The visionary punks of the Bauhaus

17.06.2010

Thursday June 17 the movie 'Bauhaus, the face of the 20th century' was played at Filmhuis Den Haag as part of the movie programme 'Creativity Wanted'. In front of a full theatre, the architect Rainer Bullhorst gave a short introduction to the movie. Even though Bauhaus belongs to the past, the range of ideas are still relevant today; the expressions in architecture, art and design belong to our common cultural heritage and are still visible today.

In 1919 the Bauhaus was established by architect Walter Gropius as successor of Henry van de Velde. Van de Velde was director of the roßherzoglich-Sächsiche Hochschule für Bildende Kunst, Weimar. Walter Gropius, former officer in world war I, had visions of a better world with better quality of life. With public money a school was raised. The goal was to create a synergy of craftsmanship and art. The Bauhaus students in Weimar, and later in Dessau, felt like the 'punks' of their time. Amongst the teachers there were people like Wassily Kandinsky, Johannes Itten, Lyonnel Feiniger, Paul Klee, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Oscar Schlemmer. Together with directors Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer and later Mies van der Rohe, they gave shape to change and a fair contribution to Modernism. It all ended when the Nazi's took over the building in Dessau and closed the classrooms that still remained of the Staatliches Bauhaus in Berlin.