Erik's Graphic Art History: The Bauhaus Masters

In my graphic design class we learn that one of the most important and crucial element of design is typography. Without typography your design cannot convey the message that the graphics are trying to put forth. Text and type had always been present in graphic design before however it wasn’t until 1919 at a design school in Germany, based upon revolutionizing design, called the Bauhaus did typography make its true importance known. The Bauhaus was the most significant subject of this course that stood out to me and really sparked my interest. I love the designs that came out of the art movement of the time and was really intrigued by many of the artists, however there were three in particular who caught my eye: Max Bill, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and Joost Schmidt.

The original preliminary course instructor for the Bauhaus was Johannes Itten. Because of his profound goals for teaching his students he soon became the center of artistic education at the Bauhaus, believing that each student must find their true artistic abilities before settling for one medium. Soon however Bauhaus director Walter Gropius began questioning Itten’s design style which ultimately led to Itten’s downfall. His replacement was none other than Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian who came to the Bauhaus in the hopes of exploring painting, photography, film, sculpture, and graphic design. In his explorations he used many new materials such as acrylic resin and plastic as used new techniques such as photomontage and photogram, kinetic motion, light and transparency. Because Moholy-Nagy brought such great new forms of art to the Bauhaus he made a dramatic influence on the school and struck the interest of Gropius, promoting him to “Prime Minister of the Bauhaus.”

As we discussed typography more and more in my class Moholy-Nagy’s typefaces and graphic designs really stood out to me more and more. He used a technique he called typophoto which was basically the beginning of modern graphic design in that it integrated text and image. Most graphics in design at the time were made by hand mostly through painting or drawing, however Moholy-Nagy criticized the painters of the Bauhaus by pressing the superiority of photography.

As with all good things many people, particularly the government, in Weimar Germany had issued with the Bauhaus. In 1924 the Bauhaus was closed down and director Gropius urged it continue in Dessau. In the fall of 1926 the school was indeed moved and reopened at a new complex in Dessau. One such student who moved to the Bauhaus for his studies was Max Bill. At the Bauhaus Bill’s studies focused on painting, architecture, engineering, sculpture, and product and graphic design. It wasn’t until he left school however that his work began to become recognized. Bill began by designing buildings however it was his product designs that came first, most notably his stool that could be used as either a shelf or a bedside table as well. Many people were so taken by Bill’s architecture work that he was contracted to design the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Florence. Much like the other two designers Joost Schmidt was also a graphic design student from the Bauhaus however not much was said about him other than he designed a poster for the Bauhaus in Weimar Germany.