Mies van der Rohe : an architect in his time / Dietrich Neumann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Neumann, Dietrich, Author.

Contributor:

Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, sponsoring body.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 1886-1969--Criticism and interpretation.

Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig.

Architecture and society--Europe--History--20th century.

Architecture and society.

Architecture and society--United States--History--20th century.

Architects--Germany--20th century.

Architects.

Architects--United States--20th century.

Genre:

Illustrated works.

Physical Description:

438 pages : illustrations (some color), portraits, plans ; 32 cm

polychrome.

illustration.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2024]

Summary:

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) was a German-born American architect and designer whose work in Europe and North America has had an enduring influence on modern and contemporary architecture worldwide. During his sixty-year career, he fundamentally rethought architectural types that shaped modern life, including the office building, apartment building, and private home. True to his alleged dictum "less is more," Mies van der Rohe's style is characterized by utmost simplicity, elegance of materials, and radical formal and functional innovation, as exemplified by such iconic projects as the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois, and the Seagram Building in New York. In this book, renowned architectural historian Dietrich Neumann presents a new, critical look at Mies and complicates the established narrative about him. Diverging from the reverential posture of many existing accounts, Neumann insists on the importance of the contemporary context--social, political, and architectural--for understanding the architect's life and work. The book draws on many overlooked archival and primary sources to demonstrate how and why Mies's designs were shaped and received, foregrounding contemporary critics' responses and the work of Mies's collaborators and peers. It presents several previously unknown buildings, projects, and furniture designs and challenges long-established interpretations of key works. Comprehensively illustrated and covering the entirety of Mies's career, this ambitious book is the most substantial account to date of the life and work of one of the most important architects of the twentieth century.

Contents:

Introduction : Portraits of an architect

Apprenticeships and early work : Aachen, Berlin, Wassenaar, 1905-22

Conventional houses and visionary projects : Potsdam, Berlin, Wiesbaden, 1922-25

Housing and urban modernity : Berlin, Guben, Stuttgart, 1925-29

Politics and architecture : Barcelona, 1929

Success and changing tides : Brno, Berlin, 1929-33

On the fence : Ticino, Berlin, Stuttgart, 1933-37

Difficult beginnings : New York, Chicago, 1937-44

Formation of a new language : Chicago, 1943-56

Universal formulas : Chicago, Newark, Cincinnati, Detroit, New York, Baltimore, Toronto, Montreal, Berlin, 1956-69

Afterword : Legacy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Albert M. Greenfield Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780300246230

0300246234

OCLC:

1428777353