From Ornament to Object: Genealogies of Architectural Modernism

Type
Book
Authors
ISBN 10
0300175337 
ISBN 13
9780300175332 
Category
Unknown  [ Browse Items ]
Publication Year
2012 
Publisher
Pages
334 
Abstract
In the late 19th century, a centuries-old preference for highly ornamented architecture gave way to a budding Modernism of clean lines and unadorned surfaces. At the same moment, everyday objects--cups, saucers, chairs, and tables--began to receive critical attention.Alina Payne addresses this shift, arguing for a new understanding of the genealogy of architectural modernism: rather than the well-known story in which an absorption of technology and mass production created a radical aesthetic that broke decisively with the past, Payne argues for a more gradual shift, as the eloquence of architectural ornamentation was taken on by objects of daily use. As she demonstrates, the work of Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier should be seen as the culmination of a conversation about ornament dating as far back as the Renaissance. Payne looks beyond the usual suspects of philosophy and science to establish theoretical catalysts for the shift from ornament to object in the varied fields of anthropology and ethnology; art history and the museum; and archaeology and psychology. 
Description
Semper's heritage
The ubiquity of objects
Art historians, objects, and empathy
The architect's world between culture and style
The fork in the road: Muthesius and Loos
The aftermath: Bauhaus endgame and Le Corbusier's poetics of portability
Conclusion: sculpture and scale. 
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