Abstract of Form n Line

8/8/2019 Abstract of Form n Line

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Abstraction of

Form & LineBirth of Modern Architecture


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Why call

Abstraction of Form & Line?


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Based on word abstract Meaning of abstract

-Thought of as quality rather than as anobject or fact.

- Not clear

- Does not try to represent an object as itwould be seen by a camera

Architectural movement and arts during thisperiod emphasized on abstraction in achieving

good designs. Look at buildings in a new way


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What are the architectural

movements?


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(1) The Viennese Secession Movement(a) Josef Maria Olbrich Secession Building (1898)

(b) Josef Hoffmann - Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1903)

- Palais Stoclet (1905)(c) Adolf Loos - The Steiner House (1910)

(2) Elementarism

(3) Dutch De Stijl

(a) Gerrit Reitveld - Schroeder House (1924)

(4) Russian Constructivism(a) Konstantin Melnikov - USSR Pavilion at Paris (1925)

(b) Vladimir Tatlin


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(1) The Viennese

Secession Movement


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The Secession Movement

Founded in Vienna, Austria in 1897.

Instrumental in the formation were a group of

artists, such as Otto Wagner and his giftedstudents, Josef Hoffmann and Josef Olbrich,with Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser and others

As the name indicates, this movementrepresented a protest of the youngergeneration against the traditional art of their

ancestors.

Aspired to the Renaissance of the arts andcrafts and to bring more abstract and purerforms to the designs of buildings and

furniture, glass and metalwork.


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Following the concept of total work of art Josef Maria Olbrich as the leader.

Inspiration from the English Arts and CraftsMovement and Charles Rennie Mackintoshthrough publications.

Rebellion against the over-florid style of theFrench Art Nouveau.


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The Vienna Secession promoted their designaesthetic with exhibition posters and its ownjournal, Ver Sacrum (Sacred Spring).

The journal housed reproductions, poetryillustrations, graphic art, decorative borders,

object design, and cutting-edge conceptions for

layout.

Otto Wagner, Cover for "Ver Sacrum", 1899


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(a) Josef Maria Olbrich

(b) Josef Hoffman(c) Adolf Loos

THE ARCHITECTS;


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(a) Josef Maria Olbrich

1867 1908The Secession Building (1898 1899)


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Joseph Maria Olbrich was an Austrianarchitect, co-founder of the Vienna Secessionartistic group.

In 1897, Otto Wagner, Gustav Klimt, Olbrich,Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser founded

the Vienna Secessionartistic group.

Olbrich designed their exhibition building, thefamous Secession Hall, which became the

movement's landmark.

He remains among the World's most respectedand influential architects.


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The Secession Building (1898 1899)

First architectural work of the Viennesemodernists.

It is the headquarters and exhibition centre of the

Viennese Secession Movement.


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Josef Maria Olbrich First architectural work of the Viennese

modernists.

It is the headquarters and exhibition centre of themovement.

Skylighted interior volume framed by geometric

massing of outer walls.

Historicist allusions plus

non-historicist decorations. Symbolism of the tree of life.


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Josef Maria Olbrich

FRONT VIEW


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Back view


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Interior image of the original Beethoven Frieze

Interior image of the original main room asseen from the entrance


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Interior image of the original entrance to the main room


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(b) Josef Hoffmann

1870 - 1956

(i) Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1903)

(ii) Palais Stoclet (1905 1911)


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Most brilliant of Viennese decorative arts

modernist. Founder of the Weiner Werkstatte, the Viennese

equivalent of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Post Art Nouveau architecture marked by itsexcessive cubiform vocabulary.


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(i) Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1903)

Stripped, stuccoed, cubiform box, slightly U-

shaped, opened by simple rectangular windowsand articulated only by a thin cornice.

Front view


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Front view


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Front elevation


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Interior


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(ii) Palais Stoclet (1905 1911)

Built as a palatial residence. Composed exclusively of a variety of rectilinear forms and

fragments shaped into a complex and picturesque exterior

with a dazzling array of interiors. Residence is devoid of any superfluous external

ornamentation.


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Palais Stoclet (1905 1911)


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(c) Adolf Loos

1870 - 1933The Steiner House, Vienna (1910)


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Secession architect whose aspirations are forextreme, geometric purism.

Adolf Loos gained greater notoriety for his writings

than for his buildings: Wanted an intelligently established building

method supported by reason.

Everything that could not be justified on rationalgrounds was superfluous and should beeliminated.

Recommended pure forms for economy andeffectiveness.


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Loos argued against decoration by:

Pointing to economic and historical

reasons for its development Describing the suppression of decoration

as necessary to the regulation of passion.

He believed that culture resulted from therenunciation of passions and that which brings

man to the absence of ornamentation generates

spiritual power.


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Loos attacked contemporary design

Imitative styling of the nineteenth century.

Contemporary decoration as mass-produced,mass-consumed trash.

Loos acted as a model and a seer for architectsof the 1920s. His fight for freedom from the

decorative styles of the nineteenth century led a

campaign for future architects


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The Steiner House, Vienna (1910)

Much bolder geometry especially the curved roofrising from the street faade.

A radical exercise in functionalist geometric

purism.

Front Elevation

Garden Elevation


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The Steiner House, Vienna (1910)

Point of departure from Hoffmanns PurkersdorfSanatorium.

Much bolder geometry especially the curved roof rising

from the street faade. A radical exercise in functionalist geometric purism.

Front Elevation

Garden Elevation


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Interior - ground floor

Rear corner view


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The Steiner House, Vienna(1910)

Point of departure fromHoffmanns Purkersdorf

Sanatorium.

Much bolder geometryespecially the curved roof

rising from the streetfaade.

A radical exercise infunctionalist geometricpurism.

