An influential movement in aesthetics, visual art, architecture and industrial design devoted to elegant simplicity of form, particularly as an integral aspect of the efficient, large-scale production of useful objects for urban masses. Centered around three schools in interwar germany (weimar, 1919-1925; dessau, 1925-1932; and berlin, 1932-1933), many of its leaders came to the united states when the school was closed under hitler. Key figures include walter gropius, mies van der rohe, wassily kandinsky, paul klee, lászló moholy-nagy, and josef albers.