Final answer:
Walter Gropius was the legendary German architect who founded the Bauhaus, an influential art and design school. His work emphasized the integration of the arts and the principle that form follows function, impacting modern architecture and design globally.
Step-by-step explanation:
Walter Gropius (1883-1969) was a seminal figure in architecture and art education. As the founder of the Bauhaus, he made pivotal contributions to modern architecture and design. The Bauhaus was known for its revolutionary approach that combined crafts and the fine arts. Its philosophy was to create a total work of art in which all arts, including architecture, would eventually be brought together. Gropius’s work at the Bauhaus included the design of their iconic school buildings which are celebrated for their functionalism and adherence to the principle that form follows function. The influence of the Bauhaus and Gropius’s vision is immense, contributing to the spread of modernist design around the world and influencing countless other artists, architects, and designers. The Bauhaus’s approach to training artists, which emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary work and the integration of performing and visual arts, remains influential in art education today. Gropius’s impact on the modern world extends beyond architecture into the broader realms of design, illustration, typography, and industrial design, underpinning the modernist mantra that 'less is more'.