Bauhaus

History of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyHistory of Design The Bauhaus and the New Typography

Herbert Bayer Cover Design 1919-23

It is obvious that the ma-chine is here to stay. Wholearmies of William Morrisesand Tolstoys could not ex-pel it. . . .Let us then exploitthem to create beautywhile we are about it.

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Aldous Huxley, 1928


In 1914 Walter Gropius took over thedirectorship of the Weiman Arts andCrafts School.

The Previous director was Henri vande Velde, was an art nouveau archi-tect.

The school remained closed all duringWorld War I. Upon the end of the war,Gropius was officially made the direc-tor of the school.

Johannes Auerbach, First Bauhaus seal, 1919


Lyonel Feininger, Cathedral, woodcut 1919

Gropius was premitted to rename theschool, Das Staatliches Bauhaus. (TheState Home for Building)

After the war, the age of the Kaiserwas over and their was a quest toconstruct a new social order.


The complete building is the ulti-mate aim of all the visual arts.Once the noblest function of thefine arts was to embellish build-ings; they were indispensable com-ponents of great architecture. To-day the arts exist in isolation. . ..Architects, painters, and sculptorsmust learn anew the compositecharacter of the building as an en-tity. . . .the artist is an exalted

craftsman. In rare moments of in-spiration, transcending his con-scious will, the grace of heavenmay cause his work to blosom intoart. But proficiency in his craft isessential to every artist. there inlies the prime source of creativeimagination.

The Bauhaus Manifesto

Oscar Schlemmer, Late Bauhaus seal 1922


Gropius sought to bring together anew generation of artist both appliedand fine “to breath new life into thedead products of the machine.”

Gropius served as an apprentice toPeter Behrens for three years startingin 1907.

Van de Velde was also an inspirationcalling for the logical use of new tech-nologies and materials of science:reinforced concrete, steel, aluminumand linoleum.

Joost Schmidt, Bauhaus exhibition poster, 1923


The Bauhaus at Weimar

The Bauhaus was located in Weimarfrom 1919-1924.

The new Bauhaus sought to bringtogether artists and craftsmen frommany different disciplines such aswoodworking, stained glass andmetal.

They sought to bring a new spiritual-ity to design through the integrationof architecture, sculpture, paintingand crafts.

Herbert Bayer, c over design 1919-23



Johannes Itten established the coreof the schools education programwith the preliminary course.

This preliminary course was the be-ginning of what we call foundation inmany art programs today.

In 1919, Lyonel Feininger discoveredthe deStijl and introduced it to theBauhaus.

In 1920 van Doesburg establishedcontact with the Bauhaus.

Joost Schmidt, Offset poster, 1926



Gropius opposed van Doesburgs in-fluence on the students. VanDoesburg met with students off cam-pus.

In 1923 the government forced theBauhaus to stage an exhibition. It wasinternationally acclaimed andshowed the schools shifting focusaway from medievalism and expres-sionism and towards applied-design.

Gropius rewrote the slogan to read,“Art and Technology a New Unity.”

Bauhaus Exhibition, 1923


Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

In 1923 the Hungarian constructivist,Laszlo Moholy-Nagy took over forItten as the head of the preliminarycourse.

With him came new materials suchas acrylic, resin and plastic, as well asadded interest in photography andfilm.

Moholy-Nagy and Gropius togetheredited the calalog for the 1923 exhi-bition.

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, title page 1923

History of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyHistory of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyLaszlo Moholy-Nagy

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy believed in theclarity of typography with the empha-sis on legibility.

He wanted to create a new languageof typography.

He also believed in the separation ofconcept and execution in the produc-tion of art. In 1922-23 he orderedthree paintings to be produced fromhis sketches by a sign painting com-pany.

Lazslo Moholy-Nagy titlepage for Broom, 1923


Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s interest in pho-tography and typography led to theinvention of his typophoto wheretype was manipulated by photo-graphic process.

These experimental posters were aprecursor to the photoprocesses thatdominated graphic design duringmost of the 20th century until theadvent of computer generatedgraphic design.

