The Bauhaus and the New Typography
Brent
Carnahan
Dada
and Russian Constructivism: Art is dead. Utopian Communist.
Haussmann depicts man/machine in Tatlin
at Home. International Constructivism includes mostly European artists.
Artist = engineer. Photo montage,
abstraction.
German
Espressionism: Language of feeling, emotion.
Expressionist Film:
UFA(largest film studio in Europe) known for expressionist films. Cabinet of Dr Caligari well known
film.
Metropolis: belief
in the machine
The
Arbeitsrat fur Kunst: (Workers’ Council for Art) 1918. Using art
to form a better society. Marxism. Walter Gropius leader of group.
Weimar
Bauhaus: Founded by Walter Gropius 1919(combined fine and applied
arts schools). Women excluded. Style inspired by architecture and
Gesamtkunstwerk.
Expressionism at the Bauhaus:
Lyonel Feininger, Johannes Itten(believed that form should express content)
Constructivism and the Bauhaus:
Theo van Doesburg worked with Bauhaus professors and students. “Turning away
from Utopia..”
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy:
Hungarian artist who moved to Berlin in 1921. Soon assumed control over Bauhaus
workshops. Refection of Expressionism and the artist. Artist as Engineer.
Frederick W. Taylor(ideas for improving industrial efficiency)”Taylorism”
The 1923 Exhibition: (Bauhaus
Exhibition) Art and technology. Machine aesthetic. Geometry and asymmetry.
Emphasis on typography. No decoration.
Women at the Bauhaus: 1919
no discrimination between genders. Textile department.
Political Problems:
Bauhaus tried to portray art as non political. Gropius rejects International
Constructivist style. Bauhaus seen as Socialists. Gropius closes Weimar Bauhaus
Dec. 1924.
Dessau
Bauhaus: Dessau hosts new Bauhaus 1925.
New Buildings:
Consist of dorms, workshops, and administrative offices. Planned by Gropius.
Used modern materials. Walls as enclosures of space. Simplistic, machine
aesthetic.
Herbert Bayer:
Head of department of typography and advertising. Constructivist style.
Conceptionaly Neoplatonist designs for Bauhaus journal.
“Typophoto” : termed
by Moholy-Nagy integrated photography with design arts. Created Bauhausbucher
(Bauhaus Books) Malerei Photographie Film( essays on photography) influential.
Depoliticization at the Bauhaus:
De-emphasize radical politics. Constructivism and the Proliteriate
Typography at the Bauhaus:
Geometric letterforms, sans serif type. Representative of platonic beauty.
Example, Bayer’s Universal. (rounded letterforms with equal thickness) conveyed
universality.
Paul Renner and Futura: Trained
as architect. Official typeface of Hanover.
The
New Typography: Term used by Maholy-Nagy in 1923. Jan
Tschichold established set of principles for type.
Die Neue Typographie: Published
by Tschichold about type rules.
Ring Neue Werbegestalter:
Circle of new advertising designers. Need to reconcile left and right wing
values.
