Discover the Legacy of Bauhaus

The Bauhaus was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts. The school attempted to unify individual artistic vision with the principles of mass production and emphasis on function. The school was founded by architect Walter Gropius in Weimar and existed in three German cities under three different architect-directors: Walter Gropius from 1919 to 1928; Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930; and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1930 until 1933. The Bauhaus style later became one of the most influential currents in modern design, modernist architecture, and architectural education. The Bauhaus movement had a profound influence upon subsequent developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography. The pottery shop was discontinued when the school moved from Weimar to Dessau, even though it had been an important revenue source. The Bauhaus style tends to feature simple geometric shapes like rectangles and spheres, without elaborate decorations. The most important influence on Bauhaus was modernism, a cultural movement whose origins lay as early as the 1880s, and which had already made its presence felt in Germany before the World War, despite the prevailing conservatism. The Vkhutemas, the Russian state art and technical school founded in 1920 in Moscow, has been compared to Bauhaus. The school was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar on 1 April 1919, as a merger of the Grand-Ducal Saxon Academy of Fine Art and the Grand Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts for a newly affiliated architecture department. The Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1925 and new facilities there were inaugurated in late 1926.The Bauhaus: History, Impact, and Legacy

• The Bauhaus was a German school of art, design, and architecture founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany.

• The school's manifesto proclaimed that the aim of all creative activity was building, but it did not offer classes in architecture until 1927.

• The Bauhaus had a major impact on art and architecture trends in Western Europe, Canada, the United States, and Israel in the decades following its demise, as many of the artists involved fled or were exiled by the Nazi regime.

• The school's physical plant at Dessau survived World War II and was operated as a design school with some architectural facilities by the German Democratic Republic.

• In 1996, four of the major sites associated with Bauhaus in Germany were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List (with two more added in 2017).

• The school's architectural output included major commissions such as the Laubenganghäuser in Dessau and the Bundesschule des Allgemeinen Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes (ADGB Trade Union School) in Bernau bei Berlin.

• The school's approach to design education became a common feature of architectural and design schools in many countries.

• The Bauhaus had a significant impact on modern furniture design, with examples including the Cantilever chair and Wassily Chair designed by Marcel Breuer.

• The school's characteristic wallpaper was its most profitable product.

• The White City in Tel Aviv refers to a collection of over 4,000 buildings built in the Bauhaus or International Style by German Jewish architects who emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine after the rise of the Nazis.

• In 2019, several events, festivals, and exhibitions were held around the world to mark the centenary of the founding of Bauhaus.

• The Bauhaus had flaws in its recognition of the human element, leading to an acknowledgment of "the dated, unattractive aspects of the Bauhaus as a projection of utopia marked by mechanistic views of human nature…Home hygiene without home atmosphere."

• The Bauhaus philosophy has been continued by other institutions such as Black Mountain College, Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm, and Domaine de Boisbuchet.The Legacy of Bauhaus: Key Facts and History

• The Bauhaus movement was a German art school that existed from 1919 to 1933, which aimed to create a new, functional style of architecture and design.

• The Bauhaus school was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany, and later moved to Dessau and then Berlin.

• The Bauhaus curriculum was interdisciplinary, combining fine arts, crafts, and technical instruction, and aimed to create a new, modern aesthetic that was functional and accessible.

• The Bauhaus movement had a significant impact on modern architecture and design, influencing everything from furniture to typography.

• The Bauhaus school was closed by the Nazis in 1933, and many of its faculty and students were forced to flee Germany.

• The Bauhaus Archive in Berlin is home to a large collection of Bauhaus artifacts and documents.

• The Berlinische Galerie held an exhibition in 2019-2020 called "Original Bauhaus" that showcased 1,000 artifacts from the Bauhaus Archive's collection.

• In 2020, Ursula Von der Leyen introduced the New European Bauhaus initiative, which aims to connect the European Green Deal to everyday life and promote sustainable, aesthetic, and inclusive design.

• Sport and physical activity were an essential part of the original Bauhaus approach, with one day a week solely devoted to sport and gymnastics.

• Bauhaus staff and students included notable artists and designers such as Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Wassily Kandinsky, and László Moholy-Nagy.

• The Bauhaus movement continues to influence modern design and architecture, with its emphasis on functionality, simplicity, and accessibility.

• The Bauhaus movement also had a significant impact on typography, with many of its faculty and students creating new typefaces that are still in use today.