Although suffering considerable economic and social hardships after the war, it was in Germany that the new style finally emerged in the 1920s in the form of the Bauhaus.
Remember that the ideas and theories of Modern Design already existed before the war began in 1914. While the war certainly disrupted the steady development of the Modern Movement for four years or so, it also 'forced' its various elements together afterwards. The essential Modern concepts were: .
1) Truth to materials and to the idea of Functionalism (form follows function). .
2) Rejection of historical styles and decoration (i.e. truth to the 20th century).
3) The idea of a Dynamic new and modern age: The Machine Age .
4) The search for a unified style for all designed items (Total design).
5) Design driven by rational analysis of problems and by mass production techniques. The link with industry. In an industrial society the artist becomes the designer. .
I believe the war forced the development of technology and central planning in Western societies. Industry became the key sector to which other areas such as social life, art and design had to adjust. The design ideas which had developed in pre-war and essentially craft-based societies were now integrated into the new mass production world after the war. We can say that their time had come.
"First of all we have to analyse carefully the essence of an object, why it functions correctly, and then it has to fit perfectly with its purpose, in other words, fulfil its practical function, be easy to handle, economic and beautiful". .
(Walter Gropius, Director of the Bauhaus, 1927).
THE BAUHAUS .
Henry Van de Velde had founded the School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar, Germany in 1907. On his retirement he passed the Directorship of the School to Walter Gropius. In 1919, Gropius arranged for the School of Arts and Crafts to be combined with the Academy of Art. This new institution was called the BAUHAUS and it was destined to become the most influential design school of the time (or since).
