![Aschool1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Aschool1.jpg)
Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the
expressionist
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
visual and performing arts that especially developed and dominated in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
Brick Expressionism
The term Brick Expressionism (german: Backsteinexpressionismus) describes a specific variant of Expressionist architecture that uses bricks, tiles or clinker bricks as the main visible building material. Buildings in the style were erected mostl ...
is a special variant of this movement in western and northern Germany, as well as in
the Netherlands
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(where it is known as the
Amsterdam School
The Amsterdam School (Dutch: ''Amsterdamse School'') is a style of architecture that arose from 1910 through about 1930 in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam School movement is part of international Expressionist architecture, sometimes linked ...
).
In the 1920s
The term "Expressionist architecture" initially described the activity of the German, Dutch, Austrian, Czech and Danish avant garde from 1910 until 1930. Subsequent redefinitions extended the term backwards to 1905 and also widened it to encompass the rest of Europe. Today the meaning has broadened even further to refer to architecture of any date or location that exhibits some of the qualities of the original movement such as; distortion, fragmentation or the communication of violent or overstressed emotion.
The style was characterised by an early-
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
adoption of novel materials, formal innovation, and very unusual massing, sometimes inspired by natural biomorphic forms, sometimes by the new technical possibilities offered by the mass production of brick, steel and especially glass. Many expressionist architects fought in World War I and their experiences, combined with the political turmoil and social upheaval that followed the
German Revolution
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
of 1919, resulted in a utopian outlook and a romantic socialist agenda. Economic conditions severely limited the number of built commissions between 1914 and the mid-1920s, resulting in many of the most important expressionist works remaining as projects on paper, such as
Bruno Taut
Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 – 24 December 1938) was a renowned German architect, urban planner and author of Prussian Lithuanian heritage ("taut" means "nation" in Lithuanian). He was active during the Weimar period and is know ...
's ''Alpine Architecture'' and
Hermann Finsterlin Hermann Finsterlin (18 August 1887 – 16 September 1973) was a German visionary architect, painter, poet, essayist, toymaker and composer. He played an influential role in the German expressionist architecture movement of the early 20th century bu ...
's ''Formspiels''. Ephemeral exhibition buildings were numerous and highly significant during this period.
Scenography
Scenography (inclusive of scenic design, lighting design, sound design, costume design) is a practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography is the combination of technological and material st ...
for theatre and films provided another outlet for the expressionist imagination,
[Pehnt, p.163] and provided supplemental incomes for designers attempting to challenge conventions in a harsh economicate.
Important events in Expressionist architecture include; the
Werkbund Exhibition (1914)
The first Werkbund Exhibition of 1914 was held at Rheinpark in Cologne, Germany. Bruno Taut's best-known building, the prismatic dome of the Glass Pavilion of which only black and white images survive today, was in reality a brightly colored lan ...
in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
, the completion and theatrical running of the
Großes Schauspielhaus
The Großes Schauspielhaus (Great Theater) was a theatre in Berlin, Germany, often described as an example of expressionist architecture, designed by Hans Poelzig for theatre impresario Max Reinhardt. The structure was originally a market built by ...
, Berlin in 1919, the
Glass Chain The Glass Chain or Crystal Chain sometimes known as the "Utopian Correspondence" (german: Die Gläserne Kette) was a chain letter that took place between November 1919 and December 1920. It was a correspondence of architects that formed a basis of e ...
letters, and the activities of the
Amsterdam School
The Amsterdam School (Dutch: ''Amsterdamse School'') is a style of architecture that arose from 1910 through about 1930 in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam School movement is part of international Expressionist architecture, sometimes linked ...
. The major permanent extant landmark of Expressionism is
Erich Mendelsohn
Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic Functionalism (architecture), functionalism in his projects for department ...
's
Einstein Tower
The Einstein Tower (German: ''Einsteinturm'') is an astrophysical observatory in the Albert Einstein Science Park in Potsdam, Germany built by architect Erich Mendelsohn. It was built on the summit of the Potsdam '' Telegraphenberg'' to house ...
in
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
. By 1925, most of the leading architects such as Bruno Taut, Erich Mendelsohn,
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...
,
Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...
and
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer.
Life
Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncerta ...
, along with other expressionists in the visual arts, had turned toward the ''Neue Sachlichkeit'' (
New Objectivity
The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, who ...
) movement, a more practical and matter-of-fact approach which rejected the emotional agitation of expressionism. A few, notably
Hans Scharoun
Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun (20 September 1893 – 25 November 1972) was a German architect best known for designing the Berliner Philharmonie (home to the Berlin Philharmonic) and the Schminke House in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important ...
, continued to work in an expressionist idiom.
[Pehnt, p.203]
In 1933, after the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
seizure of power in Germany, expressionist art was outlawed as
degenerate
Degeneracy, degenerate, or degeneration may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Degenerate (album), ''Degenerate'' (album), a 2010 album by the British band Trigger the Bloodshed
* Degenerate art, a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party i ...
.
Until the 1970s scholars(Most notably
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
) commonly played down the influence of the expressionists on the later
International Style, but this has been re-evaluated in recent years.
Characteristics
Expressionist architecture was individualistic and in many ways eschewed aesthetic dogma, but it is still useful to develop some criteria which defines it. Though containing a great variety and differentiation, many points can be found as recurring in works of Expressionist architecture, and are evident in some degree in each of its works:
#Distortion of form for an emotional effect.
#Subordination of
realism
Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to:
In the arts
*Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts
Arts movements related to realism include:
*Classical Realism
*Literary realism, a move ...
to symbolic or stylistic expression of inner experience.
#An underlying effort at achieving the new, original, and visionary
#Profusion of works on paper, and models, with discovery and representations of
concept
Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs.
They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...
s more important than pragmatic finished products.
#Often hybrid solutions, irreducible to a single concept.
[Pehnt, p.20]
#Themes of natural romantic phenomena, such as caves, mountains, lightning, crystal and rock formations. As such it is more mineral and elemental than florid and organic which characterized its close contemporary
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
.
#Uses creative potential of
artisan craftsmanship.
#Tendency more towards the
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
than the
Classical architecture
Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect V ...
. Expressionist architecture also tends more towards the
Romanesque and the
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
than the classical.
#Though a movement in Europe, expressionism is as
eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
as
western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
. It draws as much from
Moorish
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or se ...
,
Islamic
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...
,
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
, and
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
art and architecture as from
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
or
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
.
#Conception of architecture as a work of art.
