On Johannes Itten

            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/>.