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The Beuron Art School, Moly Sabata, and the Bauhaus were modern artist communities that developed in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century Europe. While unquestionably modern, these communities were founded on medievalizing principles and ideologies. They all glanced back as they moved forward, looking to ancient Egypt, classical antiquity, the early Christians, and the Middle Ages for inspiration. The principles of craftsmanship, the workshop model, and the romanticized notion of a medieval brotherhood figured among their reactions to an alienating modern era. These communities shared a desire to return to nature and craftsmanship that was influenced by the thought of John Ruskin (1819–1900) and by the Arts and Crafts Movement, which was led by William Morris (1834–1896). Although they shared similar roots, the differences and tensions between these communities must also be explored. The Beuron Art School operated in a Benedictine monastery; Moly Sabata was a secular quasi-monastic house; and the Bauhaus was a state-supported school with its ideological foundations rooted in an imagined “utopic” Middle Ages.

 

The Benedictine monastery at Beuron in Germany was founded in 1863 by two brothers, Maurus and Placidius Wolter. Maurus Wolter, the first abbot of Beuron, was especially interested in reviving early Christian art and music in the community. Wolter met two like-minded artists in Rome in 1868: Peter Lenz (later Desiderius Lenz) and fellow artist Gabriel Wüger. Both men soon began working for Wolter on a commission to design the Mauruskapelle (the Chapel of St. Maur) close to the Beuron abbey. While both artists joined the community officially in the 1870s, it was Lenz who became the artistic and theoretical leader of the Beuron style. The art school at Beuron was officially established in 1894, and Lenz wrote Zur Ästhetik der Beuroner Schule (The Aesthetics of the Beuron School) in 1898. In this text Lenz outlined his canon, which was the system of proportion he devised based on ancient examples. He explained that his geometric system derived from Egyptian, Greek, and some Byzantine examples. Early Christian art was another source of inspiration for Lenz, and it was imaginatively blended in his work with these other expressions of “pure” art. Although Lenz moved from a secular to a religious sphere of art production when he joined the Beuron community, his work was disseminated beyond the walls of the monastery and was well-received in the avant-garde art world. Gustav Klimt and the Vienna Secession were drawn to Lenz’s theories and aesthetic, featuring Beuron art as the focal point of a Secession exhibition in Vienna in 1905. Paul Gauguin’s pupil, Paul Sérusier, translated Lenz’s text into French that same year. Perhaps most significantly, Albert Gleizes read the French translation of Lenz’s text, which resonated with aspects of his own philosophy.

 

Moly Sabata is a former convent situated on the banks of the Rhône river in the village of Sablons, France. The cubist artist and theorist Albert Gleizes and his affluent wife Juliette Roche lived in the neighbouring village of Serrières, and they rented Moly Sabata in 1927. The house was intended to become a self-sufficient, quasi-monastic community for artists. Gleizes hoped that Moly Sabata would act as a model to mitigate the large numbers of artists and villagers who flocked to the cities. Not only would artists regain “social usefulness” in these small communities, but the local people would also benefit from revived spirit, and would be less likely to migrate to the city. Gleizes positioned himself as an “elite” who was sponsoring and overseeing this artistic community for the benefit of French society. His artist-disciples, including the painter and potter Anne Dangar and the musical Geoffray family, integrated with the village through the hosting of free craft workshops, concerts and festivals. As the head of Moly Sabata, Albert Gleizes was a secular abbot, albeit one with a spiritual agenda.

 

The Bauhaus, which opened in Weimar in 1919 under the direction of Walter Gropius, was another community founded on medievalizing principles. While Beuron was a religious institution, and Moly Sabata was privately owned, the Bauhaus was a state-supported school. The opening manifesto and early projects of the school reveal the Bauhaus’ medievalizing foundation. Opening with Lyonel Feininger’s woodcut of a Gothic cathedral, Gropius’ manifesto called for a revival of the unified arts that would be made possible through the cooperative workshop model. On the heels of the First World War, Gropius envisioned the Bauhaus in an idealistic and utopian light. The medieval Bauhütten (medieval mason’s lodges) provided a model that would dissolve class distinction, celebrate craftsmanship, and foster community spirit. Gropius even solicited plans for a Bauhaus Siedlung (colony or settlement) in Weimar, where the school population would live communally. This proposed settlement would also act as a model for the reform of daily life in post-war Germany. Although never realized, the plan resonated with the communal spirit of Beuron and Moly Sabata.

 

In Beuron, Moly Sabata, and the Bauhaus, we can trace the evolution of the initial mid-nineteenth-century reaction to industrialism that inspired the medievalisms of William Morris and John Ruskin. This retreat to a healing medieval past was a tonic for the rapid depopulation of the countryside, the alienating effects of urban life, changing technologies, and the shock of war. While they all looked back to an imagined medieval past, all three communities were modern. Arguably, they were modern because they looked back.

Medieval/Modern Artist Communities:
The Beuron Art School, Moly Sabata, and the Bauhaus

STEPHANIE WITTICH

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