Context
![Wroclaw - Hala Stulecia z fontanna](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Wroclaw_-_Hala_Stulecia_z_fontanna.jpg)
Political, economic and artistic shifts provided a context for the early manifestations of Expressionist architecture; particularly in Germany, where the utopian qualities of
Expressionism
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
found strong resonances with a leftist artistic community keen to provide answers to a society in turmoil during and after the events of World War I. The loss of the war, the subsequent removal of
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...
, the deprivations and the rise of social democracy and the optimism of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
created a reluctance amongst architects to pursue projects initiated before the war and provided the impetus to seek new solutions. An influential body of the artistic community, including architects, sought a similar
revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
as had occurred in Russia. The costly and grandiose remodelling of the
Großes Schauspielhaus
The Großes Schauspielhaus (Great Theater) was a theatre in Berlin, Germany, often described as an example of expressionist architecture, designed by Hans Poelzig for theatre impresario Max Reinhardt. The structure was originally a market built by ...
, was more reminiscent of the imperial past, than wartime budgeting and post-war depression.
[Pehnt, p.16]
Artistic movements that preceded Expressionist architecture and continued with some overlap were the
Arts and Crafts movement and
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
or in Germany,
Jugendstil
''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...
. Unity of designers with artisans, was a major preoccupation of the Arts and Crafts movement which extended into Expressionist architecture. The frequent topic of naturalism in Art Nouveau, which was also prevalent in
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, continued as well, but took a turn for the more earthen than floral. The naturalist
Ernst Haeckel
Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new sp ...
was known by
Finsterlin and shared his source of inspiration in natural forms.
The
Futurist
Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...
and
Constructivist architectural movements, and the
Dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...
anti-art movement were occurring concurrently to Expressionism and often contained similar features. Bruno Taut's magazine, ''Frülicht'' included constructivist projects, including
Vladimir Tatlin
Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin ( – 31 May 1953) was a Russian and Soviet painter, architect and stage-designer. Tatlin achieved fame as the architect who designed The Monument to the Third International, more commonly known as Tatlin's Tower, whi ...
s
Monument to the Third International
Tatlinʼs Tower, or the project for the Monument to the Third International (1919–20), Honour, H. and Fleming, J. (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Laurence King Publishing, p. 819. was a design for a grand monumental buildin ...
.
[Sharp, p.95] However, Futurism and Constructivism emphasized mechination and urbanism tendencies which were not to take hold in Germany until the
Neue Sachlichkeit
The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, who ...
movement.
Erich Mendelsohn
Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic Functionalism (architecture), functionalism in his projects for department ...
is an exception whose work bordered on Futurism and Constructivism. A quality of dynamic energy and exuberance exists in both the sketches of Mendelsohn and futurist
Antonio Sant'Elia
Antonio Sant'Elia (; 30 April 1888 – 10 October 1916) was an Italian architect and a key member of the Futurist movement in architecture. He left behind almost no completed works of architecture and is primarily remembered for his bold sk ...
.
[Pehnt, p.119] ''
The Merzbau'' by Dada artist
Kurt Schwitters
Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist who was born in Hanover, Germany.
Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including dadaism, constructivism, surrealism, poetry, sound, pain ...
, with its angular, abstract form, held many expressionist characteristics.
Influence of individualists such as
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
and
Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, ''sui generis'' style. Most are located in Barcel ...
also provided the surrounding context for Expressionist architecture. Portfolios of Wright were included in the lectures of Erich Mendelsohn and were well known to those in his circle. Gaudí was also both influenced and influencing what was happening in Berlin. In Barcelona, there was no abrupt break between the architecture of Art Nouveau and that of the early 20th century, where Jugendstil was opposed after 1900, and his work contains more of Art Nouveau than that of, say, Bruno Taut. The group
Der Ring
Der Ring was an architectural collective founded in 1926 in Berlin. It emerged from expressionist architecture with a functionalist agenda. Der Ring was a group of young architects, formed with the objective of promoting Modernist architecture. ...
did know about Gaudí, as he was published in Germany, and Finsterlin was in correspondence.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdo ...
should also be mentioned in the larger context surrounding Expressionist architecture. Hard to classify as strictly Arts and Crafts or Art Nouveau, buildings such as the
Hill House and his Ingram chairs have an expressionist tinge. His work was known on the continent, as it was exhibited at the
Vienna Secession
The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austri ...
exhibition in 1900.
Underlying ideas
Many writers contributed to the ideology of Expressionist architecture. Sources of
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
important to expressionist architects were works by
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
,
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , , ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on ...
, and
Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson . Bruno Taut's sketches were frequently noted with quotations from Nietzsche,
[Pehnt, p.41] particularly ''
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
''Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None'' (german: Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen), also translated as ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', is a work of philosophical fiction written by German philosopher Friedrich Niet ...
'', whose protagonist embodied freedoms dear to the expressionists; freedom to reject the bourgeois world, freedom from history, and strength of spirit in individualist isolation.
Zarathustra's mountain retreat was an inspiration to Taut's ''Alpine Architecture''.
Henry van de Velde
Henry Clemens van de Velde (; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium.'' ...
drew a title page illustration for Nietzsche's ''
Ecce Homo''. The author
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...
in his ''
The Metamorphosis
''Metamorphosis'' (german: Die Verwandlung) is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, ''Metamorphosis'' tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himsel ...
'', with its shape shifting matched the material instability of Expressionist architecture Naturalists such as
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
, and
Ernst Haeckel
Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new sp ...
contributed an ideology for the
biomorphic
Biomorphism models artistic design elements on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms. Taken to its extreme it attempts to force naturally occurring shapes onto functional devices.
History
Within the c ...
form of architects such as Herman Finsterlin. Poet
Paul Scheerbart
Paul Karl Wilhelm Scheerbart (8 January 1863 in Danzig – 15 October 1915 in Berlin) was a German author of speculative fiction literature and drawings. He was also published under the pseudonym ''Kuno Küfer'' and is best known for the bo ...
worked directly with Bruno Taut and his circle, and contributed ideas based on his poetry of glass architecture.
![Monument to the March dead](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Monument_to_the_March_dead.jpg)
Emergent
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
from
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
and
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
was important to Expressionism. The exploration of psychological effects of form and space
[Pehnt, p.167] was undertaken by architects in their buildings, projects and films. Bruno Taut noted the psychological possibilities of scenographic design that "Objects serve psychologically to mirror the actors' emotions and gestures."
The exploration of dreams and the unconscious, provided material for the formal investigations of Hermann Finsterlin.
