The Bauhaus Weimar Dessau Hans M.

Wingler
Berlin Chicago
Translated by Wolfgang Jabs
and Basil Gilbert.
Edited by Joseph Stein.

Originally published in German in 1962

under the name "Das Bauhaus" by Verlag
Gebr. Rasch & Co., Bramsche and M Du-
Mont Schauberg, Cologne, Germany. Sec-
ond, revised edition published in 1968.

This English-language edition was adapted

from the German text and includes exten-
sive supplementary material.

English adaptation
Copyright @ 1969 by
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Most of the illustrations were reproduced

from material supplied to the publisher by
Hans M. Wingler. Those no longer available
were reproduced from the German edition.

Design by Muriel Cooper

Set in Linofilm Helvetica by Book Graphics,
Inc.
Printed on Mohawk Superfine
by Halliday Lithograph Corporation
Bound by Russell-Rutter Company

Color plates 1-8 and 17-24 printed by Dr.

Cantzsche Druckerei, Stuttgart-Bad Can-
statt, and color plates 9-1 6 printed by Gebr.
Rasch & Co., Bramsche, Germany.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may

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SBN 262 23033 X

Library of Congress catalog card number:

68-20052
Contents Foreword ix Walter Gropius
Color Plates 1-24 Speech before the Thuringian Land-
Origin and History of the Bauhaus xviii tag in Weimar on July 9,1920
13 The Statutes of the Staatliche
The Documents of the Bauhaus
Bauhaus in Weimar
1 The Prehistory of the Bauhaus 17 The Masters of the Staatliche
Gottfried Semper Bauhaus in Weimar
Science, Industry, and Art 18 Bau haus Prints-New European
William Morris Graphics
" Arts and Crafts Circular Letter
Bruno Adler
Deutscher Werkbund Fine Art in Weimar
Program (1910) Johannes ltten
Walter Gropius Analyses of Old Masters
-- Program for the Founding of a Paul Klee
General Housing-Construction The Play of Forces in the Bauhaus
Company Following Artistically Walter Gropius
Uniform Principles, 1910
The Necessity of Commissioned
Henry van de Velde Work for the Bauhaus
Letter of April 11,1915 to Walter
Walter Gropius
Gropius
The Viability of the Bauhaus Idea
Henry van de Velde
Letter of July 8, 1915 to Walter Gropius Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar
Exhibition of the Work of Journey-
Fritz Mackensen and Walter Gropius
men and Apprentices in the Staat-
Correspondence of October 1915
liche Bauhaus Weimar, April-May
Walter Gropius 1922
Recommendations for the Founding
Members of the Council of Masters of
of an Educational Institution as an
the Weimar Bauhaus
Artistic Counseling Service for Indus-
"Master" or "Professor," Opinions on
try, the Trades, and the Crafts
the Title Question
Wilhelm von Bode Wassilly Kandinsky
The Tasks of Art Education after the The Value of the Title of Professor
War
Lyonel Feininger
Grand-Ducal Saxon Academy of Art From a Letter to Julia Feininger Dated
Petition to the Ministry of State Re- September 7,1922
garding Reform Recommendations
from the Faculty Lyonel Feininger
From a Letter to Julia Feininger Dated
Walter Gropius October 5,1922
Letter of January 31,1919 to Oberhof-
marschall Baron von Fritsch Gerhard Marcks
On the Planned Bauhaus Week. Letter
Walter Gropius
Addressed September 22,1922 to the
Proposed Budget for the Art Academy
Council of Masters
and the School of Arts and Crafts in
Weimar 1919/20 Marie-Luise vdn Banceis
Bauhaus Kite Festival in Weimar
2 Bauhaus Weimar Walter Gropius
From its Founding to the 1923 The Work of the Bauhaus Stage
Exhibition Oskar Schlemrner
Grand-Ducal Saxon Academy of Art The Stage Workshop of the Bauhaus
Request to change the Name to in Weimar
"Staatliches Bauhaus" Oskar Schlemmer
Hofmarschallamt in Weimar The Figural Cabinet
Ratification of the Renaming of the Art Oskar Schlemmer
Schools into "Staatliches Bauhaus" On the Situation of the Workshops for
Walter Gropius Wood and Stone Sculpture
Program of the Staatliche Bauhaus State Minister Max Greil
in Weimar Answer to a Question to the Minister
Oberhofmarschall (retired) Baron von by the Vol kische Party, Given in the
Fritsch Thuringian Landtag on March 16,1923
Letter of April 20,1920 to the Hof-
marschallamt in Weimar 3 Bauhaus Weimar
Lyonel Feininger From the 1923 Exhibition to the Decla-
From Letters to Julia Feininger (1919) ration of Dissolution
Johannes ltten and Lyonel Feininger Walter Gropiys
On the Problem of State Care for On the Proposed Remodeling of the
Intellectuals in the Professions Vestibule of the Weimar Art School,
Walter Gropius for the Bauhaus Exhibition Summer
Address to the Students of the Staat- 1923
liche Bau haus, Held on the Occasion Oskar Schlemmer
of the Yearly Exhibition of Student Design Principles for the Painting and
Work in July 1919 Sculpture Decoration of the Workshop
Dr. Emil Herfurth Building of the Staatliche Bauhaus
Weimar and the Staatliche Bauhaus Oskar Schlemmer
The Staatliche Bauhaus in Weimar The Staatliche Bauhaus in Weimar
The Dispute over the Staatliche Adolf Meyer
Bau haus The Construction of the Experimental
Ministry of Culture in Weimar House
Results of the Investigation Concern- Georg Muche
ing the Staatliche Bauhaus in The Single-Family Dwelling of the
Weimar Staatliche Bau haus
Walter Passarge
The Bauhaus Exhibition in Weimar
Paul Westheim
Comments on the "Squaring" of the
Bauhaus
Lyonel Feininger
From a Letter to Julia Feininger Dated
August 1st, 1923
Gertrud Grunow
The Creation of Living Form through
Color, Form, and Sound
Paul Klee
Ways of Nature Study
Wassily Kandinsky
The Fundamental Elements of Form
Wassily Kandinsky
Color Course and Seminar
Walter Gropius
Letter of Complaint Dated November
24,1923 to Lieutenant-General Hasse,
Military Commmandant in Thuringia
Walter Gropius
Breviary for Bauhaus Members
K.N. [K. Nonn]
The State Garbage Supplies. The
Staatliche Bauhaus in Weimar
Walter Gropius
The Intellectual Basis of the Staatliche
Qauhaus in Weimar
Governing Board of the "Circle of Friends
of the Bauhaus"
An Invitation to Join the "Circle
of Friends"
Wassily Kandinsky
The Work of the Wall-Painting Workshop
of the Staatliche Bauhaus
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
Modern Typography. Aims, Practice,
Criticism
Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack
Reflected-Light Compositions
Kole Kokk
The Bauhaus Dances . . .
Walter Gropius
The Staatliche Bauhaus and the Thur-
ingian Landtag
Thuringian State Treasury
Report on the Audit of the Bookkeep-
