Modernism in America

 

 

Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the greatest designers of Modernism in America.  He already put his work out there in earlier eras, but now was his time to shine.  The Hollyhock House was built in 1921 in Los Angeles California.  This was one of Wright's monumental structures that was completely poured concrete with cast geometric ornament and had elaborate terraces and garden.  Wright's most successful houses of this time was La Miniatura, also in California.  This house was also made of that stable concrete block with a repeated pattern on the walls.  Wright's most famous house, and my favorite piece of his collection is Fallingwater in Pennsylvania that was built for the Kaufmann family.  This piece of architecture was a staple in Frank Lloyd Wrights career. 



Wright also did non-residential buildings.  The S.C. Johnson Company Office Building in Racine Wisconsin shows great use of daylight and detail with all the spindles throughout. 

Rudolph Schindler once worked with Frank Lloyd Wright, but eventually parted ways.  The Schindler House was a cooperative live and work space for two families.  Schindler and Richard Neurta lived in the house together with their families.  Neurta was also a designer who built the Lovell House after he establishes his own practice in 1926.  Neurta loved working with glass, steel and stone and that's exactly what he used to build the Lovell and Kaufmann House.
Philip Goodwin and Edward Stone designed New York's Museum of Modern Art which made modernism visible to people in New York.  Walter Gropius makes another appearance in AMerica other than in Art Deco style.  He started his own firm that allowed the first modern buildings on the Harvard Campus. 

One of my favorite homes of this time is the Glass House designed by Philip Johnson.  This house was influenced from Mies Van Der Rohe's Farnsworth House.  It is an all glass-walled box with brick used for accents.

Here is a comparison between the Glass House on the left and the Farnsworth House on the right.



The Glass House

The Farnsworth House

 

Here is a quirky video that talks about moving into the Modernism era!

 

 

Current Applications:

 



 

 

 

 

Discussion:

 

I looked at Emily N's blog for Modernism.  I like how she focused on talking about Frank Lloyd Wrights style and design and talked about how she preferred his designs to others.  The video was also a nice touch.  I also looked at Megan Yee's blog.  She picked out a few of the most important designers of this time and focused on those.  I really like her current application pictures as well.

 

You can view their blogs here:

Emily N: http://history1ean.blogspot.com/

Megan Y: http://history2mcy.blogspot.com/





Art Deco

Jean Dunand handmade screen

Eileen Gray collage of work

The Art Deco era started mainly in France and came to the US and other European countries at the beginning of World War II.  Art Deco was strongly influenced by Art Nouveau, was fashion oriented style, included skyscraper furniture, and was strongly decorative.  Art Deco consisted of  chevron shapes, zig-zags, African tribal art, large mirrors and the use of lighting fixtures called attention to modern materials.  Furniture design was a major factor in Art Deco design.  Ebony, zebrawood with inlays of ivory, tortoise-shell, leather, polished metals, mirrors and glass all make up the rich materials of furniture.


Jean Dunand was an artist who moved towards geometric forms establishing a factory that  produced screens, cabinets, chairs and tables.  Maurice Dufrene was also a well known art figure who designed furniture, textiles, glass work, metal work and interiors.  Jean-Michel Frank moved Art Deco design towards modern art and surrealism designing interiors for wealthy clients.  Eileen Gray was an expert in lacquer who designed highly original furniture that was cubist in character. 



Film Guild Theater

The United States had many influential people of the Art Deco era.  Paul Frankl introduced the use of plywood for furniture rather than solid wood and Joseph Urban designed the New School for Social Research which showed his talent in stage design.  Frederick Kiesler was also a stage designer in Vienna who designed one of the first modern interiors for the general public; The Film Guild Cinema on 8th street in New York.
Britain was also a place of influence for Art Deco.  Art Deco was typically shown in theaters, hotels and restaurants.  Gordon Russell was a spokesman for British design responsible for an exhibition room at the Paris Exposition of 1937. 


Scandinavian designs were influenced by classical styles.  Gunnar Asplund designed the Senna Chair which had a high back, stubby arms and a smoothly curved seat. Kaare Klint was the leader in the development of furniture based on human proportions and human needs, otherwise known as ergonomics. 

Senna Chair

Industrial Design created an interest in industrial production which created less emphasis on aesthetic goals.  Some important events of the Art Deco era include the invention of the radio, the design of the Rockefeller Center in New York as well as Radio City Music Hall and the Chrysler Building.  Raymond Loewy designed the Streamlined automobile as well as ships, retail stores, offices and passenger cars.  Gilbert Rohde introduced Modernism to Herman Miller in the 1930's.  Russell Wright was well known for tableware also called "American Modern." 


Interior of Radio City Music Hall

 

 

Here is an interesting video describing the difference between Art Deco and Art Nouveau

Current Applications:



 

 

 

 

 

Discussion:

I looked at Megan S blog for Art Deco.  I like how she talked about aspects of this time that she liked and considered to be her favorites like the textile design.  I also reviewed Allison's blog.  I chose her blog because we talked about similar Art Deco moments like the difference between Art Deco and Art Nouveau as well as the Senna Chair.  She also used similar modern applications of what Art Deco is now like I did.

 

You can view their blogs here:

Megan S: http://history1mes.blogspot.com/

Allison: http://history2as.blogspot.com/