(sometimes spelled Wassily) Kandinsky.Breuer supposedly got the in-
spiration to use tubular steel while riding his bicycle and admiring the
handlebars. In keeping with Bauhaus aesthetics, his chairs have a sim-
plified, geometric look, and the leather or cloth supports add to the fur-
niture’s comfort and functionality. These chairs could also easily be
mass produced and thus epitomize the goals of the Bauhaus.
LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE In 1928, Gropius left the
Bauhaus, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe(1886–1969) eventually
took over the directorship, moving the school to Berlin. Taking as his
motto “less is more” and calling his architecture “skin and bones,” the
new Bauhaus director had already fully formed his aesthetic when he
conceived the model (FIG. 35-74) for a glass skyscraper building in- In the glass model, which was on display at the first Bauhaus ex-
hibition in 1923, three irregularly shaped towers flow outward from a
central court designed to hold a lobby, a porter’s room, and a commu-
nity center. Two cylindrical entrance shafts rise at the ends of the
court, each containing elevators, stairways, and toilets. Wholly trans-
parent, the perimeter walls reveal the regular horizontal patterning of
the cantilevered floor planes and their thin vertical supporting ele-
ments. The bold use of glass sheathing and inset supports was, at the
time, technically and aesthetically adventurous. The weblike delicacy
of the lines of the model, as well as the illusion of movement created
by reflection and by light changes seen through the glass, appealed to
many other architects. A few years later, Gropius pursued these princi-
ples in his design for the Bauhaus building (FIG. 35-72) in Dessau. The
glass-and-steel skyscrapers found in major cities throughout the
world today are the enduring legacy of Mies van der Rohe’s design.
END OF THE BAUHAUSOne of Hitler’s first acts after com-
ing to power was to close the Bauhaus in 1933. During its 14-year ex-
istence, the beleaguered school graduated fewer than 500 students,
yet it achieved legendary status. Its phenomenal impact extended
beyond painting, sculpture, and architecture to interior design,
graphic design, and advertising. Moreover, art schools everywhere
began to structure their curricula in line with the program the
Bauhaus pioneered. The numerous Bauhaus instructors who fled
Nazi Germany disseminated the school’s philosophy and aesthetic.
Many Bauhaus members came to the United States. Gropius and
Breuer ended up at Harvard University. Mies van der Rohe moved to
Chicago and taught there.
LE CORBUSIER The simple geometric aesthetic that Gropius
and Mies van der Rohe developed became known as the International
Stylebecause of its widespread popularity. The first and purest adher-
ent of this style was the Swiss architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret,
who adopted his maternal grandfather’s name—Le Corbusier
(1887–1965). Trained in Paris and Berlin, he was also a painter, but Le
Corbusier wielded greater influence as an architect and theorist on
modern architecture. As such, he applied himself to designing a func-
tional living space, which he described as a “machine for living.”^62
Le Corbusier maintained that the basic physical and psychologi-
cal needs of every human being were sun, space, and vegetation com-
bined with controlled temperature, good ventilation, and insulationArchitecture 96335-73Marcel Breuer,Wassily chair, 1925. Chrome-plated tubular
steel and canvas, 2 41 – 4 2 63 – 4 2 4 . Museum of Modern Art,
New York (gift of Herbert Bayer).
The Bauhaus advocated a comprehensive approach to architecture,
which included furniture design. Breuer’s chair has a simple geometric
look in keeping with Bauhaus aesthetics.35-74Ludwig Mies van der Rohe,model for a glass skyscraper,
Berlin, Germany, 1922 (no longer extant).
In this technically and aesthetically adventurous design, the architect
whose motto was “less is more” proposed a transparent building that
revealed its cantilevered floor planes and thin supports.1 ft.