Product Description

Modernist ideas have pervaded every form of design, from graphics to architecture, as well as being a key influence on art, literature and music. In this comprehensive survey, Richard Weston traces the course of Modernism from its beginnings to its contemporary manifestations. He explores the Modernist movements of the early twentieth century – Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism and Purism – and concludes with the 'post-modernist' experiments of the 1980s and 1990s. He shows how the 'tradition of the new' became the creative credo of a small group of progressive artists and how, with the emigration of leading German modernists to Britain and the USA in the 1930s, the theory and practice of Modernism became widespread. What had begun as a cluster of loosely related artistic movements scattered across Europe emerged as the dominant style of the twentieth century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #902497 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
"Winner in the Related Arts Category, American Institute of Architects International Architecture Book Awards, 1998 'Richard Weston's articulate and well-illustrated book captures the important contributions of this period and shows the extraordinary range of modernist ideas.' (AIA Jury) 'A fluent, stimulating overview of the movement... Weston's is a lucid and highly readable history.' (Daily Telegraph) 'Its strength and virtue lie in the bringing together of a broad range of culture: visual, literary and musical, in pursuit of the essence of Modernism.' (Perspectives) 'For some years now Phaidon has been producing splendid works each devoted to a single style or movement...As usual for the series the book is generously provided with illustrations, many in colour, and the text is clear....it is striking how geographically even-handed the author is in the way he divides his attention....though by no means the first to write a history of modernism, he is certainly capable of telling this by now well-known tale in a manner that is both entertaining and accessible.' (Archis) 'The book is handsome, and useful as a work of reference.' (The Observer) 'This is a large... and important book. It is a comprehensive survey of Modernism from its beginning to its contemporary manifestations....Much more than architecture is presented with wonderful photos never seen before by this reviewer...This book is a must for all who are serious about design and architecture.' (Book Reviews)"

About the Author
Richard Weston is an architect, landscape designer, writer and lecturer. An expert on modern architecture and design in Scandinavia, he is currently Professorial Research Fellow at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University. He is the author of a monograph on Alvar Aalto and Town Hall, Saynatsalo in the Architecture in Detail series (both Phaidon). Author's Residence: Leicester, UK

Customer Reviews

Beautiful!
We used this book for an art history course at Yale University, on art, architecture, and design from 1890 to 1940. The book is great! Usually I find the survey sort of book - covering something so wide and expansive as MODERNISM - to get bogged down in cliches or neat little epigrams for quick consumption, but there's no cursory cute treatment here. Weston covers a lot - he's great on explaining theories and movements of design etc but also gives appropriate history, politics, and culture. And that's good, because I like to know what Ezra Pound is thinking about modernism, as it happens. It takes you through time and space nicely - painting, architecture, advertisement, furniture, etc - and you don't feel as if you missed out on anything. Plus the illustrations/photographs are beautiful - I spent so much time just in love with the book for that. Not only is it helpful, but the writing is clear and intelligent, sometimes funny, and irreverent if necesssary.

A stunning portrait of the Modern movement
This is a superlative tour of Modern Architecture and Design through the 20th century. Weston, who has put together some beautiful books on Aalto, Utzon and the Modern House has really outdone himself in this remarkable book. He looks at the overlapping patterns in art and architecture and how they came together to form a movement that overtook the hand-me-down styles of the past.

Appropriately enough he begins with "Roots," a survey of 19th century precedents in Modern Architecture with the focus on the English Arts and Crafts Movement and how it spread throughout Europe and to America, influencing the Vienna Secessionists, the Deutscher Werkbund and Wright's Prairie School. From there he charts the development of a new style in "The Tradition of the New," influenced heavily by painterly movements such as Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism. A new abstraction was born that inspired such architectural movements as Futurism, de Stijl and the Bauhaus, which he develops further in "Formulating the Future." He treats the Russian avant-garde separately in "Russia: The Art of Revolution," which gave modern art and architecture a revolutionary fervor and would eventually serve as the basis of the Deconstructivist camp that arose in the 1980's. He then covers the growth of the modern movement in "The International Style," effectively taking the movement up to WWII. He closes with a summary of post-war attitudes in "Triumph, Transformation and Rejection," which saw the fulfillment and eventual disillusionment of modernist ideals.

The book is handsomely illustrated and provides one of the best attempts to interweave art and architecture and its influences on commercial and industrial design. It is a must for anyone looking to gain a better understanding of the impact of Modernism on comtemporary society, illustrating how Modernism shaped so many of the current patterns in design. The narrative flows gracefully, offering a compelling overview of the movement.