![Caspar David Friedrich - Das Eismeer - Hamburger Kunsthalle - 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Caspar_David_Friedrich_-_Das_Eismeer_-_Hamburger_Kunsthalle_-_02.jpg)
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries philosophies of
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...
had been developing, particularly through the work of
Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemolo ...
and
Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...
and notions of the
sublime. The experience of the sublime was supposed to involve a self-forgetfulness where personal fear is replaced by a sense of well-being and security when confronted with an object exhibiting superior might. At the end of the nineteenth century the German Kunstwissenschaft, or the "science of art", arose, which was a movement to discern laws of aesthetic appreciation and arrive at a scientific approach to aesthetic experience. At the beginning of the twentieth century Neo-Kantian German philosopher and theorist of aesthetics
Max Dessoir
Maximilian Dessoir (8 February 1867 – 19 July 1947) was a German philosopher, psychologist and theorist of aesthetics.
Career
Dessoir was born in Berlin, into a German Jewish family, his parents being Ludwig Dessoir (1810-1874), "Germany's mo ...
founded the ''Zeitschift für Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft'', which he edited for many years, and published the work ''Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft'' in which he formulated five primary aesthetic forms: the beautiful, the sublime, the tragic, the ugly, and the comic. Iain Boyd Whyte writes that whilst "the Expressionist visionaries did not keep copies of Kant under their drawing boards. There was, however, in the first decades of this century
0th
0th or zeroth may refer to:
Mathematics, science and technology
* 0th or zeroth, an ordinal for the number zero
* 0th dimension, a topological space
* 0th element, of a data structure in computer science
* Zeroth (software), deep learning softwar ...
a climate of ideas that was sympathetic to the aesthetic concerns and artistic production of
romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
.
Artistic theories of
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
, such as ''
Concerning the Spiritual in Art'', and ''Point and Line to Plane'' were centerpieces of expressionist thinking.
[Sharp, p.18]
Materials
A recurring concern of expressionist architects was the use of materials and how they might be poetically expressed. Often, the intention was to unify the materials in a building so as to make it
monolith
A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive rock (geology), stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological for ...
ic. The collaboration of Bruno Taut and the utopian poet
Paul Scheerbart
Paul Karl Wilhelm Scheerbart (8 January 1863 in Danzig – 15 October 1915 in Berlin) was a German author of speculative fiction literature and drawings. He was also published under the pseudonym ''Kuno Küfer'' and is best known for the bo ...
attempted to address the problems of German society by a doctrine of glass architecture. Such utopianism can be seen in the context of a revolutionary Germany where the tussle between nationalism and socialism had yet to resolve itself. Taut and Scheerbart imagined a society that had freed itself by breaking from past forms and traditions, impelled by an architecture that flooded every building with multicolored light and represented a more promising future. They published texts on this subject and built the
Glass Pavilion
The Glass Pavilion, designed by Bruno Taut and built in 1914, was a Cupola (geometry), prismatic glass dome structure at the Cologne Werkbund Exhibition (1914), Deutscher Werkbund Exhibition. The structure was a brightly colored landmark of the exh ...
at the
1914 Werkbund Exhibition. Inscribed around the base of the dome were aphoristic sayings about the material, penned by Scheerbart: "Coloured glass destroys hatred", "Without a glass palace life is a burden", "Glass brings us a new era, building in brick only does us harm."
Another example of expressionist use of monolithic materials was by Erich Mendelsohn at the
Einstein Tower
The Einstein Tower (German: ''Einsteinturm'') is an astrophysical observatory in the Albert Einstein Science Park in Potsdam, Germany built by architect Erich Mendelsohn. It was built on the summit of the Potsdam '' Telegraphenberg'' to house ...
. Not to be missed was a pun on the tower's namesake, ''Einstein'', and an attempt to make the building out of one stone, that is, ''Ein Stein''. Though not cast in one pour of concrete (due to technical difficulties, brick and stucco were used partially) the effect of the building is an expression of the fluidity of concrete before it is cast. 'Architecture of Steel and Concrete' was the title of a 1919 exhibition of Mendelsohn's sketches at
Paul Cassirer
Paul Cassirer (21 February 1871, in Görlitz – 7 January 1926, in Berlin) was a German art dealer and editor who played a significant role in the promotion of the work of artists of the Berlin Secession and of French Impressionists and Post-Im ...
's gallery in Berlin.
Brick was used in a similar fashion to express the inherent nature of the material.
Josef Franke produced some characteristic expressionist churches in the
Ruhrgebiet
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
in the 1920s. Bruno Taut used brick as a way to show mass and repetition in his Berlin housing estate "Legien-Stadt". In the same way as their Arts and Crafts movement predecessors, to expressionist architects, populism, naturalism, and according to Pehnt "Moral and sometimes even irrational arguments were adduced in favor of building in brick". With its color and pointillist like visual increment, brick became to expressionism what stucco later became to the
International Style.
Theatres, films, paintings and magazines
Europe witnessed a boom in
theatrical
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
production in the early twentieth century. In 1896 there were 302 permanent theatres in Europe, by 1926 there were 2,499.
Cinema
Cinema may refer to:
Film
* Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography
* Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image
** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
* ...
witnessed a comparable increase in its use and popularity and a resulting increase in the number of picture houses. It was also able to provide a temporary reality for innovative architectural ideas.
Many architects designed theatres for performances on the stage and film sets for
expressionist films. These were defining moments for the movement, and with its interest in theatres and films, the
performing arts
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...
held a significant place in expressionist architecture. Like film, and theatre, expressionist architecture created an unusual and exotic environment to surround the visitor.
Built examples of expressionist theatres include
Henry van de Velde
Henry Clemens van de Velde (; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium.'' ...
's construction of the model theatre for the 1914 Werkbund Exhibition, and
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer.
Life
Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncerta ...
's grand remodelling of the
Großes Schauspielhaus
The Großes Schauspielhaus (Great Theater) was a theatre in Berlin, Germany, often described as an example of expressionist architecture, designed by Hans Poelzig for theatre impresario Max Reinhardt. The structure was originally a market built by ...
. The enormous capacity of the Großes Schauspielhaus enabled low ticket prices, and the creation of a "people's theatre".
Not only were expressionist architects building stages, Bruno Taut wrote a play intended for the theatre, ''Weltbaumeister''.
Expressionist architects were both involved in film and inspired by it. Hans Poelzig strove to make films based on
legend
A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...
s or
fairy tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
s.
[Pehnt, p.164] Poelzig designed scenographic sets for
Paul Wegener
Paul Wegener (11 December 1874 – 13 September 1948) was a German actor, writer, and film director known for his pioneering role in German expressionist cinema.
Acting career
At the age of 20, Wegener decided to end his law studies and conce ...
's 1920 film ''
Der Golem''. Space in ''Der Golem'' was a three-dimensional village, a lifelike rendering of the Jewish ghetto of Prague. This contrasts with the setting of the ''Cabinet of Doctor Caligari'', which was painted on canvas backdrops. Perhaps the latter was able to achieve more stylistic freedom, but Poelzig in ''Der Golem'' was able to create a whole village that "spoke with a Jewish accent."
Herman Finsterlin approached
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
with an idea for a film.
Fritz Lang's film
Metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big c ...
demonstrates a visually progressive 'Futurist' society dealing with relevant issues of 1920s Germany in relation to labour and society. Bruno Taut designed an unbuilt theatre for reclining cinema-goers. Bruno Taut also proposed a film as an anthology for the Glass Chain, entitled ''Die Galoschen des Glücks''(The Galoshes of Fortune) with a name borrowed from
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...
. On the film, Taut noted, "an expressionism of the most subtle kind will bring surroundings, props and action into harmony with one another". It featured architectural fantasias suited to each member of the Chain.
Ultimately unproduced, it reveals the aspiration that the new medium, film, invoked.
File:BlaueReiter.jpg, DER BLAUE REITER
''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name, first published in mid-May ...
almanac 1912, cover by Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
. Two groups of Expressionist painters: "Der Blaue Reiter
''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name, first published in mid-May ...
" in Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
since 1912 and "Die Brücke
The Brücke (Bridge), also Künstlergruppe Brücke or KG Brücke was a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905. Founding members were Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Later memb ...
" in Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
since 1905.
File:Pure Quartz at Senckenberg Natural History Museum.jpg, WENDINGEN
''Wendingen'' (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Inversion'' or ''Upheaval'', literally ''turns'') was an architecture and art magazine that appeared from 1918 to 1932. It was a monthly publication aimed at architects and interior designers. The bo ...
1924-11/12, "Crystals", 40 ill., inspiration for Expressionist architects
File:Shells01.jpg, WENDINGEN
''Wendingen'' (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Inversion'' or ''Upheaval'', literally ''turns'') was an architecture and art magazine that appeared from 1918 to 1932. It was a monthly publication aimed at architects and interior designers. The bo ...
1923-8/9, "Shells", 65 ill., inspiration for Expressionist architects
Abstraction
The tendency towards
abstraction in art corresponded with abstraction in architecture. Publication of ''Concerning the Spiritual in Art'' in 1912 by
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
, his first advocacy of abstraction while still involved in
Der Blaue Reiter
''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name, first published in mid-May ...
phase, marks a beginning of abstraction in expressionism and abstraction in expressionist architecture.
The conception of the Einstein Tower by Erich Mendelson was not far behind Kandinsky, in advancing abstraction in architecture. By the publication of Kandinsky's ''Point and Line to Plane'' in 1926 a rigorous and more geometric form of abstraction emerged, and Kandinsky's work took on clearer and drafted lines. The trends in architecture are not dissimilar, as the
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
was gaining attention and Expressionist architecture was giving way to the geometric abstractions of modern architecture.
Brick Expressionism
![Chilehaus - Hamburg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Chilehaus_-_Hamburg.jpg)
The term ''Brick Expressionism'' (german: Backsteinexpressionismus) describes a specific variant of expressionism that uses
brick
A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...
s,
tile
Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...
s or
clinker brick
Clinker bricks are partially-vitrified bricks used in the construction of buildings.
Clinker bricks are produced when wet clay bricks are exposed to excessive heat during the firing process, sintering the surface of the brick and forming a shin ...
s as the main visible building material. Buildings in the style were erected mostly in the 1920s. The style's regional centres were the larger cities of
Northern Germany
Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...
and the
Ruhr area
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
, but the
Amsterdam School
The Amsterdam School (Dutch: ''Amsterdamse School'') is a style of architecture that arose from 1910 through about 1930 in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam School movement is part of international Expressionist architecture, sometimes linked ...
belongs to the same category.
Amsterdam's 1912 cooperative-commercial
Scheepvaarthuis
The Shipping House ( nl, Scheepvaarthuis) is a building on the western tip of the Waalseiland near Amsterdam harbour that is one of the top 100 Dutch heritage sites and generally regarded as the first true example of the Amsterdam School, a style ...
(Shipping House) is considered the starting point and prototype for Amsterdam School work: brick construction with complicated masonry, traditional massing, and the integration of an elaborate scheme of building elements (decorative masonry, art glass, wrought-iron work, and exterior figurative sculpture) that embodies and expresses the identity of the building. The School flourished until about 1925.
The great international fame of
German Expressionism
German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...
is not related to the German Brick Expressionist architects, but to the German Expressionist painters of the two groups
Die Brücke
The Brücke (Bridge), also Künstlergruppe Brücke or KG Brücke was a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905. Founding members were Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Later memb ...
in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
since 1905 (
Kirchner,
Schmidt-Rottluff,
Heckel,
Nolde) and
Der Blaue Reiter
''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name, first published in mid-May ...
in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
since 1912 (
Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
,
Marc Marc or MARC may refer to:
People
* Marc (given name), people with the first name
* Marc (surname), people with the family name
Acronyms
* MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging,
* MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system of ...
,
Macke,
Münter,
Jawlensky).
Expressionism since the 1950s
The influential architectural critic and historian
Sigfried Giedion
Sigfried Giedion (sometimes misspelled Siegfried Giedion; 14 April 1888, Prague – 10 April 1968, Zürich) was a Bohemian-born Swiss historian and critic of architecture. His ideas and books, ''Space, Time and Architecture'', and ''Mechaniza ...
in his book ''Space, Time and Architecture'' (1941) dismissed Expressionist architecture as a side show in the development of
functionalism. In the middle of the twentieth century, in the 50s and 60s, many architects began designing in a manner reminiscent of Expressionist architecture. In this post war period, a variant of Expressionism,
Brutalism
Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...
