At the Bauhaus through the works of Herbert Bayer
Fig 1. Haag 1900 - Montecito/USA 1985 URL
The Bauhaus was first established in the twentieth century; it is an art education school which has altered the way art and design is looked at and the understanding of arts to many of its offspring's that came to learn in it (Aynsley 2001,60). It has changed the way art is educated throughout the world; The Bauhaus tried to interpret the idea of total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk) into its concept of teaching where all art forms are brought up together (Worldwide art resources. (2009)). Work like architecture, art, graphic design, interior design, industrial design and typography were taught at the Bauhaus (Whitford, 1984, 7). The Bauhaus style was known as the international style where the art works didn’t have an origin from where it is brought from. The ideas at the Bauhaus were more modernist in style and wanted to unify the arts, crafts and machinery (Worldwide art resources. (2009)). Bauhaus brought up revolutionary artists and designers in which among them was Herbert Bayer (Whitford 1984,8). In this essay I will be discussing the works of Herbert Bayer through typography, poster and magazine design mentioning his most influences, teachers and examples of work at the Bauhaus period.
Herbert Bayer was an Australian graphic designer, typographer, painter and photographer of his time (Aensley 2001,66). Herbert Bayer was amongst these who integrated the total work of art into all of his work. Prior to joining the Bauhaus Bayer had some design knowledge which he got through working with an architect in Darmstadt (Whitford 1984,166). His work at that time was very balanced and central symmetrical (Cohen ,1984, 191). At 1921 Bayer first joined the Bauhaus where throughout the workshops and education in the school Bayer changed the way his work was executed.
Graphic designs by Herbert Bayer went through many stages before during and after the Bauhaus. Before the Bauhaus Bayer's work was very influenced by Ludwig Hohlwein's design work (Aeynsly , 2001, 60). At the Bauhaus Bayer has formed a strategy to solving the design problem; as Cohen said in the book 'Herbert Bayer the complete work', " The solution must be rigorously proportioned; a balance and internal harmony must be established among otherwise diverse and incompatible elements; form must be thoroughly investigated, colors direct and evocative; the text must be situated within the composition as a typographic element no less definitely positioned and balanced than are other more explicitly visual elements"(Cohen , 1984, 191).
Fig 2. 1927, universal type, URL.
Typography was amongst Bayer's premier interests where he was influenced by Moholy and De Stijl (Whitford ,1984, 167). In addition to those teachers Bayer also applied Kandinsky's teaching on color and Klee's teaching on forms to his typography designs (Aeynsly ,2001,66). Bayer has suggested in the Bauhaus period to use the Klienschreibung which means writing all letters with small letters and all capital letters for display design (Aeynsly ,2001,66)(Cohen ,1984, 215). He said that doing that saves space and money; since the printers had to only have one range of typeface (Cohen 1984, ,215). In addition to that Bayer also illuminated the san serif which goes back to the roman type that was simple and direct he considered serifs redundant (Cohen ,1984, 215) ( Whitford ,1984, 167). Not long after his suggestion; publication at the Bauhaus started to use only small letters minuscule's (Cohen ,1984, 215). In 1925 Bayer become one of the young staff masters in the Bauhaus where he taught modern typography (Aeynsly ,2001,66). The Universal Type (single alphabet type) was one of the most known types of Bayer in which he made a type design based on a circle where he used only few arcs, angels and vertical and horizontal lines (fig 2) (Cohen ,1984, 215). The universal type was used in his posters, post cards and magazines. The fashion magazine die neue linie is an example where he used the universal type (fig 3) (Aeynsly ,2001, 60).
Fig 3. Cover for magazine die neue linie, 1938. (Aeynsly ,2001, 60)
Fig 4. (Cohen , 1984, 199).
Fig 5. (Cohen , 1984, 199).
In 1923 Herbert designed two posters for Bauhaus Ausstellung that demonstrate the use of different type weights and color areas. The simplification of the posters and the organization reduces the language of the message to clear the essentials of the posters ( Fig 4,5)(Cohen ,1984, 194). The vertical placement of the word Ausstellung balances the red square or runs the length of the posters (Cohen ,1984, 194).
