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The Limits of Experiment When Grobius
founded the Bauhaus, a School for Art, Design, and Architecture, he wanted
to create an environment of experimentation and synthesis. The Bauhaus
represented both a school and place, where Art, Form, Music and Design
were to be seen in juxtaposition to one another, in what we now refer to
as a 'holistic' approach. The Bauhaus gave free reign also to the school
of
Expressionism and others such as Dadaism and Cubism. Artists such as Klee,
Dix and Klindinsky sought to incorporate in new art forms, classical and
contemporary music, mysticism and religious beliefs and for some like
Klindinsky, occultism in the form of Theosophy; which while the School was
declared "Entarte Kunst and closed by the Nazis in 1933, influenced Nazi
thinking, art policy, and propaganda. The Bauhaus offered one common
unique agenda: that form in art was not fixed, and that ideas were as
central to art as technique: this central  principle encompassed the
arts in their fullness and was applied to every discipline from
architecture to sculpture, although the combination of craftsman and
artist particulary in Architecture remained its central focus.
The Bauhaus was initially supported and funded by the Weimar Government, but in 1925, the support was withdrawn and the School moved to Dessau. In Dessau, the Bauhaus used many of its 'modernist' principles to design functional housing for the Government. In 1932, the Bauhaus moved to Berlin. The Nazis had opposed the Bauhaus (particularly Rosenberg) since the 1920s because they considered the philosophies and designs modernist and 'unGerman', or "Entarte Kunst": Degenerate Art. The Third Reich declared that the Bauhaus was a front for Bolshevik activity due to the numbers of Russian artists, including Klandinsky, who were a part of the Bauhaus. In 1933, in accordance with other acts to shut down all non-Aryan forms of artistic expression, the Bauhaus was closed. This was the same year than many Jewish Professors and Directors were removed from University Positions and Government appointments in the arts, including the Opera and Symphony houses and Museums. The Bauhaus, though closed by Nazi tyranny against the Arts,
flourished, and its influence in design and building are still felt: it
was a major moving force behind design and concept in 'pop' art of the
1950s and '60s, and influenced the design of furniture and even utensils
in the 'modern' styles which are designed to be aesthetically pleasing and
utterly streamlined in function. (the computer lingo of 'user-friendly'
would be appropriate.) Those who founded and influenced the Bauhaus
continued in their own right. Kandinsky greatly influenced a form of
expressionism called, "Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider)" , Klee went onto become
an internationally respected painter and muralist, and Gropius's influence
in architecture was felt into the 60s in the United States. The
Bauhaus Museum
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. . . . . . FACTS & STATISTICS |
Hitler was
able to stop the 'institution' of the Bauhaus, but his censorship probably
only served to further the Bauhaus Concept and Influence, as many rallied
to its cause, in support of Artistic Freedom.