2019 sees the centenary of the visionary art school, The Bauhaus, which opened in 1919. As Cass lecturer Patrick Brill (AKA Bob and Roberta Smith, who teaches Fine Art here), once described the Cass as the ‘Aldgate Bauhaus’, we couldn’t let the opportunity pass for a display of some of our collection of Bauhaus books at Aldgate library!
‘The Bauhaus in Germany (1919-1933) was one of the most influential art and design schools of the twentieth century. Founded just after the end of World War I, on April 1, 1919, in the city of Weimar, its modernist approach, including the teaching of the hence unknown abstract art and the new architecture, caused so much controversy that various factions including artisans, Weimar artists, and emerging rightWing groups forced the Bauhaus from the city just a few years later. In 1925 it moved to Dessau and seven years later to Berlin, where the National Socialists initiated its final closure in 1933. Its radical and controversial impact was due to the fact that it was the only art school at the time that taught exclusively modernist art such as abstract painting, design, and architecture. Its three directors were the architects Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, and Mies van der Rohe. Among its masters were eminent modernist artists such as Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, László Moholy-Nagy, Herbert Bayer, Marcel Breuer, Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Anni and Josef Albers, Oskar Schlemmer, Marianne Brandt, and Gunta Stölzl.’ Baumhoff, A. (2011). The Bauhaus School. In A.J. Andrea, World history encyclopedia. [Online]. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. Available from: http://0search.credoreference.com.emu.londonmet.ac.uk/content/entry/abccliow/the_bauhaus_school/0?institutionId=5061 [Accessed 1 February 2019]
Bauhaus100.com, website dedicated to the centenary and events happening throughout 2019
Independent article on best places around the world to explore the Bauhaus style
List of books available in London Met Libraries on the Bauhaus, including ebooks
BBC feature and photographs of Bauhaus buildings
Related previous posts:
Bauhaus display at Aldgate Library. Image © London Met