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy tire poster, 1923


Laszlo Moholy-Nagy felt that the com-bination of photography and typogra-phy could free the viewer of anotherperson’s interpretation.

This new “visual literature” promotedthe absolute clarity of communicationwithout preconceived aesthetic no-tions.

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Photogram 1922


Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Chairs at Margate 1935

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy used the cameraas a tool for design.

He used unconventional composi-tions.

He experimented with the point ofview.

Declared the victory over painting byphotography.


Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, The World Foundation, 1927

Photoplastics were Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s photomontages that com-bined images to create more thanmere imitative photography.


The Bauhaus at Dessau

Walter Gropius, Dessau Bauhaus Building, 1925-26


Bauhaus at Dessau

On December 26, 1924, the tensionwith the government in Weimar wasat its peak. The Director and Mastersat the Bauhaus resigned signing aletter making their resignations activeon April 1, 1925.

Gropius and the Mayor of Dessaumoved the school to the small provin-cial town

The new building opened in the Fall of1926.

Herbert Bayer, Bauhaus Magazine cover, 1928


Bauhaus at Dessau

Herbert Bayer, Trolly Station, 1924

Herbert BayerLogo for Kraus Glass1923

At Dessau, the identity and philoso-phy of the Bauhaus came to full frui-tion.

The de Stijl and constructivist influ-ences became obvious.

The Bauhaus Corporation wasfounded to sell the prototypes of theBauhaus workshops were sold to in-dustry. Ideas from the Bauhaus influ-enced products from industry thatwere found in every day life.


Bauhaus at Dessau

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, brochure cover, Bauhaus Books, 1929

In Dessau the medieval system ofmaster/journeyman/apprentice wasabandoned.

The masters became known as pro-fessors.

The Bauhaus Magazine began publi-cation along with a series of 14books.

These influential publications werewritten, edited and designed byKandinsky, Klee, Gropius, Mondrian,Moholy-Nagy and van Doesburg.


Bauhaus at Dessau

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, dust jackets, Bauhaus Books, 1924-30

Five former students were named toprofessors.

Josef Albers taught systematic pre-liminary courses investigating theconstructive quality of materials.

Marcel Breuer headed the furnitureworkshop and invented tubular-steelfurniture.

Herbert Bayer became a professor inthe new typography and graphic de-sign workshop.


Bauhaus at Dessau

Herbert Bayer, banknote, 1923

Bayer ‘s workshop came up with inno-vative typographic designs that werefunctional and constructivist.

Bayer solicited private commissionsfrom community business to helpfinance the workshop’s activities.


Bauhaus at Dessau

Bayer designed a typeface consistentwith Gropius’s advocacy of formsfollowing function.

He did away with capital letters.

Experimented with flush left type thatwas unjustified on the right.

Sizes and weights were used to es-tablish informational hierarchies.

Bars, rules, points and squares wereused to subdivide space.

Herbert Bayer, universal typeface, 1925


Bauhaus at Dessau

Herbert Bayer, Kandinsky Poster, 1926

The poster for Kandinsky’s sixtiethbirthday exhibition clearly displaysthe use of hierarchal systems, the useof squares, rules, points and bars.

The composition was finally tilted onan angle to give the contents a dy-namic yet unified effect.


The final years of the Bauhaus

In 1928 Walter Gropius resigned tojoin private practice.

In 1928 Bayer and Moholy-Nagyboth left for Berlin.

Joost Schmidt took Bayers place asmaster of graphic design.

In 1930 Mies van der Rohe, a promi-nent Berlin architect, became thedirector.

Van der Rohe’s motto was “less ismore.”

Joost Schmidt, Bauhaus cover, 1929

History of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyHistory of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyFinal Years of the Bauhaus

When JoostSchmidt took overfor Bayer, therewas increased in-terest in exhibitiondesign.

Schmidt institutedsystems of panelsand grids to bringfunctionality,versitility and unityto exhibition de-sign.

