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Pioneers of modern design : from William Morris to Walter Gropius / Nikolaus Pevsner.

By: Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1902-1983.
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, 2005Edition: 4th ed., rev. and expanded.Description: 192 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 26 cm. + hbk.ISBN: 0300105711.Subject(s): Modern movement (Architecture) | Modernism (Art) | Design -- History -- 19th century | Design -- History -- 20th century | Designers -- BiographyDDC classification: 745.409
Contents:
Theories of art from Morris to Gropius -- From eighteen-fifty-one to Morris and the arts and crafts movement -- Eighteen-ninety in painting -- Art Nouveau -- Engineering and architecture in the nineteenth century -- England, eighteen-ninety to nineteen-fourteen -- The modern movement before nineteen-fourteen.
Summary: Pevsner saw Modernism as a synthesis of three main sources: William Morris and his followers, the work of nineteenth-century engineers, and Art Nouveau. The author considers the role of these sources in the work of early Modernists and looks at such masters of the movement as C.F.A. Voysey and Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Britain, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright in America, and Adolf Loos and Otto Wagner in Vienna. The account concludes with a discussion of the radical break with the past represented by the design work of Walter Gropius and his future Bauhaus colleagues.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Barcode
General lending MTU Bishopstown Library Lending 745.409 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 00114663
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

One of the most widely read books on modern design, Nikolaus Pevsner's landmark work today remains as stimulating as it was when first published in 1936. This expanded edition of Pioneers of Modern Design provides Pevsner's original text along with significant new and updated information, enhancing Pevsner's illuminating account of the roots of Modernism. The book now offers many beautiful color illustrations; biographies and bibliographies of all major figures; illustrated short essays on key themes, movements, and individuals; a critique of Pevsner's analysis from today's perspective; examples of works after 1914 (where the original study ended); a biography detailing Pevsner's life and achievements; and much more.

Pevsner saw Modernism as a synthesis of three main sources: William Morris and his followers, the work of nineteenth-century engineers, and Art Nouveau. The author considers the role of these sources in the work of early Modernists and looks at such masters of the movement as C.F.A. Voysey and Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Britain, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright in America, and Adolf Loos and Otto Wagner in Vienna. The account concludes with a discussion of the radical break with the past represented by the design work of Walter Gropius and his future Bauhaus colleagues.

Bibliography: (pages 180-185) and index.

Theories of art from Morris to Gropius -- From eighteen-fifty-one to Morris and the arts and crafts movement -- Eighteen-ninety in painting -- Art Nouveau -- Engineering and architecture in the nineteenth century -- England, eighteen-ninety to nineteen-fourteen -- The modern movement before nineteen-fourteen.

Pevsner saw Modernism as a synthesis of three main sources: William Morris and his followers, the work of nineteenth-century engineers, and Art Nouveau. The author considers the role of these sources in the work of early Modernists and looks at such masters of the movement as C.F.A. Voysey and Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Britain, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright in America, and Adolf Loos and Otto Wagner in Vienna. The account concludes with a discussion of the radical break with the past represented by the design work of Walter Gropius and his future Bauhaus colleagues.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Pevsner's well-known study has had a long history. First published in 1936 as Pioneers of the Modern Movement, a second edition, slightly modified, appeared in 1949 and a third in 1960. This last, the first with the current title, was considerably enlarged with additional material on iron architecture, art nouveau, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Frank Lloyd Wright. The 1960 edition beloved by scholars was the last by Pevsner before his death in 1983. This latest edition is greatly enlarged and expanded with additional text and revisions by Pamela Todd. Also included is a fascinating introduction by Richard Weston of the Welsh School of Architecture, in which Weston considers Pevsner as architectural historian and provides a detailed discussion of the book's virtues and faults. The expanded illustrations are now predominately in color, unfortunately including Sullivan's Carson, Pirie and Scott store mislabeled as Richardson's Marshall Field Wholesale Store. The new edition (or is it a new book?) is considerably revised and updated. Consequently, it has a clarity, richness of discussion, and innumerable color illustrations with an up-to-date interpretation and extensive bibliography and footnotes ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates through faculty. T. J. McCormick emeritus, Wheaton College (MA)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

He is a former architecture historian.

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