Description

This module will provide an overview of the major developments in architecture and design from the Eiffel Tower to the emergence of the so-called 'International Style' of the 1930s. While concentrating on the 'applied' arts, much attention will be given to the modernist predeliction for the coming together of the various art forms. Collaborative projects between artists, architects and designers will be a common feature of the module.

Taking as a starting point Art Nouveau and its Germanic equivalent Jugendstil, various issues will be introduced regarding style and stylization, the use of new materials and technologies, and attitudes towards the propriety of ornamentation. From that point on the module will move in a more geographical than chronological fashion to include some particular case studies. Turn of the century Vienna will be one focus of attention, including the activities of the Secession and the Wiener Werkstatte. Others will include Germany following the formation of the Deutsche Werkbund with much attention paid to the Bauhaus both in Weimar and Dessau. Finally the module will look to the Netherlands and France, at the De Stijl group and Le Corbusier's L' Esprit Nouveau. Thematic continuities through these various cases may include the transformation of the domestic interior, aspirations for an industrial utopia and the aesthetic transformation of social reality.

Objectives

By the end of the module students should have acquired:

• a familiarity with the significant buildings and objects of the period
• an ability to analyse the applied arts in relation to social developments
• an understanding of the interaction of the fine and applied arts in the period