scholarly journals Cracovian modernists - the 60 ties, 90 ties of the XX century - the returns

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-132
Author(s):  
Jan Wrana
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
International Style ◽  
Modern Style ◽  
Modernist Architecture ◽  
Walter Gropius

The European reaction of the leading architects towards the period of international style, “The idea of style has yet again become up-to-date. The modern style, covering the whole world, is uniform and coherent...” [4], promoted at the exhibition “Modernist architecture” organized in Museum of Art in New York by architects Henry Russell Hitchcock and Philips Johnson, was immediate. The leading European architects: a) Walter Gropius wrote: “The aim of Bauhaus was not to promote one particular style...” [4], b) Le Corbusier formulated “Fundamental principles of aesthetics” [4], c) Bruno Taut wrote: “Five assumptions of new architecture” [4]. The message that “The form follows the function” became the very principle of modernism. The year 1972, when the blocks of flats in St. Louis, US were blown up, and the year of the actual end of the ideology originating from CIAM, is the agreed time marked as the end of modernism. It was a few years after Le Corbusier’s death (1965) - the death of the unchallenged spiritual ideologist of modernism.

scholarly journals On Theory and Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Simpson ◽  
Nikos Salingaros
Keyword(s):  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
International Style ◽  
Walter Gropius

While Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius were indeed enormously influential in shaping modern architecture, noteworthy designs being done today prove that the International Style is no longer dominant.

The Vernacular, Modernism, and Le Corbusier

1997 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 438-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Passanti
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Complex Concept ◽  
Modern Industrial Society ◽  
International Style ◽  
Modernist Architecture ◽  
Common Parlance

The modernist architecture of the 1920s, often referred to by the terms "machine aesthetic" and "International Style," has been seen as antithetical to the vernacular. Focusing on Le Corbusier, this essay argues that, to the contrary, the vernacular played an essential role in the construction of modernist architecture, as conceptual model for a notion of modern vernacular-one as naturally the issue of modern industrial society, and as representative of it, as the traditional vernacular of common parlance had been of earlier societies. Le Corbusier arrived at this notion by layering on each other several discourses concerning regionalism, folklore, and the more complex concept of Sachlichkeit (factualness), developed in Vienna and Germany at the turn of the century by such figures as Adolf Loos and Hermann Muthesius.

Circle

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Fowler
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
World War ◽  
Fernand Leger ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Modernist Architecture ◽  
Walter Gropius ◽  
Annual Publication

Circle is a book-length survey of international constructive art, first published in London in 1937. The joint editors and organizers of the parallel Exhibition of Constructive Art were the émigré Russian sculptor Naum Gabo (1890–1977), the British abstract artist Ben Nicholson, and the modernist British architect Leslie Martin. Gabo was one of several European artists and architects who came to England in the late 1930s to escape Nazi and Soviet oppression. In London, he became a friend of Ben Nicholson, with whom he discussed starting an annual publication that would promote the constructivist concept of a synthesis of modernist architecture with constructivist painting and sculpture. Circle was the outcome of these discussions, and the book and exhibition constituted the first comprehensive exposition of constructive art in Britain. Circle featured fifty-one participants, including ten from Britain. While the contributors from overseas included major international figures such as Piet Mondrian, Fernand Léger, Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, the British artists—with the exception of Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore—were far less well-known and the constructivist credentials of several were very weak. The intention to publish Circle annually was frustrated by the outbreak of World War II and the departure of Gabo and others to the USA.

The Villa Savoye and the Modernist Historic Monument

2002 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin D. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Design Solution ◽  
Postwar Period ◽  
Historic Monument ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modernist Architecture ◽  
New Perspective

This article argues that the debate over the fate of Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye (1928-1931) in Poissy, France-which was in derelict condition by the 1950s-occasioned an international reconsideration of the architect's work as well as a reconsideration of the French architectural patrimony. The author argues that, while the house has been discussed since the time of its completion in largely formal terms, more recent scholarship has opened up the debate on the material circumstances of its construction and the ideological implications of its design. As part of this new perspective, it is important to understand the house not simply as a universally applicable design solution by its architect, but as an object that was altered and restored in response to changing perceptions of Le Corbusier and his work. The process by which the Villa Savoye was preserved, restored, and established as an official historic monument of the French state, between c. 1958 and 1967, brought about a reconceptualization of modernist architecture and of the historic monument in France. Modernist architecture, including the Villa Savoye, was incorporated during the postwar period into a celebratory cultural history of France. Among government administrators who participated in this process was André Malraux, who in the postwar period attempted to reconstruct France's international prestige on the basis of its cultural production. Prodded into action on behalf of the Villa Savoye by architects, critics, and scholars around the world, as well as by an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Malraux finally acknowledged that the work of Le Corbusier could be admitted into the corpus of monuments on which French identity was to be built.

From Bauhaus to Our House: Tom Wolfe contra modernist architecture

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-230
Author(s):  
Anna Maria Karczewska
Keyword(s):  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
The Other ◽  
Tom Wolfe ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modernist Architecture ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Mies Van Der Rohe ◽  
American Cities ◽  
Walter Gropius

In his 1981 book-length essay From Bauhaus To Our House, Tom Wolfe not only presents a compact history of modernist architecture, devoting the pages to masters such as Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe but also frontally attacks modern architecture and complains that a small group of architects took over control of people’s aesthetic choices. According to Wolfe, modern buildings wrought destruction on American cities, sweeping away their vitality and diversity in favour of the pure, abstract order of towers in a row. Modernist architects, on the other hand, saw the austere buildings of concrete, glass and steel as signposts of a new age, as the physical shelter for a new, utopian society. This article attempts to analyse Tom Wolfe’s selected criticisms of the modernist architecture presented in From Bauhaus to Our House. In order to understand Wolfe’s discontent with modernist architecture’s basic tenets of economic, social, and political conditions that prompted architects to pursue a modernist approach to design will be discussed.

scholarly journals Criminal Skins: Tattoos and Modern Architecture in the Work of Adolf Loos

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 235-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimena Canales ◽  
Andrew Herscher
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Less Is More ◽  
International Style

Adolf Loos’s famous essay, ‘Ornament and Crime’, decisively linked unornamented architecture with the culture of modernity and, in so doing, became one of the key formulations of modern architecture. To a great extent, the essay’s force comes from arguments drawn from nineteenth-century criminal anthropology. Nevertheless, Loos’s work has been consistently understood only within the context of the inter-war avant- gardes. In the 1920s, Le Corbusier was particularly enthusiastic in bringing Loos’s work to the fore, thereby establishing its future reception. ‘Ornament and Crime’ became an essential catalyst for architecture’s conversion away from the historicism of the nineteenth century to modernism. At the turn of the century, Loos’s essay already foreshadowed the white abstraction of ‘less is more’ architecture and the functionalist rigour of the International Style which would dominate the twentieth century.

scholarly journals Le Corbusier: publicaciones en Estados Unidos, 1925-1939

2020 ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Fernando Zaparaín Hernández ◽  
Jorge Ramos Jular ◽  
Pablo Llamazares Blanco
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
International Exhibition ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
The New York Times

Se recopilan y analizan las publicaciones, de y sobre Le Corbusier, en Norteamérica, en el periodo de entreguerras, que corresponde con la difusión inicial de sus ideas e incluye su participación en la Modern Architecture International Exhibition del MoMA en 1932, su muestra de pintura en la galería Becker en 1933 y el viaje con exposición de 1935. Durante esta época se consolidaron en Estados Unidos la estandarización industrial, la automoción o los fenómenos urbanos complejos, que atrajeron a Le Corbusier, y propiciaron allí el interés por sus alegatos sobre la máquina. Se aporta un listado actualizado, operativo y más completo, que permite hacer una mínima bibliometría, con 15 textos de Le Corbusier y 73 de otros autores. Muchos eran antiguos colaboradores (Rice, Frey, Stonorov) o admiradores en torno al MoMA, con Hitchcock a la cabeza (Kocher, Barr, Heap, Lescaze, Hood). Hubo alguna respuesta crítica de figuras como Wright, Fuller, Bauer o Mumford. Destacaron determinados medios e instituciones favorables (<em>Architectural Record</em>, <em>The New York Times</em>, The Studio, MoMA, Architectural League). En cuanto al formato, no se trata de estudios académicos ni metodológicos, sino alegatos breves y provocadores, con el hábil recurso a titulares e imágenes propias, en paralelo al texto. La temática principal no fue su obra construida, sino sus propuestas urbanas.

scholarly journals Le Corbusier’s Legacy: Modern experimentation in Mario Bonito´s work

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helder Casal Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Rational Design ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
Third Generation ◽  
Design Issues ◽  
Crystal Palace ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
Modernist Architecture ◽  
Just Society

