Origin of Graphic Composition

The education of plane composition as a basic design course began in 1919 at the Bauhaus design school in Germany, and has since been applied to various fields of design, such as clothing, styling design, architecture, painting and so on.

Chapter 1 Overview

Section 1: The History of Planar Composition

Planar Composition, Color Composition and Three-dimensional Composition are collectively referred to as the "Three Major Compositions" in Chinese art education, which originated from the reform of the design curriculum of the Bauhaus Institute in Germany in 1919. Bauhaus College (Dasstatiiches Bauhaus) is the world-famous architect Walter Gropes in the city of Weimar, Germany, founded the first design school, then 35 years old Gropes boldly in the Bauhaus College teaching reform, while at that time other art colleges of the 19th century is still the teaching concept of the tradition of the art of aesthetics of classicism. The Bauhaus School of Design, with its distinctive functionalism, put forward the educational slogan of "art and technology combined". The Bauhaus School of Design created and designed a whole new art teaching program and theoretical system, and through reforms implemented the new teaching program and theoretical system into daily teaching, so that the students' visual perception of art has reached the level of rationality. The Bauhaus is also admired worldwide for its new educational methods and first-class professors. First-class artists such as Kandinsky, Eaton, Kleefeninger, Munch, Moholy, etc., all taught at the school, and they were also the reformers and practitioners of its brand-new art teaching program and theoretical system, especially the basic curriculum. Among them was the Swiss painter, art theorist, and colorist Johannes Eaton, who offered a basic course at the Bauhaus, and whose writings on Design and Form and the Art of Color pioneered the theoretical system of compositional art. The Bauhaus School ultimately established the concept of art and design in the 20th century, laying the foundation for modern art and design.

The Bauhaus Institute's research on plane composition, color composition and three-dimensional composition not only has a strict theoretical system, but also emphasizes the combination of teaching and practice, integrating the essence of avant-garde art from various countries in the teaching, breaking the old mode of art teaching, advocating the use of different materials for conceptual expression, and encouraging the students to rationally analyze and experiment on the form of color imagination, so that the students can transcend the old constraints on experience and visual habits, and cultivate a brand-new concept of art design. and visual habits, cultivating a new and sharp visual cognitive ability.

Due to the war, "Bauhaus" (Bauhaus) School of Design from its inception to the forced closure of only 13 years, but trained a number of outstanding talents in various fields of design, so it is said that the Bauhaus School of Design is the cradle of the birth of modern art and design. The three major compositions (plane composition, color composition, three-dimensional composition) were gradually matured in the teaching system of Bauhaus Design Institute. Although they did not form a standardized system at that time, but they have contributed a lot to the development of the design practice of the students of the Bauhaus Design Institute.In the middle of the 20th century, the Japanese art and design education began to introduce the three major composition education system, the Japanese art and design universities not only take the composition of education as a basic course, but also turn it into a professional course for enrichment and organization, so the Japanese in the three major composition teaching field. Therefore, Japan has made outstanding achievements in the field of teaching the three major compositions. The three major composition education has been introduced since the 1980s through Hong Kong, and has gradually become a basic art teaching course used by most of the art colleges in China***.

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