LECTURE

LECTURE

CONTENTS :
INTRODUCTION
AVANT GARDE MOVEMENTS
MODERNISM IN ARCHITECTURE Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe ,
- Walter Gropius
MODERNISM IIN FURNITURE

M ODERNISM

TERMINOLOGY :AVANT-GARDE The avant-garde (from French, "advance guard" or "vanguard",

literally "fore-guard") are people or works that are :
Experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art , culture
and politics .

LECTURE

ART MOVEMENT An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific

common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a
restricted period of time
Art movements were especially important in Modern art ,when
each consecutive movement was considered as a new Avant Garde .

ODERNISM
History of M
architecture

INTRODUCTION
Modernism was manifested as a series of innovative cultural movements in the
following fields :
- Applied arts ,literature, arts, architecture etc.
TIME PERIOD - In the late 19th and 20th centuries
The birth of modern architecture depends on recognition of a deep historical
discontinuity.
About 1900, however, the architectural avant-garde served this bond.
It was suddenly realized that way to future was not through past.
Architecture was expressing a command to adapt to the machine age

LECTURE

MODERNISM CHAMPION THE FOLLOWING IDEAS :

Adulation of the machine
Mechanisation
Standardisation
Mass production

M ODERNISM

Outside of the art world, the terms MODERN and CONTEMPORARY are used
virtually interchangeably.
Both words relate to the present or immediate past.
Modern is opposite of antiquated, old fashioned or outdated.

EVOLUTION
Radical shift in art, literature and philosophy.
It rejected and challenged anything traditional.
Searched for new ways to communicate about the modern world.

GENERAL BELIEFS

LECTURE

History is coming to an end.

Modern life is pointless.
Many modernists believed art had replaced religion as the guiding force to
make sense of the world.
Others felt that artists must reject the past and create ones own sense of logics.

M ODERNISM

INFLUENCES
One can apply the label early modern to the
following avant-garde movements: Bauhaus,
Constructivism, Dada, De Stijl, Expressionism,
Futurism etc
Members of these groups traveled
throughout Europe and influenced each other.

Many taught at the Bauhaus.

LECTURE

The common thread between all of these

movements is experimentation, dissatisfaction with
the past, a need for radical change in society.

AVANT-GARDE
-CUBISM
- PURISM
- dada
- EXPRESSIONISM
- FUTURISM

DE STIJLE

_Significant and strong effect

on architecture.

FRANCE

HOLLAND

_Inspiration for architects to

explore the domain of the
abstract.

_Precessions
to
the
evolutions of architecture in
Europe of early 20th century.

M ODERNISM

1) CUBISM (1908-1914)
first abstract art style
multiple view points
angular planes
facets
overlapping and interpenetrating surfaces

Pioneers
PICASSO and BRAQUE invented cubism.
Picasso (1881-1973)was a Spanish painter and sculptor. He took sculpture
approach which lead to creation of cubism.

LECTURE

Braque (1882-1963) was a French painter.

He saw solid reality of objects.

M ODERNISM

CHARACTERISTICS
The style emphasized
the flat
rejecting the traditional techniques of perspective
foreshortening
modeling

LECTURE

All the above could be easily translated

into architecture

ODERNISM
History ofMarchitecture

2) FUTURISM (1909-1914)
Began in Italy in 1909.
Defining avant-garde art movement of the early twentieth century.
INSPIRED BY :
- the speed, technology, cities and latent violence of the world around them,
- as well as by the ideas of thinkers such as BERGSON, futurists created an art and
ideology for their heroic and highly politicized vision of modernity.

PIONEERS
FILLIPO TOMMASO MARINETTI invented Futurism .
The manifesto was passionate and bombastic in tone, expressing a feeling of open
rejection superiority for anything old, particularly in the fields of art and politics.

LECTURE

Futurism Art Movement

Umberto Boccioni
'Elasticity' 1912

Futurism Art Movement

Umberto Boccioni
'Unique Forms Of
Continuity In Space'
1913

M ODERNISM

CHARACTERISTICS

LECTURE

Futurist artwork used TYPOGRAPHY AND WRITING as its own expressive

means.
Futurist use different styles, sizes, weights and colors around the page.
They gloried in the beauty of letterforms as a work of visual art.
The futurist firmly broke the written word from traditional syntax and visual
standards of horizontal rows.

The futurists
introduced
concrete poetry
to the world. It
is a poem that
both is read and
viewed at the
same time.

M ODERNISM

It was characterised by a multiplicity of successive actions .

LECTURE

Giacomo Balla, Abstract Speed +

Sound, 1913-1914

Citta Nouva, Antonio Saint Alia (1914)

M ODERNISM

3) PURISM(1918-1925)
Purism was another movement interested in a kind of
utopian vision of art and the modem world Purism was
comprised of only two artists:
AMDE OZENFANT and
EDOUARD JEANNERET (Le Corbusier).
Moreover, they believed that fantasy and individuality had
no place in modem art .
The machine became the artists reference, the exemplary
symbol of their age Architectonic form most defines their
paintings.

