Influencers of Bauhaus

The Van Doesburg:

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy:

Herbert Bayer:

Universal Alphabet

Joost Schmidt:

Johannes Itten: known for her use of color

Sachplakat

The Sachplakat (object poster) is a distinctly German invention. A reaction to the excesses of Art Nouveau, this minimalist poster genre was founded by Lucian Bernhard and promoted by Ernest Growald in 1906 as a method of advertising products on the increasingly cluttered Berlin poster hoardings. Sachplakat is the reduction of a selling message to a minimum number of elements—usually the product, a logo or trademark, and a bold line(s) of type, often in hand-drawn block letters. This method, which was practiced by designers of the Berliner Plakat who were featured in the magazine Das Plakat, was championed by the leading German foundries, who rushed original and copied versions of the block letters into production. Although the young Bernhard did not fancy himself a type designer per se, when he saw that his distinctive lettering had been made into a typeface, he decided to enter the business himself. He gave his name to many faces issued by the Flinsch and Bauer type foundries. Another key proponent of this approach, Louis Oppenheim, was compelled to protect his original lettering by designing typefaces for H. Berthold & Co. The typefaces Bernhard, Oppenheim, and others created for advertising prior to World War I were not entirely Modern. Although some were sans serif, others were based on Blackletter and roman scripts. The typical Sachplakat faces were bold and often expanded, and included small fat serifs.

Bauhaus

The Bauhaus art school existed in three different cities (Weimar from 1919 to 1925, Dessau from 1925 to 1932, and Berlin from 1932 to 1933), under three different architect-directors (Walter Gropius from 1919 to 1928, Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1930 to 1933). These changes of venue and leadership meant a constant shifting of focus, technique, instructors, and politics. When the school moved from Weimar to Dessau, for instance, although it had been an important revenue source, the pottery shop was discontinued. When Mies took over the school in 1930, he transformed it into a private school, and would not allow any supporters of Hannes Meyer to attend it.

The school was founded by Gropius at the conservative city of Weimar in 1919, as a merger of the Weimar School of Arts and Crafts (Grossherzogliche Kunstgewerbeschule) and the Weimar Academy of Fine Arts (Grossherzogliche Hochschule für Bildende Kunst). Most of the contents of the workshops had been sold off during World War I. The early intention was for the Bauhaus to be a combined architecture school, crafts school, and academy of the arts. Much internal and external conflict followed.

Gropius argued that a new period of history had begun with the end of the war. He wanted to create a new architectural style to reflect this new era. His style in architecture and consumer goods was to be functional, cheap, and consistent with mass production. To these ends, Gropius wanted to reunite art and craft to arrive at high-end functional products with artistic pretensions. The Bauhaus issued a magazine called "Bauhaus" and a series of books called "Bauhausbücher". Its head of printing and design was Herbert Bayer.

Many believe that German reform in art education was critical for economic reasons. Since the country lacked the quantity of raw goods that the United States and Great Britain had, they had to rely on the proficiency of its skilled labor force and ability to export innovative and high quality goods. Therefore designers were needed and so was a new type of art education. The school’s philosophy basically stated that the artist should be trained to work with the industry.

The Bauhaus was largely subsidized by the early Weimar Republic. After a change in local government, the school moved to Dessau in 1925, where the civic atmosphere was more industrial and progressive. After the Bauhaus moved to Dessau, a school of industrial design with teachers and staff less antagonistic to the conservative political regime remained in Weimar. This school was eventually known as the Technical University of Architecture and Civil Engineering and in 1996 changed its name to Bauhaus University Weimar. In 1927, the Bauhaus style and its most famous architects heavily influenced the exhibition "Die Wohnung" ("The Dwelling") organized by the Deutscher Werkbund in Stuttgart. A major component of that exhibition was the Weissenhof Siedlung, a settlement or housing project.

Gropius was succeeded by Meyer, and then in turn by Mies. Under increasing political pressure the Bauhaus was closed on the orders of the Nazi regime in 1933. The Nazi Party and other fascist political groups had opposed the Bauhaus throughout the 1920s. They considered it a front for communists, especially because many Russian artists were involved with it. Consequently, many Weissenhof architects fled to the Soviet Union, thus strengthening the effect. Nazi writers such as Wilhelm Frick and Alfred Rosenberg called the Bauhaus "un-German," and criticized its modernist styles.

Above are works edited and/or created by Hanes Myers, the architect-director of the Bauhaus School of Art from 1928 to 1930.

Plakatstil

Plakatstil was an early poster style of art that began in the early 1900s and originated out of Germany. "Plakatstil" means "poster style" in German. The traits of this style of art are usually bold, straight font with very simple design. Shapes and objects are simplified while the subject of the poster remains detailed. Plakatstil incorporated color combinations not seen in other art forms such as Art Nouveau. Plakatstil shied away from the complexity of Art Nouveau and helped emphasize a more modern outlook on poster art. Famous Plakatstil artists include Berliner Lucian Bernhard and artist Ludwig Hohlwein.

Ludwig Hohlwein (1874-1949)
Was also one of the most important artists of the Plakatstil (poster style). His career spanned both World Wars with his style developing in response to the dramatic and
cultural pressures.

Hohlwein began his studies with architecture turning to graphic design in 1906. Hohlwein designed for restaurants, cafés, and the clothing industry. Some of his more famous work was for Hermann Sherrer a men’s clothes line.

Like Bernhard, Hohlwein’s style was influenced by the Beggarstaff Brothers. There was a powerful composition balance to his work, which he combined with realism and again flat bold color. During WWI, Hohlwein produced emotional posters for fundraising and propaganda purposes. Between the wars Hohlwein designed travel posters, getting more involved with photography and airbrushing. And during WWII Hohlwein produced posters for the Nazis. Hohlwein, War posters for the Nazi's. He became known as a master propaganda artist.

Lucian Bernhard was a German graphic designer, type designer, professor, interior designer, and artist during the first half of the twentieth century. The family of typefaces he developed is called Bernhard. He was influential in helping create the design style known as Plakatstil (Poster Style), which used reductive imagery and flat-color as well as Sachplakat ('object poster') which restricted the image to simply the object being advertised and the brand name. He was also known for his designs for Stiller shoes, Manoli cigarettes, and Priester matches.