Bauhaus:
Less Is More
by Eliseo Alvarez
2005
VHS/DVD, 32 mins., col.
Sales, $129.00
ISBN: 1-4213-0360-4; ISBN: 1-4213-1429-0.
Dessaus
Bauhaus
by Frederic Compain
2000
VHS/DVD, 29 mins., col.
Sales, $129.95
ISBN: 0-7365-5124-7.
Both films are available in the U.S. and
Canada from Films for the Arts and Humanities,
P.O. Box 2053, Princeton NJ 08543-2053.
800/257-5126
Website: http://www.films.com.
Reviewed by Roy R. Behrens
Department of Art, University of Northern
Iowa
ballast@netins.net
These are current educational films on
the Bauhaus, the most influential art,
design, and architectural school of the
twentieth century. It began (at the risk
of repeating what everyone knows) in 1919
in Weimar, Germany, moved in 1927 to an
important new building designed by Walter
Gropius in Dessau, and was eventually
forced to relocate in 1933 to a Berlin
warehouse, where it was closed by the
Nazis. Currently available to school libraries
are two longer, more compelling films
on this same subject: One is a balanced,
well-edited view of the schools
history and legacy by British historian
Frank Whitford, titled Bauhaus: Face
of the 20th Century (available from
the distributor of these films); while
the other is a memorable, detailed account
of the schools American influence
(enriched by brief excerpts from rare
historic films and recent candid interviews
with eyewitness participants) by Judith
Pearlman titled Bauhaus in America
(available from Cliofilm at <cliofilm@mindspring.com>).
Of the two new films considered here,
neither stands up to the quality of those
earlier films, and, of the two, the newer
one, titled Bauhaus: Less Is More,
is easily more disappointing. In an ironic
misuse of the slogan "less is more" (popularized
by Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe),
it consists of a jam-packed overview of
the 13-year history of the Bauhaus in
a mere 32 minutes (an average allocation
of about two minutes per year). Despite
such excess ambitions, it still is a helpful,
informative mix of images that have to
do with Bauhaus personalities, products,
buildings and historic events, backed
up by a voice-over monotone text. Unfortunately,
whatever its visual virtues, the film
is effectively ruined by what, in the
credits, is called a "music mix," and
which sounds like canned music ad nauseum
("chewing gum for the ears"), of the sort
that we all are condemned to endure in
the waiting rooms of dentists, or on the
telephone, whenever we get put on hold.
No doubt canned music has its place, but
the subject of this film is artistic innovation
(at the Bauhaus), and the annoying use
of auditory wallpaper (along with other
oddities) is a conspicuous contradiction
of thatthe film preaches one
thing, but practices the opposite. In
contrast, at the real Bauhaus, the students
formed a makeshift band (not unlike todays
student rock bands) that played improvisational
jazz at school parties, mixed in with
avant-garde classical scores.
The second of these two new films, called
Dessaus Bauhaus (which is
also half an hour long), is far more successful,
in part because it focuses on a single,
central aspect of Bauhaus history. Produced
in cooperation with the Pompidou Center,
it too provides an historical context,
but it does so while always remaining
within the topic of the Dessau Bauhaus,
the now-famous cluster of buildings designed
by Gropius. It offers an in-depth analysis
of this architectural classic, making
ample use of sketches, vintage photographs,
historic film footage, and even comparative
aerial views, showing its changes in setting,
then and now. Of particular value is extensive
footage from a tour of its buildings in
their current state (all aspects are being
precisely restored), photographs of the
wartime damage, and animated diagrams
of the plan of the buildings, which clearly
reveal how the architect made a structure
that would effectively function in support
of the school he envisioned.
(Reprinted by permission from Ballast
Quarterly Review, Volume 20 Number
3, Spring 2005.)