The Bauhaus was a school of art, architecture and design founded by the architect Walter Gropius in the aftermath of the First World War. It sought to unite art and craft, and to design objects suited to industrial production and modern life. Under pressure from the Nazis, it closed its doors in 1933.
Origin and date
Origin: Germany, in Weimar, then Dessau and Berlin.
Date: 1919 to 1933.
Principles
Form follows function. In typography, this translates into geometric sans serifs, asymmetric compositions, the use of bars, circles and primary colours, and sometimes the abandonment of capital letters, considered unnecessary.
Key figures
Walter Gropius, László Moholy-Nagy, Herbert Bayer, Joost Schmidt, Josef Albers.
Associated typefaces
Herbert Bayer's Universal, an experimental alphabet without capitals designed in 1925, and by affinity Paul Renner's Futura, a contemporary of the school. ITC Bauhaus, released in 1975, is a later interpretation.
Legacy
After its closure, its teachers spread across the world, notably with the New Bauhaus founded in Chicago by Moholy-Nagy in 1937. The Bauhaus remains the founding reference of modern design, from architecture to graphic design.