The Bauhaus Group

by Nicholas Fox Weber

Nicholas Fox Weber, for thirty-three years head of the Albers Foundation, spent many years with Anni and Josef Albers, the only husband-and-wife artistic pair at the Bauhaus (she was a textile artist; he a professor and an artist, in glass, metal, wood, and photography). The Alberses told him their own stories and described life at the Bauhaus with their fellow artists and teachers, Walter Gropius, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, as well these figures’ lesser-known wives and girlfriends. In this extraordinary group biography, Weber brilliantly brings to life the Bauhaus geniuses and the community of the pioneering art school in Germany’s Weimar and Dessau in the 1920s and early 1930s.Here Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus, the architect who streamlined design early in his career and who saw the school as a place for designers to collaborate in an ideal setting . . . a dashing hussar, the ardent young lover of the renowned femme fatale Alma Mahler, beginning when she was the wife of composer Gustav Mahler . . . Paul Klee, the onlooker, smoking his pipe, observing Bauhaus dances as well as his colleagues’ lectures from the back of the room . . . the cook who invented recipes and threw together his limited ingredients with the same spontaneity, sense of proportion, and fascination that underscored his paintings . . . Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian-born pioneer of abstract painting, guarding a secret tragedy one could never have guessed from his lively paintings, in which he used bold colors not just for their visual vibrancy, but for their “sound” effects . . . Josef Albers, who entered the Bauhaus as a student in 1920 and was one of the seven remaining faculty members when the school was closed by the Gestapo in 1933 . . .Annelise Else Frieda Fleischmann, a Berlin heiress, an intrepid young woman, who later, as Anni Albers, made art the focal point of her existence . . . Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, imperious, decisive, often harsh, an architect who became director—the last—of the Bauhaus, and the person who guided the school’s final days after SS storm troopers raided the premises.Weber captures the life, spirit, and flair with which these geniuses lived, as well as their consuming goal of making art and architecture. A portrait infused with their fulsome embrace of life, their gift for laughter, and the powerful force of their individual artistic personalities.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Design, Biography, Art History, History, Germany

903 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Nicholas Fox Weber is a cultural historian and Executive Director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. He has written extensively about both Josef and Anni Albers and curated many major exhibitions and retrospectives dedicated to their work. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Yale University and author of fourteen books including Patron Saints, The Art of Babar, The Drawings of Josef Albers, The Clarks of Cooperstown, Balthus, Le Corbusier: A Life, and The Bauhaus Group.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly, this book was a horrible read, and I couldn't even finish it. I got about 300 pages in, and decided that I just couldn't take anymore. Its only saving grace is the extremely interesting subject matter, but if you are interested in learning about the Bauhaus school, I would turn else where. The book is set up as a series of biographies of 6 artists: Gropius, Klee, Kandinsky, Josef and Anni Albers and van der Rohe. The biographies are each written in a different style based on the subject, but overall, the writing is very scattered and doesn't seem to connect into a larger view of the Bauhaus. I learned very little about either the Bauhaus, or the subjects he profiled. The only positive aspect of this book is that it has encouraged me to read about the Bauhaus in other places. Not recommended.

[Patrick Sprunger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicholas Fox Weber personally spent a lot of time with the Alberses (Josef and Anni), acted as executor of Anni Albers's estate, observed the couple's eccentric experience with American consumer culture, and mitigated their sometimes petulant attitude toward other people. There probably isn't a better American suited to compile a few short biographies of some of the core Bauhauslers, because few Americans probably understand the nuance and inconsistency within the Bauhaus itself.

Mr. Weber's approach is very intuitive. He employs different styles, depending on his subject. His description of Walther Gropius is gossipy and political - because Gropius revolved in a fast orbit of high drama and was the cementing force behind the Bauhaus. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe receives similar treatment - the style is as apt for studying titans of finance or industry as titans of architecture. By contrast, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky are treated like dalai lamas or suffering saints. Anni Albers's portrait is complex and personal and Josef Albers's brain is explained more than the man. Explaining how an ordinary, working class origin complemented visionary attitudes about color and proportion is the best way to summarize the Bauhaus itself.

