The Masters of the Bauhaus

The Master’s Classes and Workshops

Over the course of the Dessau period the individual teachers developed and, in some cases, fundamentally revised the content of their teaching. From the students point of view, courses were more intensive and more demanding. At the core of the preliminary training given to Bauhaus students lay Josef Albers. Albers, a former elementary-school teacher, came to the Bauhaus hoping to become a painter. Having completed Itten’s Vorkurs he joined the stained-glass workshop, whose poor record in commissions was soon to cost it its independence. As from autumn 1923 Albers taught the first semester of the Vorkurs, consisting of 18 lessons a week, while Moholy taught the second semester (8 lessons a week). Albers’ timetable included visits to craftsmen and factories. Without machines, and using the simplest, most conventional tools, pupils designed containers, toys and small utensils, at first using just one material and later in combinations. In this way students familiarized themselves with the inherent properties of each material and the basic rules of design. Although Albers naturally adopted some elements - such as the study of materials - from Itten’s Vorkurs, he systemized them in a completely new way, as can be seen in his approach to material studies. From 1927 onwards students were no longer permitted to work with materials at random, but instead had to progress through glass, paper and metal in strict order. They worked solely with glass in the first month and paper in the second, while in the third month they were allowed to use two materials which their studies had shown to be related. Not until the fourth month were students free to choose their own materials. Albers observed: “Materials must be worked in such a way that there is no wastage: the chief principle is economy. The final form arises from the tensions of cut and folded material.” Albers’ teaching had a particular and profound influence on many students and