LECTURE

The style dealt with the following:

- Relied on pure geometric forms
- Idealised by Picasso
- Adapted easily into built-forms

Amde Ozenfant

M ODERNISM

4) DADA (1916-1920)
ROUMANIAN TRISTAN TZARA and HANS ARP, launched Dadaism in
neutral Zurich, Switzerland as a reaction against the insanity of WWI.
was an international artistic phenomenon which sought to overturn traditional
notions of art.
It was often defiantly anti-art .
Dada is a state of mind.
That is why it transforms itself according to races and
events.
Dada applies itself to everything

LECTURE

PIONEERS
More than anything, its participants, figures such as
- MARCEL DUCHAMP,
- FRANCIS PICABIA,

Dada 6 (Bulletin Dada), Tristan

Tzara 1920

CHARACTERISTICS
Dada had only one rule: Never follow any known rules.
Dada was intended to provoke an emotional reaction from the viewer (typically
shock or outrage).

Abstraction and Expressionism were the main influences on Dada, followed

by Cubism and, to a lesser extent, Futurism.

LECTURE

The movement primarily involved :

- visual arts
- literaturepoetry
- art manifestoes
- art theorytheatre, and graphic design

John Heart field, Hitler tells fairy tales II,

INSCRIPTION: ...and then the poor
German Michel screamed so long, that
finally the whole world believed him:
Help, help, I'm surrounded!

M ODERNISM

5) EXPRESSIONISM (LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH )

Expressionism developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The subjects of expressionist works were frequently distorted, or otherwise altered.
The term ``Expressionism'' can be used to describe various art forms but, in its
broadest sense, it is used to describe any art that raises subjective feelings above
objective observations.

CHARACTERISTICS

LECTURE

Landmarks of this movement were violent colors and exaggerated lines that helped
contain serious emotional expression.
Application of formal elements is very deep, unpleasant, violent, or constantly
changing.
Expressionist were trying to pinpoint the expression of inner experience .

M ODERNISM

The style dealt with the following:

- organic and emotive forms
- intense colors, agitated brush strokes

LECTURE

- disjointed spaces and forms

SCREAM: Edward Munch

UNCOMPOSED OBJECTS IN SPACE:

Paul Klee

M ODERNISM

LECTURE

Goetheanum 1924-1928, in Basel,

Switzerland, is an example of
architectural Expressionism

EINSTEIN TOWER IN POTSDAM BERLIN

It is an astrophysical observatory in
the Albert Einstein Science Park in Potsdam
GERMANY
Built by - Erich Mendelsohn

M ODERNISM

MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS :

LECTURE

- LE CORBUSIER
- MIES VAN DER ROHE
- WALTER GROPIUS

M ODERNISM
It was at this time, during the 1920s, that the most important figures in Modern
architecture established their reputations.
The big three are commonly recognized as :
LE CORBUSIER in FRANCE and
WALTER GROPIUS and LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE in Germany,
all of whom trained under Peter Behrens.
GROPIUS and MIES VAN DER ROHE both served as directors of the Bauhaus one of a
number of European schools and associations concerned with reconciling craft
tradition and industrial technology.
Mies van der Rohe designed the German pavilion (known afterward as the
BARCELONA PAVILION at the1929 Barcelona International Exposition .

LECTURE

VILLA SAVOYE by Le Corbusier and his cousin, was built from 1928 to 1931.
As in Russia, political pressures turned against the modernists.
With the rise of Nazism in 1933, the German experiments in modernism were
replaced by more traditionalist architectural forms .

M ODERNISM

Swiss architect, applied the notions of modernism to architecture.

Fascinated by machines, streamlined automobiles, submarines, airplanes.
a house is a machine for living in

Theory and practices reinforced by Bauhaus defined the post war architecture
characteristics .

LECTURE

Citron House on Pilotis,

Stuttgart, 1927

Swiss Dormitory, University of

Paris
(1930-32)
Evolution of Maison Domino

M ODERNISM

1926- 5 Points Of Architecture,

That afford a general solution to
architecture through 5 points that
were in reality an extension to the
Maison Domino and Villes Pilotis
principles
A contemporary City Of 3 Million
Inhabitants (1929)

Pilotis
Roof Terraces
Free Faade

LECTURE

Free Plan
Horizontal Strip windows

Villa Savoye, 1931

M ODERNISM

De Stijl (1917-1931) - HOLLAND

De Stijl, a Dutch term meaning the style

Also known as Neoplasticism
An artistic movement founded in 1917, shortly
before the Bauhaus movement, by a group of
several Dutch artists.

Sought to express a new utopian ideal 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
PIET MONDRIAN, Composition With
along with black and white.

LECTURE

Yellow, Blue and Red, 1939-42.

Goal: to create a precise, mechanical order lacking

in the natural world.

