Is there anything left to say about Bauhaus?

Have we not all seen, read, written enough?

We all know the important points of the story.

We all know the famous art works and design classics.

Most of us can name three or four Bauhäusler, the cleverer among you might reach a dozen.

There’s nothing new to be said.

Were it only that simple….

Bauhaus Dessau in model and photos at Bauhaus: Art as Life

Some 1200 students attended Bauhaus Weimar, Dessau and Berlin, add to that number the teaching and workshop staff and one reaches not only an unquantifiable collection of produced works and personal anecdotes; but hopefully also the conclusion that there is an awful lot more to the story that a couple of chairs and a Wagenfeld Lamp.

That most presentations of Bauhaus simply reproduce what we all know is because that is the easiest option. It’s perceived to be what the public want.

Which is why if you go into any public library and flick through a dozen Bauhaus books, you’ll find the same story told with a dozen different collections of adverbs.

“Bauhaus: Art as Life” at the Barbican Art Gallery London, attempts a slightly different approach.

Not revolutionary or ground-breakingly different, it is still very much an exhibition intended for a mass public and as such suitably speckled with identifiable classics; however, “Art as Life” attempts to present Bauhaus for what it really was.

A big holiday camp.

Albeit a big holiday camp where creativity was a way of life and something celebrated and practiced day and night as a matter of course.

Indeed walking round the Barbican Art Gallery, one could be mistaken for thinking that many of the Bauhaus classic were created more by mistake than design…..

Divided into ten sections looking at the Bauhaus story from the beginnings in Weimar until the Berlin end, “Bauhaus: Art as Life” is a wonderfully accessible and open exhibition that makes prudent use of the architecture in the Barbican Art Gallery to tell the story of Bauhaus as not only place of production, but much more as a place of party, people and play.

Social Bauhaus is represented just as prominently as Innovative Bauhaus.

An exhibition concept that genuinely presents the subject matter with a rarely seen freshness and depth.

Barbican Art Gallery - Bauhaus: Art as Life

In addition to wonderful examples of Bauhaus furniture, textile, pottery or toys, “Bauhaus: Art as Life” also presents an awful lot of framed works – so paintings, sketches, photos and, the real joy for us, montages.

Bauhaus montages always amuse and impress us. We suspect that is because they look like the were made by children; not surprising given that they were undeniably created with a child like fascination for the creative process. With the fun of just trying and seeing what happens.

And this courage to experiment and to remain true to your own philosophy regardless of what convention and popular wisdom dictates, is without question what defined Bauhaus. And indeed remains one of the most important lessons that is to be drawn from the episode.

This particular Bauhaus idiosyncrasy is beautifully highlighted in “Art as Life.”

That and the feeling that Bauhaus was a lot less egalitarian than many care to admit.

There is an undeniable smugness in much of what is on display.

As we say Bauhaus was in many ways a holiday camp, and one can’t escape the feeling that a small group of Bauhäusler dominated the camp. Probably with all their tents in the best location. And with the best barbecue.

If you didn’t belong to this clique then not only was the camp potentially a fairly lonely place; but there is also a fair to middling chance that you haven’t survived historically.

That may just be us and our inherent distrust of the cool kids. Our deep suspicion that the principle function of social hierarchies is to make us feel inferior and our contributions worthless.

Or it may be because Bauhaus was in fact dominated by a relatively small inner-circle.

Although, for us at least, implied in many of the exhibits, the theme isn’t an active part of the exhibition. Which is perhaps no bad thing as it gives you something to research and consider ex post facto.

For much like it is never good to leave a restaurant bloated; so to is it always good to leave an exhibition with new, unanswered questions to explore.

Now, we're not accusing anyone of anything. Obviously. Josef Albers & Marcel Breuer at Bauhaus: Art as Life

“Art as Life” is the first Bauhaus exhibition in the UK since 1968. And it’s fair to say that probably next to no one in then UK even noticed the absence. And so are Bauhaus exhibitions still relevant and important? Not just in a British context, but generally?

We think so.

Too much of what we understand as Bauhaus today is either not Bauhaus or is a narrow, standardised, interpretation of Bauhaus.

Gropius’ college has become a brand.

And not a particularly interesting and challenging one. More a safe bet for the unadventurous.

Which is a shame. Because Bauhaus was anything but. As “Bauhaus: Art as Life” makes wonderfully clear.

“Bauhaus: Art as Life” can, and indeed should, be viewed at the Barbican Art Gallery, London until August 12th 2012.

And don’t forget our interview with Bauhaus Archiv Berlin Director Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi

On May 3rd the exhibition “Bauhaus: Art as Life” opens at the Barbican Art Gallery London. Organised in co-operation with the Bauhaus Archiv Berlin, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau and Klassik Stiftung Weimar, “Bauhaus: Art as Life” presents some 450 works by the likes of as Marianne Brandt, Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius et al and is the first major Bauhaus exhibition in the UK since 1968.

