Bauhaus Building, Dessau, 1925-1926: Main entrance on opening day, 4 December 1926 c. 1926

Curator: Look at the stark lines, the cubic forms. It's so ordered and rational. Editor: Indeed, the photograph captures the Bauhaus Building in Dessau on its opening day, December 4, 1926. It shows the physical embodiment of their radical ideas about art, architecture, and design. Curator: The glass curtain walls are especially striking. They speak of transparency, literally and metaphorically. Editor: Absolutely. The design facilitated collaboration, while the use of new materials such as reinforced concrete and steel reflected industrialized methods, and a commitment to functionalism. The building itself was meant to be a teaching tool. Curator: One sees the vision, the rejection of ornamentation...but the starkness is a little bleak. Editor: Perhaps. It is the earnest spirit of progress, of remaking the world through design. Curator: Well, seeing it now, in context, I can appreciate the ambition, the social project. Editor: And I admire its aesthetic purity.