Walter Gropius was asked in early 1919, at the age of 35, to lead the new school of fine art and pattern in Weimar. Earlier in the decade, he had established himself as a leading modernist architect committed to languages of rationalism and the burgeoning "machine aesthetic," with explicit influences stemming from factory architecture and processes of industrial standardization. The unprecedented horrors of mechanized warfare that he experienced in World War I, notwithstanding, forced the immature architect to rethink his commitment to rationalism and industry. By 1919 Gropius had become increasingly focused on exploring the possibilities of romanticism, Expressionism, and socialism in compages.

Fig. six.

Group portrait of Bauhaus masters, from left: Josef Albers, Hinnerk Scheper, Georg Muche, László Moholy-Nagy, Herbert Bayer, Joost Schmidt, Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Vassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Gunta Stölzl, Oskar Schlemmer, photographer unknown, 1926. Newsprint. xix.i x 28.7 cm. From Das Illustrierte Blatt, No. 50, p. 1131. Jan and Edith Tschichold Papers, 1899–1979. The Getty Enquiry Constitute, 930030

As the head of the newly established Bauhaus, Gropius recruited major, international figures associated with prominent artistic groups in Deutschland—such equally Der Blaue Reiter in Munich and Der Sturm in Berlin—and members of the Russian advanced to teach at the school. Reflecting both his turn to Expressionism and his commitment to bringing together diverse disciplines, Gropius's primeval recruits included artists Lyonel Feininger, Johannes Itten, Gerhard Marcks, and Gertrud Grunow. In the post-obit years, Gropius hired other leading artists such as Paul Klee, Oskar Schlemmer, and Vassily Kandinsky. Though these figures were in large role committed to the production of art objects, it was Gropius'southward confidence that a revolutionary form of spiritual expression should not be constrained to the domain of fine art; he sought instead to imbue objects of everyday life with an artistic spirit, too.

Fig. seven.

Five students wearing sheets of wallpaper and i wearing a sheet of paper, attributed to Edmund Collein, photographer, ca. 1927–1928. Gelatin silver print. 8 x nine.eight cm. Photographs of Bauhaus Students, Teachers, and Exhibits, 1919–1933. The Getty Enquiry Institute, 900079

Fig. 8.

Students at the Bauhaus Dessau, photographer unknown, n.d. Gelatin silver print. 14.5 x 13.3 cm. Photographs of Bauhaus Students, Teachers, and Exhibits, 1919–1933. The Getty Inquiry Constitute, 900079

Fig. ix.

Students in a workshop at the Bauhaus Dessau, photographer unknown (possibly Lotte Gerson-Collein), n.d. Gelatin silver impress. ix.6 x 7.five cm. Photographs of Bauhaus Students, Teachers, and Exhibits, 1919–1933. The Getty Research Institute, 900079

Gropius's appetite was naught less than to forge a new blazon of artist.

Walter Gropius'due south vision for creating "a new guild of craftsmen" was not restricted to the painting of artworks or the design of everyday objects.1 The first students who arrived at the Bauhaus were confronted by a peculiar provision outlined in the school'south programme. One of its key principles dictated that students participate in extracurricular activities such as "theater, lectures, poesy, music, [and] costume parties," at which they were expected to contribute to a "low-cal-hearted" or "cheerful" atmosphere.2 Students not only lived and dined together merely also spent their free time playing sports, designing publications, organizing parties and festivals, and collaborating on art projects. Parties at the Bauhaus were legendary and frequently elaborately themed, involving sets and costumes that required expertise from the workshops.

Fig. 10.

Der Muster-Bauhäusler (The model Bauhaus human being), Herbert Bayer, 1923. Gouache, black ink, watercolor, and graphite on fair wove newspaper. 55.two 10 51.6 cm. Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, BR48.102. Gift of the artist. Artwork: © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Fig. xi.

Stundenplan im Wintersemester, 1921–1922 (Class schedule for the wintertime semester, 1921–1922), Lothar Schreyer or student of his class, ca. 1921–1922. Watercolor, tempera, ink, and graphite on paper. 16.5 x 33 cm. Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, 9077. © Michael Schreyer

In keeping with Gropius's romantic, preindustrial vision for modern arts education at the Bauhaus, the school's construction followed a medieval guild model of labor organisation. The bulk of professors were deemed "masters," while students were known as "apprentices" or "journeymen," with a distant promise of graduating to the condition of "junior main." At Gropius's insistence, students at the Bauhaus comprised a relatively diverse group in terms of age, gender, and nationality. His appetite was nothing less than to forge a new type of artist. A number of students educated at the Bauhaus became leading masters and influential teachers at the school: among them were Anni Albers and her husband Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Marianne Brandt, Marcel Breuer, Xanti Schawinsky, Joost Schmidt, and Gunta Stölzl.

Notes