ing at the Staatliche Bauhaus in
Weimar
Staatliches Bauhaus (W. Gropius and
Dr. Necker)
Report on the Economic Outlook of
the Bauhaus
The Budget Committee for the Thur-
ingian Budget of 1923 and 1924,
Report No. 80, Dated December 9,
1924, Ministry of Education: Staat-
liches Bauhaus in Weimar
Walter Gropius
Circular Letter Dated December 23,
1924
The Director and Masters of the Staat-
liche Bauhaus, Weimar
Declaration of Dissolution of the
Institute
The Members of the Staatliche Bau-
haus in Weimar
Letter of Protest Dated January 13,
1925, Addressed to the Government
of Thuringia
4 The Transfer from Weimar
to Dessau
Lyonel Feininger
From Letters to Julia Feininger,
February and March 1925
xii
Inventory of Work and Ownership
67 Rights of the Workshops of the
Staatliche Bauhaus in Weimar
Master Carpenter Wagner
69 An Inspection t o u r of the Weimar
Bauhaus (1925)
School Inspector Prof. Blum
69 The Bauhaus-An Educational
Achievement
Resolution to Take Over the Bauhaus
69
5 Bauhaus Dessau
73 The Gropius Era
The Bauhaus in Dessau
74 Bauhaus Dessau
The City of Dessau
75 The Bauhaus in Dessau
Curriculum (1925)
Bauhaus Dessau
Work Plan for the Preliminary Course
76 Walter Gropius
Bauhaus Dessau-Principles of
76 Bauhaus Production
The Bauhaus in Dessau
Work Plan of the Metal Workshop
76 The City of Dessau
Budget Estimate for the Bauhaus
1926/1927 (Special Account)
77 The Bauhaus in Dessau
The Marketing Organization ("The
Position of the Bauhaus in Today's
Economy")
78 District Court of Anhalt
Bauhaus Corporation
Wassily Kandinsky
80 The Value of the Teaching of Theory
in Painting
Georg Muche
80 Fine Art and Industrial Form
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
82 bauhaus and typography
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
84
"Isms" or Art?
Gunta Stolzl
Weaving at the Bauhaus
84
Helene Nonne-Schmidt
Woman's Place at the Bauhaus
Oskar Schlemmer
87 The Stage and the Bauhaus
Oskar Schlemmer
The Mathematics of the Dance
Lyonel Feininger
89 From a Letter Dated August 2,1926,
to Julia Feininger
Paul Klee and Walter Gropius
Correspondence of September-Octo-
ber 1926 on the Question of a Salary
90 Cut
Notification by the Dessau Magistracy
The Bauhaus-Recognized as School
92 of Higher Learning
Bauhaus Dessau
Statute
Max Osborn
93 The New "Bauhaus" (Bauhaus Build-
ing and Master Houses)
Walter Gropius
Address at the Formal Opening of the
Bauhaus Building
93Walter Gropius
Request for Contributions to the
Bauhaus j
95
Walter Gropius
Systematic Preparation for Rational-
96 ized Housing Construction
Architects' Association "The Ring" Anonymous newspaper report
Statement in Connection with the "Something Metallic"-Bauhaus
Controversy Dr. Nonn-Bauhaus 128 Celebration (1929)
The District Court in Dessau Matinee of the Bauhaus Stage Com-
Verdict in the Case Against Georg pany in Basel (1929)
Buchlein, Merchant, July 29,1927 128 Benno Reifenberg
Prospectus "8 Bauhaus Books" by the The Performance of the "Bauhaus
Albert Langen Press, Munich (1927) 130 Stage Dessau" at the Frankfurt
Laszlo Mo holy-Nagy Schauspiel haus on April 20,1929
The Coming Theater-the Total Howard Dearstyne
Theater 132 Notes on the Psychology Lectures of
Piet Mondrian Dr. Karlfried Count von Dilrckheim
