Modern Architecture and Design

62 programs

1880 to the present

In the modern period, perhaps more than in any other, progressive ideas have cross-fertilized between the fine and applied arts. The roots of this tendency can be seen in Art Nouveau and in the Arts and Crafts tradition of nineteenth-century England, and it came to fruition in De Stijl, the Bauhaus and their influence.

In the twentieth century, more than ever before, architects and designers have sought to make creations that stand as artistic statements, while, equally, fine artists have aspired to extend their practice to influence the whole environment, physical and conceptual, in which we live. Buildings and interiors have become artworks, while paintings and sculptures have tended to become `environmental.' Thus artists such as Mondrian, Balla, Schwitters or Dubuffet have created total artistic habitats from their art. Others, such as Max Bill or van Doesburg, have practiced architecture and design alongside their painting. Such a state of affairs, however, has made for controversy. Art as `total experience' has had its opponents, while architecture as `artistic statement' has frequently been found an arrogant imposition on its users (see Janus and Beaubourg). And there may yet be lessons to be learned from the traditional buildings of Africa or the spontaneous environmental art of graffiti.

Eric Mendelsohn
Detailed cross section, Einstein Tower, Potsdam
From the program 'Erich Mendelsohn:
The Einstein Tower'