Fig 6. Herbert Bayer, Kandinsky, 1926. Poster. Bauhaus Archive, Berlin. URL
Kandinsky's poster of the exhibition and birthday celebration shows Bayer's simplistic motives and constructivist style(fig 6). In this poster Bayer includes a bust photo of Kandinsky in black and white with a red rectangle on the left bordering the image from the left and other diagonal and vertical rectangles around the composition to create eye movement and interest ((Cohen ,1984 ,202). Bayer used majuscule San serif type slightly titled to the left giving a kinetic element (Eskilson 2007, 238).
Fig 7. Herbert bayer, Bauhaus, 1928, magazine, Bauhaus-archiv, berlin. URL
A photo collage for the cover magazine of Bauhaus zeitschrift is another example of bayer's known work in which he interpreted different elements to show the educational program in Bauhaus without having to include any word descriptions (fig 7)(Cohen, 1984, 202) (Eskilson, 2007, 240). The composition included the Bauhaus title on a folded periodical and the geometric forms that create a visual motion in the collage (Eskilson, 2007, 240).
Fig 8. Staatliches Bauhaus, Weimar, 1919–1923, 1923 , Walter Gropius (German, 1883–1969) URL
A famous cover by Bayer is the Staatliches Bauhaus; its one of his works that has been most praised and attacked by the media at the same time(fig 8)(Cohen ,1984, 200). In this design Bayer used hand drawn alphabet, majuscules and san serif letters that have a block like effect (Cohen ,1984, 194)(Polsky, B. & Polsky, H. 2001). The arrangement of the letters and spacing was manipulated in a way that the text looks like a unified block of text. The four lines of letters are very architectural in style, rough and crude (Polsky, B. & Polsky, H. 2001).
In 1928 Herbert Bayer left the Bauhaus and became the art director of the die neue linie and Vogue magazines; He with other Bauhaus members have made modernist ideas and art broader and more acceptable to the public (fig 9 , 10, 11)(Aeynsly , 2001, 60).. The die neue linie (the new line) magazine included fashion, literature, graphic design and art subjects ( Rössler, P. (n.d)). The magazine was one of the first magazines that used dramatic photomontages and simple typographic designs (Cohen , 1984 220). Bayers designs at those times were clarified as surreal; the compisitions that he made were to establish calirity, attraction and communication with the audience(Cohen ,1984, 220).
Fig 9 . Photomontage cover for the monthly periodical die neue linie( 1935). (Cohen , 1984 224)
Fig 10. Magazine cover (1940).(Cohen , 1984, 230)
Fig 11. Photomontage with classical head for die neue linie (1936)
A later example of bayers work is the Adrianol nose drops poster in which bayer makes the message sent to the audience clear and simplified (fig 12)(Cohen ,1984 ,229). It shows the process of dripping the adrionol nose drops in a cold rainy day. The poster become a tool of clarifying the meaning and the application of the medical anatomy (Cohen ,1984 ,229).
Fig 12. Poster for adrianol nose drops (1935) (Cohen , 1984 , 227)
In conclusion Herbert Bayer's work was one of the revolutionary works that affected all kinds of design fields and his impact exists to the current day for people to learn and get inspired from.
Bibliography:-
Cohen, A. (1984). Herbert Bayer: The Complete Work. United States of America: Book Bindery, Inc.
Whitford, F. (1984). Bauhaus. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Eskilson, S. (2007). Graphic Design A New History. North America: Yale University Press.
Aeynsly, J . (2001). A Century of Graphic Design. United States of America: Barron's Educational Series, Inc.
Polsky, C.H., Polsky, L.B.(2001). Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved February, 15, 2010, from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dsgn2/ho_2001.392.htm.
Rossier, P. (n.d). Artbook: The Bauhaus at the Newsstand. Retrieved February, 15, 2010, from http://www.artbook.com/9783866782822.html.
Worldwide art resources. (2009). Retrieved February 22, 2010, from http://wwar.com/masters/movements/bauhaus_school.html.
