Minutes of a Meeting of the Bauhaus Council (22 October 1923)

Gropius refers to the common aims of all the workshops and the aim pf each individual workshop, to the activities of the workshops from the point of view building, to the special difficulties in the case of mural and decorative painting, stone-sculpture and woodcarving. The craftsmen here earn nothing, since nothing is sold. The sculptors and carvers are in a specially difficult position. What has been achieved here so far is small. The workshop is not a playground for truanting students. 

   Muche is of the opinion that neither of these workshops can be justified.  They should be reorganized as workshops for three-dimensional studies, or as places where architectural projects can be tested (Gropius´s suggestion). 

   Gropius agrees with Much, is for laboratory work -no craft- no systematic training...

   Moholy asks is the Bauhaus, are the workshops in tune with the times? As workshops for the crafts they are not so, and can be regarded as moribund. 

 T. Lux Feininger: (Bauhaus Band performing), about 1928 - 1929.

   

Gropius agrees with this, but speaks of a practical difficulty: there is a lack of the right kind of people. The critical failure is the lack of production. Only free sculpture is being produced, and it has little to do with craft. 

   Schmidt is for restricting entry to workshops... to those who have already completed another course of training. 

   Schlemmer reports the large demand for three-dimensional studies. Students want to model the figure again, the reaction against formalism is obvious... 

 

 Otto Umbehr (Umbo), Josef Albers and students in a group critique at the Bauhaus Dessau, 1928–29.

   Gropius says the Bauhaus is not only a school but also a place geared to production, and asks: should apprenticeship indentured be issued or not?

   Kandinsky ask: why train apprentices?

   Gropius replies that the basic idea is to prevent the appearance of dilettantism, to train apprentices and journeymen.

   Hartwig stresses that the only decisive thing is results. The trouble is, that there is no pure craft involved in the making of sculpture...

    Edmund Collein: (Vorkurs Studierende Bauatelier Gropius, Winter Semester / Preliminary Course Students, Walter Gropius' Studio, Winter Semester), about 1927 - 1928.