, had an honest approach to materials, that in its unadorned use of concrete was similar to the use of brick by the Amsterdam School. The designs of
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
took a turn for the expressionist in his brutalist phase, but more so in his
Notre-Dame du Haut
Notre-Dame du Haut ( en, Our Lady of the Heights; full name in french: Chapelle Notre-Dame du Haut) is a Roman Catholic chapel in Ronchamp, France. Built in 1955, it is one of the finest examples of the architecture of Franco-Swiss architect Le C ...
.
In Mexico, in 1953, German émigré Mathias Goeritz, published the "Arquitectura Emocional" (Emotional architecture) manifesto where he declared that "architecture's principal function is emotion." Modern Mexican architect Luis Barragán adopted the term that influenced his work. The two of them collaborated in the project Torres de Satélite (1957–58) guided by Goeritz's principles of Arquitectura Emocional.
Another mid-century modern architect to evoke expressionism was Eero Saarinen. A similar aesthetic can be found in later buildings such as Saarinen's 1962 TWA Flight Center, TWA Terminal at JFK International Airport. His TWA Terminal at JFK International Airport has an organic form, as close to Herman Finsterlin's ''Formspiels'' as any other, save Jørn Utzon's Sydney Opera House. It was only in the 1970s that expressionism in architecture came to be re-evaluated in a more positive light.
More recently still, the aesthetics and tactility of expressionist architecture have found echo in the works of Enric Miralles, most notability his Scottish Parliament building, deconstructivist architects such as Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind, as well as Aboriginal peoples in Canada, Canadian Aboriginal architect Douglas Cardinal.
File:RonchampCorbu.jpg, The Notre-Dame du Haut, Chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, 1950–55 (Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
)
File:Jfkairport.jpg, JFK International Airport in New York City, TWA Flight Center, TWA Terminal, 1956–62 (Eero Saarinen)
File:Berlin Philharmonie asv2018-05 img1.jpg, The Berliner Philharmonie, 1956–63 (Hans Scharoun
Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun (20 September 1893 – 25 November 1972) was a German architect best known for designing the Berliner Philharmonie (home to the Berlin Philharmonic) and the Schminke House in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important ...
)
File:Zuschauerraum.jpg, Interior of the Berliner Philharmonie
File:Kokuritsu Yoyogi Kyōgijō 1.jpg, Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, 1964 (Kenzo Tange)
File:Finlandia Hall (16007856688).jpg, Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, 1971 (Alvar Aalto)
File:Sydney Opera House Sails.jpg, Sydney Opera House, 1957–73 (Jørn Utzon)
File:Lovely Lotus temple.jpg, Lotus Temple, in Dehli, 1986 (Fariborz Sahba)
File:Hallgrímskirkja_in_2019.jpg, Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík, 1986 (Guðjón Samúelsson)
File:Vitra Design Museum.JPG, Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, 1989 (Frank Gehry)
File:Vitra fire station, full view, Zaha Hadid.jpg, Vitra (furniture), Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein, 1994 (Zaha Hadid)
File:JewishMuseumBerlinAerial.jpg, Jewish Museum Berlin, Jewish Museum in Berlin, 1989–99 (Daniel Libeskind)
File:Image-Disney Concert Hall by Carol Highsmith edit.jpg, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, 2003 (Frank Gehry)
File:LA Disney Concert Hall auditorium.jpg, Walt Disney Concert Hall, inside
File:Auditorio de Tenerife Pano.jpg, Auditorio de Tenerife, Canary Islands, 2003 (Santiago Calatrava)
Timeline
1900 in architecture, 1900
*Reactions to
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
impelled partly by moral yearnings for a sterner and more unadorned style and in part by rationalist ideas requiring practical justification for formal effects. Art Nouveau had however, opened up a language of abstraction and pointed to lessons to be learned from nature.
[Frampton]
*August 25, 1900, death of
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
.
1905 in architecture, 1905
![Fale - Spain - Barcelona - 56](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Fale_-_Spain_-_Barcelona_-_56.jpg)
*Formation of the
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
Die Brücke
The Brücke (Bridge), also Künstlergruppe Brücke or KG Brücke was a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905. Founding members were Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Later memb ...
expressionist art movement.
*Construction of the Casa Milà, a forerunner of the movement, begins.
1907 in architecture, 1907
*The poet
Paul Scheerbart
Paul Karl Wilhelm Scheerbart (8 January 1863 in Danzig – 15 October 1915 in Berlin) was a German author of speculative fiction literature and drawings. He was also published under the pseudonym ''Kuno Küfer'' and is best known for the bo ...
independently offers a science fiction image of utopian future.
1909 in architecture, 1909
*(1909–1912) Adolf Loos gives a collection of speeches throughout Germany that eventually become his satirical essay/manifesto "Ornament and Crime", which rejects applied ornament in favour of abstraction.
*The New Munich Artist's Association, Neue Künstlervereinigung München, is established by
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
and others in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
.
1910 in architecture, 1910
*Publication in Berlin of the journals ''Der Sturm'' by Herwarth Walden and ''Die Aktion'' by Franz Pfemfert as counterculture mouthpieces against the Deutscher Werkbund.
1911 in architecture, 1911
*
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer.
Life
Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncerta ...
sets up practice in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland). Designs a water tower for Posen (now Poznań, Poland), described by Kenneth Frampton as a certain Die Stadtkrone image, and an office building which led to the architectural format of
Erich Mendelsohn
Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic Functionalism (architecture), functionalism in his projects for department ...
's later Berliner "Mosse-Haus" in 1921.
*
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
resigns chairmanship of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München.
*
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...
and Adolf Meyer (architect), Adolf Meyer build the Fagus Factory, Alfeld an der Leine.
*
Der Blaue Reiter
''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name, first published in mid-May ...
forms and has first exhibits in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
and Berlin.
1912 in architecture, 1912
*
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer.
Life
Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncerta ...
designs a chemical plant in Luban (now: Luboń, Poland), with strongly expressively articulated brick massing.
*Wassily Kandinsky publishes ''Über das Geistige in der Kunst'' ("Concerning the Spiritual in Art").
*Work of the
Amsterdam School
The Amsterdam School (Dutch: ''Amsterdamse School'') is a style of architecture that arose from 1910 through about 1930 in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam School movement is part of international Expressionist architecture, sometimes linked ...
starts with the cooperative-commercial
Scheepvaarthuis
The Shipping House ( nl, Scheepvaarthuis) is a building on the western tip of the Waalseiland near Amsterdam harbour that is one of the top 100 Dutch heritage sites and generally regarded as the first true example of the Amsterdam School, a style ...
(Shipping House), designed by Johan van der Mey.
