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The Bauhaus

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AHIS 210 Research Paper
Bauhaus
By: Michael Kohlweg When the Bauhaus opened its doors in Weimar, Germany in 1919, no one could have predicted the profound effects it would leave on the future of art, architecture and design. Directly following World War One there was a desire to reform the art education in Germany, which brought about two fundamental demands (Whitford 27). First of which was that “all art education should be based on craft-training, the second that, since students were forbidden to specialize, the school should embrace as many activities as possible” (Whitford 27). Those two demands were the foundation for a profound change in art education and it was Walter Gropius, the newly appointed director, who had a vision of what an art school should represent that helped the Bauhaus become internationally known. Alongside Gropius many teachers help
bring about a revolution in the art education reform, including Johannes Itten (1888 - 1967), Wassily Kandinsky (1966 - 1944), and Paul Klee (1879-1940). Each teacher had his own strengths and brought a different aspect to the Bauhaus. Even to this day, we still speak about and practice many theories developed by the school and its teachers, and by examining the aims as a school we can clearly define its place in history, the influences on art education and the resonating effects still felt today.
Walter Gropius was appointed the position of Director of the Bauhaus in 1919, and continued to spread his influence up until 1928. He had a unique vision of what he wanted his school to represent and the many ideas put in place by Gropius started to reshape art education in Germany. Shortly after he was appointed director, he wrote the Manifesto and the ‘Programme of the State Bauhaus in Weimar’ which
clearly defined his three main aims of the Bauhaus. The first aim of the school was to “rescue all the arts

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