7 Essential Books on the Bauhaus

Marco Enrico Giacomelli curates a reading list of seven key publications on the Bauhaus for Artribune Magazine #48. The selection spans primary sources, scholarly overviews, political analysis, archival compilations, focused studies, and feminist perspectives. Primary sources include nine of the fourteen Bauhausbücher (1925–29) available via Monoskop, starting with Walter Gropius's Internationale Architektur (1925) and ending with László Moholy-Nagy's Von Material zu Architektur (1929). Magdalena Droste's Bauhaus 1919–1933 (Taschen, 2019) offers a perfect introduction from the Bauhaus Archiv, covering the school's entire history with unpublished documents; Droste directed the archive from 1980 to 1997. Giulio Carlo Argan's Walter Gropius e la Bauhaus (Einaudi, 1951) provides a political reading of the school's role in interwar Germany. Hans M. Wingler's Bauhaus. Weimar, Dessau, Berlin, Chicago (The MIT Press, 1969), considered the definitive work, collects a wealth of documents including sketches and brochures. Michael Siebenbrodt's Bauhaus Weimar (Electa, 2008) focuses on the early Weimar period (1919–1925) and the school's pedagogical activities. Patrick Rössler's Bauhausmädels (Taschen, 2019) celebrates nearly ninety women artists and artisans, including Marianne Brandt and Gertrud Arndt. The biannual magazine bauhaus now, launched in November 2017, explores the school's contemporary relevance.