Bauhaus Art Movement

The end of the Second World War (1919) left Germany in a state of general crisis. It was vital to rebuild its economy, culture, political standing and, more crucially, its lost reputation. Change was needed in all sectors of the society. It was in that very year that an art movement, that influenced commercial art internationally, emerged in none other than Germany itself. The Bauhaus School was founded under Walter Gropius (1883-1969), with an aim to add creativity and essence into industrialization and daily lives of the common population (Meggs, Purvis and Meggs 328). While initially the movement held on to the traditional ways and standards set by William Morris and the arts and crafts movement, the years that followed got their inspiration…show more content…
The movement leveled fine art and commercial art together, keeping with its view that design was meant for application. The Bauhaus design philosophy was based on the belief that "form follows function" (Ryan and Conover 52). Meaning that a piece's form was meant to supplement or compliment the function, which determined what the form would be. Most Bauhaus designs were low on ornamentation and rather simple and practical, focusing on the fulfillment of its purpose over anything else. According to Amy Arnston, the artists and workers involved in Bauhaus "did not attempt to produce works of art, but rather good and useful designs in which form was tied to again" (29). Again, from its various sources or inspiration, Bauhaus School attempted to understand how to use design in a smart…show more content…
The poster shows a racing car which seems to be speeding by a circular track. What seems so from the design is that conceptually the poster tries to highlight the speed and precision which the tires will provide to the car that uses them (Gronstad and Vagnes 58). The composition is slanted. This is a common compositional characteristic found in Constructivist designs. A wave emerging from the center and getting bigger upon reaching the bottom of the poster indicates that the vehicle has covered a long distance, perhaps in less time. The viewer's eye is invited into the poster through this. Another less opaque wave on the front reinforces this idea. The poster is black and white. While this could show an attempt at making a less costly design by avoiding color, it also shows that the two colors used are enough to convey the message. Despite being monochromatic, the contrast creates the boldness found commonly in Bauhaus as well as Constructivist designs. Moholy-Nagy has used photo collage and hand-written text in this piece (Meggs, Purvis and Meggs 329) and has created synchronization between text and visuals. He has done that by placing text along the supposed race-track in the way the changing size of the letters indicates the distance travelled and the circularity of the track. The car is placed smartly on the letter ‘N’ which seems to be a shadow casted by the