M ODERNISM

PRINCIPLES

Relied strongly on primary colours

Involved the use of hard edges and angular design
A design movement that was followed by both artists &
designers/ architects

LECTURE

De Stijl paintings usually represented parts of

larger spaces like interiors spaces within
houses
Artists of the De Stijl movement saw art as a
collective approach, and as a language that
went beyond culture, geography and politics
The group was intent on finding a new
aesthetic of art and principles
The movement spread through town
planning, fine arts, applied arts and philosophy

Composition in Red, Blue and Yellow by

Piet Mondrian (1930)

M ODERNISM

PIONEERS
GEDDIT REITVELD

LECTURE

Dutch minimalist architect and designer

One of the most famous designers of the De Stijl movement
Work consisted of mostly cubist elements and contained mainly primary colours .
Much of his furniture was designed to accompany his architectural commissions

Red and Blue Chair1917

Reitveld Shrder House1924

M ODERNISM

LECTURE

Spatial ideas explored in realms of SCULPTURE, PAINTNG AND ARCHITECTURE .

M ODERNISM

GERMANY
Birthplace of modern movement in architecture.
Focus in development of industry rather than colonialisation
Deutsher Workbund (1907) was a centre initiated for the betterment of crafts education
and for the advancement of thr development of architecture and crafts.

There was an appreciation in Germany for marrying technological developments

with design to manufacture products .

LECTURE

Belief in universalism as neo-plastic forms had a timeless and universal appeal.

M ODERNISM

LECTURE

Peter behrens, AEG Turbine

Factory, Berlin 1909

Walter Gropius, Model factory ,

Werkbund Exhibition Cologne 1914

LECTURE

M ODERNISM

Mies Van der Rohe, Brick country house,

1923

M ODERNISM

BAUHAUS
Germany ably managed to reconcile the
design with industrial technology to
make products that were mass produced,
standardized
The Bauhaus is one of the first colleges of design.
_Opened in 1906, as Henry van de Velde as Director
1915- Walter Gropius who introduced workshop based design
curriculums for both designers and the craftsmen.
Aimed at new social order through universal application of technology in
architecture and design.

LECTURE

Hoped to reform applied art and crafts education.

Emphasized knowledge of the empirical as students worked with different

medium with their own hands designing and executing their ideas.

M ODERNISM

Mies Van Der Rohe

LECTURE

Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe worked

under BRUNO PAUL, architect and
furniture designer in Berlin.
Mies Van Der Rohe furniture is
influenced by a design approach
based on advanced structural
techniques and Prussian Classicism.
The Barcelona Chairs create
ambience of sophistication and sport
clean lines and smooth finishes.
A perfect mix of metal and soft
leather, Mies Van Der Rohe furniture
includes smart pieces like Mies van
der Rohe Cantilever Chair with no
arms, Barcelona Ottoman, Mies van
der Rohe Barcelona Day Bed and
Barcelona Chair etc.

M ODERNISM

Inference
MODERNISM Pioneers gave new definition of art away from
historicism in the form of MODERN ART .
Because of invention of various styles in the past we are able to innovate
them in more scientific way through our own ideas.
Modernism gave directions in the fields of literature, painting, philosophy .
It led to the introduction of machine age which encompasses compact
spaces with proper functioning.
It led to the architects and engineers of that time to apply the various
inventions of industrial revolution in liberty of their own ideas.

LECTURE

The various movements helped the people to fight against various political
powers to achieve their own national style.

The various artistic and writing styles are capable of expressing different
emotions of the people at that time giving a picture of what has happened.

M ODERNISM

Le Corbusier

LECTURE

Le Corbusier began experimenting with furniture

design in 1928 after inviting the architect,
CHARLOTTE PERRIAND, to join his studio.
His cousin, PIERRE JEANNERET, also
collaborated on many of the designs.
Before the arrival of Perriand, Le Corbusier relied
on ready-made furniture to furnish his projects,
such as the simple pieces manufactured by Thonet.

Resting Chair

Arm Chairs

M ODERNISM

Reference

LECTURE

Dada and Surrealism: a very short introduction; David Hopkins

Harry N. Abrams, ARCHITECTURE FROM PRE HISTORY TO POST-MODERNISM/THE
WESTERN TRADITION,1986

http://www.slideshare.net/katiereily/cubism-lecture
http://www.keithgarrow.com/modern-art-styles/futurism-art-movement.html
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/AlexzJudeH-328378-futurismeducation-ppt-powerpoint/
http://gds.parkland.edu/gds/!lectures/history/1915/modern.html
http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/C20th/dadaism.htm
http://www.arthistoryguide.com/De_Stijl.aspx
http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/C20th/bauhaus.htm
http://www.moma.org
http://www.artic.edu/reynolds/essays/hofmann.php

QUESTIONNAIRE
Q1 Modern architecture was created by forceful personalities who cut across
national boundaries . Discuss the sources of its origin and principal features.
Q2 Write a note on the contribution made by any two of the following architects
to the evolution of the Modern movement in architecture :
- WALTER GROPIUS
- LE CORBUSIER
- MIES VAN DER ROHE
- FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT