Walter Gropius by Hugo Erfurth, 1928

The Bauhaus was influenced by 19th and early-20th-century artistic directions such as the Arts and Crafts movement, as well as Art Nouveau and its many international incarnations, including the Jugendstil and Vienna Secession. In the Weimar Republic, a renewed liberal spirit allowed an upsurge of radical experimentation in all the arts. The most important influence on Bauhaus was modernism, a movement whose origins lay as early as the 1880s. After World War Germans of left-wing views were influenced by the cultural experimentation that followed the Russian Revolution, such as constructivism. The Bauhaus style, however, also known as the International Style, was marked by harmony between the function of an object or a building and its design. Bauhaus is characterized by simplified forms, rationality, and functionality, and the idea that mass production was reconcilable with the individual artistic spirit.

Hugo Erfurth (1874-1948) was a German photographer known for his portraits of prominent figures in the early 20th century, particularly in the fields of art, literature and politics. He was born in Halle on 14 February 1874. Erfurth studied art in Dresden and Munich before establishing himself as a photographer. He opened his own studio in Dresden in 1901 and gained recognition for his distinctive photographic style. Erfurth's portraits were characterised by a focus on the personality of his subjects and a preference for natural lighting. Throughout his career, Erfurth photographed a wide range of notable personalities, including artists, writers and intellectuals. His subjects included the playwright Gerhart Hauptmann, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He also captured images of prominent figures in German society, such as politicians and industrialists. Hugo Erfurth's work is considered important not only for its artistic merit, but also for its historical significance in documenting the cultural and intellectual life of early 20th century Germany. He continued his photographic work until his death on 19 February 1948 in Baden-Baden.