Must Painting be Considered Inferior (1930-1 931)
to Architecture? 133 Joost Schmidt
Wilhelm Lotz On Lettering
On the Design Work of the Metal Ernst Kallai
Workshop of the Dessau Bauhaus 135 Ten Years of Bauhaus
Herbert Bayer Hannes Meyer
Typography and Commercial Art My Expulsion from the Bauhaus. An
Forms 135 Open Letter to Lord Mayor Hesse of
Walter Gropius Dessau
Submission of Resignation to the Court proceedings in the controversy
Magistracy of the City of Dessau 136 Hannes Meyer versus City Council of
Ise Gropius the City of Dessau
Recommended Settlement of Novem-
Gropius Proclaims his Intention to
Resign to the Students 136 ber 5,1930
A student of the Bauhaus Dessau 7 Bauhaus Dessau
Notes on the Announcement of Mies van der Rohe Era 167
Gropius's Intention to Resign
36 City Cpuncil of the City of Dessau-
Anonymous critic Mies van der Rohe
On the Resignation of Professor Employment Contract of Mies van der
Gropius 36 Rohe-August 5,1930 168
Walter Dexel Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Why is Gropius Leaving? (On the The New Age 169
Bau haus Situation)
36 Anonymous
6 Bauhaus Dessau Herr Kandinsky, is it true . . . ? 169
The Hannes Meyer Era 139 Anonymous
Hannes Meyer The new Director! The new Course? 170
Address to the Student Representa- City of Dessau
tives on the Occasion of his Appoint- Budget Estimates for the Bau haus
ment as Director 141 Dessau 1931 and 1932 170
Lyonel Feininger Leftist radical students
Extract of a Letter Dated June 29, Demand for the Abolition of the
1928, to Julia Feininger 141 Preliminary Course 172
Josef Al bers Ludwig Hilberseimer
Creative Education 142 The Minimum Home in a Stairless
House 172
The Bauhaus in Dessau
The Compulsory Basic Design Gunta Stolzl-Sharon
Courses of Albers, Kandinsky, Klee, Utility Textiles of the Bauhaus
Schlemmer, and Schmidt (1928) 144 Weaving Workshop 174
The Bauhaus in Dessau Christof Hertel
Free Painting Course (Kandinsky), The Genesis of Forms-on Klee's
Stage Workshop (Schlemmer), and Theory of Forms 174
Sculpture (Schmidt) 146 M.
Wassily Kandinsky A Swiss Architecture Student Writes
Art Education 147 to a Swiss Architect about the
Bauhaus Dessau 175
Paul Klee
Exact Experiments in the Realm of Art 148 Rightist radical parties in the City
legislature, Dessau
Fannina W. Halle
Dessau, Burg ku hnauer Allee 6-7 150 Motion to Dissolve the Bau haus (1932) 176
The Bauhaus in Dessau Chairman of the City Council repre-
The Course of Training in the Archi- sentatives Hofmann (National Social-
tecture Department 151 ist Party)
WhatWillBecomeoftheBauhaus? 177
Alcar Rudelt's Teaching Program in
Structural Engineering 152 Students of the Bau haus in Dessau
Petition to the Reich President
Hannes Meyer (July 1932) 177
Building 153
Eugen Ohm
Wassily Kandinsky The End of the Bauhaus 178
The Bare Wall . . . 154
Lord Mayor Fritz Hesse
Hubert Hoffmann The Fate of the Bauhaus-a Final
Apartment House or Individual Hour Account 178
Residence? 155
City Council of the City of Dessau-
Interviews of the journal "bauhaus" Mies van der Rohe
with Students of the Bauhaus- Contract of October 5,1932, Con-
Answers by Max Bill and Fritz Kuhr 156 cerning the Termination of ~ ~ ~
ment 179

