The Bauhaus was a modernist school in Germany that played an instrumental role early in

the twentieth century in shaping today's modern tastes and art education. At a time when

industrial society was in the grip of a crisis, the Bauhaus questioned the ideas of traditional

design and asked themself how the modernisation process could be mastered through design

and architecture. It was founded in1919 and headed by Walter Gropuis, with a faculty

including Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky and Marcel Breuer. The Bauhaus

began with a Utopian definition: "The building of the future"�, trying to combine all arts in

ideal unity.

The Bauhaus was a reaction to social changes that captured the spirit of change in a

young generation willing to rebuild a bankrupt post-world war 1 Germany. The influence of

the end of world war 1 had and impact on the Bauhaus and there approach, ideas and art

making. After world war 1 industrial art was no longer and individualistic phenomenon. It

was here in 1919 that a new revolution of art took place that dealt with life with an aesthetic

approach. In 1923, the Bauhaus reacted with a changed program, with a major exhibition

which was to mark it's future image under the motto: "art and technology - a new unity"�.

This exhibition provided a glimpse of a residential building of the future. The Bauhaus

educated, by developing workshops and courses that all who entered the school must attend.

The characteristics of different materials, their form, texture and suitability for art were

discussed during worships. Structure, composition, colour and use of light became objects of

study. Three-dimensional objects that were seen as functional were often created and primary

colours were used. The Bauhaus style was characterised by a serve geometrical form, and by

design that took into account the nature of the materials being used. Bauhaus designs and

buildings were functional, with a clean, geometry style line. In 1925 the Bauhaus moved to

Dessau, Germany. On the basis of his experiences gained at the Weimar Bauhaus, Gropius

talked about the aims he had for the Bauhaus in 1925 and what they were trying to achieve.

He said " Bauhaus wishes to serve the actual development of the housing, from simple

utensils to the complete dwelling house. Bauhaus tries to find the form of every object in it's

natural functions and presuppositions by systematically experimenting in theory and practice.

The result are forms that - differing from the common ones - often feel strange and startling"�.

During this year and around the 1927 many things were going on in Germany that influenced

the way the Bauhaus sort to interpreted the world. The greatest advances in research took

place in Germany, the country began to grow in technology, science and wealth launching

the first liquid-fuelled rocket.

On the 1st of April 1928 Walter Gropius resigned as Director of the Bauhaus and

return to private architectural practice, as a result of the constant struggle and pressure for the

Bauhaus' survival. His successor was the Swiss architect Hannes Meyer who was replaced in

1930 as he failed as a leader due to political disagreements within the Bauhaus. German

architect Ludwig Van der Rohe was invited as director and the Bauhaus approached a type

of "� vocational university"�. It began to loose the support from Dessau so the school was then

moved to Berlin where it became hated by the Nazis for it's ideas and different approaches

taken.

With the Great Depression beginning in 1930 and spreading across the world most of

Europe was in political and economic shambles. However during this time the Nazis' rose in

Germany with it's own dreams of conquest and a superior race, at this stage the Bauhaus

became stronger expressing ideas and new forms of art. As a result of Germany being

dictated by Adolf Hitler and the degeneration of culture, the Bauhaus under pressure from

the Nazis was closed by police on the 11th of April, 1933.

The Bauhaus was a very influential group of artists that changed the way of

traditional art forms and sought to interpret the world in new ways. The significance and

influence of the Bauhaus is still being carried on today, this can be seen in many cities, with

their geometrical buildings and the use of glass windows. This group of artists and school

interpreted the world in new ways through their unusual aims and goals. The school had

three main aims that stayed basically the same throughout the life of the Bauhaus even

though the direction of the school changed significantly and repeatedly. the first aim of the

school was to "rescue all of the arts from the isolation in which each then found itself"�, to

encourage the individual artists and craftsmen to work co-operatively and combine all of

their skills. Secondly, the school set out to promote crafts, chairs, lamps, teapots, to the same

level enjoyed by fine arts, painting and sculpting. the third aim was to renew architecture and

unify all of the creative arts in architecture. Above all the intention with Bauhaus was to

develop creative minds for architecture and thus influence them so they would be able to

produce artistically, technically and practically balanced utensils. These aims and intentions

were the basis of the Bauhaus that began to influence our lives immensely in ways that most

people probably take for granted.