Joost Schmidt, exhibition design for canned goods, 1930


In 1931 the Nazis canceled facultycontracts at the Bauhaus.

Mies van der Rohe tried to run theschool from an empty telephone fac-tory in Berlin-Steglitz.

The Nazi Gestapo demanded the re-moval of “Cultural Bolsheviks” fromthe school and replace them withNazi sympathizers.

On August 10, 1933 the faculty votedto close the school.


During the fourteen years of the Bau-haus, there were 33 faculty membersand 1250 students.

The Bauhaus created a viable modernmovement including architecture,product design, and visual communi-cations.

The Bauhaus brought design forwardas a vehicle for social change. Theyhad profound effects on the future ofeducation in both the fine and appliedarts.


Jan Tischichold and the

New Typography

Much of the progress and innovationin typography in the 20th centurycame about as a result of the modernart movements and the Bauhaus.

Jan Tischichold brought these prin-ciples to everyday practice and use.

He evangelized these approaches toprinters, typesetters and designers.

At 21 in 1923, he attended the Bau-haus Exhibition at Weimar and wasgreatly impressed.

Jan Tischichold, hand lettered adfor Leipzig Fair, 1924

History of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyHistory of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyJan Tschichold and the New Typography

Jan Tishcichold, display poster for publisher, 1924

Jan Tishcichold applied the experi-ence he received at the 1923 exhibi-tion to his own design.

He was influenced by both the Bau-haus and the Russian constructivists.


Jan Tischichold, cover for “elementare typographie,”1925

In October of 1925 Jan Tishcicholdproduced a supplement to theTyoegraphische Mitteilungen calledelementare typographie.

His insert was highly influencial to theprint industry that up until this timestill held symmetrical medieval mod-els as a standard.

Elementrare typographie demon-strated asymmetrical layout.


Jan Tischichold, “elementare typographie” 1925


Jan Tischichold, “elementare typographie” 1925


Jan Tischichold, brochure for Die Neue Typographie, 1928

Tischichold’s book Die NeueTypographie advocated new ideas.He sought to start a clean style basedon asymmetrical typography that wasmore expressive.

Typography was to deliver the mes-sage in the shortest and most effi-cient manner.

He rejected decoration for rationaldesign planned for communication.


Jan Tischichold, advertisement, 1932

He argued that a dymanic forceshould be present in each design.

He declared that type should beelementary forms without embel-lishment.

The san serif fonts were declaredthe modern type.

Designs were constructed on anunderlying horizontal and verticalstructure.


Jan Tischichold, cinema poster for Die Hose, 1927

Space was given a new role as inter-val and structural element.

Rules, bars, and boxes were oftenused for emphasis.

The precision of photography waspreferred over illustration.

The new typography was to developform from the functions of the text.

In 1933 the Nazis arrestedTischichold and his wife as culturalBolsheviks.


Jan Tischichold, Konstructivism poster, 1937

He was accused of producing un-German typography.

He remained in custody for six weeksbefore his release.Tischichold took hiswife and son to Basel, Switzerland.

In Switzerland Tischichold workedprimarily as a book designer.


Jan Tischichold, brochure cover, 1947

Tischichold began to turn away fromthe new typography and returned toclassic fonts like roman, Egyptian andscript styles.

He felt that here was little room leftfor innovation and development.


Jan Tischichold, paperback book cover, 1950

He felt that the new typography wasa product that may have been more inline with the German attitudes thatled to the war.

Tischichold felt that graphic designshould work in a humanist traditionthat drew from the knowledge of themaster typographers of the past.

He felt that the new typography hadits place in publicizing art and archi-tecture; however, not suitable forsome forms of publishing.


Typeface design in the FirstHalf of the Twentieth Century

Eric Gill, former student of EdwardJohnston, was inspired by Johnston’sRailway Type.

He created his Gill Sans series issuedbetween 1928 and 1930.

Gill Sans did not seem mechanicalbecause it was based on roman pro-portions.

