The Bauhaus and Black Mountain College.
1972; Penn State University Press; Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1527-2060
Autores Tópico(s)Art, Technology, and Culture
ResumoA great deal has been written about influence of Bauhaus on American institutions. The Institute of Design in Chicago has received most attention?it has even been referred to as New Black Mountain College in North Carolina has been practically ignored.1 Certainly, Maholy-Nagy and other teachers who had been affiliated with Bauhaus did achieve commendable success in introducing Bauhaus methods at Institute of Design. However, in view of sixteen-year tenure (1933-1949) at Black Mountain College of Josef Albers, a former Bauhaus Master, and his wife, Anni, a Bauhaus graduate and teacher, exploration of influence of Bauhaus on this small, progressive, art-centered college in mountains of North Carolina is warranted. Black Mountain College was in any sense a continuum of Bauhaus. Both institutions differed markedly in organizational frame work. But there is no doubt that, because of Alberses' long involve ment, Black Mountain College took over many Bauhaus ways and ideas. The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 at Weimar, Germany, as a state supported institution. It moved to Dessau in April 1925 and to Berlin in October 1932. Seven months after it had moved to Berlin it was closed by Nazi-controlled government on charges that it was a breeding ground of cultural bolshevism.2 Black Mountain College was founded in 1933 at Black Mountain, North Carolina, as a privately supported institution. It moved to Lake Eden, North Carolina, in 1940. The college finally succumbed in 1956 from a chronic complaint?lack of funds. The philosophy of education advocated by both Bauhaus and Black Mountain College represented a radical departure from traditional and prevailing philosophies. Both institutions emphasized pragmatic, life-oriented approach to education espoused by John Dewey. Hans Wingler points out that the philosopher John was not too far removed from one of basic ideas of introductory Bauhaus course?the idea that in every human being there exists latent artistic powers which need only to be awakened.3 John Dewey actually visited Black Mountain College frequently and played an important role in shap ing its philosophy.4 There is no evidence that Bauhaus causally influenced devel opment of basic educational philosophy of Black Mountain College. Nevertheless, Bauhaus and Black Mountain College shared a com mon genesis in that they both were established as a protest against what
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