1913 in architecture, 1913
*Michel de Klerk starts work on the first of three apartment buildings at Spaarndammerplantsoen, Amsterdam the last to be completed in 1921.
*Rudolf Steiner commences work on the first Goetheanum. Work is completed in 1919.
*Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint wins design competition for Grundtvig's Church in Copenhagen, Denmark.
1914 in architecture, 1914
![WendingenLauweriks](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/WendingenLauweriks.jpg)
*Paul Scheerbart publishes ''Glasarchitecktur''
*Werkbund Exhibition (1914), Cologne Werkbund exhibition demonstrates ideological split between:
#Norm (sociology), Normative form (Typisierung) – Behrens, Muthesius, and,
#Individualists – Taut, van de Velde, Gropius
1915 in architecture, 1915
*Death of Paul Scheerbart.
*
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...
publishes ''
The Metamorphosis
''Metamorphosis'' (german: Die Verwandlung) is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, ''Metamorphosis'' tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himsel ...
''.
1917 in architecture, 1917
*Michel de Klerk starts building the Het Schip the third and most accomplished apartment buildings at Spaarndammerplantsoen, for the Eigen Haard development company in Amesterda
Work is completed in 1921.
*Bruno Taut publishes ''Alpine architecture''.
1918 in architecture, 1918
*Adolf Behne expands the socio-cultural implications Scheerbarts writings about glass.
*Armistice – Republican revolution in Germany. Social Democrats form Workers and Soldiers Councils. General strikes.
*Free expression of the
Amsterdam School
The Amsterdam School (Dutch: ''Amsterdamse School'') is a style of architecture that arose from 1910 through about 1930 in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam School movement is part of international Expressionist architecture, sometimes linked ...
elucidated in the Wendingen (Changes) magazine.
*November – Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Worker's Council for the Arts), founded by
Bruno Taut
Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 – 24 December 1938) was a renowned German architect, urban planner and author of Prussian Lithuanian heritage ("taut" means "nation" in Lithuanian). He was active during the Weimar period and is know ...
and Adolf Behne. They model themselves consciously on the Soviets and attach a leftist programme to their Utopian and Expressionist activities. They demand; 1. A spiritual revolution to accompany the political one. 2. Architects to form ‘Corporations’ bound by ‘mutual aid’.
*November – Novembergruppe formed only to merge with Arbeitsrat für Kunst the following month. It proclaims; 1. Creation of collective art works. 2. Mass housing. 3. The destruction of artistically valueless monuments (This was a common reaction of the Avant Garde against the elitist militarism that was perceived as the cause of World War I).
*December – Arbeitsrat für Kunst declares its basic aims in
Bruno Taut
Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 – 24 December 1938) was a renowned German architect, urban planner and author of Prussian Lithuanian heritage ("taut" means "nation" in Lithuanian). He was active during the Weimar period and is know ...
s ''Architeckturprogramm''. It calls for a new 'total work of art', to be created with active participation of the people.
*Bruno Taut publishes Die Stadtkrone.
1919 in architecture, 1919
*Spring manifesto of Arbeitsrat für Kunst is published. Art for the masses. Alliance of the arts under the wing of architecture. 50 artists, architects and patrons join led by
Bruno Taut
Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 – 24 December 1938) was a renowned German architect, urban planner and author of Prussian Lithuanian heritage ("taut" means "nation" in Lithuanian). He was active during the Weimar period and is know ...
,
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...
and Adolf Behne.
*April –
Erich Mendelsohn
Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic Functionalism (architecture), functionalism in his projects for department ...
, Hannes Meyer, Bernard Hoetger, Max Taut and Otto Bartning stage exhibition called 'An Exhibition of Unknown Architects'.
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...
writes the introduction, now considered to be a first draft for the
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
programme published later in the month. Called for a ‘Cathedral of the Future’, to unify the creative energy of society as in the Middle Ages.
*
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
established and begins expressionist phase, to last until 1923.
*Adolf Behne publishes ''Ja! Stimmen des Arbeitsrates für Kunst in Berlin'' (''Yes! Voices from the art Soviet in Berlin'').
*Spartacist revolt ends the overt activities of Arbeitsrat für Kunst. The group starts the first Utopian letter of the
Glass Chain The Glass Chain or Crystal Chain sometimes known as the "Utopian Correspondence" (german: Die Gläserne Kette) was a chain letter that took place between November 1919 and December 1920. It was a correspondence of architects that formed a basis of e ...
by Bruno Taut. They are joined by previously peripheral architects; Hans Luckhardt, Wassili Luckhardt and
Hans Scharoun
Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun (20 September 1893 – 25 November 1972) was a German architect best known for designing the Berliner Philharmonie (home to the Berlin Philharmonic) and the Schminke House in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important ...
. The letters demand; 1. Return to medieval integration of the building team. 2. Irregular form. 3. Facetted form. 4. Glass monuments.
*Opening of the Grosses Schauspielhaus by Hans Poelzig in Berlin. Hanging pendentive forms create a ‘luminous dissolution of form and space’.
*
Bruno Taut
Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 – 24 December 1938) was a renowned German architect, urban planner and author of Prussian Lithuanian heritage ("taut" means "nation" in Lithuanian). He was active during the Weimar period and is know ...
launches the magazine Frühlicht (Early Light).
*
Bruno Taut
Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 – 24 December 1938) was a renowned German architect, urban planner and author of Prussian Lithuanian heritage ("taut" means "nation" in Lithuanian). He was active during the Weimar period and is know ...
and
Hans Scharoun
Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun (20 September 1893 – 25 November 1972) was a German architect best known for designing the Berliner Philharmonie (home to the Berlin Philharmonic) and the Schminke House in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important ...
stress the creative importance of the Sigmund Freud, Freudian Unconscious mind, unconscious.
*
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer.
Life
Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncerta ...
is made chairman of the Deutscher Werkbund.
*Design work starts on Piet Kramers De Dageraad. Construction is completed in 1923. Mendelsohn see it as more structural than the work of Hendrikus Theodorus Wijdeveld, Hendrikus Wijdeveld.
1920 in architecture, 1920
*February 26, the film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920 film), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari premiered at the Marmorhaus in Berlin.
*
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer.
Life
Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncerta ...
declares affinity with the Glass Chain. He designs sets for The Golem: How He Came Into the World, The Golem.
*Solidarity of the Glass Chain is broken. Final letter written by
Hermann Finsterlin Hermann Finsterlin (18 August 1887 – 16 September 1973) was a German visionary architect, painter, poet, essayist, toymaker and composer. He played an influential role in the German expressionist architecture movement of the early 20th century bu ...