Eric Gill, typeface Gill Sans, 1928-30

History of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyHistory of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyTypeface design in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

Gills knowledge was broad and in-cluded the classic forms as well asthe new typography.

His first typeface for the MonotypeCorporation, Perpetua, was inspiredby the lettering on the Column ofTrajan.

His layout for The Four Gospelsshows his transcendent style thatcombined Old Style and Transitionalqualities in a strikingly modern de-sign.

Eric Gill, page from The Four Gospels, 1931


Eric Gill, Essay on Typography, 1931

In his Essay on Typography, Gill ar-gued that the problems created byuneven line length was of less con-cern than the uneven word spacingforced with fully justified text.

Gill worked at Hague and Gill, Printersusing hand presses, hand-set type,handmade paper with type he cre-ated for the press.

This was a public press not a privatepress, taking in orders from clients.


Paul Renner , Futura folder, 1927

Starting with Bayer’s universalalphabet, there were many sanserif faces designed during the20’s.

Paul Renner designed theFutura Family for the BauerFoundry in Germany

Futura contained fifteen alphabetsincluding four italics and two unusualdisplay fonts.


Futura became the first widely usedsans serif font used.

Renner believed that each generationshould find its own ways to solvegraphic problems instead of lookingto the past.


Rudolf Koch, Kabel light, 1932

Mystical medievalist, Rudolf Kochdeisgned a very popular typefacenamed Kabel.


Stanley Morison, The London Times, 1932

Stanley Morison, typographer andadvisor to the British Monotype Cor-poration supervised the design of theTimes of London.

The font, Times New Roman is to thisday one of the most widely used fontsin the world.

Times New Roman is standard onalmost all computer desktop systems.


Otto Neurath, Births and Deaths in Vienna, c. 1928

The Isotype Movement

The Isotype movement sought to cre-ate a world visual language withoutwords.

The Isotype concept involved the cre-ation of pictograms to convey infor-mation.

Otto Neurath, the originator, was aVienna sociologist.

Inspired by Egyptian hieroglyphs andillustrations and diagrams from

books, he felt Isotypes could deliverclear communications.

His designs were completely func-tional and void of decoration.

History of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyHistory of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyThe Isotype Movement

Gerd Arntz, pictographs for isotypes, early 1930s

The name Isotype (International Sys-tem of Typographic Picture Educa-tion) was originally called the ViennaMethod. The name changed whenNeurath moved to Holland in 1934.

Most of the groups pictographs weredesigned by a woodcut artist, GerdArntz.

By the time the group fled to Englandin 1940, they had an inventory of1,140 pictographs.

In America, Rudolf Modley, a formerassistant to Neurath started the Picto-rial Statistics, which eventually be-came, The Pictographic Corporation, abranch of the Isotype movement.


Henry C. Beck, map for the London Underground, 1933

Prototype of the Modern Map

The London Underground Sys-tem map produced by Henry C.Beck set forth a diagrammaticsystem for wayfinding.

The map used a grid of horizon-tal, vertical and 45 degree anglelines combined with a color cod-ing system.

The new map was found to be ex-tremely functional. by the public.


Piet Zwart, ad for the Laga Company, 1923

Independent Voicesof the Netherlands

The influence of the modern move-ment and the new typographybrought out personal and original in agroup of new designers in theNethlands.

Dutch designer Piet Zwart created asynthesis of contradictory move-ments, the Dada and the de Stijl.

History of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyHistory of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyIndependent Voices of the Netherlands

Piet Zwart, folder design, 1924

Zwart was trained as an architect andalso designed furniture and interiorsprior to taking up his career in graphicdesign.

He designed space as a “field of ten-sion.”


Piet Zwart, ad forNKF cableworks, 1928

Zwart’s designs for theNederlandsche Kabelfabriek (NKF)were dynamic in the spatial relation-ship of type and images.

Without any formal training ingraphic design, Zwart was uninhib-ited by convention and traditionalmethods.


