Emergance of Modernism

 The Emergence of Modernism 

Back in the 1900’s , Modernism was born. It began when World war one and two were happening. Which had a huge impact on this movement.  After WW1 is when Modernism decided to change the world in its next steps in design. This time was heavily political during this period but it only emerged new design inspirations and technological advances such as skyscrapers,photography,movie pictures and automobiles which are all still used today and advancing. Another key factor in Modernism is that it rejected any and all sorts of past and historical design. Then they strived for more functionalism designs shown through the design. This movement was pursued aggressively to the extent of pushing functionalism to what it has to come to today.

Many architects were involved in this movement, mainly emerging from the Europeans such as Germany. With that being said Frank Llyod wright was the first architect that was involved in this movement. As we have learned a lot already about him in the past movements to lead him to the modernism movement. He “created an architecture of Democracy” between his organic architect and environments to create amazing buildings. As his career was starting off in Chicago he focused on Residential designs and Commercial designs. Which emerged from Prairie style and art nouveau. Below are some examples that he did in Chicago. 

 

Robbie House,1910

Residential design

“Prairie Style” 

Larkin Company 1904

Buffalo, New York 

Commercial work

This building above was demolished but it did spark new innovations as far as functionalism. It included air conditions,built-in desks, windows and suspended toilet bowls. As this was just  the beginning of Functionalism. 

As modernism develops , International design was also very important architecturally that was inherited into the movement. International style was only a decade of design that expressed volume rather than mass, balance rather than preconceived symmetry and expulsion of applied ornamentation. These ornaments of design have created a series of creations that are a new way of looking at modernism.  

International style consisted mainly of architects from European countries. Yet one architect was the designer that founded Modernism. Which was Walter Gropius. As an architect he focused on utilizing mass production,smooth surfaces ,primary colors and furniture made of Plywood,metal tubing and plastic laminate. With that being said he did focus on many forms of functionalism. Below are some of his pieces that he created. 

 

Bauhaus

F 51 Armchair,1953

Bauhaus

Cabinet for Periodicals,1923

Another German Architect that is very well known and involved in modernism is Mies van Der Rohe. He was a german-american architect that was known for his unique designs in modernism. As he liked simplicity and clarity in his design. His motto was “ Less is more”. Which I feel as if modernism is based on that  concept of simplicity. Which was discussed a lot in the postmodernism era as well.  Mies focused on the materials such as industrial steel,plate glass and tubular metal. Which seemed to be a very essential  material used for chairs in the modernism era. Below are some chairs that he created to symbolize his style of design .

Barcelona Chair-1928 

Brno Chair,1928

Fast forward to today modernism and how there are many applications of simplicity and clear formats to focus on the details. Below are some modern applications used today.


Step Further:

  Alvar Aalto ( 1898-1976)

                         Alvar Aalto was a Finnish architect,designer ,sculptor and painter. He studied at Helsinki University of Technology. He mainly focused on architecture, furniture,textiles and glassware over his career. His designs did relate to Neoclassicism and Jugendstil movements. When  creating his furniture it was more modern material with a use of wood in his work. His chairs were modern with a twist of detail .I found these chairs to be my favorite because they are simplistic, functional and unique. 

Other sources: 

Modernism explained:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDCEtnXlA4Y

Series of Alvar Aalto Chairs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhdtH7x9cQY

Frank lloyd Stained Glass explained:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw3jxQrQSQY


Comments

  1. Izabella CleavelandMarch 3, 2023 at 7:22 PM

    Kahlan, you did a well job at explaining the background and time period that was occurring during this movement. I liked that you talked about the F 51 Armchair of 1953 because I found this new design chair as very interesting and different yet it involves functionalism. By doing the one step further of Alvar Aalto, it gave me a better understand of who he is and his works. I have not heard about him until now so it was fascinating seeing his story and influence.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Professor VanderNoordaaMarch 5, 2023 at 6:25 AM

    Kahlan,
    This is a very informative Blog post. Great historical summary. You shared strong images that demonstrated the elements of modernism. I really enjoyed your examples of modern applications.
    Alvar Aalto was a great designer to explore! Thank you for this excellent and informative post!
    Total Points: 50/50.

    ReplyDelete

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