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