thumb|right|The main building of the [[Bauhaus-University Weimar]]. Built between 1904 and 1911 and designed by [[Henry van de Velde]] to house the sculptors' studio at the Grand Ducal Saxon Art School, it was designated a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]] in 1996.]]

The school was founded by Walter Gropius in [[Weimar]] on 1 April 1919,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Uhrig|first=Nicole|title=Zukunftsfähige Perspektiven in der Landschaftsarchitektur für Gartenstädte: City – Country – Life|publisher=Springer-Verlag|year=2020|isbn=978-3-658-28940-9|location=Wiesbaden|pages=113}}</ref> as a merger of the [[Weimar Saxon Grand Ducal Art School|Grand Ducal Saxon Academy of Fine Art]] and the Grand Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts for a newly affiliated architecture department.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gorman|first=Carma|title=The Industrial Design Reader|publisher=Allworth Press|year=2003|isbn=1-58115-310-4|location=New York|pages=98}}</ref> Its roots lay in the arts and crafts school founded by the [[William Ernest, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach|Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach]] in 1906, and directed by Belgian [[Art Nouveau]] architect [[Henry van de Velde]].<ref>{{cite book |editor=Pevsner, Nikolaus |others=Fleming, John; Honour, Hugh |title=A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture |year=1999 |type=Paperback |edition=5th |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-19-860678-9 |page=44}}</ref> When van de Velde was forced to resign in 1915 because he was Belgian, he suggested Gropius, [[Hermann Obrist]], and [[August Endell]] as possible successors. In 1919, after delays caused by [[World War I]] and a lengthy debate over who should head the institution and the socio-economic meanings of a reconciliation of the [[fine art]]s and the [[applied art]]s (an issue which remained a defining one throughout the school's existence), Gropius was made the director of a new institution integrating the two called the Bauhaus.<ref name="Frampton 1992 124">{{cite book |last=Frampton |first=Kenneth |title=Modern Architecture: A Critical History |year=1992 |edition=3rd ed. rev. |publisher=Thames and Hudson, Inc. |location=New York|isbn=978-0-500-20257-9 |page=124 |chapter=The Bauhaus: Evolution of an Idea 1919–32}}</ref> In the pamphlet for an April 1919 exhibition entitled ''Exhibition of Unknown Architects'', Gropius, still very much under the influence of [[William Morris]] and the British [[Arts and Crafts Movement]], proclaimed his goal as being "to create a new guild of craftsmen, without the class distinctions which raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist." Gropius's [[neologism]] ''Bauhaus'' references both building and the Bauhütte, a [[premodern]] [[guild]] of stonemasons.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Whitford, Frank |title=The Bauhaus: Masters & Students by Themselves |year=1992 |publisher=Conran Octopus |location=London |isbn=978-1-85029-415-3 |page=32 |quote=He invented the name 'Bauhaus' not only because it specifically referred to Bauen ('building', 'construction')—but also because of its similarity to the word Bauhütte, the medieval guild of builders and stonemasons out of which Freemasonry sprang. The Bauhaus was to be a kind of modern Bauhütte, therefore, in which craftsmen would work on common projects together, the greatest of which would be buildings in which the arts and crafts would be combined.}}</ref> The early intention was for the Bauhaus to be a combined architecture school, crafts school, and academy of the arts. Swiss painter [[Johannes Itten]], German-American painter [[Lyonel Feininger]], and German sculptor [[Gerhard Marcks]], along with Gropius, comprised the faculty of the Bauhaus in 1919. By the following year their ranks had grown to include German painter, sculptor, and designer [[Oskar Schlemmer]] who headed the theatre workshop, and Swiss painter [[Paul Klee]], joined in 1922 by Russian painter [[Wassily Kandinsky]]. The first major joint project completed by the Bauhaus was the [[Sommerfeld House]], which was built between 1920 and 1921. A tumultuous year at the Bauhaus, 1922 also saw the move of Dutch painter [[Theo van Doesburg]] to Weimar to promote ''[[De Stijl]]'' ("The Style"), and a visit to the Bauhaus by Russian Constructivist artist and architect [[El Lissitzky]].<ref name="foster">{{cite book |editor=Hal Foster |others=Rosalind Krauss, Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin Buchloh |title=Art Since 1900: Volume 1 – 1900 to 1944 |year=2004 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=New York |isbn=978-0-500-28534-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/artsince1900mode0000unse_u8t1/page/185 185–189] |chapter=1923: The Bauhaus … holds its first public exhibition in Weimar, Germany |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/artsince1900mode0000unse_u8t1/page/185 }}</ref>

