The Bauhaus has a kind of ecstatic utopian tenor to it in its writings that feels like the venture into a new world. A lot of what we've described is how that has to negotiate very practical things. How do you make money? How do you sustain this school? And all those questions keep on drawing the Bauhaus back to mundane things. It's not just my hand and wrist that is making this object. My whole body is involved. You look at Hittens' encouragement of gymnastic exercises and breathing exercises before the making of artwork. This is something that was actually engaging the physical person completely in the making of the work, or thinking about Maurynash later
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Bauhaus which began in 1919 in Weimar, Germany, as a school for arts and crafts combined, and went on to be famous around the world. Under its first director, Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus moved to Dessau and extended its range to architecture and became associated with a series of white, angular, flat-roofed buildings reproduced from Shanghai to Chicago, aimed for modern living. The school closed after only 14 years while at a third location, Berlin, under pressure from the Nazis, yet its students and teachers continued to spread its ethos in exile, making it even more influential.
The image above is of the Bauhaus Building, Dessau, designed by Gropius and built in 1925-6
With
Robin Schuldenfrei
Tangen Reader in 20th Century Modernism at The Courtauld Institute of Art
Alan Powers
History Leader at the London School of Architecture
And
Michael White
Professor of the History of Art at the University of York
Producer: Simon Tillotson