Bauhaus
Bauhaus was an influential school for all types of
artists, such as painters, architectures and graphic designers, and it have
shaped everyone’s perspectives in solving the function of design. Bauhaus was
unlike any other design institution because the school has combined various
movements such as Cubism, De Stiijl, Constructivism, and etc. Bauhaus not only unite
a broad range of movements, but have also gathered innovative artists in
different associations to educate their perspectives in art. Covering such a broad
range of movements have helped the students to get a strong sense in
approaching arts and designs, and the ability for various artists to share
their creativity to contain multiple tactics of ability. Even though Bauhaus
no longer exist, but it have a huge impact that will inspire many artists, even
till this day.
In order to get a better understanding of the Bauhaus,
one should acknowledge the history of the school. Bauhaus was located in
Weimer, Germany. Henri van de Velde, the Belgian Art Nouveau architect, have
just resign his position in the Weimar Arts and Crafts School, so in April 1919
Walter Gropius, master of modern architecture, have combined the Weimar Arts
and Crafts School with a Fine art school, and he named it Bauhaus. Gropius
wanted a an entity of fine arts and applied art, as well as, new unity of art
and technology, so he harness technology and oversee it by using brilliant
ideas to justify the industry. In order to do so Gropius has gathered several artists
in different locations of Europe, such as painters Paul Klee and Wassily
Kardinsky and Lyonel Feininger, who practices De Stijl. During that period of
time Nazi was having numerous issues with Bauhaus because they wanted
traditional standards. The problems with the Nazi were getting more intense;
therefore, on 1924, Gropius decided to move Bauhaus from Weimer to Dessau,
which lasted a short period of time there (Meggs 327).
The unique and vital traits of Bauhaus are the professors;
they were gathered around different places in Europe; as well as different parts
of the movements. A perfect example is an inventive constructivist, Laszlo
Moholy-Nagy, who is passionate for typography and photography. He believes that
photography is more objective, and painting is through the perspective of
others. Moholy-Nagy unifies typography with photography to create an
interesting visual communication and he called it “typophoto” (329). One of
Moholy-Nagy works that perfectly portrays the characteristics of Bauhaus is Poster for Tires by 1923, this poster is
a photograph combines with the type. The type is depicting as a shadow that was
cast from the car, which the forms fit the function, since the poster is for
tires and the car’s tire is forecasting the shadow of the typeface. The
typeface is san-serif, which strips the decorative style of the design. Many Bauhaus
designers wanted to get rid of traditional values, so any non-functional and
decorative style will be stripped and simplified. The typography treatments
show that there is a sense of motion because the type is getting smaller as it
reach further back. The motion can be depicted as an inspiration towards
technology, such as cinemas, the moving pictures that manipulate one’s eyes to
believe that there is movement.
With the treatments of photography and typography, it
gives a sense of the form is fitting, and many post modernist respected that
and have taken the idea of form having a purpose. A famous photographer
Margaret Bourke-White has taken a photo for the first issue of Life magazine cover in 1936. In that
image it shows different columns that form a fort, and the photo is taken in a
diagonal position, so the column that is closer to the viewer is bigger. The
layouts on the other hand, played with composition of the typography. The word “Life”
is sheltered with a red rectangle, which can relate to the structure column. The
diagonal of the photo leads to the logo of the magazine, so the composition of certain
form that fits the function of hierarchy. Everything in that layout is exceedingly
structured that creates a flowing unity (Hunter 258).
In the 21st
century, people are still inspired by the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus have an immense influence
towards countless contemporary designers to become more simplified, structured,
forms fitting the function, and the treatments with type and image. The famous
singer, Pink/ Alecia Beth Moore, produced several of albums, and the layout for
the cover indicates some features of the Bauhaus. In one of her album cover
have a huge typography that spells out “PINK” that the color is also in pink,
the photography of the artist is in black and white, which shows
simplification. The treatment of the “I” in “Pink” is distorted to mimic the
form of the artist’s arm. The typography is carefully placed, so the lines of
the types match the shape of the artist. The whole layout was probably inspired
from the Bauhaus in the usage of form fitting the function and the relationship
between typography and photography.
Overall, till this day designers, architectures, and
various artists still seek inspiration from the Bauhaus because the school have
numerous of ground-breaking educators that truly cares for the treatments of
arts and applied arts. The artists have published countless works to show the
important characteristic of the Bauhaus: structured, form fits the function,
simplification, and overall creating a clear and concise communication with the
artist, client, and the mass.
PS: I am fully aware that some classmates are not Graphic Designers, but if you guys are interested in understanding more about history of Graphic Designer, I highly recommend to purchase Megg's History of Graphic Design.
Works
Cited
Hunter, Sam. Modern Art. Third ed. New York: Prentice Hall, 2004. Print.
Meggs, Phillip B. Megg's History of Graphic Design. Fifth ed. Hoboken: Wiley, 2012.
Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment