The Bauhaus, Johannes Itten and Colour

Get to Know The Bauhaus

The Bauhaus was a German art school founded by Walter Gropius that was operational from 1919 to 1933. The school prided itself on its inclusivity and its radical approaches to art; like how to reimagine the real world to reflect the unity of art.

The main studies of The Bauhaus included fine arts as well as design, which included the study of materials, colour theory and basic studies needed to go further in life.

Johannes Itten

From 1919 to 1923, Itten was the Bauhaus Master and Deputy Director, and was responsible for developing the revolutionary Bauhaus preliminary course.

Itten had a new way of approaching colour which changed the way even non-artists see it. He was able to separate colour into primary, secondary, and tertiary and even made the first version of our modern colour wheel; his colour star.

Not only was Itten able to develop the colour star, but he was also the first person to separate colours into “warm” and “cool” tones. In the classes he taught at the Bauhaus, Itten would stress the importance of colour contrast and would differentiate the seven types of contrast.

Saturation, light/dark, complimentary, hue, warm/cool, simultaneous contrast and contrast of extension.

Colour Theories

Johannes Itten was not the only teacher at the Bauhaus who created influential theories about colour. Josef Albers, Paul Klee, and Wassily Kandinsky who were all teachers at the bauhaus are each responsible for helping to shape the thoughts behind art which we still use today. The use of motion, form, opacity and many more art theories would not be as significant as they are today without the help from the influence of the Bauhaus and it’s crew of teachers.