Do we need a Bauhaus Art and Design Curriculum?

Art, Craft and Design Curriculum - think piece 4

I was really excited to visit the exhibition Bauhaus:art as life, currently showing at the Barbican in London. This explores the full history of the Bauhaus and the emergence of Modernism and the International Style, using a fantastic collection of work that illustrates the full range of their areas of activity. I had never previously realised the extent of their origin as an arts and crafts school at the original Weimar site.  This exhibition brings together the largest collection of original works and products seen in the UK for 40 years and represents the output of all the major tutors (key figures from the early 20th century) as well as work by students, photos and teaching materials from the basic design and colour courses for examples.
Click here to link to the Barbican website and see the exhibition
Click here to see shots of the exhibition in deZeen web magazine

The Bauhaus is so significant in establishing what we now recognise as Modernism and the International Style, as a consequence the work in the exhibition seems as fresh and modern today as when it was created. The exhibition also resonated with me in a way that is difficult to explain. Despite being over 90 years since the Bauhaus was closed by the Nazis party, so much still looks 'modern' with a relevance to contemporary art, craft and design of today and surprisingly also with current international politics.

Three things interested me from the perspective of an arts educator. These are:

1.    The curriculum that evolved at the Bauhaus - What can we learn from this about what we do today in teaching art, craft and design?

2.    The political situation that gave rise to the Bauhaus - does a time of austerity lead to creative flowering? And, does a right wing Government wish to squash creativity?

3.    Can this exhibition help me to resolve in my own mind what I mean by Design and the place of Art and Craft in relation to this?

These are three big issues at the moment in my own mind, partly because we are troubled by the lack of a focus on Craft and Design within the 'Art' curriculum, and also because many are worried by the consequences of a growing engagement with Conceptual Art within our art and design curriculum. The loss of fundamental skills and knowledge should concern us all, for without these, young people do not have the means to engage critically with these polarised views, or to develop control of the actions they choose to take in their own creative activity. That is not to say at all, that we should not explore conceptualism, but we must do so critically and from an intellectually and technically skilled perspective.

The Bauhaus Preliminary Curriculum

Firstly, the curriculum of the Bauhaus reminds us of the importance of breadth of experience and it values the knowledge that underpins these skills. Whether this is the technical and emotional characteristics of colour theory, or the ways in which a dot and line communicate meaning and carry expressive characteristics (look at the preliminary course and basic design course materials developed by Johannes Itten, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, George Muche, Oskar Schlemmer, Josef Albers and László Moholy-Nagy, to name but a few). Over the history of the Bauhaus, these curriculum materials were influenced by the English Arts and Crafts Movement, German Expressionism, Constructivism, De Stijl and gave rise to almost everything we know about design, architecture and what we may loosely define as 'Modernism'.

Elements from the Bauhaus Preliminary Curriculum

When we look at the curriculum materials developed as part of the Preliminary Course that every Bauhaus students would take (despite their specialism), we recognise many of the elements of our own Foundation course experience. I suspect we would all subscribe to the value of a diagnostic experience and of a course where we learnt the principles and gained some mastery of the 'artistic elements'. But is this what we are teaching in school today? I see a lot of projects and schemes about portraits, landscapes, graffiti, Aboriginal symbols, Magical Worlds and so on. All very worthy and designed to engage boys, motivate interest, reference a culture etc... But are we 'teaching' something that develops a skill, coupled with intelligent understanding, so that this knowledge and skill can be applied and developed in other contexts? Are we developing knowledge

that can be applied critically and with skill?

Secondly, we seem to be living in extreme political times. Partly driven by the world recession and massive growth in the emerging nations, we see polarisation in the politics of the far left and far right in response to financial migrations and world tensions. It seems to me, that this shares many of the characteristics of the time between the first and second World Wars. This is the period that gave rise to the Bauhaus and where 'artists' played a significant role in the development of culture and society. The history of the Victorian era to the present day is well documented with the impact of artists and craftspeople/ designers/engineers.

Dessau Bauhaus designed by Walter Gropius

Much of design as we know it today began in the Bauhaus. This exhibition also reminds us that design was born from the crafts, through a desire to create high quality, cost effective, mass produced artefacts that would improve the quality of the lives of individuals. They did in fact create some of this (although we also know to our cost if we have sat for more than an hour on any modern tubular steel framed chair in a meeting), that modern society has downgraded some of their products to cut costs. But, they also produced very high quality life improving artefacts, although some of which could only be afforded by the very rich. At the same time they also moved forward our understanding of mass production, they lay the foundations for modern print technologies, typography, graphic design and advertising, as well as setting the standard for many aspects of modern architecture and interior design.

And what of the politics of the time and the present day? It is interesting that right wing Government feels threatened by a flowering of creativity and by an organisation with such a clear vision for socitety and the future. The Bauhaus can teach us much about vision for our subject and a belief in the power of the arts to transform society. On a more humble level, it provides a model and an example curriculum for each subject leader of art and design to define their vision for the subject, and for that vision to be wide ranging and aspirational.

But do we teach young people in schools about this?

Do we explore the social, cultural and political context and impact of such developments? If not, why not?

Thirdly, so many young people today seem to think art and design is about being an artist for your own sake, pursuing a personal creative vision. This partly hedonistic approach may have some personal values, but when should we balance this with the vision and values employed by other movements and developments across the history and world scope of our subject. When should we develop an understanding of the impact of the crafts, of the world of design and the arts on societies, cultures and the world. This surely cannot be left until students are on an A level or Degree course before it is taught or at least referenced in our curriculum. If we want intelligent young people to 'opt' for art and design, then they have to learn that the subject has meaning, purpose and value to society. That it has the power to transform and improve lives. This is surely part of the value and importance of creativity.

Bauhaus Craft and Design Examples

This is not an attempt to blame Fine Art, after all, my own degree is in fine art. Instead it is a request that all art teachers, regardless of their backgrounds and specialisms, remember that we are representatives and custodians of an enormous and significant historical, creative, cultural, social, political, technological and transformational heritage and we all have a duty to engage all young people in the 'Bigger Picture' of our creative heritage. Yes, we must look also at other cultures, but we should not under-represent our western heritage. Many young people today may know more about Aboriginal art and culture, or the Impressionists, than they do about the history of Craft and Design.

In all likelihood, many of the young people in our classrooms and studios will work in some aspect of the design, creative and media industries in the future. Very few will become 'artists', but all will be consumers. We have a responsibility to create intelligent, educated, cultured, critical and sophisticated consumers, some of whom will also have the great privilege to play a significant role in contributing to the creative works of our world by improving and transforming the quality of other people’s lives.

Ged Gast May 2012