Founded in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius, and counting Kandinsky and Klee among its teaching staff, the Bauhaus was the world’s best-known art school. Despite closing in 1933, its influence lives on – in May, the Barbican will be hosting the biggest UK exhibition dedicated to the school in nearly half a century. We spoke to curator Catherine Ince to find out why…
Why is the Bauhaus relevant to young creatives today?
Essentially it was the first modern art school. People were having a lot of fun and playing about and testing things out and, especially if you’re just going to college, it’s interesting to be reminded that people were doing that about 100 years ago and to have the opportunity to see first hand the work they produced. I also think there’s a lot of discussion at the moment about what art education is and what it should be – what we should pay for, what we shouldn’t pay for and what we should be taught – and it’s interesting to look back at different models as a way of examining where we are now.
How was the Bauhaus education different from what came before?
Rather than a classical training in art, where you copy the masters or make drawings from classical sculptures, it was much more about understanding materials and what you can do with them, understanding relationships between colours, and between colour and form. And taking those bare essential foundation level skills and making things with them.
Course foundation – which is what we do now – has come in large part from the preliminary course at the Bauhaus. It was about having this period of exploration before you went off and specialised, which is what you do at foundation – you try lots of things and you try to understand how things go together and then you say, right I know I really want to work in graphics or I want to be a photographer.
What are the features of Bauhaus art and design?
It’s about trying to find a visual language with formal principles that are clear and objective. It’s not purely functionalist but it’s definitely about simplifying, rationalising, of trying to design for the machine. So it’s not just about a craftsperson’s ability to create something exquisite with their hand skill but more about what forms are appropriate for mass production.
Do you have any particular favourite elements to the exhibition?
I’m a massive fan of the weavings actually. They’re amazingly fresh – beautiful complex abstract patterns with incredible colour combinations and really intricate intense processes of making. And I’m a big fan of all the graphic material. We’ve got a lot of ephemera that the school produced for various reasons. They published books, they published magazines, they made their own invitations to parties, to the opening of buildings, posters and so on – there’s an awful lot of print which I’m really looking forward to presenting.
What does your role involve between now and the opening?
We’re finishing the design – how everything is going to be presented in the gallery – and we’re working with an architects practice called Carmody Goarke and graphic designers called A Practice for Everyday Life. We’re obviously going to be writing all the interpretation for the show – all the captions and the section introductions – and we’re finalising our public programme: events and talks and things that we’ll do around the exhibition as a way of engaging with the subject and its relevance for today. Then there’s logistical things like making sure work gets packed properly and sent here and so on and so forth – and a lot of preparation for the opening event!
Bauhaus: Art as Life will run from 3 May to 12 August 2012 at the Barbican in London.
Images: Die Bauhausmeister auf dem Dach des Bauhauses in Dessau /Masters on the roof of the Bauhaus building, c.1926/1998, courtesy Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin/Centre Pompidou, Paris. Paul Klee, Postcard for the 1923 exhibition, c.1923, courtesy Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau.
Are you an artist, designer or photographer? Enter our Bauhaus: Art as Life design brief and your Bauhaus-inspired images could be sold as products in the Barbican shop during the show. Apply here!