Post Modernism

Michael Graves was a famous American architect.  He was part of the New York Five.  He was first known for his contemporary building designs.  His contemporary building designs became iconic postmodernism architecture.  Some of his more famous building were the Portland Building and Denver Public Library.  Graves then began designing products and furniture.  He designed a stainless steel teakettle for a company called, Alessi, which became the company's best selling product.  He also designed the scaffolding that was used for the restoration of the Washington Monument.  He also began designing products for Target.  Graves designed a model house to showcase Target's new line of housewares.  He even took a further step and designed the house with custom furniture, lighting, fixtures, and other designs for the house.

Todays Design

E.C. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW_MQ3vIZdA

Peer Reviews: 

Alex: I liked how she talked about designers today still using these patterns and it's interesting that these patterns are being used in clothing.

Sara: She did a good job of describing the main designers and how they fit into the Memphis movement.  I also enjoyed all of her videos.

Modernism Part 2

Charles and Ray Eames were very famous American designers.  Many of their furniture designs are still around and popular today.  They are most famous for the Eames Lounge Chair.  The chair is made from molded plywood and leather.  It was the first chair they designed for a high end market.  The Eameses pioneered fiberglass furniture, plastic resin chairs, and the wire mesh chairs.  Charles was the only one that got recognition for his work.  It was very obvious that Ray had contributed to Charles work.  Charles really supported the idea of Ray getting equal recognition for their work.  Not only did they design furniture but they also designed houses, made films, and designed fabrics.

Today's Furniture Inspired by the Eameses

E.C. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8rICo44kAE

Peer Reviews:

Bailey: I liked how you went into detail about what materials Charles and Ray Eames used for their furniture.

Savannah: I liked how you explained the different color schemes of mid century modernism.  I know we briefly talked about it in class.

Modernism Part 1

Frank Lloyd Wright had a great impact on modernism.  One famous house he designed was the Hollyhock House.  It is located in the East Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.  It was originally designed for oil heiress, Aline Barnsdall.  It was built in 1919-1921, today it is centerpiece for Barnsdall's Art Park.  The house was originally supposed to be part of the arts and theater complex, Olive Hill, but the larger part of this project was never completed.  Wright could not supervise most of the construction because he was busy designing the Imperial Hotel.  Many of the construction responsibilities were given to his assistant, Rudolph Schindler and his son, Lloyd Wright.

Today's Interiors Inspired by FLW

E.C. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-5hNWjHKJI

Peer Reviews:

Kiera: I liked how you talked about Wright and Schindler worked together.  Also it was interesting to learn that they did not agree on things and it ended bitterly.

Kate I: I liked how you went into detail about Schindler and specifically what made his design style so unique.

Rise of the Decorator

Dorothy Draper was a well known female interior designer.  She established her own company Dorothy Draper and Company.  At the time it was considered strange for a woman to go into business.  She revolutionized the concept of design by breaking away from historical interiors.  She invented Modern Baroque.  She loved public space.  Most of her interiors were public spaces.  To her public spaces represented a place for people to come and feel elevated in the presence of great beauty, where the senses could look and feel and absorb the meaning of a quality life.

Today's Interiors Inspired By Draper

Extra Credit Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjlEHsDPi1w

Peer Reviews: 

Lisa: I really like how you went into detail about Dorothy Draper and Elsie de Wolfe.  I also really liked your video.  It really elaborated on Draper.

Erin Kelly: I really enjoyed learning more about Tessa Kennedy.  Since we had not talked about her in class I found it very interesting.

Art Deco

Art Deco is a kind of design that is easily distinguishable.  It has sharp edge looks and geometric patterns.  This style was the first to look forward and not back.  Art Deco was part of the Modern Movement in architecture.

Donald Deskey played a major part in the Art Deco era.  He had a degree in architecture and studied painting before he worked in advertising.  From 1922 to 1924 he was the head of the art department at Juniata College.  In 1926-1927 he created the first modern window displays for the Franklin Simon and Saks department stores.  He eventually expanded into designing interiors, furniture, lamps, and textiles.  He designed the interiors for an apartment that was shown at the American Designers' Gallery.  The apartment had cork-lined walls, copper ceiling, movable walls, pigskin covered furniture and linoleum floor.  He was one of the first American designers to use Bakelite, Formica, Fabrikoid, brushed aluminum and chromium plated brass.  In 1931 he created the interiors for the Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, New York.  When he created the interiors he introduced aluminum foil wallpaper to the men's smoking lounge.

Current Applications

E.C. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSIlBbc54sM

Peer Reviews:

Megan: I love how you explained what Art Deco looked like and how you even threw in several designers from that time period and showed what their furniture looked like.

Kendra: I liked how above all of your pictures you wrote how the picture fit in to Art Deco.

Emergence to Modernism

Walter Gropius was one of the founding fathers of Modernism.  He created the Bauhaus, which embraced elements of art, architecture, graphic design, and interior design in its design.  Gropius was very interested in newly developed factories.  In 1908 he joined the studio of Peter Behrens, a German architect and industrial designer.  He worked alongside Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe.  However, Gropius was the first one to put his modernist ideas to work.  He and Adolf Meyer designed the Fagus Factory.  After the Bauhaus was closed it gained its popularity in the Western world with an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Current Applications

E.C. Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRREJp0AhKw

Peer Reviews:

Country Brown:  I really liked how you really went through and described major events that happened in Mies's life and what events were going on that this time.

Marisa: I really liked how you described some of the materials that were used during this time.  I also really liked your description of the Barcelona Chair.

Protomodernism

Australian designer Josef Hoffmann was great at minimal style.  He first came around during the arts and crafts movement.  He began to question the traditional style.  He helped lead the way to the Vienna Secession.  It was a movement that helped create a new style that was its own.  They hoped to show modernism at every level of society.  Architects from this time period embraced geometry and abstraction.  They also developed decorative style with curvilinear designs.  As the movement progressed, architects became very interested in planar and classical forms.  The Vienna Succession Movement was very important because it showed their rejection to historicism and combined modern design.

Today's Design

E.C. Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Ic8SF0qzA

Peer Reviews

Savannah: I really like how you described protomoderism as a rebellion. I also really liked your video about 20th century design, you really can see the protomoderism influence.

Somang: I really liked how you went into detail about both movements and talked about how protomodernism expanded from the arts and crafts movement.

Art Nouveau

Hector Guimard was a French architect and interior designer for Art Nouveau objects.  He traveled through Belgium and England.  In Brussels, Guimard saw buildings designed by Belgian designer, Victor Horta, whose art had a very big impact on his own art.  Guimard’s first project was to design the interior of a restaurant in Paris called, “Au Grand Neptune.”  After this he designed some private dwellings in Paris.

One of his most important works was the entrances to the Paris Metro.  It was completed just in time for the 1900 World Exposition.  He used ornamental and organic natural forms.  He had designed many Metro entrances in the Art Nouveau style.  They all featured wrought iron, bronze and glass.  Eighty-six still remain today.

Modern Day

EC Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y37SniEVMHM

Peer Reviews

Becca: I really enjoyed your videos and images of Antoni Gaudi's works.  He was really talented and his designs almost looked like something you would see in a dream.  His works are very beautiful and whimsical.  I could never even image trying to create some of the things he did.

Demi: I never knew that Victor Horta was the one that introduced the curtain wall.  That is something that we use a lot today.

William Morris

William Morris was the central figure of the arts and crafts movement.  He was a writer, designer, reformer, and poet.  Morris founded a company with Philip Webb.  It later became Morris and Company.


William Morris made many designs for fabrics, wallpapers, and graphics, which were based on nature.  His company started to produce wallpapers in 1862.  The greatest long lasting source for their company was flat patterns for textiles and wallpapers.

One of the more popular chairs is the Morris Chair.  It is a wooden armchair, which was probably designed by others employed by Morris and Company.  It was based off of inexpensive chairs and made with unattached cushions.  This chair was most useful as porch furniture.

Overall, Morris was a very successful designer.  Morris and Company really thrived off of their Gothic Revival style.  Gothic Revival churches always had stained glass windows.  Stained glass actually became one of the firm's specialities.  He often worked with other painters and craftsmen.  Morris promoted the close relationship between art and craft.

Current Applications

E.C. Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_aqgeMpeus