We’ll have a full report on the exhibition shortly. But ahead of the official opening we caught with Bauhaus Archiv Berlin Director Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi to talk about the exhibition and the role and relevance of Bauhaus in and to the UK.

(smow)blog:  Firstly as a little background, did the three Bauhaus institutions approach the Barbican with the idea for the exhibition, or did the Barbican approach yourselves?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: The Barbican approached us in 2009 during the exhibition “Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model” in Berlin with the request, if it would be possible to show either that particular exhibition or another Bauhaus exhibition in London in 2012.

(smow)blog: The decision was ultimately for a different exhibition. Why not just show the 2009 exhibition?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: “Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model”  was a very expansive exhibition and was conceived specifically to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Bauhaus. And although it did travel in a reduced version to New York, it wasn’t really practical to consider it as a permanent travelling exhibition; not least because the objects came from numerous sources, and us holding on to them, effectively on a permanent loan basis, wasn’t reasonable or fair.

So we thought “OK, let’s do things a bit differently”, and so we as the three largest Bauhaus institutions, made our collections available to the Barbican, and they then curated the exhibition. In the end some 70% of the objects come from Dessau, Weimar and Berlin and 30% from English collections in addition to items from, for example, the Centre Georges Pompidou, MoMa New York or Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern.

(smow)blog: A Bauhaus exhibition in the UK, sets a couple of obvious questions in the room. Firstly, in your opinion, did the Arts and Crafts movement play a role in the establishment of Bauhaus, or is there no real connection?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: I’m not convinced it played a direct role. Arts and Crafts was very important for the re-discovery of traditional crafts, specifically a high-quality and pure form of handcrafts. And that had a great influence in Germany in terms of Jugendstil and the Deutsche Werkbund, and in that period the impulses came from England. However, I think for the Bauhaus less so, because that was much more driven by the situation in Germany after the First World War. Naturally there are common convictions, for all in terms of using crafts and manual labour as a tool to learn how one can work with certain materials, what is possible and where the limits of a material are. But also the idea of an honest use of materials; that one shouldn’t work against the properties of a material. And so these are things where one can say, yes there are parallels.

But what ultimately made Bauhaus the institution it became goes in a different direction namely to train designers, or to use the language of the day to train Formgestalter, to work with and for industry. And at that point Arts and Crafts and Bauhaus go their separate ways.

(smow)blog: And the complimentary question. If we see things correctly Bauhaus didn’t have much impact in the UK. For us one could almost speak of the UK as being the land Bauhaus forgot. Is that that the case?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: Current thinking is starting to see that a bit differently. Previously it was accepted that Bauhaus had left little or no trace in the UK – that those Bauhäusler who emigrated to the UK had probably come a little too early. England was firmly rooted in its own tradition and the shift towards Modernism was very hesitant and really didn’t occur until after the Second World War. However, nowadays there is the line of thought that until now we’ve maybe focused too much on the prominent Bauhäusler.  But then what about the numerous other, less well known, Bauhäusler who had to leave Germany? Bauhäusler who, in comparison to Walter Gropius or Marcel Breuer taught at some of England’s most important art colleges, and the results of their contribution to UK art and design can only really be measured after 1945. And that is something that until now hasn’t been fully researched, but which we hope to investigate further, ideally in co-operation with institutions in the UK.

(smow)blog: And so in that context, can the exhibition be seen as a good starting point for a deeper study of the UK/Bauhaus relationship?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: Yes, its a wonderful opportunity to highlight how many areas there are where we need to look deeper and do more research, including areas that are of specific historical interest to the UK. And I hope that this exhibition provides a little impulse in that direction.

(smow)blog: Briefly to end, as already discussed “Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model” wasn’t suitable as a travelling exhibition. Is “Bauhaus Art as Life” more suited. Could it potentially become a travelling exhibition?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: I don’t think so. Many of the objects here are very fragile, and we have, for example an awful lot of paper based exhibits which are very light sensitive. Plus one must remember the works are 80 or 90 years old, and the paper used was of truly appalling quality; the years after the First World War were very hard and miserable years and the quality of the paper reflects that. Or the textiles were dyed with natural dyes, and these obviously fade under light. And so we much prefer to organise a major show every two or three years in one location, rather than take risks with a permanent travelling exhibition.

(smow)blog: Which means the exhibition here is a one-off chance to see this collection of objects in one place?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: Yes. And the last major Bauhaus exhibition in London was in 1968 to mark the 50th anniversary. And so its something unique and very special that is on show here.

Bauhaus Art as Life runs at the Barbican Art Gallery London until August 12th 2012.

Bauhaus Art as Life @ Barbican Art Gallery London

Bauhaus Art as Life @ Barbican Art Gallery London

Bauhaus Art as Life @ Barbican Art Gallery London