HisGD- 3/20/12
Bauhaus 1919-1933
1919- 1925- Weimar
1923- first public exhibition
1924- letter of resignation
1925-1932- Dessau
-evolves, designing for industry, made products
-Groupious replaced my Meyer
-replaced by Van der ro
1932-1933- Berlin
- nasty, dreary, old warehouse
Utopian desire for new society
Set desire to create a new society.
Unity of artist and craftsmen to build for the future.
Ideas from all advance art and designed were explored and applied
All about experimenting
Paul Kee Miles van der Rohe
Moholy Nagy Walter Groupus
Herbert Bayer Kandinsky
Walter Gropius- Director of Bauhaus 1919-1928
“Taming the machine, work for society”
The Bauhaus Manifesto- lays out beginnings of the Bauhaus
Cathedral print- metaphor
-3 spires- painting, sculpture, architecture “all should be happening as one”
John Ruskin- also used cathedral as example.
“The ultimate aim of all creativity is a building”
3 Masters
-Gerhard Marks- Sculpture
-Lyonel Feringer- Painting
-Johannes Itten- Preliminary Courses
Johannes Itten
- Believed in the idea of a core program, set of skills.
- Fanatically about releasing each individual’s capabilities.
- Understanding of physical nature and materials. “ draw a piece of material”
- Basal School of Design- European.
- America, not theoretical, more pragmatic (practical)
- studies of contrast, studied old masters
- emphasis on contrast.
Joseph Smitt
-Elements of constructivism, cubism
-advertisement for first exhibition.
Laslow Nagy
-Hungarian constructivist
- interested in materials, for the service of society.
-experimenting with everything!
-replaces Itten for foundation program, incredible influence
-experimented with combining with imagery and typography
-creates Type-o-photos.
- emphasis must be on absolute clarity, legibility.
-Communication must not be affected by aesthetic.
- Photograms- plating with light sensitive paper, exploring new art.
-“What if?”
1925-1932
Golden Age of Bauhaus
Built own building! Huge glass curtains!
Begin selling student designed products
Replace idea of masters with science
Printing on glass?- look up Kyle Cooper
Herbert Beyer
- gives us Universal alphabet, omitted capitals, not successful,
- example of kind of thinking
-open implied grid, active negative space, asymmetrical, skewed
Nice van der Rohe
-rough, sturdy, roll up your sleeves and work!
Faculty voted in August 1933 to close Bauhaus
Jan Tchicochold
- hand lettered advertisement- 1922
-goes to Bauhaus exhibition when 21, rocks his world
- Writing an publishing paper on the new typography for designers in 1925.
Talwin Morris- practical application to Gasglow school
-1928- writes book “The New Typography”
Elements of Typographica style- get it!
- everything being done is WRONG! Start new!
The aim of every typographic work is to be the delivery in the shortest most efficient manner!!!!- Tchicochold
See the movie Pi
-harassed by the NAZIS for his typography! “Fight the Nazis with Typography”
“Free Tchichold!”
Escapes Nazi Germany, goes to Switzerland
Thoughts:
I've always wondered where the idea of core came from, although now it seems so obvious thats how an art education should start. The same system was used at my high school. The first two years were about materials, thinking, and exploring. The last two years are about experimenting and creating your own interpretation of the assignment. Johannes Itten believed in releasing each individual's capabilities. If nothing else comes out of an art education, having an identity as an artist is worth the time and effort. More and more I am beginning to realize that the true value of design is the thinking, followed by the design itself. Technology changes and styles are so numerous that requires the actual design part to change constantly. But with thinking, it makes someone adaptable to change.
With the thinking comes experimentation. They go hand and hand together. I have found the computer to be a great tool for designing, but sometimes I long to feel it with my own hands. Recently, it has manifested in an interest in printing and interactive print design. Laslow Nagy had a high interest in experimentation, and brought it with him to the foundation program at the Bauhaus. He encouraged playing with all sorts of materials, even screen printing on glass. I would like to emphasize that "playing" and "experimenting" should be synonymous with each other. The process of experimenting should be fun and open to anything, just like playing with blocks as a kid. Nagy played with typography and created the the Type-o-photo, which combined the type with elements of the photograph.
While he loved to experiment, he had strict beliefs about communication. Nagy said emphasis must be on absolute clarity and legibility. I agree that type should be legible and clearly presented, however I have been wanting to experiment with more expressive type and finding the fine line between creative and illegible. His theory on aesthetic and communication I find true, but difficult to over come. He states that aesthetic should not interfere with communication. Its true that a design should reflect what is being communicated, but the style should be interpreted through the filter of a personal aesthetic, or else everything would look the same.
Jan Tchicochold had a interesting remark on typography. He remarked "The aim of every typographic work is to be the delivery in the shortest most efficient manner." I agree with Tchicochold, the communication with type should as simple as possible, say a lot with little. But its also about the feel of the words, the physical sensation of saying them and how they are heard spoken. I do not like my copy long and clunky to say.
Questions:
Recently, I read an article about how Encyclopedia Britannica is ceasing print production of their books and switching to digital. What do you think this says about the appreciation of print and why everything is going digital? I bring this up because I was thinking about Nagy's experimentation with photos and glass printing. At first, the inherent value seems to benefit physical design like print, but how could it be reinterpreted for digital? Could there be a class that involves taking experimentation with materials and applying those elements to say a website? Imagine an entire website designed with trash or scrap wood and nails?
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