Piet Zwart, pages from NKF cableworks catalog, 1928

Realizing the power of the media,Zwart felt that the designer needed astrong sense of social concern for thereader.

He knew that twentieth century read-ers were bombarded with materialand need direct communications.

He used bold type and diagonal linesto attract attention.



Zwart, being an architect who be-came a typographic designer, re-ferred to himself as a Typotekt.

The typeface was analogous with thematerials of construction: glass, steel,and concrete.



Information was arranged in a manner as tomake easy to isolate primary material fromsecondary material.


Piet Zwart, personal logo, 1928

Zwart’s personal logo presents a capi-tal letter P along with a large blacksquare.

The name Zwart means black. Thelogo might also relate to Malevich’sBlack Square c. 1913.


H. N. Werkman, cover of Next Call 4, 1924

Dutch artist H. N. Werkman is famousfor his experimentation with type, inkand ink rollers for artistic expression.

After World War I Werkman estab-lished a small printing firm.

He used type, rules, printing ink, bray-ers adn the small press to produceone-of-a-kind prints called druksels.

His press also produced a publicationNext Call as a platform for his experi-ments with type.


H. N. Werkman, page from the Next Call 4, 1924

He used the printing press as a layoutpad, composing directly on the letter-press bed.

He used beautiful papers and his col-lection of wood type to build designsin the creative process of thedadaists.


H. N. Werkman, page from the Next Call 4, 1924

Like Lissitzky, Werkman explored typeas concrete visual form as well asalphabet communication.

Just prior to the liberation by the Axispowers, Werkman was murdered bythe Nazis.

Most of his work was destroyed dur-ing the battle.


Paul Schuitema, brochure cover, 1929

Paul Schuitema, an educated painterduring the first world war.

After the war he turned graphic de-signer for the Berkel Company.

He incorporated objective photogra-phy into his design.

He spent 30 years teaching at theRoyal Academy in the Hague.


Willem Sandberg,experimenta typographica, 1956

Willem Sandberg a director and de-signer at Amsterdam museumsemerged as a highly original practitio-ner of the new typography afterWorld War II.

While hiding out during the war hecreated his experimentatypographica, a series of experimentsin form and space.


Willem Sandberg,experimenta typographica, 1956

Sandberg explored the free arrange-ment of text on the page.

He used powerful contrasts in type toaccent emphasis.

He rejected symmetry and enjoyedthe use of bright primary colors.


Willem Sandberg, museum journal, 1963

A master of contrasts, Sandberg en-joyed using different textured andcolored papers in the same produc-tion.

He used scale color and edge treat-ments as seen here on the right.


Herbert Matter, Swiss tourism poster, 1934

New Approaches to Photography

The camera was seen as a communi-cation machine for making images.

Swiss designer/photographerHerbert Matter expanded the cameraas a tool.

He studied painting in Paris underFernand Léger and discovered pho-tography during his education.

He worked as a photographer andtypographer with Deberny andPeignot.

History of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyHistory of Design The Bauhaus and the New TypographyNew Approaches to Photography

Herbert Matter, Swiss tourism poster, 1935

Matter also worked with Cassandrein poster design.

At the age of 24 he moved to his na-tive Switzerland and began work forthe Swiss National Tourism Office.

He was well schoolled in modernistapproaches to visual organizationand its techniques.


Herbert Matter, Pontresina poster, 1934

His dynamic posters of the 30’s usemontage, dynamic scale and effec-tive typography.

In his designs he used dynamicchanges in scale such as in thePontresina poster with the large headin the foregound and the small skierin the back.


Walter Herdeg, poster for St. Moritz, 1936

Walter Herdeg, Swiss graphic de-signer, used photography as a majorportion of his designs.

He went on to found Graphis maga-zine.

Graphis is possibly the most success-ful and prestigious of the internationaldesign journals even to this day.

Bauhaus

Documents

history of design bauhaus

new bauhaus

new typographythe bauhaus

graphic design

bauhaus manifesto

staatliches bauhaus

new typography gropius

new materials