Had Weber arranged his anthology in this order, it would flow with a sensible rhythm. Instead, he grows increasingly anachronistic as the book progresses, almost like he's trying to channel the progression of the artist's disease. Anni Albers' narrative is a blink comparitor toggling between Nazi Germany and the gluttonous art society of 1980s New York. Somehow, in the process, readers manage to get a comprehensive sense of the Bauhaus. So, I suppose cheers are in order.

The question is whether such an eccentric approach isn't a sort of irony. Weber took the single most inefficient route toward informing his readers, literally the polar opposite of the way Klee or the Alberses would bring their viewers to enlightenment.

The Bauhaus Group is tedious at times; it is indecisive about whether it wants to talk about the artists' ideas, social impact, or history. In nearly 500 pages of narrative, there is room to cover all of that if an author truly wanted to. The somewhat intangible objection of the Nazi party to the Bauhaus is a fascinating question, and the reader has to find his own conclusion - because the conclusion is not to be found in the book.

I'm out of step with the world of art history. It was neither my major nor minor in college, and I had only a few upper level classes (mostly concerning contemporary art, after 1945). The Bauhaus Group may be de rigueur among the art history genre. I recall my art history professors' rather murky understanding of actual, non-art history. Maybe the culture of the discipline is one that can't be bothered with the petty business of understanding how a thing fits in a larger matrix. If so, perhaps the peculiar editorial processes Mr. Weber has chosen do not constitute failure. However, a casual reader will find inherent challenges with The Bauhaus Group; it doesn't conform to the style of other history and nonfiction monographs. I'm glad I read it, but I'm also glad I'm done reading it.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not always the best writing, but Fox Weber was friends with two Bauhaslers (as they were called) -- Josef Albers and Anni Albers. His involvement in Anni Albers story provides an interesting female perspective on the famous German design school (although she would probably swat at me for saying that).

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes his preference for AA stands through a bit too much, but great insight into the characters of bauhaus.

[Dagmar Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone interested in the origins of modern art and architecture should read this. Since the author was personal friends with Bauhaus artists (Albers), the impressions are more direct.

[Bruce Genaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Bauhaus Group: Six Masters of Modernism ,art historian, Nicholas Fox Weber has written a timely (a Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) exhibition: “Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity,” a Guggenheim retrospective: “Kandinsky, and the 90th anniversary) “group” biography of the six key individuals/instructors at the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau Germany. Weber befriended the Albers in the 1970’s and mined that relationship for intimate details about the Bauhaus’s major players, including themselves: Josef Albers (painter and master colorist), Anni Albers (textile artist), Walter Gropius (architect), Paul Klee (painter), Wassily Kandinsky (painter), and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (architect). Their reminiscences and personal anecdotes provide a unique insight into the lives of these dynamic, creative individuals. The influence of the Bauhaus is nothing short of astounding. That a small school for the arts with only a handful of teachers could have such an impact on the world (art, architecture, textiles, furniture, typography…the list is endless) almost a century later is unparalleled. The Bauhaus’ legacy is even more remarkable considering it operated for a mere fourteen years. Founded in 1919 and closed by the Nazis in 1933, the Bauhaus, though it no longer exists as a school, continues to exist as a state of mind, as evidenced by such modern mantras as, “less is more” and “form follows function.” Weber makes the material accessible by limiting the jargon and by including numerous illustrations of both the art and the artists. Filled with insights into their guiding principles as well as juicy tidbits about their private lives, this book is an excellent primer for anyone interested in the arts, modernism, and living a creative life.

