The Bauhaus
is thought to be one of the most influential design schools in history.
According to Meggs’ History of Graphic
Design, “The heart of the Bauhaus education was the preliminary course,
initially established by Johannes Itten” (Megg, 327). However, the text does not give a further
description of his apparently important contributions. Upon further research, I
found out more the life of Johannes Itten, and found out that one of his major
contributions was the introduction of teaching color theory to students at the
Bauhaus. Not only that, he had a long history afterwards of directing at many
other design schools, proving that he truly was an important figure in not only
the Bauhaus, but also to design education as a whole.
Johannes
Itten was born on November 11, 1888 as the son of a teacher. Following in his parent’s
footsteps, he himself was trained as a primary school teacher at the
teacher-training institute in Bern. However, as a result of many trips abroad,
Itten discovered that his true passion and goal in life was to be a painter.
Thus, in 1913 he was trained as a painter under Adolf Hölzel in
Stuttgart. After his time training as a painter, he moved to Vienna in 1916,
where he met Walter Gropius. Gropius was the director of the Bauhaus at the
time, and upon meeting Itten offered his a position as a teacher at the Bauhaus
in Weimer in 1919. Itten taught at the Bauhaus for five years, from 1919 to
1923. It was during this time that Itten “developed his universal doctrine of
design” which focused strongly on color theory (“Biography:
Johannes Itten”).
(Fig. 1) Johannes Itten
(Source: http://kaufmann-mercantile.com/johannes-itten/)
Itten had a
set of goals he wanted to accomplish at the Bauhaus. “His goals were to release
each student’s creative abilities, to develop an understanding of the physical
nature of materials, and to teach the fundamental principles of design
underlying all visual art” (Megg, 327). One of the ways Itten attempted to
attain those goals was through the instruction of color theory. Itten is known
as the originator of color theory, and many design courses today around the world,
“concentrate on color analyses and are a direct descendant of Itten’s
‘preliminary course’” (Zifcak). Itten taught color theory through the analysis
of painting masterworks. The students analyzed the painting by breaking it down
by color and composition, and reduced the image into individual squares of
color, much like a Photoshop image is rasterized today. Of color, Itten is
quoted saying, “Color is life; for a world without color appears to us as dead.
Colors are primordial ideas, the children of light” (Zifcak).
(Fig. 2) Color Sphere
(Source: http://kaufmann-mercantile.com/johannes-itten/)
(Fig. 3) "Horizontal Vertical" by Johannes Itten
(Source: http://kaufmann-mercantile.com/johannes-itten/)
Besides
being the originator of color theory through his work at the Bauhaus, Itten
also contributed to other design schools throughout his life. After leaving the
Bauhaus in 1923 as a result of internal differences between Itten and Gropius
(it is my own personal speculation that this tension could be a result of Itten's
promotion of a Mazdanan cult at the school) Itten went off to be the director
at many other design schools. For example, he founded his own modern art school
in Berlin in 1926 where he was the director. In 1932 he was appointed the
director of the newly established Höhere Fachschule für Textile Flächenkunst,
or advanced school of textile art, in Krefeld. And again in 1938 he was became
the director of the Kunstgewerbeschule school of applied arts ("Johannes Itten."). And the list
goes on. Clearly, although he was only mentioned briefly in Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, Itten
has had a profound impact on design education in many different ways.
References:
"Biography: Johannes
Itten." Art Directory. Art Directory. Web. 1 Mar 2014.
<http://www.johannes-itten.com>.
"Johannes Itten." Bauhaus
Online. Bauhaus Online. Web. 1 Mar 2014.
<http://bauhaus-online.de/en/atlas/personen/johannes-itten>.
Megg, Philip B. Megg's
History of Graphic Design. 5th ed. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 2012. 200-202. Print.
Zifcak, Sophie. "Johannes
Itten." Kaufmann Mercantile New York. Kaufmann Mercantile. Web. 1
Mar 2014. <http://kaufmann-mercantile.com/johannes-itten/>.
