- In 1923, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy replaced Johannes Itten
as the instructor of the foundation course.
This change moved the course from philosophy
and spiritual expression to an approach based
on the integration of design, technology
and industry.
Photography became the media of expression
that related more to the machine of a camera
and true representation
than a drawing or painting.
His approach to see the world in a different
and fresh way created work that offered a cinematic vision.
His photographs of the Dessau Beauhaus Building for example
are not simply flat documentation of a structure.
Instead they used unconventional
and for the time shocking perspectives.
These images defined a new relationship
between people and the architecture.
Moholy-Nagy's photograms,
multiple exposure images made with objects
laid directly on to the light-sensitive photo paper
inspired the exploration of photography's potential.
His concepts of the new seeing was quickly adopted
by other photographers at the Bauhaus,
both students and masters.
These photos reflect the utopian spirit of a new era.
Before this, photography had only played a minor role.
Gropius used it for documentation of the objects
and architecture created at the Bauhaus.
Lucia Moholy became the official documentary photographer
at the Bauhaus.
While Gropius preferred the straight documentary approach,
she developed a unique and fresh style.
Many of her images are the iconic photos
we recall from the Bauhaus
but she was rarely credited with the work,
typically attributed to her husband, Moholy-Nagy.
In 1929, a photography course was introduced
in the Department of the Typography
and Advertising workshop.
Walter Peterhans taught the students photographic theory
and practice and encouraged them to view the world
and images they created with strict precision.
The photographs of shapes and textures
were arranged meticulously with skillful lighting
and captured every nuance.
The students explored light,
unexpected perspectives,
multiple exposure,
and the influence of texture and surface.
This emphasis on technical perfection
was the result of the philosophy of the Bauhaus,
advances in photographic technologies
and the beginnings of photography as a commercial profession
for advertising.
By 1930,
the period of experimental photography at the Bauhaus
was replaced with more commercial applications.
The photographers now documented Bauhaus products
for promotion and sales
but even these images revolutionized product photography
from drab, flat photographs
to sharp focus and simple backgrounds.
The Bauhaus ideas of photography survived the closing
of the school.
The Bauhaus master, Lyonel Feininger's paintings
feature shafts of tonal light
influenced by Bauhaus photography.
His son, Andreas Feininger became one of America's
great photographers producing iconic images
of New York in the 1940s.
And the norm of product photography
is a sharp image on a white background.
The influence of photography at the Bauhaus
can be seen on every Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn page.
Every abstract image of an architectural element,
every image taken from a unique point of view
owes its genesis to the photography at the Bauhaus.