From 1919 to 1922 the school was shaped by the pedagogical and aesthetic ideas of [[Johannes Itten]], who taught the ''Vorkurs'' or "preliminary course" that was the introduction to the ideas of the Bauhaus.<ref name="Frampton 1992 124" /> Itten was heavily influenced in his teaching by the ideas of [[Franz Cižek]] and [[Friedrich Fröbel|Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel]]. He was also influenced in respect to aesthetics by the work of the [[Der Blaue Reiter]] group in [[Munich]], as well as the work of Austrian Expressionist [[Oskar Kokoschka]]. The influence of German [[Expressionism]] favoured by Itten was analogous in some ways to the fine arts side of the ongoing debate. This influence culminated with the addition of [[Der Blaue Reiter]] founding member [[Wassily Kandinsky]] to the faculty and ended when Itten resigned in late 1923. Itten was replaced by the Hungarian designer [[László Moholy-Nagy]], who rewrote the ''Vorkurs'' with a leaning towards the New Objectivity favoured by Gropius, which was analogous in some ways to the applied arts side of the debate. Although this shift was an important one, it did not represent a radical break from the past so much as a small step in a broader, more gradual socio-economic movement that had been going on at least since 1907, when van de Velde had argued for a craft basis for design while [[Hermann Muthesius]] had begun implementing industrial prototypes.<ref name="foster" />

[[File:Joost-schmidt-mechanical-stage-design-1925-1926-ink-and-tempera-on-paper-64-x-44-cm1.jpg|thumb|right|Mechanical Stage Design by [[Joost Schmidt]], 1925]]

Gropius was not necessarily against [[Expressionist architecture|Expressionism]], and in the same 1919 pamphlet proclaiming this "new guild of craftsmen, without the class snobbery", described "painting and sculpture rising to heaven out of the hands of a million craftsmen, the crystal symbol of the new faith of the future." By 1923, however, Gropius was no longer evoking images of soaring [[Regional characteristics of Romanesque architecture#Romanesque architecture, regional characteristics|Romanesque cathedrals]] and the craft-driven aesthetic of the "[[Völkisch movement]]", instead declaring "we want an architecture adapted to our world of machines, radios and fast cars."<ref>{{cite book |last=Curtis |first=William |title=Modern Architecture Since 1900 |year=1987 |edition=2nd |publisher=Prentice-Hall |isbn=978-0-13-586694-8 |pages=309–316 |chapter=Walter Gropius, German Expressionism, and the Bauhaus}}</ref> Gropius argued that a new period of history had begun with the end of the war. He wanted to create a new architectural style to reflect this new era. His style in architecture and consumer goods was to be functional, cheap and consistent with mass production. To these ends, Gropius wanted to reunite art and craft to arrive at high-end functional products with artistic merit. The Bauhaus issued a magazine called ''[[Bauhaus (magazine)|Bauhaus]]'' and a series of books called "Bauhausbücher". Since the Weimar Republic lacked the number of raw materials available to the United States and Great Britain, it had to rely on the proficiency of a skilled labour force and an ability to export innovative and high-quality goods. Therefore, designers were needed and so was a new type of art education. The school's philosophy stated that the artist should be trained to work with the industry.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Bauhaus, 1919–1933 |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm |website=The MET |date=August 2007 |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|access-date=14 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bauhaus |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bauhaus |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=14 June 2016}}</ref>

