Bauhaus: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

The Bauhaus was less a style than a pedagogy: a 1919 merger of a fine-art academy and a craft school in Weimar, exiled to Dessau in 1925 and shut by the Nazis in 1933. This mix traces the reform movements and workshop traditions that fed it, the painters and constructivists who taught or circled it, and the postwar schools and industries that carried its method forward.

The Kynda mix for Bauhaus

• Key Influence · News from Nowhere by William Morris (1890). Gropius's founding manifesto called for a return to craft — "architects, sculptors, painters, we must all return to the crafts" — and the Bauhaus's workshop structure with masters and apprentices came straight out of the English Arts and Crafts reform model Morris built. Morris's fusion of socialist utopia, guild labour and designed objects shaped the German reform debate from the 1890s on, and Morris's name recurs in Bauhaus-era discussion of art and handwork.
• Influencia Obscura · Die Spielgaben (The Froebel Gifts) by Friedrich Fröbel (1838). The kindergarten reform tradition of pure geometric solids — sphere, cylinder, cube — given to children as tools of formal discovery underpins the Bauhaus Vorkurs, where students handled basic forms and materials before any specialisation. Fröbel's apparatus circulated widely in German progressive education, and the primary-colour-and-primary-solid logic of Bauhaus toys, like Alma Siedhoff-Buscher's ship-building blocks, is legible as its direct descendant.
• Local Roots · Kunstgewerbeschule Weimar building by Henry van de Velde (1906). Van de Velde ran Weimar's Grand-Ducal Arts and Crafts School and designed the buildings the Bauhaus physically occupied from 1919. He also recommended Gropius as his successor before leaving Germany in 1917. The Bauhaus thus began inside an existing Jugendstil reform institution, merged with the Weimar fine-art academy — its radicalism inherited a address, a workshop plant, and a local resentment that drove it out by 1925.
• Beyond the Medium · Black Square by Kazimir Malevich (1915). Suprematism's reduction to square, circle and primary colour entered the Bauhaus through Russian contacts and through Malevich's Bauhausbücher volume, The Non-Objective World, published by the school in 1927. The Bauhaus press was the main German conduit for Soviet abstraction, and the geometric grammar taught in the basic course — and painted on Bauhaus signage and toys — shares its vocabulary with the Russian non-objective painters.
• Peer · Vers une architecture by Le Corbusier (1923). A fellow Behrens alumnus, Le Corbusier was the Bauhaus's great contemporary rival and ally: his machine-for-living polemic and the Weissenhofsiedlung of 1927, organised by Mies with Gropius and Le Corbusier both building, defined the International Style the Bauhaus is credited with. The 1928 CIAM congress institutionalised that shared programme of standardisation, light, air and rational housing across Europe.
• Key Collaborator · Pädagogisches Skizzenbuch by Paul Klee (1925). Klee taught at the Bauhaus from 1921 to 1931, running the bookbinding and later weaving courses and the form theory classes. The Pedagogical Sketchbook, published as the second Bauhausbuch, distils his teaching into the behaviour of line, plane and movement — active, middle, passive. With Kandinsky's course it supplied the theoretical backbone that kept the school's design training from collapsing into technical instruction.
• Legacy · Braun SK 4 Phonosuper by Dieter Rams and Hans Gugelot (1956). The Ulm School of Design, where Gugelot taught, was founded in 1953 as an explicit continuation of the Bauhaus, and its partnership with Braun produced the restrained, systematic product language Rams codified in his ten principles. Rams's functionalism — and through him Apple's industrial design under Jonathan Ive — is the clearest surviving transmission line from Dessau's workshops into mass consumer manufacturing.

