Bauhaus

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Bauhaus

• Featuring
• Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer

Presented by Nicole Kutay
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History of Bauhaus

• The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 by Walter
  Gropius. Gropius came from the Werkbund
  Movement, which aimed to integrate art and
  economics, and to add an element of engineering
  to art.
• The Bauhaus was founded by the combining of the
  Weimar Art Academy and the Weimar Arts and Crafts
  School.
• Students were taught by both an artist and a
  master craftsman, to unite creative imagination
  with the practical knowledge of a craftsman, in
  order to develop a functional design.
• The Bauhaus were dependent on state funding. In
  1924 the political composition of the Weimar
  parliament changed and the Bauhauss contract was
  terminated.

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• In 1925 the school moved to Dessau which was more
  industrialized and had a sympathetic mayor, Fritz
  Hesse, who welcomed the Bauhaus and secured funds
  for a new school building.
• During its time in Dessau, the Bauhaus went
  through three directors. First, Walter Gropius
  who resigned because he was tired of running the
  school. Second, Hannes Meyer, an extreme
  functionalist, who was dismissed because the
  Dessau government did not like his politicization
  of the school. And third, Ludwig Mies van der
  Rohe, who ran the school as an academy with his
  authoritarian dictatorship over the students.
• In 1932 the Parliament of Dessau changed and once
  again the Bauhaus were forced to move. Mies van
  der Rohe took the school to Berlin where it
  stayed until 1933 when the National Socialist
  government closed its door for being a hot-bed
  of cultural-bolshevism.

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Bauhaus Ideology

• The school had three aims at its inception and
  throughout its life
• To encourage the individual artisans and
  craftsmen to work cooperatively and combine all
  of their skills.
• To elevate the status of crafts, chairs, lamps,
  teapots, etc., to the same level enjoyed by fine
  arts, painting, sculpting, etc..
• To maintain contact with the leaders of industry
  and craft in an attempt to eventually gain
  independence from government support by selling
  designs to industry.

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Walter Gropius (1883-1969)

• Born in Berlin, his father was an architect.
• Educated in private elementary school.
• 1903 he left school and went to the Technical
  University in Munich to study architecture.
• 1904-1905 he served in the military, then went
  back to school.
• 1907 he left school without completion and went
  back to Berlin because of the death of his
  brother.
• 1907-1910 he worked for Peter Brehens, a leading
  figure in the Werkbund Movement. He left Brehens
  when he thought he had learned all he could from
  him and started his own practice.

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• 1919 he founded the Bauhaus school.
• 1925 he moved with the Bauhaus to Dessau.
• 1928 he left the Bauhaus and went to Berlin to
  start his own practice.
• 1934 moved to England and worked with Maxwell
  Fry, one of the only Modernist architects who
  were Britain. He pioneered Modernist buildings
  in Third World countries. Gropius worked with
  him for three years. 1937 began professorship of
  architecture at Harvard University where he met
  Marcel Breuer.
• 1945 joined a group of young architects known as
  The Architectural Collaborative (TAC).
• He was an advocate of industrialized building
  carrying with it a belief in teamwork and an
  acceptance of standardization and prefabrication.
• Invented the screen wall system that utilized a
  structural steel frame to support the floors and
  allowed the external glass wall to continue
  without interruption

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The Bauhaus School in Dessau(1925 to 1926)
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Bauhaus Masters House, Dessau (1926)
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Gropius House, Lincoln , MA(1937)
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• Dining room drape could be closed for
  entertaining. While the Gropiuses entertained in
  the living room, a maid would be behind the drape
  preparing the dining room for dinner. Using
  museum lighting, Walter created a dramatic scene
  with the light illuminating just to the edge of
  the table.The guest would be in darkness while
  the crystal and tableware sparkled.

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• Living room-
• Contains a fireplace for its practical value as
  well as the psychological effect an open fire has
  on making you feel safe. The top shelf of the
  bookcase contains only books written by Gropius
  or ones he had collaborated on, so he would have
  copies on hand to sign and give to his guests.

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• Front entry - Curved staircase faces away from
  the entry signifying the upstairs as a private
  place. By removing the closet door, the closet
  is incorporated as a design element, as a way to
  introduce color and texture that would change
  with the seasons. Floor is a cork tile which is
  sound absorbing, durable, functional, and elegant.

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Harvard Graduate Center (1950)

• A group of eight buildings arranged around large
  and small courtyards, which houses dormitories,
  common rooms, and a 250 capacity meeting hall.

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Marcel Breuer (1902-1981)

• Born in Hungary.
• 1920-1924 studied under Gropius.
• During his student years he designed furniture
  for the Bauhaus model house.
• 1925-designed furniture for the new Bauhaus
  campus in Dessau and became head of furniture
  workshop.
• 1928- started private practice in Berlin.
• 1937-moved to America and worked as an architect
  with Gropius.
• 1937-1947 taught at Harvard University.
• 1946-1976 had his own practice in New York, until
  he retired.

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• Breuers buildings can be distinguished by his
  attention to detail and clarity of expression.
• He is considered on of the last true
  functionalist architects.
• He helped shift the bias of the Bauhaus from
  Arts Crafts to Arts Technology.
• Many pieces of furniture designed by him are
  still in production.

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Slatted chair 1922

• Frame made of stained maple, back and seat are
  from horsehair. In 1921 Reitveldt exibited to
  the Bauhaus and influenced Breuers design.

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Wassily Chair 1925

• Created from the inspiration of the shape and
  form of his bicycle handlebars. Was designed and
  made for Kadinsky. Frame was made of polished,
  bent, nickelled tubular steel. Seat came in
  canvas, fabric or leather. Breuer made a whole
  line of tubular steel furniture because of it
  many qualities. It is affordable for the masses,
  hygienic, and provides comfort without the need
  for springs.

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Typists table 1928
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• From 1932 to 1934 Breuer designed a range of
  furniture made from flat bands of steel and
  aluminum. This furniture was more popular in the
  1970s then it was when it was originally
  designed.

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• Lounge chair

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• Breuer took his earlier metal designs and made
  five pieces of plywood furniture. He was
  influenced by an exhibition in 1933 of plywood
  furniture designed by Alvar Alto.

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• Robin Days Polyprop Chair

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Breuer Buildings
1960
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1961
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Washington D.C. 1963/68
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Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY 1966
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Whitney Museum entrance
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1967
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1977
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References

• 20th Century Desinger Data Publisher. Marcel
  Breuer. www.r20thcentury.com /bios/designers.
  cfm?article_id39.
• BBC Education. Walter Gropius.
  www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/centurions/gropiu
  s/gropbiog .html.
• Design Technology. Marcel Lajos Breuer.
  www.design technology.org/Marcel Breuer.html.
• Flores, G. Bauhaus. History of the Bauhaus.
  people.ucsc.edu/gflores/bauhaus/history.html.
• Huovio, Ilkka. Bauhaus The New Man The New
  Technology. www.uiah.fi/presentation/ history/
  ebauh.html..
• Morgan, Ann. Naylor, Colin. Contemporary
  Architects, 2nd edition. CicagoSaint James
  Press, 1987. Accessed via www.marcelbreuer.org.
• Rowland, Anna. Bauhaus Source Book. New YorkVan
  Nostrand Reinhold, 1990.
• Sharp, Dennis. Illustrated Encyclopedia of
  Architects and Architecture. New YorkQuatro
  Publishing, 1991. Accessed via
  www.greatbuildings.com.
• The Society for the Preservation of New England
  Antiquities. Gropius House. www.spnea.org.