What is Bauhaus? Art and design examples to inspire you.

What is Bauhaus?

Bauhaus is an artistic school and design movement that emerged in the late 1910s in Germany.

From colour theory to pattern and printmaking, Bauhaus – and the artistic thinkers behind it – set itself apart from ‘fine art’ by focusing on tangible and functional designs. Bringing the disciplines of art, design and architecture together, the Bauhaus movement revolutionised a modernist approach to simple, but highly effective creations.

Who founded the Bauhaus movement and what were its origins?

The Bauhaus art movement originated in 1919, when architect Walter Gropius created an art school in Weimar, Germany, known as the Bauhaus. The facility changed its location many times, eventually moving to Dessau in 1925 and to Berlin in 1932. However, it remained at the epicentre of the art world and was critical in creating a new way of thinking. The school welcomed artists from all walks of life and all disciplines, feeding a mentality that these different art styles could work together under one movement.

This is how the Bauhaus movement was born, with alternative thinkers and experts like Lyonel Feininger, Gerhard Johannes, Itten Marcks, Paul Klee and Oskar Schlemmer, all contributing to the curriculum. Each student this new style of teaching touched would take the Bauhaus movement into their future work. So, while we can draw parallels between contemporary art and the Bauhaus movement, there are many more unique Bauhaus characteristics that can be implemented in your creative work.

4 key Bauhaus characteristics.

While each artist has their own approach to the Bauhaus movement, there are certain defining characteristics we associate with this artistic style. You might want to keep these in mind when crafting your Bauhaus-inspired designs.

Some of the key features of Bauhaus include:

Simplicity.

Much like Art Deco, Bauhaus art favoured simplicity, with clean lines and logical shapes. There was nothing complex about this style, with consistency in the use of colour and texture. It was rare to find clashing components.

Functionality.

Whether it was in architecture, product development or within art itself, projects inspired by the Bauhaus art movement always favoured functionality over aesthetics. There’s a practicality to the visual style of Bauhaus art, which nods towards the idea that it could be created on an assembly line. It demonstrates the beauty in uniformity.

Materials.

What is Bauhaus architecture without simple materials on full display? The movement’s architecture and art utilised natural and harsh materials like steel, concrete and glass to create a strong silhouette. Bauhaus art often reflects the properties of these textures and materials, and its sculptures tap into the idea of mass production.

Asymmetry.

While simplicity is one of the Bauhaus movement’s key features, modernist art also influenced the movement to take a more asymmetric approach. Things never quite line up as you’d expect in Bauhaus art, leading to interesting compositions.

Famous Bauhaus artists, designers and architects.

As a result of the Bauhaus School’s relocation to two other German cities, Dessau and Berlin, an increasing number of prominent artists became involved with developing the signature movement.

Some of the most well-known and influential include:

• Walter Gropius. The pioneering modernist architect who founded the Bauhaus School in 1929. Not only did he design the school’s Dessau building in the Bauhaus style, but also iconic US buildings such as the Harvard Graduate Center and Pan Am Building in New York City.
• Wassily Kandinsky. An abstract artist who taught at the Bauhaus School, developing colour theories and design principles that inspired the likes of Marcel Breur and Peter Keler. Some of his most notable works include Composition VIII (1923) and Yellow-Red-Blue (1925).
• Anni Albers. Specialised in textiles, weaving and printmaking, experimenting with simplistic forms and colours to design striking compositions.
• Paul Klee. Taught at the Bauhaus School from 1921-31. His unique approach to art combined a fascination with cubism, surrealism, line, tone and colour.
• Marcel Breuer. Created the iconic Wassily Chair, a stripped back version of the classic ‘club’ chair made from tubular steel (like on bicycle handlebars) and canvas – named after fellow Bauhaus artist, Wassily Kandinsky.

The Bauhaus Building.

Designed by Gropius, the Bauhaus Building in Berlin was a calling card for the art movement. Built with concrete and glass, this practical structure is solid in its lines and simple in its shape.

Red Balloon.

The 1922 Red Balloon by Paul Klee reflects a variety of Bauhaus characteristics associated with the movement, with muted colours, an asymmetrical composition, and basic geometric shapes. It’s an inspirational piece depicting a balloon flying across a cityscape.

Wall Hanging.

The 1926 piece by Anni Albers, Wall Hanging, is functional and simple. It depicts straight lines, crafting geometric shapes that are all slightly imbalanced. They overlap, creating a criss-cross effect, and utilise dull colours associated with concrete and steel.

Promote simplicity in your posters.

Use Adobe Express UK’s free poster templates to create designs that rely on simplicity. Use strong lines and a clear canvas to draw your audience’s eye to the most important information.

Add functionality to your menu.

Menus can often be cluttered and over-designed. Use the concept of simplicity and functionality in the Bauhaus art movement to prioritise key features like a menu, using the Adobe Express menu templates.

Embrace Bauhaus materials in your logos.

It’s challenging to design a logo that no one has seen before. By tapping into Bauhaus materials such as steel, glass and concrete, you can craft a logo using Adobe Express’ logo template that stands out from the crowd.

Explore asymmetry in your brochures.

With no experience necessary, jump into these brochure templates and structure each page with asymmetry, to create differentiation across the book. Tap into the Bauhaus art movement and resize images using the free Adobe Express feature to create a contrast on the page.

Get inspired with unique colour combinations.

Whether it’s a business card or advertisement, get inspired by Bauhaus characteristics like heavy contrasts between light and dark shades. Alternatively, you could explore Kandinsky’s use of depth through layering colours such as red on blue.