Differences Between the Weimar and the Dessau Bauhaus

Art -- bauhaus

The Bauhaus movement would have a significant impact on art and design throughout the twentieth century. Its roots in both Weimar and Dessau reveal the diverse currents within the movement. In Weimar, the Bauhaus movement took root. Walter Gropius and colleagues sought for a means to unify art and design, decor and architecture, in ways that had been previously unprecedented. The Bauhaus movement in general represents a flattening of the social hierarchies and therefore reflected prevailing political and social trends in Europe. Both in Weimar and Dessau, Bauhaus signified a synthesis of fine art and practical design. Therefore, furniture, interior, and exterior design are crucial to Bauhaus as are the graphic arts. This is as true for the Weimar school as it was for the Dessau school.

The Dessau school shared most of its design and aesthetic ideals from its Weimar school predecessor. However, the historical circumstances surrounding the re-opening of Bauhaus in Dessau led to the convergence of art and design on a whole new and deeper dimension. In Dessau, workshops in different fields were forcibly fused, causing a fermentation of ideas and concepts. This led to the integration of art, architecture, and design that can be called a culmination of the movement. For example, Herbert Bayer designed a typeface at the Bauhaus Dessau school. The typeface was developed to represent the totality of the movement. An element as practical and functional as a typeface can therefore encompass the aesthetic ideals of the entire group. Bayer's typeface has been described as universal because of its lacking unnecessary embellishments. It is a simple distillation of alphabetic shapes and forms in sans serif style.

The typeface can be directly compared with the Weimar Bauhaus chess set designed by Josef Hartwig in 1924. The chess set is wholly abstract, unlike Bayer's typeface. If Bayer's typeface had been as abstract as the chess set, then it would not be functional. The chess set, however, can be taken as a whole. Each piece is individual and on its own would not resemble a rook, knight, or pawn. The pawns are simple cubes, for instance. Seen together on the board, though, the pieces take on their roles and meanings within the game. If the letter "A" or "B" were not recognizable on their own outside of the context of alphabet, then Bayer's typeface would be impractical and therefore defy the fundamental objectives of Bauhaus design.

Both the Weimar and the Dessau schools represent a distillation of forms, shapes, and also colors. One of the Bauhaus pieces that pays direct homage to Wassily Kandinsky's color palette is Peter Keler's 1922 cradle: known as the Bauhaus Cradle. Its shapes and colors are both primary: circles and triangles rendered in red, yellow, and blue. The Weimar-designed cradle can be directly compared and contrasted with the 1927 design by Marcel Breuer of the Dessau school. Breuer's club chair is also known as the Wassily Chair: in tribute to Kandinsky. Yet unlike Keler, Breuer avoids the use of color altogether. His chair is just a chair: a straightforward rendition of forms both simple and deceptive. Influenced by the bicycle, the Wassily Chair is highly practical and devoid of embellishment.