Weimar was in the German state of [[Thuringia]], and the Bauhaus school received state support from the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrat]]-controlled Thuringian state government. The school in Weimar experienced political pressure from conservative circles in Thuringian politics, increasingly so after 1923 as political tension rose. One condition placed on the Bauhaus in this new political environment was the exhibition of work undertaken at the school. This condition was met in 1923 with the Bauhaus' exhibition of the experimental [[Haus am Horn]].<ref>Ackermann et al., ''Bauhaus'' (Cologne: Könemann, 1999), 406.</ref> The Ministry of Education placed the staff on six-month contracts and cut the school's funding in half. The Bauhaus issued a press release on 26 December 1924, setting the closure of the school for the end of March 1925.<ref>Michael Baumgartner and Josef Helfenstein [http://www.paulkleezentrum.ch/ww/en/pub/web_root/act/wissenschaftliches_archiv/werkphasen/am_bauhaus_in_weimar_1921_1924.cfm At the Bauhaus in Weimar, 1921–1924] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090929012710/http://www.paulkleezentrum.ch/ww/en/pub/web_root/act/wissenschaftliches_archiv/werkphasen/am_bauhaus_in_weimar_1921_1924.cfm |date=29 September 2009}}, at Zentrum Paul Klee</ref><ref>{{cite book|publisher = Taschen |isbn = 9783822821053|first= Magdalena |last= Droste |date=2002|orig-date=1990|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXB8rX5AsgUC |title=Bauhaus, 1919–1933|page= 113}}</ref> At this point it had already been looking for alternative sources of funding. After the Bauhaus moved to Dessau, a school of industrial design with teachers and staff less antagonistic to the conservative political regime remained in Weimar. This school was eventually known as the Technical University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, and in 1996 changed its name to [[Bauhaus-University Weimar]].

[[File:Erich dieckmann, banco per bambini, 1925 ca. 01.JPG|thumb|right|Chair by {{ill|Erich Dieckmann|de|Erich_Dieckmann_(Möbeldesigner)}}, 1925]]

=== Dessau ===
{{Main|Bauhaus Dessau}}
The Bauhaus moved to [[Dessau]] in 1925 and new facilities there were inaugurated in late 1926. Gropius's design for the Dessau facilities was a return to the futuristic Gropius of 1914 that had more in common with the [[International Style (architecture)|International style]] lines of the [[Fagus Factory]] than the stripped down [[Neoclassical architecture#Regional trends|Neo-classical]] of the Werkbund pavilion or the ''[[Völkisch movement|Völkisch]]'' Sommerfeld House.<ref>{{cite book |last=Curtis |first=William |title=Modern Architecture Since 1900 |year=2000 |edition=2nd |publisher=Prentice-Hall |isbn=978-0-13-586694-8 |page=120 |chapter=Walter Gropius, German Expressionism, and the Bauhaus}}</ref> During the Dessau years, there was a remarkable change in direction for the school. According to Elaine Hoffman, Gropius had approached the Dutch architect [[Mart Stam]] to run the newly founded architecture program, and when Stam declined the position, Gropius turned to Stam's friend and colleague in the ABC group, Hannes Meyer.

Meyer became director when Gropius resigned in February 1928,<ref name="Artists 2009 pp. 64-66" /> and brought the Bauhaus its two most significant building commissions, both of which still exist: five apartment buildings in the city of Dessau, and the [[ADGB Trade Union School|Bundesschule des Allgemeinen Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes]] (ADGB Trade Union School) in [[Bernau bei Berlin]]. Meyer favoured measurements and calculations in his presentations to clients, along with the use of off-the-shelf architectural components to reduce costs. This approach proved attractive to potential clients. The school turned its first profit under his leadership in 1929.

But Meyer also generated a great deal of conflict. As a radical functionalist, he had no patience with the aesthetic program and forced the resignations of [[Herbert Bayer]], [[Marcel Breuer]], and other long-time instructors. Even though Meyer shifted the orientation of the school further to the left than it had been under Gropius, he didn't want the school to become a tool of left-wing party politics. He prevented the formation of a student communist cell, and in the increasingly dangerous political atmosphere, this became a threat to the existence of the Dessau school. Dessau mayor Fritz Hesse fired him in the summer of 1930.<ref name="Etlin2002">{{cite book |author=Richard A. Etlin |title=Art, culture, and media under the Third Reich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTYQuQ2g36MC |access-date=15 May 2011 |year=2002 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-22086-4 |page=291}}</ref> The Dessau city council attempted to convince Gropius to return as head of the school, but Gropius instead suggested [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe]]. Mies was appointed in 1930 and immediately interviewed each student, dismissing those that he deemed uncommitted. He halted the school's manufacture of goods so that the school could focus on teaching, and appointed no new faculty other than his close confidant [[Lilly Reich]]. By 1931, the [[Nazi Party]] was becoming more influential in German politics. When it gained control of the Dessau city council, it moved to close the school.<ref name="Mies">{{cite book |author=David Spaeth |title=Ludwig Mies van der Rohe |year=1985 |publisher=Rizzoli New York |isbn=978-0-8478-0563-1 |pages=87–93}}<!--|access-date=15 June 2012--></ref>
[[File:Bauhaus building - Wassily Chairs by Marcel Breuer (1925 26) (3925088681).jpg|thumb|right|Wassily Chairs by [[Marcel Breuer]] (1925–1926)]]