xiii
Josef Albers . . . The best education is one's own experience. Experimenting surpasses studying. To
Creative Education start out by "playing" develops courage, leads in a natural manner to an inventive way o
From "VI. lnternationaler Kongress fur building and furthers the pedagogically equally important facility of discovery. . . . lnve
Zeichnen, Kunstunterricht und Ange- tiveness is the objective. Invention, and re-invention too, is the essence of all creative
wandte Kunst in Prag, 1928" ("Sixth work (proficiency is a tool and hence is secondary). Instruction in professional technique
International Congress for Drawing, Art hampers inventiveness.. . Pioneers have often started out as nonprofessionals.. .
Education, and Applied Art in Prague, Thus, first we seek contact with the material, the more general, broader field. For that, w
1928"), published in Prague 1931 have the term "feeling for materials." . . . Thus, we give [the students] material to handle.
In this lecture, delivered in Prague in 1928, So that they may "handle" it thoroughly, we take all tools away [from them] if possible.
Albers explains the methods and aims of the We have a good variety of tools and also small machines in our elementary workshop,
workshop training as practiced in the Bauhaus but they are kept away from the students at first, especially at the beginning of a new
preliminary course. Another version of this
lecture was published under the title "Werk- chapter in the work with materials. This forces us to begin thinking and doing on our own
licher Formunterricht" ("Practical form instruc- without introductory instruction, without method, and without tools. And this occurs
tion") in the journal "bauhaus" (Dessau), Vol. 2, extremely easily with unlimited competition.
No. 2/3, 1928. The restriction imposed on the use of tools soon leads to a limitation in the applicability
of materials, so far as these are known. Because something that is known can no longer
be invented. An example: "outside," that is in industry and the crafts, paper is usually
used as a flat sheet and is glued. In that process, one side of the paper often loses its
expressiveness. The edge is hardly ever used.
This induces us to utilize both sides of the paper, in an upright, folded, or sculptural
manner, with emphasis on the edges.
Instead of pasting it, we will put paper together by sewing, buttoning, riveting, typing, an
pinning it; in other words, we fasten it in a multitude of ways. We will test the possibilitie
of its tensile and compression-resistant strength.
In doing this, we do not always create "works of art," but rather experiments; it is not our
ambition to fill museums: we are gathering "experience." Our treatment of materials, th
is intentionally different from that on the "outside." But not on principle. Not in order to
things differently (that would mean paying attention to form); rather we do not want to do
things the way others do them (this means emphasizing the method). That is to say: we d
not want to imitate, we want instead to search on our own, and to learn to find out things
on our own-we want to learn to think constructively.
Later we also glue paper together, but only after we have tried other methods and have
found them to be inadequate.
In order to be even surer of avoiding the use of materials in their known application, we
prefer to work with such materials or constructive elements as have not yet found a usag
or application, or whose treatment is not yet known. For example, we construct with stra
corrugated cardboard, wire mesh, cellophane, stick-on labels, newspapers, wallpaper,
rubber, match-boxes, confetti, phonograph needles, and razor blades.
While experimenting, the students often recognize that presumed innovations are alread
in existence. But there is no harm in that, because the end effect is the experience which
the student has gained for himself and hence is a possession, for he has learned and not
merely been taught.. . .
We know that this learning process through experimentation takes more time, entails
detours and wrong directions. But at the beginning things do not always go right. Walkin
begins with crawling, and speaking with baby talk. And mistakes that are recognized
promote progress. Consciously roundabout ways and controlled mistakes sharpen criti-
cism, teach by experience, and promote the desire to do things better and more accurately.
The experience gained in dabbling with materials is often communicated more easily from
student to student than by the older, further removed teacher. This is the reason for
discussing the work almost daily with the students and having them justify what they
have done.
We require a thorough justification for the selection of the material to be used, the man-
ner of working with it, and the forms which are to be employed. The projects are evaluated
according to the proportion of "effort" to "effect."
Adding two elements must result in more than just the sum of those elements. The result
must also yield at least one relationship. The more these elements strengthen each other,
the more valuable the result, the more effective the project.
Thus, an important aspect of the teaching-economy-is stressed. Economy is under-
stood in the sense of thrift in labor and materials and in the best possible use of these to
achieve the desired effect.
Practical thrift is [realized] by planning [which] is required prior to every construction. . .
New materials will only be approved when their intended application has been justified.
Preliminary tests must be made with the smallest samples, and when dealing with costly
materials they must be carried out with less expensive ones where possible. All materials
should be used with as little waste as possible.
Thrift makes for an emphasis on weightlessness. Volume can be overcome more effec-
tively by the plane. Graphic constructions are of even greater interest. Greatest interest
is evoked by emphasis on the point or the relationship of points.
Interest is further strengthened when mathematical elements [appear] as "negative"
elements, that is to say, as voids or as relationships of scale. This creates much stronger
effects and greater coherence.
