Lucia Moholy, Bauhaus building Dessau: workshop wing, ‘bridge’ and trade school building, 1926. Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin

In the same year as the Weimar Republic was founded, the German school of art and design that is now most profoundly linked with modernism was set up by Walter Gropius.

His big idea was that a new world had emerged following the end of World War One, and it should have a new architecture, a new style to reflect it.

And so from 1919 students began to learn at the Weimar Bauhaus how to design goods that were of high quality yet able to be mass produced, aesthetic yet functional. The result was a minimalist, industrial style of design that permeated everything from furniture to architecture – think tubular steel chairs and white Le Corbusier buildings.

A Bauhaus style chair. Courtesy mima

The Middlesbrough Museum of Modern Art (mima) is now showing a major exhibition on the Bauhaus, focusing on its ethos until the school’s closure in 1933, and including works by the movement’s key members – Josef Albers, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinksy.

Running until February 17 2008, it combines architectural models, design, applied art, furniture and a specially commissioned wall drawing plus other contemporary art inspired by the Bauhaus.

The original vision is communicated with photographs by Hans Engels of the first Bauhaus buildings, in their present condition. Some have been forgotten, some are surprising, and others have been restored. They all share the simple lines and functional philosophy of the 1919-1933 students.

House Klee/Kandinsky in Dessau, 1925, Architect: Walter Gropius. Photo: Hans Engels. Courtesy mima

A section entitled Language of Vision showcases contemporary artists who have clearly been influenced by the modernist school. Artist's work on show includes Markus Amm, Camilla Low, Toby Paterson, Ryan Gander, Lothar Götz and Andrew Miller.

Bauhaus Reviewed 1919-1933 is presented in mima’s Sound Space on the third floor roof terrace, with a selection of recordings exploring the myths surrounding the school and the artists it gave birth to. Composers are also associated with the Bauhaus (other than the post-punk band of the same name) – Arnold Schoenberg, Josef Matthias Hauer, George Antheil, Stefan Wolpe and HH Stuckenschmidt – whose music you can hear here.

The exhibition includes major loans from the Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin, and Tate.