Friday 29th February 2008.

Modernism. Designing a new world. Luke Feast.

end of first world war. Rejection of history. Abstraction. Experimental.
1925 emerged in real world. 1930's.
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Baroque- emotionally expressive. Dramatic. Faith, power, prestige. Hugely ornamental.
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Industrialisation- still using classical columns. Lots of coal burning. Urbanisation.
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Manchester- one of the first industrial cities.
Crystal Palace- trade fair for industrial sellers. Items sold still very decorative. but instead using industrial products.
The dilemma of style- designers start thinking about applying design and why.
William Morris- defended simplicity and utility verses mass produced styles of the day. Simple materials emphasising craftsmanship. Morris trying to change society. Influenced by Augustus Pugin, gothic designer.
also influenced by Shaker m. decorator. social function of design.
Louis Sullivan, first to build sky scrapers and use steel.
Frank Lloyd Wright, arts and crafts, England then moved to Vienna. stripping back to function and materiality of object. linear, standardisation. Machine being introduced to everyday life. geomentric shapes.
Henry van de Velde. Important, Bauhaus. Factory as new influence on design. site of production. honest, practical, opposite of art. Product of latest technology.
Peter Behrens, first industrial designer, producing everyday products. geometric forms, symmetry, efficient design.
28 July 1914 WWI begins. key point of the beginning of modernism.
Loss of rationality, idea of being more rational in design. Human condition. desire to connect art to life.
cubism and expressionism. reinvention of forms.
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Russian constructivism. Basic, pure geometry. Super rational aesthetics. "Suprematism" movement starts.
Beginning of Photomontage. Expressing structure and materials. Nothing hidden. Barest elements creating new understanding of beauty. Reduction to simple geometries. Drawings not static. Transparencies. Utopian aspirations. Avant-garde ideas. Expression of special relationship and mathematical measurements- sculptures of Katarzyna Kobro. Simple colours encourage spectator to move around sculpture. How it changes in time and space. Spatial composition big thing for future.
Idea of the body- health. Open response to sexuality. Hygiene. Health and exercise connected strongly in media.

Italian futurism. Based version of utopia on development of technology. Emotional and sensual rather than practical. Everything becomes mechanical.
Marinetti- poem even set out in mechanical way and delivered to sound like a machine.
Machine based manufacture for a better world. Dynamic, forward moving and looking. Looking outside of itself. Dynamism. Einstein’s theory of relativity. Body and space becomes one. Envisioning future of city. Neoplasticism. De stijl. Netherlands. Still heavily influenced by cubism. Moves into primary colours and extreme simple forms. Standardised parts.
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Need to rebuild world.
WWI
Industrialisation- new centres developing
Machine key concept/ symbol of new world.
Standardised parts- dynamic
Social concept- remake people’s values and how they live
1920’s designers had ‘official’ positions
to promote ‘the new’
Bauhaus- building Utopia.
1. Work
2. Creativity }3 main aspects of Bauhaus.
3. Value

1. Breakdown between art and craft
2. Attack difference between expression and design in art. Individual vs. group.
3. Breakdown between public and private. Unstratified society.
Total work of art- living space, product, design, city planning etc. Craftwork emphasised at Bauhaus.
àIDEA OF FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION
New technologies- lighting. New qualities- transparencies. Reduction of elements.
Multi-function becomes important.
Film/theatre, experimentation. Creating new person- good exercise. Trying new materials. Exhibition in cafes and shops, not just restricted to theatres.
Nezval- symbolism of alphabet letters. Abeceda.
Moholy Nagy- first electronic artist. Fine artists made to create thigs like costumes.
àIDEA OF TOTAL WORK OF ART
1925 Bauhaus move to Dessau. Change in style move and buildings. away from craft towards mass production.
àSTANDARDISED PARTS
àGEOMETRIC FORMS
Chair became symbol of new design. Chair easier than building. Cantilever chair.
Marcel Breuer- first steel tube based chair- took inspiration from bicycle. 1926. Intersecting planes and spaces. Everything revealed. Only necessary elements. Combination of old and new materials. Commitment to social reform.
Affordable housing large concern. Modernist influential Holland and Germany in rehousing masses.
Ergonomics staring to become important. Attempt to make domestic workspace more professional. Practicality.
‘Frankfurt kitchen’- compact kitchen. Labour saving ideas.
Nazis purged modernist culture. Bauhaus moved to US.
Miles van der Rohe 1927/1928 Modernism outside Bauhaus. Mass market modernism. Streamlining to art deco.
Radio development towards end of modernism.