Bröhan-Museum traces design evolution from Arts & Crafts to Bauhaus

The Bröhan-Museum in Berlin presents 'From Arts and Crafts to the Bauhaus', an exhibition running until May 5, 2019, that explores the transformation of design from the late 19th century through the Bauhaus movement. The show highlights how modernism emerged across Europe, with the Austrian Secession, the German Werkbund, and the Dutch De Stijl all seeking to break with historical styles and connect art, craftsmanship, and industrial production. The Bauhaus, founded in 1919 in Weimar, moved to Dessau in 1932 and then to Berlin, where it closed the following year. In just fifteen years, it revolutionized German design with its orthogonal, practical lines—a stark contrast to the ornate, solemn styles of English and French modernism, which still looked to the Pre-Raphaelites or Louis XVI. The exhibition, curated by Niccolò Lucarelli, examines how the Bauhaus addressed questions of form, function, and mass production, building on ideas from De Stijl. It features objects from the Gerald Fingerle collection, including a marionette by Karl Hermann Haupt.