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Walter Gropius Quotes

Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture.

✵ 18. May 1883 – 5. July 1969
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Walter Gropius: 5 quotes7 likes

Famous Walter Gropius Quotes

“The mind is like an umbrella - it functions best when open.”

Walter Gropius

As quoted in The Art of Looking Sideways by w:Alan Fletcher, p. 129

“A modern, harmonic and lively architecture is the visible sign of an authentic democracy.”

Walter Gropius

In 'The Observer' (London), 'Sayings of the Week'

“The ultimate goal of all visual artistic activity is construction! Architects, painters and sculptors must learn again to know and understand the multi-faceted form of building in its entirety as well as its parts. Only then will they of their own accord fill their works with the architectonic spirit they have lost in the art of the salon. Let us establish a new guild of craftsmen without the presumption of class distinctions building a wall of arrogance between craftsmen and artists. Together let us call for, devise and create the construction of the future, comprising everything in one form: architecture, sculpture and painting.”

Walter Gropius

Manifesto (1919)

“Art itself cannot be taught, but craftsmanship can. Architects, painters, sculptors are all craftsmen in the original sense of the word. Thus it is a fundamental requirement of all artistic creativity that every student undergo a thorough training in the workshops of all branches of the crafts.”

Walter Gropius

As quoted in Paul Klee, 1879-1940 (2000) by w:Susanna Partsch, p. 47

“Architecture begins where engineering ends.”

Walter Gropius

In Architects on Architecture, Speech, Harvard Department of Architecture (Paul Heyer (ed.))

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