MODERNISM/BAUHAUS/BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE

Francesca & Greta

The BauhausFounded by Walter Gropius in

Weimar, Germany1919-1933

“Let us then create a new guild of craftsmen without the class distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist! Together let us desire, conceive, and create the new structure of the future, which will embrace architecture and sculpture and painting in one unity and which will one day rise toward heaven from the hands of a million workers like the crystal symbol of a new faith.”

–Walter Gropius

Aims of the BauhausTo bring together all creative effort into one whole, to reunify all the disciplines of practical art as inseparable components of a new architecture.

To educate architects, painters, and sculptors of all levels, according to their capabilities,

to become competent craftsmen or independent creative artists.

To form a working community of leading and future artist-craftsmen.

The ultimate aim is the unified work of art-the great structure- in which there is no distinction between monumental and decorative art.

Principles of the BauhausArt rises above all methods; in itself it cannot be taught, but the crafts certainly can be.

There will be no teachers or pupils in the Bauhaus, but masters, journeymen, and apprentices.

Avoidance of all rigidity; priority of creativity; freedom of individuality, but strict study discipline.

Mutual planning of extensive, Utopian structural designs-public buildings and buildings for worship-aimed at the future.

Range of InstructionInstruction at the Bauhaus includes all practical and scientific areas of creative work.

A. Architecture

B. Painting

C. Sculpture

Students are trained in craft (1) as well as in drawing and painting (2) and science and theory (3).

The Curriculum wheel

All Bauhaus students were required to work through the segments of the curriculum wheel, passing from the basic (preliminary) course to the vital core at its centre – contributing to the total building.

Admission“Any person of good repute, without regard to age or sex, whose previous education is deemed adequate by the Council of Masters, will be admitted, as far as space permits.”

The tuition fee is 180 marks per year and a nonrecurring admission fee of 20 marks is also to be paid.

Foreign students pay double fees.

Why the Bauhaus Still MattersIn 1933, The National Socialist militia forced the school to close. Many of its staff and students were under attack and left the country. They took Bauhaus ideas with them and gave them new life in other places.

The Bauhaus transformed the spirit of its age. It turned art and design into philosophy and social action. It made creativity the medium through which we adapt and shape reality, rather than just record it. And it saw that the urgent challenges of its time demanded collaboration and conversation between people from all backgrounds and specialists from all fields.

Black Mountain College

Founded by John Andrew Rice, located in North Carolina

1933-1957

- Sought to be an experimental institution run by faculty and students

- stemmed from progressive movements in Dewey’s philosophies of education

- Taught subjects such as languages, maths, sciences; ART was key to the curriculum

- How and why did BMC become a crucible for advanced art?

- Freedom of inquiry- Countryside setting helped new ways of

thinking- Heritage defined by linkages b/t individuals- Multidisciplinary approaches with the arts- Provided an audience sympathetic to

experimentation and removed from city system issues

- “Learning by doing” attitude

Josef Albers with students; Rice asked Albers to come from Bauhaus in Germany to develop arts

curricula.

- Campus was tended to by faculty and students through work program.

- Kept everyone involved (community oriented)

- Lack of funding by state or private investors = beneficial for everyone

- Self sufficient- Students and faculty built facilities

- Bauhaus related “Functionalism vs. Beauty”

Blue Ridge campus 1933-1942 Lake Eden campus 1941-1956

Learning: All students are brilliant and impressionable

- Relaxed approach, though students were challenged greatly

- Classes were free-form but demanding as well

- Students took responsibility for own educations

- Required total commitment of emotion, intellect, and creativity.

- Classes often held outside, students active in creative collaboration = learn from each other, learn from experience

- Lenient curriculum based off Dewey philosophy: learn by doing & society and school should be closely linked in order to produce well-rounded students, teachers, and human beings in general.

- 2 tiers of learning, based off knowledge & readiness (rather than age or yrs spent in college)

- One successful attitude for students:

- Bring in a new idea or a new piece of work, or else you didn’t want to be there. (Follow your passions, keep brainstorming!)

Visiting Artist Program

- Visiting artist program (founded by Albers)

- Cutting-edge artists were invited to mentor students in many areas

- John Cage taught there (revolutionary musician)

- Believed that public schools ignored many needs & students should pursue their passions, not be forced to do work that doesn’t speak to them

Clemens Kalischer, Cast portrait of The Ruse of Medusa, including John Cage, Elaine de Kooning, Buckminster Fuller and Merce

Cunningham, 1948

Over all… - Very few graduated, but moved on to be

important members/artists of society

- 1955 cease of BMC: lack of funding, social change, financial instability, everyone eventually became miserable.

- No particular style, more of a point of view

- The arts are crucial for human beings

- BMC influenced the whole education system of America & proved that arts had to be included as an integral part of the curriculum.

What do you think?How might these pedagogical approaches benefit the student as an individual?

How might today’s society react to these institutions if they were to come back into existence? (Maybe in relation to capitalism...)

Who would benefit from attending either of these institutions?

(Which institutions today utilize some similar ideologies in Bauhaus and/or Black Mountain College?)