Bauhaus Construct: Fashioning Identity, Discourse and Modernism

Reconsidering the status and meaning of Bauhaus objects in relation to the multiple re-tellings of the school's history, this volume positions art objects of the Bauhaus within the theoretical, artistic, historical, and cultural context in which they were produced and received. Collectively, its essays take into account the primacy of cultural objects in fashioning a critical history of the school.

Featuring contributions from leading scholars in the history of art, architecture, and design, this volume offers an entirely new treatment of the Bauhaus, introducing new archival research and innovative methodologies which reveal how histories of the school have been constructed. Its essays demonstrate how Bauhaus objects are central to the discourse on the school and its key figures, including Paul Klee, Walter Gropius, and László Moholy-Nagy, and address the implications this has had on our understanding of the Bauhaus and modernism more generally.

Issues such as art and design pedagogy, the practice of photography, copyright law, and critical theory are brought into focus in relation to understandings of the iconic design school. At its core, the volume takes into account the inherent pliability of the Bauhaus and its continued relevance. An important resource for anyone studying the Bauhaus, modern art and design.

Reconsidering the status and meaning of Bauhaus objects in relation to the multiple re-tellings of the school’s history, this volume positions art objects of the Bauhaus within the theoretical, artistic, historical, and cultural concerns in which they were produced and received.

Contributions from leading scholars writing in the field today - including Frederic J. Schwartz, Magdalena Droste, and Alina Payne - offer an entirely new treatment of the Bauhaus. Issues such as art and design pedagogy, the practice of photography, copyright law, and critical theory are discussed. Through a strong thematic structure, new archival research and innovative methodologies, the questions and subsequent conclusions presented here re-examine the history of the Bauhaus and its continuing legacy. Essential reading for anyone studying the Bauhaus, modern art and design.

Jeffrey Saletnik is Lecturer and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Art History and Archeology at Columbia University. Recently he was a fellow of the Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin.

Robin Schuldenfrei is Junior Professor of Art History at Humboldt University, Berlin and Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Illinois-Chicago.