What influenced Bauhaus

• William Morris. The article identifies Morris as an influence on the Bauhaus. “the objects from both 'schools' should be displayed thematically, rather than chronologically, using Morris’ key principles of Unity, Craft, Simplicity and Community as a lens to explore the early years of the Bauhaus.” (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings)
• Modernism. The article calls Modernism the most important influence on the Bauhaus. “The Bauhaus was arguably the most influential architecture, art and design school of the 20th century. Founded in Weimar, Germany, in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius, it attracted some of the key figures in the evolution of Modernism.” (Victoria and Albert Museum)
• Expressionism. The article identifies Expressionism as an influence on the Bauhaus through Itten. “Only work which is the product of inner compulsion can have spiritual meaning. Mechanized work is lifeless, proper only to the lifeless machine.” (German History Intersections)
• Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow by Piet Mondrian (1930). Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow (Piet Mondrian) — culture for Bauhaus “== The De Stijl movement == In 1915 (halfway through his two-year service in the army), Van Doesburg reviewed an exhibition by Piet Mondrian for a magazine article.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• News from Nowhere by William Morris (1890). News from Nowhere (William Morris) — titan for Bauhaus “Just as important was the influence of the 19th-century English designer William Morris (1834–1896), who had argued that art should meet the needs of society and that there should be no distinction between form and function.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Fagus Factory by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer (1911). Fagus Factory (Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer) — titan for Bauhaus “Behrens was a founding member of the Werkbund, and both Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer worked for him in this period.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Black Square by Kazimir Malevich (1915). Black Square (Kazimir Malevich) — culture for Bauhaus “In April that year, him and Peiper visited the Bauhaus in Dessau, where they met with Walter Gropius and László Moholy-Nagy.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• New Objectivity. The revised Bauhaus preliminary course leaned toward New Objectivity. “Itten was replaced by the Hungarian designer László Moholy-Nagy , who rewrote the Vorkurs with a leaning towards the New Objectivity favoured by Gropius” (Wikipedia)
• AEG Turbine Factory, Berlin by Peter Behrens (1909). AEG Turbine Factory, Berlin (Peter Behrens) — titan for Bauhaus “Beginning in June 1907, Peter Behrens' pioneering industrial design work for the German electrical company AEG successfully integrated art and mass production on a large scale.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Die Spielgaben (The Froebel Gifts) by Friedrich Fröbel (1838). Die Spielgaben (The Froebel Gifts) (Friedrich Fröbel) — ghost for Bauhaus “== Cultural influence == Fröbel's building forms and movement games are forerunners of abstract art as well as a source of inspiration to the Bauhaus movement.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Die Kindheit als Schöpferin (child art pedagogy) by Franz Cizek (1921). Die Kindheit als Schöpferin (child art pedagogy) (Franz Cizek) — ghost for Bauhaus “Among those Cižek influenced was a Swiss painter and Bauhaus leader Johannes Itten.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Monument to the Third International by Vladimir Tatlin (1920). Monument to the Third International (Vladimir Tatlin) — culture for Bauhaus (wikidata.org)

