Gropius：The Man Who Built the Bauhaus

TheimpactofWalterGropiuscanbemeasuredinhisbuildings—FagusFactory,BauhausDessau,PanAm—butnolessinhisstudents.I.M.Pei,PaulRudolph,AnniAlbers,PhilipJohnson,FumihikoMaki:countlessmasterswereoncedisciplesattheBauhausinBerlinandatHarvard.Between1910and1930,GropiuswasatthecenterofEuropeanmodernismandavant-gardesocietyglamor,onlytobeexiledtotheantimodernistUnitedKingdomduringtheNaziyears.Later,underthedemocratizinginfluenceofAmericanuniversities,Gropiusbecameanadvocateofpublicartandcementedastarringroleintwentieth-centuryarchitectureanddesign.FionaMacCarthychallengestheimageofGropiusasadoctrinairearchitecturalrationalist,bringingoutthevisionaryphilosophyandcouragethatcarriedhimthroughapoliticallyhostileage.PilloriedbyTomWolfeasinventorofthemonolithichigh-rise,Gropiusisbetterrememberedasinventorofaformofarteducationthatinfluencedschoolsworldwide.Heviewedargumentasintrinsictocreativity.Unusuallyforoneinhisposition,Gropiusencouragedwomen’sartisticendeavorsandsoughtequalromanticpartners.Thoughatravelerinelitecircles,heobjectedtothecloisteringofbeautyas“aspecialprivilegefortheaestheticallyinitiated.”Gropiusoffersapoignantandpersonalstory—andafascinatingreexaminationoftheurgesthatdroveEuropeanandAmericanmodernism.