THE BAUHAUS

Extracts from: ‘THE BAUHAUS: MASTERS AND STUDENTS BY THEMSELVES’
EDITED BY FRANK WHITFORD


THE BAUHAUS ACCORDING TO WALTER GROPIUS

GOAL:
Architecture, painting and sculpture in a single form.


PRACTISE AND THEORY:
1. Craft: sculpture to weaving.
2. Drawing/Painting
3. Theory: History to materials


A HANDS-ON, WORKSHOP FOCUS:
‘a world in which things are built’ VS ‘the unproductive artist ... [there is] no such thing as “professional art”.’

‘The ultimate aim of all creative activity is the building.'

The goal of the Bauhaus is a ‘working community of outstanding artist-craftsmen [who can create] ... socially useful products’.


HAND-MADE VS MACHINE-MADE
‘the handloom alone provides so much scope and permits a concept to develop from one experimental stage to the next.’


LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE, ‘THE NEW EPOCH’ IN DIE FORM, 1930
‘Blind to all value judgements, all these things take their preordained course ... Everything depends not on the “what” but only and entirely on the “how”.’