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Light Prop for an Electric Stage (Light Space Modulator) (1930)

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Light Prop for an Electric Stage (Light Space Modulator) (1930)

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Artist: László Moholy-Nagy

Artwork description & Analysis: Moholy-Nagy worked with engineer Istvan Sebok and technician Otto Ball to realize the Light Prop. Uniting the artist's enthusiasm for the look of machines, and for material innovation, it is one of the most famous early examples of kinetic art. It went on to be presented in many different ways: as a free-standing and immobile sculpture, as a device for experimental theatre, and as the protagonist of a short experimental film, in which it is shot from different vantage points. The film captures the reflections and shadows created by the spinning sculpture, at times giving the impression of a functioning machine, a factory, or even an urban landscape.

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Artist: Marianne Brandt

Artwork description & Analysis: An understanding of fundamental geometric forms lies behind this design, resulting in a tea-pot which is less a feat of fine craftsmanship than a demonstration of how basic forms can be combined to produce beautiful objects for everyday use. The simple elegance of Brandt's tea infuser exemplifies the functionality of Bauhaus design. As the sole woman in the metal workshop, Brandt mastered the art of design through the experimental Bauhaus philosophy and approach. The semi-circle handle and silver cylindrical spout are inventive in design and can be reproduced with ease.

Silver plated brass and ebony - The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Artist: Herbert Bayer

Artwork description & Analysis: Bayer was an Austrian artist and designer who had originally come to the Bauhaus as a student, and later took a teaching position when the school moved to Dessau. Many German designers attempted to encourage changes in national customs of printing in the 1920s. Hitherto, the most popular German typefaces had been influenced by medieval script, but artists such as Bayer tried to supplant them with simpler, more classical designs. This design employs a minimal, sans-serf typeface. Instead of having two alphabets, one uppercase and one lowercase, Bayer reduced the typeface to only lowercase letters. He believed the uppercase was redundant, since the distinction between upper and lower case conveyed no phonetic difference. Bayer's typeface has since become synonymous with the Bauhaus, though it was never manufactured as a metal font for printers.

Typography

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Club Chair (Model B3) (The Wassily Chair) (1925)

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Club Chair (Model B3) (The Wassily Chair) (1925)

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Artist: Marcel Breuer

Artwork description & Analysis: The sleek design and innovative use of materials in the "The Wassily Chair" are typical of the groundbreaking developments in design that made the Bauhaus famous. It is lightweight, easily moved, easily mass produced, and its components are arranged with a clarity that makes its structure immediately legible. It also employed new materials: Breuer constructed the chair using recently developed seamless-steel bent tubing that could endure physical tension without faltering. The structural design resembled Breuer's bicycle handlebars that were crafted from the seamless material. Although Wassily Kandinsky was interested in geometric abstraction at the time he was teaching at the Bauhaus, the chair only came to be popularly associated with him decades later, and by accident, when it was reissued and promoted as the Wassily Chair by an Italian manufacturer.

Tubular steel chair

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Bauhaus building in Dessau, Germany (1919-1925)

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Bauhaus building in Dessau, Germany (1919-1925)

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Artist: Walter Gropius

Artwork description & Analysis: Gropius's complex for the Bauhaus at Dessau has come to be seen as a landmark in modern, functionalist design. Although the design seems strongly unified from above, each element is clearly divided from the next, and on the ground it unfolds a wonderful succession of changing perspectives. The building consists of an asphalt tiled roof, steel framework, and reinforced concrete bricks to reduce noise and protect against the weather. In addition, a glass curtain wall – a feature that would come to be typical of modernist architecture - allows in ample quantities of light. Gropius created three wings that were arranged asymmetrically to connect different workshops and dormitories within the school. The asymmetry expressed the school's functionalist approach and yet retained an elegance that showed how beauty and practicality could be combined.