The aesthetic of our contemporary environment, including everything from housing estates to furniture and newspapers, is partly the result of a school of art and design founded in Germany in 1919, the Bauhaus. While in operation for only fourteen years, shut down by the Nazis in 1933, the school left an indelible mark on design and the practice of art education throughout the world.

Placing Bauhaus into its sociohistorical context, Frank Whitford traces the ideas behind the school's conception and describes its teaching methods. He examines the activities of the teachers--who included eminent artists such as Paul Klee, Josef Albers, and Wassily Kandinsky--and the daily lives of the students.

Reissued and revised to mark the centenary of the founding of the Bauhaus, this is an accessible introduction to perhaps the most significant design movement of the last hundred years.