• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login/ Register
  • Editorial Team
  • Get Involved

Exeposé Online

Making the headlines since 1987

Exeposé Online
  • Home
  • News
      • Local
      • COVID-19
      • University News
  • Comment
  • Features
      • National
      • Worldwide
      • Politics
      • Interviews
  • Science
      • News
      • Lite Science
      • Common Misconceptions
      • Environment
      • Health
      • Technology
  • Sport
  • Lifestyle
      • Fashion and Beauty
      • Features
      • Food
      • Wellbeing
      • Sustainability
  • Music
      • Interviews
      • Features
      • Live Reviews
      • Album Reviews
      • Single Reviews
  • Screen
      • Reviews
      • Features
      • Interviews
      • Festivals and Awards
  • Arts + Lit
      • Interviews
      • Features
      • Reviews
      • Creative Writing
  • Amplify
  • International
  • Multilingual
  • News
  • Comment
  • Features
  • Science
  • Sport
  • Lifestyle
  • Music
  • Screen
  • Arts + Lit
  • Amplify
  • International
  • Multilingual
Home / Arts & Lit

100 Years of Bauhaus

The Bauhaus movement, formed in the 20th century, was rooted in concerns over manufacturing and its soullessness; the movement aimed to unite the soul of fine art with more functional creations. It has stimulated rethinking the meaning of art, typically thought of as humanities, by fusing it together with more research-based science. The Bauhaus school existed during the Weimar period in Germany which combined fine art and crafts, publicising the movement.

The movement aimed to unite the soul of fine art with more functional creations

The movement became about stripping things down to their pure function, profoundly influencing typography. Bayer’s Bauhaus style font an exemplification as it removed serifs, creating a simple geometric form. This simplicity was also featured in the catalogues of Piet Zwart by stripping down conventional advertising material into more direct communication; using bold, diagonal lines coincided different messages within his designs. Bayer’s most notable design has been the 1925 Universal Alphabet with letters in their most simple form and with great distance between them so they are more legible and based on the clarity of speech itself. This could be easily adapted for technology, formed by typewriter machines and accessible. Tschichold’s penguin book cover designs in the late 1940s used the same sans-serif font – in a white block sandwiched between a block colour – and are still recognisable to this day as a trademark for classic texts.

Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian art theorist and painter, formed a Bauhaus motif: yellow triangle, red square, and blue circle. His Point and Line to Plane (1926) linked combinations of line, colour, tone to spiritual or psychological impacts. In terms of architecture, colour was not valued, and only really confined to art theory. Yet, his theories on shades of colour linking to produce visual music became highly influential to literature. For instance, he wrote many play scripts such as ‘The Yellow Sound’ which united words, colour, and sound as touching the human soul or psyche; this epitomising the Bauhaus notion of linking the soul of art to a more functional approach. In spite of this, the Bauhaus school itself was thought to be a Jewish Bolshevik conspiracy by the Nazis and after Hitler became chancellor it was dissolved. Yet, the movement still spread its influences across the world as staff began to emigrate and has proved to transcend time thus far – a quality akin to the notion of the soul of the movement.

The movement became about stripping things down to their pure function

With National Tea Day taking place on Easter Sunday this year, it is fitting to celebrate Marianne Brandt’s MT49 tea pot design; this epitomised the Bauhaus notion of ‘form follows function’. Despite its minimal decoration, its materials and shapes made it structural and high in its functionality. They are now considered rare with only around seven prototypes existing, most placed in museums and galleries as mass-production did not occur. Nonetheless, it is still a celebration of women existing in the man’s world of design as Brandt became the first woman to study at the Bauhaus metal workshop in 1924, escaping the constraints of women studying weaving and ceramics.

To celebrate the movement’s 100th anniversary, museums and galleries have been hosting exhibitions including the Tate Modern, in London. Also, earlier this year, there was a festival by the Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin examining the relationship between the body and machine. Last summer, Great Big Story created a four-part video series on ‘Preserving the Soul of Bauhaus Design’, tracing its origins and its influences such as furniture, ballet, and even fashion. The Bauhaus movement has truly been preserved, despite very few companies replicating original pieces – it has been highly influential across the world in myriad mediums and has heavily influenced contemporary and modern art.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

May 3, 2019 By Megan Frost Filed Under: Arts & Lit, Arts Features Tagged With: art, Architecture, anniversary, design, Crafts, movement, Bauhaus, Bayer, geometry

Reader Interactions

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

exepose_arts_lit

Arts and literature section of the University of Exeter's student newspaper 🎨📚 artsandlit@exepose.com

Local artist, Molly Rooke talks to Exeposé about Local artist, Molly Rooke talks to Exeposé about her postponed exhibition at Exeter Phoenix and how the environment is at the top of her artistic agenda. Read more with the link below! 

https://exepose.com/2021/01/21/a-local-artists-perspective-molly-rooke-on-covid-climate-and-creativity-in-lockdown/

#lockdown #exeter #localartist #mollyrooke #exeterphoenix
Read about the benefit of diary writing in Rhian H Read about the benefit of diary writing in Rhian Hutching’s latest article exploring how diaries have come to embody feminist practice #virginiawoolf #sashaswire #annefrank
We’re getting meta here on the arts+lit Instagra We’re getting meta here on the arts+lit Instagram page..

Check out Sardelli Constanza and Megan Frost’s definitive guide on the art accounts of Instagram!

Find the full guide on the Arts + Lit website.
“Visual art alongside literature has historicall “Visual art alongside literature has historically been used as both a political tool and an emotional outlet...”

Before the US election result is announced on 3rd November, check out what Rhian Hutchings has to say about the role of art in voting.
Imogen Williams shares her autumn short story abou Imogen Williams shares her autumn short story about the beauty of seasonal change.

Read more on Exeposé’s Arts+Lit website.
Max Ingleby delves into the subtle art of the illu Max Ingleby delves into the subtle art of the illustration, and reflects on the impacts they can have on our imaginations as children.

“The illustrated books that most commanded my attention were not those that shied away from the dark, scary aspects of childhood, but those that explored them…”

Read the full article on Exeposé’s Arts+Lit webpage.
Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight saga rises from the g Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight saga rises from the grave with the latest addition to the series, Midnight Sun.

Paige Insalaco sinks her teeth into this new read, and tells us the secret to the book series’s eternal life...

Read the article on Exeposé’s Arts+Lit webpage.
Tori Sharp briefs us on her top summer reads of 20 Tori Sharp briefs us on her top summer reads of 2020, from neapolitan novels to the best biographies 

https://exepose.com/2020/09/07/what-i-read-this-summer/
The sensational musical, Hamilton, is now availabl The sensational musical, Hamilton, is now available to stream online, featuring its original broadway cast.

Music Editor, Bridie Adams, reviews the hit musical and the experience of viewing it from the comfort of your own home.

Read the full article on Exeposé’s Arts+Lit webpage.
Load More… Follow on Instagram
Tweets by Arts + Lit

Contact Us: editors@exepose.com

Since 1987, Exeposé has given a voice to Exeter students. Over the years, the determination and political fervour exhibited by students through Exeposé have helped shape the University we study at today. We have received national recognition for our award-winning campaigns, investigations and surveys, and always strive to provide students with high-quality news, comment and features.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in articles and comments do not reflect the views of Exeposé Online or the University of Exeter Student's Guild.

        


© 2021
Website design: Harry Caton and Ellie Cook
Webdesign & development: Harry Caton