Walter Gropius founds Bauhaus

The revolutionary art school aimed to bring art into contact with everyday life, leveling the distinction between fine and applied art. It was formed by Walter Gropius after he succeeded Henry van de Velde as the head of the Weimar School of Arts and Crafts. This school, as the name implies, was heavily influenced by the British Arts & Crafts movement of the late nineteenth century. Instructors included modern art titans, including Anni and Josef Albers, Gunta Stölzl, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, László Moholy-Nagy and Johannes Itten. The school, which would become heavily influenced by the ideas of Constructivism due to Moholy-Nagy and Kandinsky in particular, emphasized the integration of art with design and technology. Bauhaus teachings also encouraged experimentation, with new materials and techniques. These principles laid the foundation for the development of not only modern art and design but generative art as well. Additionally, the school’s approach to abstract geometric forms as well as the reduction of art to its essential elements have influenced generative art’s aesthetics. Finally, the Bauhaus’s progressive and holistic approach to art education along with its focus on the fusion of art and craft had a lasting impact on art and technology.