The Emergence of Modernism

The Emergence of Modernism created a new direction of design. The pioneers of modernism focused on clarity and force to achieve this movement. This period was thought of as having influential originators of the "modern movement". Moving forward, the De Stijl movement emerged and consisted of dutch artists, sculptors, architects and designers. De Stijl means "The Style" and began in the Netherlands. The proponents of De Stijl sought to express a new utopian of spiritual harmony and order. They advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and color. They simplified visual compositions to the vertical and horizontal directions, and used only primary colors along with black and White. Furthermore, International Style was a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920's and 1930's which were known as the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry Russel Hitchcock and Phillip Johnson which identified, categorized, and expanded upon characteristics common to Modernism across the world and its stylistic aspects. The book was also written to record the International Exhibition of Modern Architecture held at the Museum of Modern At in New York City in 1932. The common characteristics of the International Style include: a radical simplification of form , a rejections of ornament, and adoption of glass, steel, and concrete preferred materials. The four major architects in during International Style were Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright.



Frank Lloyd Wright was one of my favorite architects from this period considering his excellent designs within his architecture. He started his own practice in 1893 in Oak Park, Illinois and thats where it all began. He designed  the Robie House in Chicago in the year of 1910, which shows a bunch of his horizontal lines throughout his work and unique light fixtures accompanied by the brilliant use of divided spaces.











Another architect I admire from this time was Mies van der Rohe, who deigned his work based on his three word slogan, "less is more". My favorite piece or work done by him was the Farnsworth House in Plano Illinois. He allowed a bunch of light to come in by the use of windows around the whole house making the house appear as translucent. Inside of the house he placed his modern designed furniture that accompanied the simple yet stunning style perfectly. One piece of furniture that I loved was the Brno Chair for its sleek and sharp appearance.

The last architect that I found interesting was Alvar Aalto, one of the pioneer or Modernists from Finland. He designed furniture, textile, glassware, and was an architect. My favorite piece of furniture that he design was called the easy chair. I loved the abstract pattern that it was covered in along with the reclined look it had. 

This is a modern application of the Easy Chair by Alvar Aalto.

Another modern application I chose was a modernized version of the Bauhaus Chair by Walter Gropius. 

I looked at was Megan S's blog she really had a great understanding of how important Frank Lloyd Wright was during this time period and also like the furniture choice she chose by Mies van der Rohe. 

The other persons blog I looked at was Nichole K's blog, I really like the modern applications she chose for the modern day z chair as well as the modern design for a Frank Lloyd wright house. 

Below is a link to a video that talks about the Robie House by Frank Lloyd Wright :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cFohx1K3eg

Deutscher Werkbund Movement

 The Deutscher Werkbund Movement was influenced by the fathers of modernism. This movement ranged from the years of 1892-1910 and took place in Germany and Austria, but was founded in Munich, Germany. The purpose of this movement was to have the highest quality design to the mass produced output. An important difference about this time period was that this era embraced the use of the machine. Another important fact to point out was that this movement was equivalent to the Arts and Crafts movement, accompanied by the act of protesting against artistic establishments. The Werkbund movement also set the stage for the International Style and Art Deco style. Also, the collaboration between design professional with product manufacturers was used  to improve competitiveness of German design. Furthermore, in 1903 Hoffman established the Vienna workshop, also known as the Vienna Secession. The Vienna Secession was a movement that was certainly idealistic with the act of artists withdrawing from academics. The Vienna group included: Olbrich, Klimt, Loos, Hoffmann and Koloman Moser. Lastly,  people protested against historicism but did not embrace the period of Art Nouveau.



Moving forward, one of my favorite artists during this time period would be Gustav Klimt. Gustav was an australian symbolist, painter, and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna group. He believed that there should be a union of art and design together by using gold paint in his work for a dramatic effect, to show that his subject matter dealt mainly with the subconscious mind. His most famous piece of artwork was his painting know as "the kiss."






Another artist that was a big part of the Vienna group was Otto Wagner. He was an architect from Austria and taught at the Vienna Academy. He also believed in staunch functionalism and designed furniture to relate to his architecture. One of his most famous pieces of furniture was the post savings bank armchair created in 1905. It was made out of dark stained beach wood with a plywood seat, metal braces and aluminum/ brass shoes.









As we know Joseph Hoffmann created the former known Kubus Chair in 1910. This chair was square and angular , upholstered in leather and repeated a cube shape. This modern club chair resembles and carries on Hoffmann's design of the Kubus Chair.



Another famous artist during this time period was a man names Koloman Moser. He created some beautiful patters that are definitely still being shown today especially through this retro flower pattern that is a perfect example of a modern application of his work based on the pale and simpleness of the pattern.




I reviewed Rachael's blog and she really has a good understanding of Joseph Hoffmann's furniture design based on her pictures demonstrating this era, also her examples of his modern Kubus chair is very on point!

I also reviewed Ali's blog and I feel that she really enjoyed learning about the furniture by Adolf Loos using his curvilinear furniture and dark stained wood, and also the angular shaped chair modern looking chair by Joseph Hoffmann.

Below is an example of a youtube clip demonstrating Gustav Kilmt process of designing his work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz4dB8KVdzs

Art Nouvaeu

The Art Nouveau era occurred between the years od 1890 - 1910. At this time Europe was in a state of prosperity and peace. Economic growth started to support a new and experimental direction in the designing process. There was a great deal of rejection with the use of academic models as well as traditional design in this era. Some artists in this era projected an admiration for Japanese art. Moving forward, the leaders of this movement were France and Belgium, however, Germany, Spain, and the Scandinavian countries were also affected with some awareness in Western countries. The uses of metal as well as glass in this time period made a huge impact on the style and feel of the architecture and design. Unusual decorative details in the artists work also really made this type of design extremely different and unique.

 
 
Hector Guimard, the most significant figure in Paris was one of my favorite designers from this period considering his unique style of using iron as well as his creative style in furniture. This side table made by Hector was very interesting considering the use of elongating wooden legs with a sleek scooped top, I really liked this piece!

Another influential artist in this time period was a man named Louis Comfort Tiffany. His focus was on stained glass art. He produced several American church windows as well as creating abstract floral forms of work for residential homes.

 This lamp in particular was one of my favorite pieces of work by him. I idolized his work because he made things by hand and put in a lot of time and effort into the production of his design which left a great impact on him.

 

 

 

 

This is a modern application of Tiffany's trend that is still used today demonstrated by this hanging glass floral printed lamp.

 

 

 

Another modern application that demonstrated this era would be the use of the bent iron to create a grand entrance to this home.

 

 

 

I looked at Nichole's blog and she definitely has a thorough understanding of this time period considering the pictures she selected that showed the use of curved lined architecture and stained
glass artwork.

I also looked at Samantha's blog and I really liked the pictures she selected of the awesome architecture that shows the curves of the bent iron and also the curves in the faces of buildings in the stone as clearly the iron incorporated into it as well

Youtube Clip:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_4j2WPzSKU

This clip shows a handful of pictures demonstrating the design of this era.