Perhaps the only entirely new and probably the most important aspect of today's lang
of forms is the fact that "negative" elements (the remainder, intermediate, andSubtra
quantities) are made active. . . .
Discussions of the terms positive and active, negative and passive, provides an opportu-
nity to explain the sociological origins of our form language.
Placing the same value on "positive" and "negative" elements makes it impossible for
something to remain "left over". . . We no longer differentiate essentially between those
142
 elements which are "carrying" and those which are "carried," between those "serving"
and those "served." Every element or component must be one that is "aiding" and
"aided" at the same time, it must be both supporting and supported. Thus the frame and
the base, which must "raise" an object, become superfluous. We will get rid of the "mon-
ument" which, on a big supporting base, carries but a small supported object.
If in a form there is something that is not utilized, then the calculation has been wrong, for
coincidence then plays a part and that is unjustified and unjustifiable. Moreover, it is
senseless because it usually results from habit.
Thrift.. . is sought by testing the maximum strength of the material (maximum height and
width of the construction and highest stress), the maximum resistance to tensile and
bending stresses, the closest connections, the smallest and weakest base. . . Increasing
the stress to the point of failure of the material shows where the stress limit is and leads
us to use related or else opposite materials. Thus arises. . . the wish to combine and mix
various materials in order to enhance their properties. . .
Learning in this way, with emphasis on technical and economical rather than esthetic
considerations, results in static and dynamic attitudes; it demonstrates the links between
organic and technical properties, while negating their opposition. Apart from leading to
thinking in terms of building and construction, it trains the rarer quality of spatial imagina-
tion. It provides for the friendly and collective interchange of experiences and [produces]
agreement on general and contemporary principles of form-it counteracts the exag-
geration of individualism without hampering real individuality.
lndividualism is not primarily a school concern, for individualism stresses particularity
and separateness. It is the task of the school to integrate the individual into the society
and the economy and to have him partake in the activities of his time. The cultivation of
individuality is the individual's task and not that of collective enterprise as represented by
the school. The school should cultivate individuals passively-by not interfering with
personal development. . . . Sociological economy has to reject the personality cult of the
current educational system. Productive individuality asserts itself without and despite
school education.
We come now to a different, more formal and freer area of experimentation, to the so-
called exercises with "matter." These alternate repeatedly during the semester with the
material exercises. The exercises with matter are not concerned with the inner qualities
of the material but rather with its external appearance. The relationships of the epidermis,
the skin, of the material are explored-according to relatedness or contrast. "Like attracts
like" and "opposites attract one another.'' Just as one color influences another by timbre,
interval, tone, and tension, so surface qualities, visual or tactilely experienced (with the
fingertips), can be related. Just as green and red are complementary to each other, hence
are both contrast and balance, so bricks and burlap, glass and wax, aluminum foil and
wool, cotton and thumbtacks relate to each other.
We classify the kinds of surfaces according to their structure, facture, and texture. They
are used by being painted rather than in material construction^, so that spatial qualities,
intersections, mixing, and interpenetration occur by illusion.
[The special interest in the exploration of "matter" appeared during the epochs which
were particularly oriented toward structure; it has] been almost completely lost since the
Gothic era. At that time one still knew how to combine wood with iron and color, [or] stone
and glass and color, until the Renaissance began to build facades entirely of one material,
and garments continued entirely in one type of fabric.
[Furthermore] we are translating and producing factures and structures. The group dis-
cussions of the results of the exercises induce accurate observation and a new way of
"seeing." These discussions show which formal qualities predominate today-harmony
or balance, rhythm or scale, geometric or arithmetric proportion, symmetry or asym-
metry, rosette or row-and in conjunction with that, what holds more interest-compli-
cated or elementary form, multiplicity or simplicity, composition or construction,
mysticism or hygiene, volume or line, beauty or prudence, ancestral portraits or toilets.
The. . . inductive method of instruction attempts to develop responsibility and self-
discipline-toward ourselves, the material, and the work. By letting the student work
with different materials and tools and by having him visit different industries, this teaching
method helps him find the areas of work and the kind of materials that suit him best, and
eventually determines his selection of a vocation . . . It attempts to be a training in flex-
ibility providing the broadest possible [nontechnical] basis in order not to let later
specialization be isolated. It wants to lead to economical form.
This method stands in contrast to that of vocational school training which "inculcates"
manual skills. . . . If one does "a bit o f " cabinetmaker's work, "a bit o f " tailoring, and
"a bit o f " bookbinding, one arrives at dilletantism in the bad sense of the word. . . "Also"
sawing, "also" planing (the most difficult work in the cabinetmaker's shop), and "also"
cutting cardboard and gluing remain unproductive, because these activities do nothing
but keep one occupied. They do not satisfy the creative urge.
Thus: no "fiddling around" but building.. . .