Style-Architecture and Building-Art: Transformations of Architecture in the Nineteenth Century and Its Present Condition: Texts and Documents Series

Muthesius, Hermann; introduction and translation by Stanford Anderson

ISBN 10: 0892362820 / ISBN 13: 9780892362820

Published by The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Santa Monica, California, 1994

About this Item

First printing, full number line (1-7); a new edition of Muthesius's classic 1902 text. An entry in Getty's Texts and Documents Series, which reprints "neglected, forgotten, or unavailable writings in English translation." The book is square and unmarked; corners and spine ends unbumped; a flare to the front board. The dust jacket is not priced; a quarter-inch closed tear to the top of the spine; Brodart protected.

Seller Inventory # 015699

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Style-Architecture and Building-Art: Transformations of Architecture in the Nineteenth Century and Its Present Condition: Texts and Documents Series
• Publisher: The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Santa Monica, California
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0892362820
• ISBN 13: 9780892362820
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

About this title

Synopsis

This text attempts to define the elements of early modernist architecture according to notions of realism and simplicity. Although the author, Hermann Muthesius, is perhaps most well-known in Anglo-American architectural literature for his studies of the English house, his work constituted a wide-ranging modernist polemic emanating from the German realist movement of the late 1890s. Notions introduced in the book became common in later modernist historiography: disdain for the 19th century's artistic eclecticism and lack of originality; appreciation of the material and industrial aspects of building technology; and a simpler approach to design. Muthesius' critique of stylistic architecture is not only linked to the development of the Deutsche Werkbund movement, but also can be viewed more broadly as a cornerstone of the modern movement. The introduction by Standford Anderson situates Muthesius and his work in turn-of-the-century architectural discourse and analyzes his vision of a new form of architecture. Anderson also discusses the rationale underlying the call for cultural renewal, the role of English architectural models in Muthesius's thought, critical differences between the first and second editions of "Style-Architecture and Building-Art", the influence of the Jugendstil and art nouveau movements on Muthesius and, in turn, the influence of Muthesius on the Deutsche Werkbund movement.