[Julian · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting subject matter, didn't like how it was written. inherently lopsided since weber personally knew anni and josef albers but didn't know the other members, so i kind of wish he'd separately written a book just about the albers with some information about the other members tucked within. i feel like weber tried to accomplish too much with one book and it lost sight of what the point was. sometimes when you research too much into a subject you have to cut some of what you researched! i'd be interested in reading other accounts of the bauhaus, since i got the sense that weber had more of a bias towards certain figures.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty solid deep dive into some of the brighter lights of the Bauhaus. I could voice some minor complaints about how the focus was twisted a bit through the author’s close relationship with two of the subjects, even though it surely gave him unparalleled access to firsthand accounts, but overall it was an interesting look on the school’s history.

[Helena · Rating 3 out of 5]

it took me forever, but i read it. it's surprisingly uneven - the gropius section is clearly the best, very juicy, exactly what i wanted from the book, but the rest reads very different and very boring, unfortunately. i don't feel like i've learned all that much about bauhaus anyway - i've learned some funfacts about gropius, but that would be it.

[JD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, and lots of fun.

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

"'We prefer good machinery to bad art.'" (quoting Josef Albers, xiii)

"The muddiness created by governments could be tempered by the luster of polished chrome. The emotional anxieties generated by militarism and inflation formed a compost that nourished a passion for a stability derived from visual harmony." (33)

"'The more horrifying this world becomes (as it is these days) the more art becomes abstract; while a world a peace produces realistic art.'" (quoting Paul Klee, 107)

"'Color is the keyboard. The eye is the hammer, while the soul is a piano of many strings.'" (quoting Wassily Kandinsky, 215)

"Most people, by a considerable margin, came up with the same response. The circle was blue, the triangle yellow, and the square red. ... Those results satisfied Kandinsky immensely, for they concurred with his premise that 'the circle is cosmic, absorbent, feminine, soft; the square is masculine' -- and the triangle, with its acute angles, intrinsically yellow." (Kandinsky's quiz, 225)

"'When I walk along the street and each person looks at me to see whether I'm a Jew or a Christian, I can't very well tell each of them that I'm the one that Kandinsky and some other make an exception of." (quoting Arnold Schoenberg, 229)

"[W]hen Gropius was extolling the merits of group efforts and collaborative architecture, Mies asked, 'Gropius: If you decide to have a baby, do you call in the neighbors?'" (quoting Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 452).

[Pollopicu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as exciting as I anticipated. I expected the story of The Bauhaus Group to be as riveting as Peggy Guggenheims "Art Lover" or Frederick Kaisler's "Art of this Century", instead it was excruciatingly boring. I did however, enjoy reading about Gropius, Klee and Kandisnky's lives, but somehow I knew that once the author got to the Albers' life the gossip wouldn't be as juicy, since most of the recollections came from Annie Albers and Josef themselves, and they were married for over 50 years. I've had an interest in learning more about the Bauhaus group for quite some time, but I can't say I learned much about the movement or it's aim from reading this book. I think Weber might have even turned me off to the movement entirely. I give it only two stars.

[Canfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great subject lots of flaccid gossip but he can't write. The book has all the earmarks of a word processor on steroids too much trivia without clear story line jumping around in different places and times.Very interesting moments but Edit it ! and enough about the author and his personal life with the Albers, Isn't that a separate book ? How could he write this book after finishing his Corbu book only a year earlier ??? Slow done and get some flow, more pictures that are on the same page with the over analyzations
What did i learn ?Paul Klee is god ! and Walter Gropius designed 2 most important buildings: The Fagus factory and the Bauhaus building in Dessau

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Bauhaus and this book was great. Always thought Joseph Albes was a genius. Now I know that so was his wife, Anni. Very personal stories. Also bios on Walter Gropius, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandisky and Ludwig Mies van deer Rohe.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another art book, interesting from an historical aspect, but didn't care for the philosophy of the group's members. Very elitist attitude.

[R. Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent look at the people who headed up the Bauhaus group. The portraits are enlightening. The interpretations of their work and philosophy of art was extensive. Highly recommended.

[Jenn Beach · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed how the book not only talked about how these masters were influenced by and influenced others, but discussed their background and private lives in order to see them as real people.