Peers and kindred spirits

• Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886). Mies was the last director of the Bauhaus, an institutional connection. “In the 1930s, Mies was the last director of the Bauhaus, a ground-breaking school of modernist art, design and architecture in Germany.” (Wikipedia)
• Walter Gropius. Gropius and Breuer had taught at the Bauhaus movement/school. (also via Fagus Factory) “both of whom had formerly taught at the Bauhaus” (Wikipedia)
• Josef Albers. The article identifies Albers as a founder of the Bauhaus. “At Black Mountain , Rauschenberg sought out Josef Albers , a founder of the Bauhaus in Germany , whom he had read about in an August 1948 issue of Time magazine .” (Wikipedia)
• Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky is named among the Bauhaus faculty. (also via Punkt und Linie zu Fläche) “It was this academy which Gropius transformed into the world-famous Bauhaus (a.k.a. Gropius School of Arts), attracting a faculty that included Paul Klee , Johannes Itten , Josef Albers , Herbert Bayer , László Moholy-Nagy , Otto Bartnin…” (Wikipedia)
• Vkhutemas. The two schools are explicitly compared as parallel institutions. “in May 1928, Gunta Stölzl traveled to Moscow with two students (Peer Bücking and Arieh Sharon) “as part of a reciprocal arrangement whereby students of the Vkhutemas school in Moscow had visited the Bauhaus in the summer of 1927.”” (MoMA Post)
• Paul Klee. Klee is named among the Bauhaus faculty. (also via Pädagogisches Skizzenbuch) “It was this academy which Gropius transformed into the world-famous Bauhaus (a.k.a. Gropius School of Arts), attracting a faculty that included Paul Klee , Johannes Itten , Josef Albers , Herbert Bayer , László Moholy-Nagy , Otto Bartnin…” (Wikipedia)
• Oskar Schlemmer (1888). Schlemmer's painting depicts Bauhaus students, tying him to the Bauhaus movement. “German painter, sculptor, and designer Oskar Schlemmer who headed the theatre workshop, and Swiss painter Paul Klee” (Wikipedia)
• Johannes Itten. Itten is named among the Bauhaus faculty. “It was this academy which Gropius transformed into the world-famous Bauhaus (a.k.a. Gropius School of Arts), attracting a faculty that included Paul Klee , Johannes Itten , Josef Albers , Herbert Bayer , László Moholy-Nagy , Otto Bartnin…” (Wikipedia)
• Hannes Meyer. Meyer became director of the Bauhaus. “Meyer would be appointed by Gropius the following year to lead the newly formed architectural workshops, and would take over as director in 1928” (MoMA Post)
• László Moholy-Nagy. Moholy-Nagy is named among the Bauhaus faculty. (also via Malerei, Fotografie, Film) “It was this academy which Gropius transformed into the world-famous Bauhaus (a.k.a. Gropius School of Arts), attracting a faculty that included Paul Klee , Johannes Itten , Josef Albers , Herbert Bayer , László Moholy-Nagy , Otto Bartnin…” (Wikipedia)
• Third Uncle. Bauhaus later covered Eno’s song Third Uncle. “Taking Tiger Mountain contains the track " Third Uncle ", which has been regarded as one of Eno's best-known songs of his pop and rock phase, owing in part to its later cover by Bauhaus .” (Wikipedia)
• Herbert Bayer. Bayer is named among the Bauhaus faculty. “It was this academy which Gropius transformed into the world-famous Bauhaus (a.k.a. Gropius School of Arts), attracting a faculty that included Paul Klee , Johannes Itten , Josef Albers , Herbert Bayer , László Moholy-Nagy , Otto Bartnin…” (Wikipedia)
• Otto Bartning. Bartning is named among the Bauhaus faculty. “It was this academy which Gropius transformed into the world-famous Bauhaus (a.k.a. Gropius School of Arts), attracting a faculty that included Paul Klee , Johannes Itten , Josef Albers , Herbert Bayer , László Moholy-Nagy , Otto Bartnin…” (Wikipedia)
• Vers une architecture by Le Corbusier (1923). Vers une architecture (Le Corbusier) — peer for Bauhaus “Le Corbusier admired the design of Marcel Breuer and the Bauhaus, who in 1925 had begun making sleek modern tubular club chairs.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Lilly Reich (1885). Reich was appointed to the Bauhaus faculty. “He halted the school's manufacture of goods so that the school could focus on teaching, and appointed no new faculty other than his close confidant Lilly Reich .” (Wikipedia)
• Anni Albers. The passage places Anni Albers among the Bauhaus-associated faculty who settled at Black Mountain. “Many of the school's faculty left Europe for the US, and a number of them settled at Black Mountain, most notably Josef Albers, who was selected to run the art program, and his wife Anni Albers , who taught weaving and textile design.” (Wikipedia)
• Kunstgewerbeschule Weimar building by Henry van de Velde (1906). Kunstgewerbeschule Weimar building (Henry van de Velde) — geography for Bauhaus “Its roots lay in the arts and crafts school founded by the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in 1906, and directed by Belgian Art Nouveau architect Henry van de Velde.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Junkers F 13 by Hugo Junkers (1919). Junkers F 13 (Hugo Junkers) — geography for Bauhaus “He was also one of the main sponsors of the Bauhaus movement and facilitated the move of the Bauhaus from Weimar to Dessau (where his factory was situated) in 1925.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Workers' Club, Paris Exposition by Alexander Rodchenko (1925). Workers' Club, Paris Exposition (Alexander Rodchenko) — peer for Bauhaus “He taught from 1920 to 1930 at the Higher Technical-Artistic Studios (VKhUTEMAS/VKhUTEIN), a Bauhaus organization with a "checkered career".” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Proun Room. Proun Room (El Lissitzky) — peer for Bauhaus “In addition, El Lissitzky's book Russia: an Architecture for World Revolution published in German in 1930 featured several illustrations of Vkhutemas/Vkhutein projects there.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Pädagogisches Skizzenbuch by Paul Klee (1925). Pädagogisches Skizzenbuch (Paul Klee) — collaborator for Bauhaus “Staff at the Bauhaus included prominent artists such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Gunta Stölzl, and László Moholy-Nagy at various points.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Punkt und Linie zu Fläche by Wassily Kandinsky (1926). Punkt und Linie zu Fläche (Wassily Kandinsky) — collaborator for Bauhaus “Staff at the Bauhaus included prominent artists such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Gunta Stölzl, and László Moholy-Nagy at various points.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Malerei, Fotografie, Film by László Moholy-Nagy (1925). Malerei, Fotografie, Film (László Moholy-Nagy) — collaborator for Bauhaus “Staff at the Bauhaus included prominent artists such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Gunta Stölzl, and László Moholy-Nagy at various points.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Siouxsie and the Banshees (1976). In the Flat Field (Bauhaus) — peer for Siouxsie and the Banshees (via In the Flat Field) (musicbrainz.org)