. Hans Luckhardt recognises the incompatibility of free unconscious form and rationalist prefabrication and moves to Rationalism.
*Taut maintains his Scheerbartian views. He publishes ‘Die Auflösung der Städt' (The dissolution of the city) in line with Peter Kropotkin, Kropotkinian anarchist socialist tendencies. In common with the Soviet (council), Soviets, it recommends the breakup of cities and a return to the land. He models agrarian communities and temples in the Alps. There would be 3 separate residential communities. 1. The enlightened. 2. Artists. 3. Children. This authoritarianism is noted in Frampton as although socialist in intent, paradoxically containing the seeds of the later fascism.
1921 in architecture, 1921
![Den Haag De Bijenkorf 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Den_Haag_De_Bijenkorf_001.JPG)
*Taut is made city architect of Magdeburg and fails to realise a municipal exhibition hall as the harsh economic realities of the Weimar republic become apparent and prospects of building a ‘glass paradise’ dwindle.
*
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...
designs the ''Monument to the March Dead
in Weimar. It is completed in 1922 and inspires the workers' gong in the 1927 film ''
Metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big c ...
'' by
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
.
*Frühlicht loses its impetus.
*
Erich Mendelsohn
Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic Functionalism (architecture), functionalism in his projects for department ...
visits works of the Dutch Wendingen group and tours the Netherlands. He meets the rationalists Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud, J.J.P. Oud and Willem Marinus Dudok, W.M. Dudok. He recognises the conflict of visionary and objective approaches to design.
*
Erich Mendelsohn
Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic Functionalism (architecture), functionalism in his projects for department ...
's Mossehaus opens. Construction is complete on the
Einstein Tower
The Einstein Tower (German: ''Einsteinturm'') is an astrophysical observatory in the Albert Einstein Science Park in Potsdam, Germany built by architect Erich Mendelsohn. It was built on the summit of the Potsdam '' Telegraphenberg'' to house ...
. It combines the sculptural forms of Van de Weldes Werkbund Exhibition theatre with the profile of Taut's Glashaus and the formal affinity to vernacular Dutch architecture of Eibink and Jan Snellebrand, Snellebrand and Hendrikus Theodorus Wijdeveld, Hendrikus Wijdeveld. Einstein himself visits and declares it ‘organic’.
*Mendelsohn designs a hat factory in Luckenwalde. It shows influences of the Dutch expressionist De Klerk, setting dramatic tall pitched industrial forms against horizontal administrative elements. This approach is echoed in his Saint Petersburg, Leningrad textile mill of 1925 and anticipates the banding in his department stores in Breslau, Stuttgart, Chemnitz and Berlin from 1927 and 1931.
*Hugo Häring and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe submit a competition entry for a Friedrichstrasse office building. It reveals an organic approach to structure and is fully made of glass.
1922 in architecture, 1922
*Ludwig Mies van der Rohe publishes a glass skyscraper project in the last issue of Frühlicht.
*Toompea Castle is rebuilt for the Riigikogu in Tallinn, Estonia, as the only expressionist style parliamentary building in the world.
*The film ''Nosferatu'' by F.W. Murnau is released.
1923 in architecture, 1923
*
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
expressionist phase ends. Standard arguments for the reasons for this are 1. Expressionism was difficult to build. 2. Rampant inflation in Germany changed the climate of opinion to a more sober one. Jencks postulates that the standard arguments are too simplistic and instead argues that 1. Expressionism had become associated with extreme utopianism which in turn had been discredited by violence and bloodshed. Or 2. Architects had become convinced that the new (rationalist) style was equally expressive and more adequately captured the Zeitgeist. There is no large disagreements or public pronouncements to precipitate this change in direction. The only outwardly visible reaction was the forced resignation of the head of the basic Bauhaus course, Johannes Itten, to be replaced with the, then constructivist, László Moholy-Nagy.
*Chilehaus in Hamburg by Fritz Höger.
*
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...
abandons expressionism and moves to rationalism.
*Bruno and Max Taut begin work on government funded low cost housing projects.
*Berlin secession exhibition. Mies van der Rohe and Hans and Wassili Luckhardt demonstrate a more functional and objective approach.
*Rudolf Steiner designs second Goetheanum after first was destroyed by fire in 1922. Work commences 1924 and is completed in 1928.
*Michel de Klerk dies.
1924 in architecture, 1924
*Germany adopts the Dawes plan. Architects more inclined to produce low-cost housing than pursue utopian ideas about glass.
*Hugo Häring designs a farm complex. It uses expressive pitched roofs contrasted with bulky tectonic elements and rounded corners.
*Hugo Häring designs Prinz Albrecht Garten, residential project. Whilst demonstrating overt expressionism he is preoccupied with deeper inquiries into the inner source of form.
*Foundation of Zehnerring group.
*June 3, Death of Franz Kafka.
*Hermann Finsterlin initiates a series of correspondence with
Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, ''sui generis'' style. Most are located in Barcel ...
.
1925 in architecture, 1925
![Borsigwerke B-Tegel 07-2017 img3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Borsigwerke_B-Tegel_07-2017_img3.jpg)
*
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer.
Life
Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncerta ...
abandons expressionism and returns to crypto-classicism.
* Zehnerring group becomes
Der Ring
Der Ring was an architectural collective founded in 1926 in Berlin. It emerged from expressionist architecture with a functionalist agenda. Der Ring was a group of young architects, formed with the objective of promoting Modernist architecture. ...
. Hugo Häring is appointed secretary.
* Max Brod publishes Franz Kafka's ''The Trial''
* Eugen Schmohl completes the Borsig-Tower in Berlin-Tegel
1926 in architecture, 1926
*Founding of the architectural collective
Der Ring
Der Ring was an architectural collective founded in 1926 in Berlin. It emerged from expressionist architecture with a functionalist agenda. Der Ring was a group of young architects, formed with the objective of promoting Modernist architecture. ...
largely turns its back on expressionism and towards a more functionalist agenda.
*Wassily Kandinsky publishes ''Point and Line to Plane''.
*Max Brod publishes Franz Kafka's ''The Castle (novel), The Castle''
1927 in architecture, 1927
![PB030157](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/PB030157.JPG)
*Anzeiger-Hochhaus, Hannover by Fritz Höger
*Grundtvig's Church, Bispebjerg by Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint
*Release of
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
's
Metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big c ...
.
