The Bauhaus Movement

Bauhaus

Post World War I Germany set the stage for the most organized art movement in art history. The Bauhaus movement was a reaction to the social changes the Germans were facing. The country had been crushed in the war. Their economy was collapsing. Mobs of unemployed people roamed the street waiting for the country to collapse. The Germans were living in poverty and starving from the lack of supplies (Jackson). "This may seem to be an unlikely environment to support an artistic revolution. Never-the-less, for the designers of the Bauhaus, this was the beginning of a rewarding struggle" (qtd. Brodie).

In 1919 an institution called the Bauhaus was formed in Weimer. Walter Gropius was appointed as the head of the school. He had three goals that he wanted his students to achieve. Artist and craftsmen were accepted into the program in an effort to get them to work collectively to combine all of their skills. Secondly, the students were to design everyday objects as works of art. This would advance modern art into the sense of functional design. The third goal was to maintain contact with the leaders of industry so the students could be their consultants.

Ilkka Huovio stated in Bauhaus, The New Man - The New Technique that "The idealistic basis of Bauhaus was a socially orientate programme. An artist must be conscious of his social responsibility to the community. On the other hand the community has to accept the artist and support him" The movement achieved their beli...