Modernism in America

 Although Modernism started in Germany and France, it quickly traveled to the United States and caused the United States to progress in Modernism the most. Due to World War II, European counties became decreased economically from the wars taken place and lost of money. Therefore, this impacted the design industry as it did to many other big corporations. Since designing is more independent, designers such as Water Gropius came to the United States since the states were world leaders during this time period of 1930-1940. 

DESIGN & DESIGNERS

While Frank Lloyd Wright was not from a Euoprean country, he was definitely inspired by designers from European countries when designing homes and building using the modernism and international style. An example of a design that features Frank Lloyd Wright design style of modernism in the La Minastura in Pasadena, California. This building is made from concrete block while also having repetition in patterns. The interior is very geometric and lavish style. It shows modernism characteristics with the minimalism furniture, glass door, and wood decoration. The color platte on the interior is seen to be a white cream with gold and some dark brown oak wood. 

                                                                                        Image above is the La Minatura

Image below is the Pierre

The Pierre designed by Olson Kundig located in Washigton State is a prime example of a modern day application of the La Minsatura and modernism style. These two facades focus on the use of concrete slabs with only having glass placed on a specific face of the building to allow the natural light into the building. 

Another thing that falls under modernism in America is the media that came with technology. During the 1950s and 60s the increase of media came with adverting on commercials since colored tv came out; a lot more places turned to television to show off their products. Additionally, magazines and other news outlets then just the newspaper became popular. This helped the design industry with promoting residential designs. More people during the time period was apart of the middle and upper class due to the United States doing good ecmonomiclly. Also during this time, the government was giving subsidies in order for people to become home owners. These first time home owners wanted their homes to furnished and built like seen on commercials and magazines which allowed the designers to become needed. 

                                                                                      Image below is the Lovell Home

A modernist designer that focused on residential homes is Richard Nuetra. Neutra came to the United States in 1921 to work with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright but later moved to Los Angeles in 1926 to begin his own practice focusing on art, architecture, and landscape in residential homes. A modernism home designed by Richard Neutra is the Lovell Home. This home showcases the technology advancements by it being the first steel framed house in America. During the modernism era, designers tried to use new material and resources to design and decorate buildings while also keeping the look of simplicity. This home falls under the international design by the way the windows are placed around the building to captivates and beautiful view inside the house. Additionally, the home is very functional and practical. 

The photo to the left is a modern day application of an international style residential home due to the geometrical shapes and linear lines. This is very similar to the Lovell Home due to the materials used the look overall exterior look. Both have the use of windows to captivate the exterior light which is common in modernism and international style. The main difference between the two is that the modern application is more expressive in the geometric shapes. However, the style and use of white color platte is very similar. 

Image above is a modern day international style home

As stated, the media allowed the design industry to become bigger and be popularized. With that, materials became needed a lot more and with the help of manufacturing; materials were better produced quicker as well as better equipped with being built out of molded plywood and plastic. Furniture during this period had a short run of becoming deposable.


A designer that focused on furniture in the modernism and international style was Eero Saarinen who was educated at Yale School of Architecture. He built chairs such as the Grasshopper, Tulip, and Womb Chair. The Womb Chair was built out of industrial material such as fiberglass, resin, and steel. While the Grasshopper Chair is made out of wood and fabric. The most visual chair that looks like it is international style is the Tulip Chair based on its dynamic shape. The Tulip Chair is made out of new material too such as the molded fiberglass and plastic bond finishing. 

                                                                                  Above is the Tulip Chair

A modern day application of a Tulip Chair is the mid-century Tulip Chair pictured to the left. While the material seems the same, the shape is different. The modern day application of Saarinen's design is less complex with an oval shape design as the back. Additionally, the modern chair has less cushioning to the seating. 

Pictured to the left a mid-century Tulip Chair



ONE STEP FURTHER

While there are many designers from this period, one that I found fascinating is Philip Johnson. He is a more recent designer from this period with his death being in 2005. During his life he graduated from Harvard Graduate School of Design while studying under Gropius. He contributed to this era in design with not only his own designs but also bringing designers such as Corbusier, Vander Rohe, and Breuer to America as immigrants.

A famous work Johnson completed was the Glass House in Connecticut. Using his inspiration from the Farnsworth house, he built a home that was made of all glass. It was smaller than the Farnsworth House and had a fireplace with brick flooring. A similarity he took from the Farnsworth House was the glass bit also using walnut cabinets as interior dividers. 

Pictured to the left is the Glass House


EXTRA SOURCES

Overlook in Modern Design- 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDCEtnXlA4Y

Internation Style- 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTRwumU9Q0I


Comments

  1. Kahlan DyonApril 8, 2023 at 6:22 AM

    Izzy,
    the way you organized your blog and dived deeper into the designers was well done. I really liked how you went into to depth on each designer and describing their background. For your one-step further I also talked about the Glass house and hoe it was so interesting to see something like the Farnsworth home. I wondered if there was any inspiration from the designer Mies to create this home. Good job on your blog and diving deeper into American modernism.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eva SerratoApril 8, 2023 at 9:13 AM

    Izzy,
    I appreciated how you started off your blog post by giving background information about the design style and how it came to be and entered America. You did a great job showing many architectural examples of modernism and gave great detail about the architects behind these projects. You showed great understanding when you compared and contrast the two buildings and how one was modernism and the other was international style and how both are similar yet different at the same time. I also appreciated how you went over the many famous pieces of furniture during the modernism movement in America.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Professor VanderNoordaaApril 19, 2023 at 4:50 AM

    Izabella,
    I appreciated your post this week. I enjoyed how you gave historical examples of design during this period and then current examples of the design. The layout of your blog entry was well organized and informative.
    Eero Saarinen and the Tulip chair was a great example of modernism/international.
    Philip Johnson was a perfect designer to research further.
    Total Points: 50/50

    ReplyDelete

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