=== Berlin ===
In late 1932, Mies rented a derelict factory in Berlin (Birkbusch Street 49) to use as the new Bauhaus with his own money. The students and faculty rehabilitated the building, painting the interior white. The school operated for ten months without further interference from the Nazi Party. In 1933, the [[Gestapo]] closed down the Berlin school. Mies protested the decision, eventually speaking to the head of the Gestapo, who agreed to allow the school to re-open. However, shortly after receiving a letter permitting the opening of the Bauhaus, Mies and the other faculty agreed to voluntarily shut down the school.{{when|date=July 2017}}<ref name="Mies" />

Although neither the Nazi Party nor [[Adolf Hitler]] had a cohesive architectural policy before they came to power in 1933, Nazi writers like [[Wilhelm Frick]] and [[Alfred Rosenberg]] had already labelled the Bauhaus "un-German" and criticized 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 and social liberals. Indeed, when Meyer was fired in 1930, a number of communist students loyal to him moved to the [[Soviet Union]].

Even before the Nazis came to power, political pressure on Bauhaus had increased. The Nazi movement, from nearly the start, denounced the Bauhaus for its "[[degenerate art]]", and the Nazi regime was determined to crack down on what it saw as the foreign, probably Jewish, influences of "cosmopolitan modernism".<ref name="Artists 2009 pp. 64-66" /> Despite Gropius's protestations that as a war veteran and a patriot his work had no subversive political intent, the Berlin Bauhaus was pressured to close in April 1933.

Under the Nazi regime, about twenty Bauhauslers are known to have been killed in prison or [[concentration camp|concentration camps]]. Some emigrated, while others adapted and participated in propaganda exhibitions and design fairs, produced photographic and graphic works such as magazine covers, movie posters, and designed furniture, carpets, household objects and even busts of [[Hitler]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Santamaria |first=Gianni |date=2024-07-12 |title=Nazismo e design: il lato oscuro della Bauhaus |trans-title=Nazism and design: the dark side of the Bauhaus |url=https://www.avvenire.it/agora/pagine/nazi-designil-lato-oscuro-della-bauhaus |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=[[Avvenire]] |language=it}}</ref> Of 119 teaching staff {{circa|15}} emigrated between 1933 and 1938. Of the {{circa|1,250}} students who were enrolled when Hitler came to power in 1933, approximately 900 are thought to have remained in Germany. Of those, 188 joined the National Socialist Party (170 men and 18 women), 14 were part of the [[Sturmabteilung|brown shirts]], 12 joined the SS, and one was involved in the design of the [[Auschwitz concentration camp#Crematoria II–V|crematoria at Auschwitz]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Darwent |first=Charles |date=2024-05-06 |title=The Bauhaus Nazis: the collaborators – and worse – among the design icons |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/article/2024/may/06/bauhaus-nazis-collaborators-auschwitz-crematoriium |access-date=2025-05-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Mies emigrated to the United States to assume the directorship of the School of Architecture at the Armour Institute (now [[Illinois Institute of Technology]]) in Chicago, and to seek building commissions.{{Ref label|fn_1|a|a}} The simple engineering-oriented functionalism of stripped-down modernism, however, did lead to some Bauhaus influences living on in [[Nazi Germany]]. When Hitler's chief engineer, [[Fritz Todt]], began opening the new [[autobahn]]s (highways) in 1935, many of the bridges and service stations were "bold examples of modernism", and among those submitting designs was Mies van der Rohe.<ref>, Richard J Evans, ''The Third Reich in Power'', 325</ref> Emigrants did succeed, however, in spreading the concepts of the Bauhaus to other countries, including the "New Bauhaus" of Chicago:<ref>Jardi, Enric (1991). ''Paul Klee''. Rizzoli Intl Pubns, p. 22</ref>