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In Perspective, Planet: Bauhaus Photography - forgotten?

Tom dinning

Registrant*
Bauhaus is primarily known for its architecture, but the Bauhaus movement opened up new ways and paved the way for photography away from documentary to a separate discipline of art.
The influence can still be seen - simply compare what you see on the following links with contemporary photography:

Official Bauhaus page.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Photoinduced Article

Best regards,
Michael

Having been teethed on Bauhaus among others during my submissive period it is still alive and well in my subconscious although I do notice, when I mention it to my classes they all scramble for their iPads to see if there is an app that covers it.
Thank you, Michael, for rekindling an old fire.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Bauhaus is primarily known for its architecture, but the Bauhaus movement opened up new ways and paved the way for photography away from documentary to a separate discipline of art.
The influence can still be seen - simply compare what you see on the following links with contemporary photography:

Official Bauhaus page.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Photoinduced Article

Best regards,
Michael

Thanks for these links, Michael,

Is it a movement of collective enlightenment and cross pollination of ideas that's the real Bauhaus or is it the particulars of vision, style or construction?

Asher
 

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Thanks for these links, Michael,

Is it a movement of collective enlightenment and cross pollination of ideas that's the real Bauhaus or is it the particulars of vision, style or construction?

Asher
Asher,

Bauhaus had also the character of a school - it was a place where new ideas were explored and refined. The impact remembered by most when hearing the name is Architecture, but it is also Design, Typography and Photography which became part of the workshops in 1929.

Citation:

Photography

During the Weimar phase of the Bauhaus, photography was initially used as a documentation and publication medium before it was established as an artistic field of experimentation, ranging from the photogram to the photo collage, by László Moholy-Nagy in 1923. Photography only became an official subject in Dessau in 1929, when it was integrated into the advertising workshop. Photography at the Bauhaus was mainly associated with figures such as László Moholy-Nagy, Walter Peterhans, Lucia Moholy and Erich Consemüller.


It was driven by individuals but flourished as a subject within the ideas of Bauhaus.
Bauhaus Architecture has still significant influence today.
Opening the way for Photography as a separate discipline of Art is very important for all who followed - this self-portrait from Herbert Bayer is one of the well-known works which taps into Surrealism.

Look a the works of the different Artists and see how much is familiar to you because the same elements are still used and explored further.

Best regards,
Michael
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Asher,

Bauhaus had also the character of a school - it was a place where new ideas were explored and refined. The impact remembered by most when hearing the name is Architecture, but it is also Design, Typography and Photography which became part of the workshops in 1929.

Citation:

Photography

During the Weimar phase of the Bauhaus, photography was initially used as a documentation and publication medium before it was established as an artistic field of experimentation, ranging from the photogram to the photo collage, by László Moholy-Nagy in 1923. Photography only became an official subject in Dessau in 1929, when it was integrated into the advertising workshop. Photography at the Bauhaus was mainly associated with figures such as László Moholy-Nagy, Walter Peterhans, Lucia Moholy and Erich Consemüller.


It was driven by individuals but flourished as a subject within the ideas of Bauhaus.
Bauhaus Architecture has still significant influence today.
Opening the way for Photography as a separate discipline of Art is very important for all who followed - this self-portrait from Herbert Bayer is one of the well-known works which taps into Surrealism.

Look a the works of the different Artists and see how much is familiar to you because the same elements are still used and explored further.

Michael,

I'm no authority on the Bauhaus movement and workshop for exchange of creative ideas. I live in a Bauhaus-Lloyd Wright mongrel of a home! But that an expert, does not me make, LOL! Still, I do wonder about it's place as a center for photography more than design with photography as one could claim that, "It merely housed Lazlo Moholy-Nagy and Lucia, his equally talented wife, (and several others you've mentioned), but really the teaching stars and leaders were from Essen, Stuttgart and other German centers".

What would be the Bauhaus photographic style that distinguishes its photographers and their students from the products of the premier centers in Germany at that time? I ask this not as a challenge, as I have no information myself to distinguish between the fame of the Bauhaus photographers we know and the other eminent photographers of the same time period who had powerful influence on photography. IOW, what makes them be taken as a "movement" or "school" in the way Bauhaus applies to architecture and design? Are there distinguishing traits of sensibility or form of photography that we could say are uniquely Bauhaus?

Asher
 

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Asher,

when you mention Bauhaus, don't forget to mention Dessau - the geographical center of the movement.

Photography was initially - as mentioned before - driven by individuals, but resulted in the creation of a separate class for photography which was no longer part of the advertising workshop.

Bauhaus started primarily as school for architecture and design, but extended into typography and photography.

The most important influences that can be recognized (as far as I see it) are the drive to abstraction and surrealism.

Best regards,
Michael
 
Sorry if it's a bad thing to resurrect an old thread, but this is interesting.

I read a little about Bauhaus a while ago. If I was asked to try and summarise it in one sentence I would have said, "life shown in art". Would this be a fair summary?
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Sorry if it's a bad thing to resurrect an old thread, but this is interesting.

I read a little about Bauhaus a while ago. If I was asked to try and summarise it in one sentence I would have said, "life shown in art". Would this be a fair summary?

Perhaps "Art embedded into life"!

Asher
 
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