Bauhaus Goes West by Alan Powers

Bauhaus Goes West by Alan Powers

Bauhaus Goes West is a story of cultural exchange – between the Bauhaus émigrés in the years following the school’s closure in 1933 and the countries to which they moved, focusing in particular on Britain. Taking as its starting point the cultural connections between the UK and Germany in the early part of the 20th century, the book offers a timely re-evaluation of the school’s influence on and relationship with modern art and design in Britain, concluding with the school’s American legacy. Following the closure of the Bauhaus in 1933, teachers and students found new opportunities in Britain and the United States. Among them were Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer and László Moholy-Nagy, who simultaneously spent time in London before moving to America, an episode often overlooked but freshly explored here in the context of the interaction between German Modernism and British-based design reform from 1900. Other Bauhaus-trained artists – women as well as men – stayed in the UK and made important contributions into the 1960s. In America, Mies van der Rohe and Josef and Anni Albers had significant late careers, but, over time, the Bauhaus became a shorthand for Modernism’s failure. Now, the centenary of the school’s founding provides a key opportunity to reconsider how its values emerged and were contested both during its lifetime and beyond.

'In this comprehensive, weighty compendium, Powers traces the emigration of the minimalist ideology from Weimar to Britain in the 1920s, 1930s and onwards … In re-examining the relationship with Britain, Powers re-writes a chapter in the country’s history, asserting that the Bauhaus gave way to global innovation, beyond its prominence in Germany' - Aesthetica
'Very good' - Financial Times
'A vigorously researched and rewarding investigation into what became of the Bauhaus as its prime movers left Nazi Germany and travelled west' - ArtReview
'Sophisticated' - Times Literary Supplement
'Thoroughly researched and engaging.. A fascinating reassessment of modernism' - The Lady
'Sparky and rigorously researched … beautifully illustrated' - New Statesman

Alan Powers, author of Eric Ravilious: Artist and Designer, teaches, writes and curates on themes relating to twentieth-century art, architecture and design. He published Edward Ardizzone: Artist and Illustrator. in 2016, and Enid Marx: The Pleasures of Pattern in 2018.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780500519929
ISBN 10	0500519927
Title	Bauhaus Goes West
Author	Alan Powers
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Thames & Hudson Ltd
Year published	2019-02-28
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.