*Weissenhof Estate is built in Stuttgart. Expressionist architects, Taut, Poelzig, Scharoun, build in International style (architecture), international style.
1928 in architecture, 1928
*Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) convenes in Switzerland. Hugo Häring fails to move consensus away from
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
's call for rationalism towards an organic approach. Finally the Scheerbartian vision is eclipsed as the non-normative ‘place’ orientated approach is cast aside.
*The Großmarkthalle at Frankfurt (by Martin Elsaesser) is completed.
*Chapel of the Cemetery of Glienicke/Nordbahn (Germany) is completed. Architect: Paul Poser
1930 in architecture, 1930
1931 in architecture, 1931
*Completion of 'The house of Atlantis' in Böttcherstraße (Bremen).
1933 in architecture, 1938
*After
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
seizure of power, expressionist art was outlawed as degenerate art.
1937 in architecture, 1937
*Design of Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík, Iceland by Guðjón Samúelsson.
1940 in architecture, 1940
*The Berlin Philharmonic concert hall is destroyed in 1944 during World War II.
1950 in architecture, 1950
*Le Corbusier constructs Notre Dame du Haut signaling his Postmodern architecture, postmodern return to an architectural expressionism of form. He also constructs the Unité d'Habitation, which emphasizes the architectural expression of materials. The Brutalist architecture, Brutalist use of béton brut (reinforced concrete) recalls the expressionist use of glass,
brick
A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...
, and steel.
1960 in architecture, 1960
*Expressionism reborn without the political context as Fantastic architecture.
*Rebuilding of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1963 by Hans Scharoun.
*Church of The Highway by Giovanni Michelucci is inaugurated in Italy.
Expressionist architects of the 1920s
*Adolf Behne
*
Hermann Finsterlin Hermann Finsterlin (18 August 1887 – 16 September 1973) was a German visionary architect, painter, poet, essayist, toymaker and composer. He played an influential role in the German expressionist architecture movement of the early 20th century bu ...
*
Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, ''sui generis'' style. Most are located in Barcel ...
*
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...
– early period
*Hugo Häring
*Fritz Höger
*Bernhard Hoetger
*Michel de Klerk
*Piet Kramer
*Carl Krayl
*
Erich Mendelsohn
Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic Functionalism (architecture), functionalism in his projects for department ...
*
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer.
Life
Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncerta ...
*
Hans Scharoun
Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun (20 September 1893 – 25 November 1972) was a German architect best known for designing the Berliner Philharmonie (home to the Berlin Philharmonic) and the Schminke House in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important ...
*Rudolf Steiner
*
Bruno Taut
Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 – 24 December 1938) was a renowned German architect, urban planner and author of Prussian Lithuanian heritage ("taut" means "nation" in Lithuanian). He was active during the Weimar period and is know ...
Legacy
The legacy of Expressionist architecture extended to later movements in the twentieth century. Early expressionism is heavily influenced by
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
and can be considered part of its legacy, while post 1910 and including
Amsterdam School
The Amsterdam School (Dutch: ''Amsterdamse School'') is a style of architecture that arose from 1910 through about 1930 in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam School movement is part of international Expressionist architecture, sometimes linked ...
it is considered adjacent to Art Deco. The New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) art movement arose in direct opposition to Expressionism. Expressionistic architecture today is an evident influence in Deconstructivism, the work of Santiago Calatrava, and the organic movement of Blobitecture.
Another movement that grew out of expressionism to become a school in its own right is Metaphoric architecture, which includes elements of biomorphism and Zoomorphic architecture. The style is very much influenced by the form and geometry of the natural world and is characterised by the use of analogy and metaphor as the primary inspiration and directive for design.
[
]
Perhaps the most prominent voice of the Metaphoric architectural school at present is Dr. Basil Al Bayati whose designs have been inspired by trees and plants, snails, whales, insects, dervishes and even myth and literature.
[
]
He is also the founder of the International School of Metaphoric Architecture in Málaga, Spain.
[
]
Many of the founders and significant players in Expressionist architecture were also important in modern architecture. Examples are Bruno Taut, Hans Scharoun, Walter Gropius, and Mies van der Rohe. By 1927 Gropius, Taut, Scharoun and Mies were all building in the International style (architecture), International Style and participated in the Weissenhof Estate. Gropius and Mies are better known for their modernist work, but Gropius' Monument to the March Dead, and Mies' Friedrichstrasse office building projects are basic works of Expressionist architecture.
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
started his career in modern architecture but took a turn for a more expressionist manner later in life.
Notes
Bibliography
*Breitschmid, Markus (2017). "Alpine Architecture – Bruno Taut", in: ''Disegno'' – Quarterly Journal for Design, No. 14, London (Spring 2017),pp. 62–70.
*Rauhut, Christoph and Lehmann, Niels (2015). ''Fragments of Metropolis Berlin'', Hirmer Publishers 2015,
*Stissi, Vladimir (2007). ''Amsterdam, het mekka van de volkshuisvesting, 1909-1942 (Amsterdam, the Mecca of Social Housing, 1909-1942)'', Dutch language, more than 500 ill., NAi Rotterdam.
*Frampton, Kenneth (2004). ''Modern architecture - a critical history'', Third edition, World of Art,
*
*
*Jencks, Charles (1986). ''Modern Movements in Architecture'', Second edition, Penguin,
*Whyte, Iain Boyd ed. (1985). ''Crystal Chain Letters: Architectural Fantasies by Bruno Taut and His Circle'', The MIT Press,
*Bletter, Rosemarie Haag (Summer 1983). "Expressionism and the New Objectivity", in: ''Art Journal'', 43:2 (Summer 1983), pp. 108–120.
*Bletter, Rosemarie Haag (March 1981). "The Interpretation of the Glass Dream: Expressionist Architecture and the History of the Crystal Metaphor, in: ''JSAH'' (Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians), vol. 40, no. 1 (March 1981): 20–43.
*Pehnt, Wolfgang (1973). ''Expressionist Architecture'', Thames and Hudson,
*Banham, Reyner (1972). ''Theory and Design in the First Machine Age'', Third edition, Praeger Publishers Inc.,
*Sharp, Dennis (1966). ''Modern Architecture and Expressionism'', George Braziller New York,
External links
Fostinum: German Expressionist ArchitectureWendingen digital Magazines IADDB (date of editing, not date in magazine)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Expressionist Architecture
Expressionist architecture,
Architectural history
Architectural styles
Modernism
20th-century architectural styles
is:Expressjónismi