Viewing the influence of Vkhutemas on the Bauhaus from the perspective of production art: Main concepts and directions

Abstract

After the October Revolution of 1917, the Russian avant-garde established close relations with the German left wing. Vkhutemas, as the center of the Russian avant-garde, also had an important influence on the development of the Bauhaus. This study examines the specific path and results of the influence of Vkhutemas on the Bauhaus in terms of concept, structural transformation and production strategy in order to clarify the relationship between them. In this work, Vkhutemas is taken as the center, based on the analysis of conceptual principles, structural transformations and production strategies, specific ways and manifestations of the influence of the Russian avant-garde on the Bauhaus in various periods of the 1920s are explored. This comprehensive and multidimensional Russian influence not only develops the modern system of design education and finally consolidates the historical status of the Bauhaus, but also lays the foundation for its final fate. Firstly, on an ideological level, the goals of Russian production are directly related to the construction of socialism, to the creation of a system of proletarian culture, which Avartov calls proletarian, which largely coincides with the left-wing ideals of Gropius. Secondly, at the level of artistic thought, productivism and constructivism, as new ideas of the early 20th century, represented the contribution of the Russian avant-garde to modernist design. Finally, at the level of educational practice, thanks to the introduction of Russian constructivism by Moholy Nagy, the Bauhaus created a prototype of the three main components of modern design education, taking lessons from teaching composition by Vkhutemas, and opened the transition from expressionism to function. This was a new stage in the transformation of socialism, and thus formed the classic image of the Bauhaus for the outside world.