THE EARLY BAUHAUS TAKES CENTER STAGE AT THIS NEW EXHIBIT IN LA

A new exhibition at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles explores the origins of the Bauhaus and its pioneering teaching practices.

Durchdringung (Penetration) for Paul Klee's course, Léna Bergner, ca. 1925–1932. The Getty Research Institute, 850514. © Heirs of Léna Bergner

The Bauhaus—a name synonymous with modern design—celebrates its centenary this year, with exhibitions and events planned around the world, from Brazil to London, to mark this historic occasion.

In Los Angeles, the Getty Research Institute presents its own ode to the pioneering German design school with its new exhibit, "Bauhaus Beginnings." Open through October 13, the exhibit offers a "never-before-seen side of the Bauhaus," says Mary Miller, director of the GRI, via press release. Rather than focusing on the objects and buildings for which the Bauhaus is best known, the show examines often overlooked aspects of the school's formative years, shedding light on the ideas, people, and practices that shaped one of the 20th century's premier art institutions.

Featuring over 250 works created by the Bauhaus, including drawings, woodcuts, prints, sketchbooks, photographs, and a wealth of additional archival material, the exhibition aims to "immerse [viewers] in the unique, philosophical spirit that birthed some of the most enduring visual ideas of the modern era," explains curator Maristella Casciato. The GRI’s complementary online exhibition, "Bauhaus: Building the New Artist," also provides further insight into Bauhaus history and its innovative pedagogy.

Founded in the aftermath of World War I, the state-funded Bauhaus State School (Staatliches Bauhaus) was inaugurated in 1919 in Weimar, the home of Germany's recently established republic. Originally conceived as a new type of art school, the Bauhaus was heavily influenced by German Expressionism and spirituality during its early years. Led by the school's first director, the modernist architect Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus aimed to subvert conventional art school practices and teaching methods by dismantling the traditional division between crafts and arts. Inspired by the medieval guild system, the Bauhaus endeavored to foster a sense of community and artistic collaboration, uniting various disciplines, such as architecture, sculpture, and painting in creative harmony—an interdisciplinary approach revolutionary for its time.

Color wheel and tone study for Paul Klee's Course, Hilde Reindl, ca. 1927. The Getty Research Institute, 850514

Despite the school’s premature closure in 1933, amidst mounting political, social, and economic pressures precipitated by the rise of the Nazi party, the Bauhaus has, over the century since its inception, “widely inspired modern design, architecture, and art as well as the ways these disciplines are taught,” observes Miller. Central to the school’s legacy, and a focal point of the exhibit, is the Bauhaus’s famous Preliminary Course (Vorkurs). A cornerstone of the Bauhaus curriculum, the Preliminary Course helped first-year students develop practical skills in draughtsmanship while introducing them to important artistic theories and principles. Taught over the years by titans of 20th-century art and design, including Johannes Itten, Josef Albers, Gertrud Gronow, Paul Klee, and Vassily Kandinsky, the compulsory six-month course prepared pupils for further study in one of the Bauhaus’s many workshops.

However, as Miller explains, "the story of the Bauhaus is not just the story of its teachers or most famous students." This notion is at the very heart of an exhibition that highlights the work of more obscure masters and pupils from the school’s early years. Examples include the woven, brightly colored designs of Léna Bergner and Gunta Stölzl, Lyonel Feininger’s graphic, monochrome woodcut prints of sea and cityscapes (woodcuts were an important medium for the early Bauhaus, which embraced pre-industrial art forms and techniques), as well as photographs and architectural drawings of the Bauhaus’s first architectural commission, the timber-framed Sommerfeld House, built in the early 1920s for the entrepreneur and property developer Adolf Sommerfeld.

Villa am Strand (Villa on the shore), Lyonel Feininger, 1921. From Bauhaus Drucke: Neue Europaeische Graphik; Erste Mappe; Meister d. Staatlichen Bauhauses in Weimar (Potsdam: Müller, 1921). The Getty Research Institute, 2012.PR.4. © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

The remarkable breadth and originality of the school’s output have ensured that "the Bauhaus continues to spark imagination to this day," observes Casciato. With the legacy of the Bauhaus evident in so many aspects of our lives—from the buildings we inhabit to the sleek simplicity of our smartphones—there is no doubt that the Bauhaus influence will continue to endure for another century.

Bauhaus Beginnings runs through October 13, 2019, at the Getty Research Institute (1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, California).