During the 1920s and 1930s Graphic Design

BAUHAUS (1920s)

Poster for Bauhaus theatre workshop tour, 1929.

HISTORICAL FACTS

• When the Staatliches Bauhaus (Art and Design school) opened its doors in Weimar (Germany) on April 1st 1919, no one could have predicted what a huge influence it would have on contemporary design.
• Under the directorship of Walter Gropius, the school's progressive teaching practices and passion for functionality spanned the creative disciplines, as everything from architecture and graphics to furniture and product design were shaped by the new found modern aesthetic.
• It wasn't until the appointment of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy in 1923, who introduced the revolutionary idea of New Typography to the school, that graphic design, and more specifically, typography began to play a central role.
• After designing the catalogue for the 1923 Bauhaus exhibition and taking over the typography of the Bauhaus's books, Moholy- Nagy went on to develop the school's distinct graphic identity.
• One of the most influential and important typographic and graphic designers of the twentieth century, Jan Tschichold was a leading exponent of die Neue Typographic (The New Typography) that developed in Europe between the two Wars and was characterized by geometric, sans-serif type and simplified asymmetric layouts.
• Tschichold had witnessed Laszlo Moholy-Nagy's graphics at the 1923 Bauhaus exhibition and was highly influenced by what he saw. In 1925, he published his manifesto. Elemtare Typographie, in which he set out what he viewed as the ten elementary principles of typography.
• In 1933, Tschichold emigrated from Germany to Switzerland to escape Nazi persecution and began to explore a more "classical" typographic style. From 1946 to 1949 he also worked for Penguin Books in the U.K., where he designed typefaces and layouts using the simplicity of form for which he had become renowned.

• Interesting fact: Much of the Foundation course is based on the Bauhaus approach to Art and Design education. (In that students are allowed the opportunity to explore a wide range of different areas, and then specialise in a particular Pathway. Also Bauhaus students were involved n real-life projects… just as many students are encouraged to do today).

EARLY BAUHAUS DESIGN

Above: Bauhaus Seals, note how the first one was much more complex.

Programme with opening woodcut design by Lyonel Feininger 1919

Above: Bauhaus Manifesto: Lyonel Feininger 1919.

Above: Erich Comeriner: Typographical collage, 1927. This collage was probably produced not as a poster for Grel Palucca but as a free study.

Above: Herbert Bayer: Poster for a lecture by Hans Poel-zig at the Bauhaus, 1926

Below: Graphics capturing the spirit of the machine age

Above: Herbert Bayer: Design for universal type, 1926. Rejecting historical forms and individual ' old-style and fancy types ', Bayer sought to create an internationally valid and legible style of lettering with this universal type. ' Like modern machines, architecture and the cinema, so too must type be an expression of our exact times. '

Above: Bauhaus book jacket by Walter Gropius

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Logo for Bauhaus Press. 1923

Hertbert Bayer, Thuringian Banknotes, 1923

Above: Fritz Schiefer, Bauhaus Ausstellung July-Sept, 1923, Poster. Lithograph (101.1 x 73cm)

Joost Schmidt, Exhibition Poster, 1923. Lithograph (68.6 x 48.3 cm).

Laszlo Mohholy-Nagy, Exhibition Catalogue, Staaliches Bauhaus im Weimar 1919 – 1923. Cover

Herbert Bayer, Kandinsky, 1926. Poster.

Above: Herbert Bayer, Bauhaus, 1928, Magazine

Above: Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Malerei Fotografie Film (Painting Photography Film) 1927. Book jacket.

Below: Jan Tschichold, Typographische Mitteilungen ; Elementare Typographie (Typographic News: Elementary Typography), October 1925, Journal cover.This journal outlined the theory and practice of a wide range of avant-garde designers. Tschichold set out to establish standard principles for the new typography.

Below:

Jan Tschichold, Die Frau ohne Namen , Zweiter Teil (The woman without a neme , Part III, 1927, Offset lithograph, (123.8 x 86.3 cm)

Here we see the integration of typography and photography, being expressed in what was seen as the ' modern spirit. ' This embraced dynamic contrasts by juxtaposing photography ' s three-dimensional elements with the inherently two-dimensional characters of the typography.

Below: Franz Roh & Jan Tschichold, eds. Foto-Auge, 1929. Photomontage by El Lissitzsky. Merrill C. Berman Collection.

Above: Paul Schuitema, Toledo-Berket 1930s. Berkel advertisement

Herbert Bayer became a member of staff in 1925, teaching the principles of modern typography. Bayer advocated what he called 'Kleinschreibung' (small writing), which used all lowercase letters for text, and only capitals for display display In 1926, Bayer the celebrated Universal typeface based on a circle.

REVIEW:

Bauhaus Graphics captured the spirit of the machine age.

You can recapture this style by using simple basic geometric shapes, lines, cutout images and a limited colour palette. (E.g. red, and black with the colour of the page). Creative use of typography and grids will also help you.

During the 1920s and 1930s Graphic Design

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