s partial answer to the question of why the Bauhaus is known throughout the world while Vkhutemas is not, consider the Bauhaus’ achievements in publishing. Bauhaus Books was intended to be series of over 50 volumes, of which 14 saw the light of day – nine by leading Bauhaus figures, three by members of De Stijl, plus Glez’ book on Cubism and a book on Kazimir Malevich’s “non-objective world”. In addition, objects made by the school and sold to the public cast a wide-ranging influence, not to mention the effects on audiences of theater presentations and school fetes, as well as public-relations initiatives, including the organization of “Bauhaus Friends,” which included Albter Einstein, Marc Chagall and Arnold Schoenberg.

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Bauhaus Books — Vol. 5. Piet Mondrian’s Neoplasticism by László Moholy-Nagy, 1925

The same year saw the creation by student Marcel Breuer of a lightweight chair crafted from bent metal pipes, inspired by bicycle handlebars. The chair is known to history as “Wassily” because the first one was given to Wassily Kandinsky, who loved it; the story that Breuer specially dedicated the chair to Kandinsky, while widely believed, is not true. The chair’s light weight, many options, and ease of manufacture brought worldwide acceptance. It became a hallmark of the school.

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Wassily chair

This was the year, too, of Gropius’ “executive’s office,” the practical embodiment of his theory of space as a hierarchy of material, mathematical, and transcendental. Only the correct combination of the three produced space that is truly art, Gropius believed.

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Director's office designed by Walter Gropius

This is also the year when new student Marianne Brandt, an artist from Saxony who recast her life after seeing the 1923 exhibition of Bauhaus work, created wall fixtures in the metalworking studio that became another hallmark of the school. Brandt later headed the studio but was at first treated resentfully and given dullest and inconsequential assignments.