Abstract: This paper investigates the path of third generation Portuguese modern architect, Mário Bonito (1921/1976), in order to understand and clarify his contribution to the maturity process of portuguese modern architecture, that began at the end of the 1940s, strongly influenced by Le Corbusier. Through the understanding of his final academic work, CODA (Competition to Obtain the Architects Diploma), designated Pavilhão das Ilhas Adjacentes, located in Jardim do Palacio Cristal (Crystal Palace Gardens) in Porto, dated 1947/48, we intend to deepen his relationship with the modern premises of corbusier´s architecture, framed by portuguese reality. However Le Corbusier´s legacy in Mario Bonito´s work is not formal but thematic, in understanding the main issues that guide the intent of progressive man in molding a modern and just society. The paper covers themes characteristic to Portuguese modernist architecture such as the dialogue between craftsmanship and technique, compositional rigor and rational design issues resulting from the systematization of the construction processes, with the search for standardization of architectural and constructional elements. This dialogue emphasizes the compromise between tradition and modernity that will be present in all of Mário Bonito´s designed and written work, announcing the experimental temperament and formal coherence of his subsequent works. Resumen: Este artículo investiga el camino de la tercera generación de arquitecto moderno portugués, Mário Bonito (1921/1976), a fin de comprender y aclarar su contribución al proceso de la madurez de la arquitectura moderna portuguesa, que se inició a finales de la década de 1940, fuertemente influenciado por Le Corbusier. A través de la comprensión de su obra académica final, CODA (Concurso para Obtenção do Diploma de Arquitecto), designado Pavilhão das Ilhas Adjacentes, ubicado en Jardim do Palacio de Cristal en Porto, con fecha de 1947 / 48, tenemos la intención de profundizar su relación con las premisas modernas de la arquitectura Corbusiana, encuadradas por la realidad portuguesa. Sin embargo el legado de Le Corbusier en el trabajo de Mario Bonito no es formal, sino temático, en la comprensión de los temas principales que guían la intención del hombre progresista en el moldeo de una sociedad moderna y justa. El artículo abarca temas como el diálogo entre la artesanía y la técnica, el rigor compositivo y problemas de diseño que resulten de la sistematización de los procesos de construcción, con la búsqueda de la normalización de los elementos arquitectónicos y constructivos. Este diálogo enfatiza el compromiso entre la tradición y la modernidad que estará presente en todo trabajo diseñado y escrito de Mario Bonito, anunciando el temperamento experimental y coherencia formal de sus obras posteriores.  Keywords: legacy; Mário Bonito; portuguese architecture; Porto; universality. Palabras clave: legado; Mário Bonito; arquitectura portuguesa; Porto; universalidad. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/LC2015.2015.1004

The Vertical Imagination and the Crisis of Transatlantic Modernism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Haacke
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Virginia Woolf ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
The Body ◽  
Technological Advancement ◽  
Kurt Vonnegut ◽  
Cinematic Space

From the invention of skyscrapers and airplanes to the development of the nuclear bomb, ideas about the modern increasingly revolved around vertiginous images of elevation and decline and new technologies of mobility and terror from above. In The Vertical Imagination and the Crisis of Transatlantic Modernism, Paul Haacke examines this turn by focusing on discourses of aspiration, catastrophe, and power in major works of European and American literature as well as film, architecture, and intellectual and cultural history. This wide-ranging and pointed study begins with canonical fiction by Franz Kafka, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and John Dos Passos, as well as poetry by Guillaume Apollinaire, Hart Crane, and Aimé Césaire, before moving to critical reflections on the rise of New York City by architects and writers from Le Corbusier to Simone de Beauvoir, the films of Alfred Hitchcock and theories of cinematic space and time, and postwar novels by Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, and Leslie Marmon Silko, among many other examples. In tracing the rise and fall of modernist discourse over the course of the long twentieth century, this book shows how visions of vertical ascension turned from established ideas about nature, the body, and religion to growing anxieties about aesthetic distinction, technological advancement, and American capitalism and empire. It argues that spectacles of height and flight became symbols and icons of ambition as well as indexes of power, and thus that the vertical transformation of modernity was both material and imagined, taking place at the same time through the rapidly expanding built environment and shifting ideological constructions of “high” and “low.”

The Eisenstein Effect

2019 ◽  
pp. 57-76
Author(s):  
Anthony Vidler
Keyword(s):  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Sergei Eisenstein ◽  
The Status ◽  
Actual Space ◽  
Modernist Architecture ◽  
Auguste Choisy ◽  
Technological Achievement ◽  
Point Of Reference

This chapter analyzes the confluence in thinking about cinematic and architectural montage in the work of the Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein and the Swiss architect Le Corbusier. It describes their encounter in Moscow in 1928 and their shared admiration for the French architectural historian Auguste Choisy, whose description of spatial passage through the Athenian Acropolis is a key point of reference in the accounts the filmmaker and the architect develop of the role of narrative, movement, and editing in the apprehension of space. Although Le Corbusier’s promenade architecturale is the manipulation of a body moving through actual space according to precise calculations of a visual sequence, the cinematic version, as staged by Corbusier and Chenal, faced the viewer with a surrogate or avatar body moving through space, but never presented the viewer with the scenes viewed by this body: an invisible, one might say ineffable merging of architecture with the image of an invisible architecture as a projection of a static viewer. Architecture in this sense achieves the status desired of the modernist machine universe, but in the process has been reduced to two dimensions, without perspective. Eisenstein, for his part, was in this sense able to “build” an architecture in film—not the imperfect static forms that one had to walk through or work hard to imagine their ecstatic movement, but through the moving image itself understood as the highest technological achievement of modernism, thus achieving the (ecstatic) dissolution, in image, of modernist architecture.

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