The Bauhaus Idea and Bauhaus Politics

by Éva Forgács, John Batki (Translator)

Forgacs examines the development of the Bauhaus school of architecture and applied design by focusing on the idea of the Bauhaus, rather than on its artefacts. What gave this idea its extraordinary powers of survival? Founded in 1919, with the architect Walter Gropius as its first director, the Bauhaus carried within it the seeds of conflict from the start. The duration of the Bauhaus coincides very nearly with that of the Weimar Republic; the Bauhaus idea - the notion that the artist should be involved in the technological innovations of mechanization and mass production - is a concept that was bound to arouse the most passionate feelings. It is these two strands - personal and political - that Forgacs so cleverly interweaves. The text has been extensively revised since its original publication in Hungarian, and an entirely new chapter has been added on the Bauhaus's Russian analogue, VkhUTEMAS, the Moscow academy of industrial art.

Genres: Design, Architecture

Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Éva Forgács is Adjunct Professor of Art History in the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena/California. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences of Budapest.
She was curator at the Museum of Decorative Arts, Budapest; guest professor at UCLA in Los Angeles, and senior lecturer at the OTIS School of Art and Design in Los Angeles.
She co-curated «Monuments of the Future: The Designs of El Lissitzky» at the Getty Research Institute in 1998, and was consultant of «Central European Avant-Gardes 1910-1930» at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2002. Besides Art History, she is interested in literary scholarship. She has written essays on Imre Kertész, Péter Nádas, György Petri, Orhan Pamuk and other writers.

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

my husband and I love all things Bauhaus... but for me, alas, this was a bit too much infomation. Enlightening although not particularly insightful - that is, for me. My husband found the book fascinating so... there you are.

[Joanna Naegeli · Rating 4 out of 5]

She did a little bit too much of her own opinion for my taste. However, it is hard to find authors in this area of literature who are not partial in some way. Great in depth explanation of the ideologies at war within Bauhaus at the time. Would love to read more of her work.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive history of what the Bauhaus was really about and more importantly WHY it was as it was. The author went to great lengths to find letters and documents that back up all historic statements.