The Bauhaus An Introduction to the Bauhaus

The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 in the city of Weimer by German architect Walter Gropius. The focus of the school was to reimagine the material world to reflect the unity of all the arts. It aimed to create a utopian craft guild combining architecture, sculpture, and painting into a single creative expression. Leah Dickerman wrote in Bauhaus Fundamentals, “the Bauhaus brought together a diverse group of international artists, designers and architects in a kind of culture think tank for the times”. It was the place where many prolific design methods were created and explored. For example, the method of minimalism was created in the Bauhaus. Teachings at the Bauhaus focused on reducing the materials used and keeping the design functional. The mantra “form follows function” was widespread in the school. This led to the trend of minimalism both in product design and architecture throughout Germany and the United States of America. The ‘bauhaus’ journal was established to get these new ideas out to the general public and spread the word about the work they were doing. It contained information about the Bauhaus, its latest products and commissions, and welcomed contributions from guest authors. At the beginning almost every issue was devoted to a particular theme: the first number (edited by Gropius, designed by Moholy-Nagy) briefly introduced all the workshops, while issue 1927/3 was compiled by Schlemmer and dedicated to theatre. The journal served as a good record of the trends the Bauhaus were both following