Week 3 Reading: Modernism and The Bauhaus

During the late 19th century to mid 20th century Modernism was characterised by clean, abstract, geometric forms with the use of modern materials. This powerful expression was associated with social, moral and political agendas such as feminism, in which was not confined by national boundaries (Woodham, 1997). Modernism had a global affect even reaching Germany through the opening of the Bauhaus Art School in 1919 founded by Walter Grapius. Expressionism and creative experimentation was the main focus during a time when creativity was low and propaganda and economic crisis was prominent (Smith, 2005).

However the Bauhaus’ original intent was eventually corrupted when conflicting personalities such as Theo Van Doesbury, a Dutch artist whom led the group De Stijl arrived in 1921 (Smith, 2005).  He began to encourage criticism of the Bauhaus through organising independent classes exclusively for Bauhaus students. This created a conflicting purpose at the Bauhaus between the ideals of Grapius and De Stijl. Thus during the next fourteen years of it’s existence the Bauhaus had a huge lack of direction.

While the Bauhaus was one of the key educational design institutions in Europe and played an integral role in the spread of modernism, the school was forced to close in 1939 (Woodham, 1997). This was due to the strong oppressive force of the German political group the Nazi’s. This cultural repression resulted from the large amounts of Jewish staff, female students and the modern values of the school. Therefore it was seen as a threat to the Nazi’s political values (Willette, 2016).

By Chelsea Buswell.

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