Who Bauhaus influenced

• Ulm School of Design. The Ulm school is described as continuing the Bauhaus tradition. “whose colour and design curriculum as well as ideology reflected the curriculum and pedagogical approach of both the Bauhaus and the Ulm School of Design.” (Zena O’Connor Design Research Associates)
• Shillito Design School. Bauhaus theories underpinned the Shillito Design School's syllabus. “I examined the curriculum in detail, providing an historical record plus highlighting support for the hypothesis that Shillito was strongly influenced by the Bauhaus in general and the theories of Johannes Itten and Josef Albers in parti…” (Zena O’Connor Design Research Associates)
• Kraftwerk (1961). Kraftwerk's aesthetic was influenced by the Bauhaus movement. “They were influenced by the modernist Bauhaus aesthetic, seeing art as inseparable from everyday function.” (Wikipedia)
• Rolf Sklarek. Rolf Sklarek was a graduate of the Bauhaus school. “she changed her last name to Sklarek in 1967 when she married Bauhaus graduate Rolf Sklarek” (Wikipedia)
• Washington modern architecture. Writer compares Washington's new modern architecture to the German Bauhaus movement, noting it as more limited and modified. “The modern style as it has come to Washington in the 1960 s is both limited and modified as compared to modem architecture of, say, the German Bauhaus from between the two World Wars.” (Evening Star (Washington, D.C.))
• Off-White. Abloh's first Off-White collection presentation referenced the Bauhaus design studio. “presented it with references to the Baroque artist Caravaggio and the early 20th century German design studio The Bauhaus” (Wikipedia)
• Metropolis by Fritz Lang (1927). The film's art direction is stated to draw influence from Bauhaus. “the film's art direction by Otto Hunte , Erich Kettelhut , and Karl Vollbrecht draws influence from opera, Bauhaus , Cubist , and Futurist design” (Wikipedia)
• Sotsmisto. The neighborhood's design was strongly influenced by Bauhaus. “Sotsmisto , a residential neighborhood built in 1930s in Zaporizhzhia , Ukraine , was strongly influenced by Bauhaus.” (Wikipedia)
• Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm building by Max Bill (1955). Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm building (Max Bill) — legacy for Bauhaus “In 1953, Max Bill, together with Inge Aicher-Scholl and Otl Aicher, founded the Ulm School of Design (German: Hochschule für Gestaltung – HfG Ulm) in Ulm, Germany, a design school in the tradition of the Bauhaus.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Braun SK 4 Phonosuper by Dieter Rams and Hans Gugelot (1956). Braun SK 4 Phonosuper (Dieter Rams and Hans Gugelot) — legacy for Bauhaus
• Thoughts on Design by Paul Rand (1947). Thoughts on Design (Paul Rand) — legacy for Bauhaus