WALTER GROPIUSDe Stijl architects not only developed an
appealing simplified geometric style but also promoted the notion that
art should be thoroughly incorporated into living environments. As
Mondrian had insisted, “[A]rt and life are one; art and life are both ex-
pressions of truth.”^57 In Germany,Wa lt e r G r o p i u s(1883–1969) de-
veloped a particular vision of “total architecture.” He made this concept
the foundation of not only his own work but also the work of genera-
tions of pupils under his influence at a school called the Bauhaus.In
1919, Gropius became the director of the Weimar School of Arts and
Crafts in Germany, founded in 1906. Under Gropius, the school as-
sumed a new name—Das Staatliche Bauhaus (roughly translated as
“State School of Building”). Gropius’s goal was to train artists, archi-
tects, and designers to accept and anticipate 20th-century needs. He
developed an extensive curriculum based on certain principles. First,
Gropius staunchly advocated the importance of strong basic design
(including principles of composition, two- and three-dimensionality,
and color theory) and craftsmanship as fundamental to good art and
architecture. He declared: “Architects, sculptors, painters, we must all
go back to the crafts....There is no essential difference between the
artist and the craftsman.”^58 To achieve this integration of art and craft,
both a technical instructor and a “teacher of form”—an artist—taught
in each department. Among the teachers Gropius hired were Vassily
Kandinsky (FIG. 35-7) and Paul Klee (FIG. 35-53).
Second, Gropius promoted the unity of art, architecture, and
design. “Architects, painters, and sculptors,” he insisted, “must recog-
nize anew the composite character of a building as an entity.”^59 To
encourage the elimination of boundaries that traditionally separated
art from architecture and art from craft, the Bauhaus offered courses
in a wide range of artistic disciplines. These included weaving, pot-
tery, bookbinding, carpentry, metalwork, stained glass, mural paint-
ing, stage design, and advertising and typography, in addition to
painting, sculpture, and architecture.
Third, because Gropius wanted the Bauhaus to produce gradu-
ates who could design progressive environments that satisfied 20th-
century needs, he emphasized thorough knowledge of machine-age
technologies and materials. He felt that to produce truly successful
designs, the artist-architect-craftsperson had to understand industry
and mass production. Ultimately, Gropius hoped for a marriage be-
tween art and industry—a synthesis of design and production.
Like the De Stijl movement, the Bauhaus philosophy had its roots
in utopian principles. Gropius’s declaration reveals the idealism of the
entire Bauhaus enterprise: “Together let us
conceive and create the new building of the
future, which will embrace architecture and
sculpture and painting in one unity and
which will rise one day toward heaven from
the hands of a million workers like a crystal
symbol of a new faith.”^60 In its reference to a
unity of workers, this statement also reveals
the undercurrent of socialism present in Ger-
many at the time.
BAUHAUS IN DESSAUAfter encountering increasing hostil-
ity from a new government elected in 1924, the Bauhaus moved
north to Dessau in early 1925. By this time, the Bauhaus program
had matured. In a statement, Walter Gropius listed the school’s goals
more clearly:❚A decidedly positive attitude to the living environment of vehicles
and machines.❚The organic shaping of things in accordance with their own cur-
rent laws, avoiding all romantic embellishment and whimsy.❚Restriction of basic forms and colors to what is typical and uni-
versally intelligible.❚Simplicity in complexity, economy in the use of space, materials,
time, and money.^61The building Gropius designed for the Bauhaus at Dessau visi-
bly expressed these goals. It is, in fact, the Bauhaus’s architectural
manifesto. The Dessau Bauhaus consisted of workshop and class areas,
a dining room, a theater, a gymnasium, a wing with studio apartments,
and an enclosed two-story bridge housing administrative offices. Of
the major wings, the most dramatic was the Shop Block (FIG. 35-72).
Three stories tall, the Shop Block housed a printing shop and dye
works facility, in addition to other work areas. The builders constructed
the skeleton of reinforced concrete but set these supports well back,
sheathing the entire structure in glass to create a streamlined and light
effect. This design’s simplicity followed Gropius’s dictum that architec-
ture should avoid “all romantic embellishment and whimsy.” Further,
he realized his principle of “economy in the use of space” in his interior
layout of the Shop Block, which consisted of large areas of free-flowing
undivided space. Gropius believed this kind of spatial organization en-
couraged interaction and the sharing of ideas.
MARCEL BREUERThe interior decor of this Dessau building
also reveals the comprehensiveness of the Bauhaus program. Because
carpentry, furniture design, and weaving were all part of the Bauhaus
curriculum, Gropius gave students and teachers the task of designing
furniture and light fixtures for the building. One of the memorable fur-
niture designs that emerged from the Bauhaus was the tubular steel
“Wassily chair” (FIG. 35-73) crafted by Hungarian Marcel Breuer
(1902–1981) and named in honor of Bauhaus instructor Vassily35-72Walter Gropius,Shop Block, the
Bauhaus, Dessau, Germany, 1925–1926.
Gropius constructed this Bauhaus building
by sheathing a reinforced concrete skeleton
in glass. The design followed his dictum that
architecture should avoid “all romantic embel-
lishment and whimsy.”962 Chapter 35 EUROPE AND AMERICA, 1900 TO 194535-72ALOOS,
Steiner House,
Vienna, 1910.35-73ASTÖLZL,
Gobelin
tapestry,
1927–1928.