The Bauhaus.

The Bauhaus.

Walter Gropius (1883-1969) was an architect and the creator of this school. He was appointed head of two schools of art and design in Weimar, the Kunstgewerbeschule (art and craft school) and Hochshule fur Bildende Kunst (institute of fine art) in 1919 and he united these two schools in one. He combined the art and crafts students with the fine art students, Gropius named his school Bauhaus meaning 'Building House'.                                    
The Bauhaus was a school of art and design. Founded in 1919 in Weimar and closed by the Nazis in 1933. The Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1925 and Berlin in 1932. This school although of its short life it is considered as the most famous art school of the 20th century.

The school's aim was that of building strong relationship between design and industrial techniques and to break the tradition that had previously divided 'fine' arts from 'applied' arts.

"Let us then create a new guild of craftsmen without the class distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist! Together let us desire, conceive, and create the new structure of the future, which will embrace architecture and sculpture and painting in one unity and which will one day rise toward heaven from the hands of a million workers like the crystal symbol of a new faith." [Gropius, 1919, p1]

Walter Gropius

Walter Gropius' prospectus of the school had three main aims. The first one was that of uniting the arts so that painters, craft men and sculptors could work together in the future and to create a harmony between all artistic skills. Secondly to raise the status of crafts to that enjoyed by the fine arts. Thirdly to establish contacts with the leaders of the crafts and industries of the country.

''Students were encouraged to use their imagination and to experiment boldly yet never to lose sight of the purpose which their  design should serve.'' [Gombrich,1960, p560)

There were other people that contributed for the school. Some of these people were:

 Moholy Nagy he taught at the bauhaus photogram, photomontage, photo plastics, and photography.

 Joost Schmidt taught lettering  at the school, he was also head of department of sculture,advertising, typography, printing and also in photography department.

 Herbert Bayer was an Austrian and American graphic designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental and interior designer, and architect, who was widely recognized as the last living member of the Bauhaus and was instrumental in the development of the Atlantic Richfield Company's corporate art collection until his death in 1985.

Bibliography.

Chilvers.I, 2009,Dictionary of art and artists,4th edition, New York:Oxford university Press.

Gombrich, E.H.,2010, The Story of Art, 16th edition, London: Phaidon Press Limited.

Patent Office & 2009 Creative Commons,2012, Graphic Design history,[online], Available at:<http://www.designhistory.org/>[Accessed 5 November 2014].

Walter Gropius, April 1919, Walter Gropius, “Bauhaus Manifesto and Program”, [online], Available at:<http://www.thelearninglab.nl/resources/Bauhaus-manifesto.pdf <[Accessed on 9 november 2014]