The Bauhaus: Masters and Students by Themselves [Hardcover]

Frank Whitford (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1993

Traces the history of the German school of art, the Bauhaus, and examines the activities of its teachers and students.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Founded in 1919 in Weimar Germany amidst unparalleled economic and political chaos, the Bauhaus design school broke down barriers between fine arts, crafts and industry. British art historian Whitford here gathers Bauhaus participants' diaries, letters, manifestos and essays from journals, exhibition catalogues and newspapers, including much material never before translated into English. Through writings by Walter Gropius, Wassily Kandinsky, Gunta Stolzl, Mies van der Rohe, Anni Alberts, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger and others, we witness the clashes of personality and of ideas that fueled the institute's creative ferment and follow its continual struggle for survival, which ended with the Berlin branch shut down by the Gestapo in 1933. More than 230 illustrations re-create the Bauhaus's innovations in painting, architecture, lithographs, typography, textiles, kinetic sculpture, metalware, furniture, pottery and costume design.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover; 1st US Ed. edition (October 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879515074
• ISBN-13: 978-0879515072
• Product Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 20 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,242,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent Introduction, November 12, 2001

By 

Timothy Wutrich "wutrich" (Tassin la Demi-Lune, FRANCE) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bauhaus (World of Art) (Paperback)

Frank Whitford's Bauhaus in the Thames & Hudson World of Art series provides a fine basic introduction to the 20th century's most important school of art. Whitford writes engagingly and informatively. He begins by sketching the prehistory of the school in the 19th century arts-and-crafts movement and then goes on to examine van der Velde and the Weimar Art School that served as the basis upon which Gropius established the school. Whitford deals with all the major figures in the fourteen-year history of the Bauhaus and he uses contemporary documents (journals, personal accounts, etc.) to tell the story. I rank this among the best books in the Thames & Hudson series. In fact, I assigned it as a required text in a course on the Bauhaus and the Weimar Republic. Incidentally, teachers might be interested to know that Whitford has also written and narrated a fine 60" film "Bauhaus: Face of the 20th Century" (available in the Films for the Humanities series.)

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book on the History of the Bauhaus!, February 8, 1999

By 

Christopher Meredith (Ardmore, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bauhaus (World of Art) (Paperback)

Mister Whitford thoroughly chronicled the events that formed and shaped the Bauhaus - from the very beginning to the unfortunate end. A very good point of view - a must read for the Bauhaus enthusiast.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great account of a great movement., February 13, 2005

By 

S. Hebbron "S B H." (Leicester UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bauhaus (World of Art) (Paperback)

This a great tribute to perhaps the most influential design institute of the 20th Century.
The story of it's development, philosophy, success and untimely end is perfectly chronicled here.
The expert, novice and vaguely interested would find this book useful. It's a superb acaedemic source and an important catalogue. Bauhaus still influences design today and should also be regarded historicaly as yet another victim of the Nazi regime.