Interior - ground floor


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Theoretical Ideas

Contemporary thought was not againstornamentation but the unnecessary andinappropriate use of it.

Dilemma of new modernists: From where and how to create new vocabulary

of ornamentation?

Loos eliminated ornamentation altogether andsubstantiated it in his 1908 essay Ornament andCrime- the evolution of culture marches with

the elimination of ornaments from useful objects. This statement would lead to the thought

development of the Italian Futurists.


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(2) Elementarism


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Art theory expounded by Theovan Doesburg of the De Stijlgroup.

Elementarism expanded thelimitations of Neoplasticism

set on artworks by PietMondrian, a leading memberof De Stijl.

"Composition with Red, Yellow, and

Blue Piet Mondrian

"Counter-Composition V, 1924, Theovan Doesburg


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Neoplasticism allowed only the depiction of flat surfaces,

straight lines, and right angles in artworks,

art should not be the reproduction of realobjects, but the expression of the absolutesof life.

To the artists way of thinking, the onlyabsolutes of life were vertical and horizontallines and the primary colours.

To this end, neoplasticisist only used planarelements and the colors red, yellow, andblue.

This neoplastic movement happened in the

1910's


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- believed that the use of inclined planes wasalso acceptable, thus making artworks achievea 3-dimensional quality.

- applied to painting and architecture to describe

the constructive use of line, plane, volume andcolour not only as the primary means of art but

as an end in itself.

Elementarism


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(3) Dutch De Stijl


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GENERAL

Influential movement in art, architecture, and designfounded in 1917 in the Netherlands.

The focus of the movement was an attempt to

simplify art to pure abstraction; form was reduced to rectangles and othergeometric shapes, while

colour was limited to the primary coloursand black and white.

The De Stijl group wanted to bring art and designtogether in a single coherent, simplified system.

Its best-known member was the abstract painter PietMondrian.

The group's main theorist and publicist was Theovan Doesburg (18831931), and his death in 1931effectively marked its end.


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The group published a journal, also called De

Stijl(The Style), which ran from 1917 to 1931. The movement has also been called

neoplasticism, from a pamphlet of that name

published by the artists in Paris in 1920.

The leading figures of De Stijl included

a) Piet Mondrian, the painter,

b) Designer, and writer Theo van Doesburg,

c) Architect Jacobus Oud (18901963), and the

d) Architect and designer Gerrit Rietveld(18881964).


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The De Stijl movement was also known asNeoplasticism.

Proponents of De Stijl sought to:Express a new Utopian ideal of spiritual

harmony and order.

Advocate pure abstraction and universalityby a reduction to the essentials of form andcolour

they simplified visual compositions tovertical and the horizontal directions

used only primary colours of red, blueand yellow along with black and white.

MAIN OBJECTIVES

EXAMPLES


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EXAMPLES

Advocate pure abstractionand universality by a

reduction to the essentials

of form and colour they simplified visual

compositions to vertical

and the horizontaldirections

used only primary colors

of red, blue and yellowalong with black and

white.Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue1921.

Piet Mondrian.


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Examples Piet Mondrian

New York City 1. Piet Mondrian.Composition No. 10. 1939-42 . Piet Mondrian.


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In architecture and art

The philosophy was based on functionalism, with asevere and doctrinaire insistence on the rectilinearity ofthe planes, which seem to slide across one another likesliding panels.

All surface decoration except color was to beeliminated, and only pure primary hues, plus black andwhite were to be allowed.

The most important thing about this group was theirideas, since they managed to build very few of theirdesigns.

One important exception is Gerrit Rietveld's SchroederHouse.


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Gerrit Rietveld


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Gerrit Rietveld

Furniture designRed, White & Blue Chair (1917)

It marked the transition between

the organic, curving Art NoveauStyle and the crisp, chic Art Deco.

The Red & Blue chair is composedout of a dramatic interplay of

straight lines to form patterns.

The lines produce form by enclosingspace, the structure has very

simple components and thestriking colors are a reminder ofpaintings by the artist Mondrian.

Although there is no upholstery, thechair is amazingly comfortable.

Gerrit Rietveld Furniture design


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Gerrit Rietveld Furniture designRed, White & Blue Chair (1917)

Gerrit Rietveld Furniture design

Zi Z Ch i (1934)


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ZigZag Chair (1934)

The Red, White & Blue Chair summarizeskind of the radical proposals of this influentialart and design movement.

It promoted simple forms and primary colorsand tried to reduce objects to their essential

form.

The ZigZag is made of four rectangular

sections of natural hardwood, intricatelydovetailed, glued and bolted together that

reveals

The chair is a pure statement of modernistseating and expresses the cantileverprinciple in a clear form.

It is spare, austere and reveals a simplicity

in abstraction


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Schroeder House,

Utrecht (1924)


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The most complete realizationof the De Stijl aesthetic.

Not only the house, but also thefurnishings and decoration wereplanned by Rietveld.

The house is a rectilinearblock made up of complex,interpenetrating planes ofwall, roof, and projecting

decks, with voids filled by glassin metal sash. Its rigorous geometries and

open-plan layout

articulated with screens andpanels of colour. form a new, so called

modernist, aesthetic.


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The Interior The (upper) main living floor is

divided by a system of slidingpanels that permitrearrangement to achievevarying degrees of openness.

Built-in and movable furniture ofRietveld's design is geometric

and abstract in concept. Only primary colors and black

are introduced within thegenerally white and gray tones

of most surfaces.

Schroeder House, Utrecht (1924)


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Sc oede ouse, Ut ec t ( 9 )Gerrit Reitveld

The most complete realization ofthe De Stijl aesthetic.

Not only the house, but also the

furnishings and decoration wereplanned by Rietveld. The house is a rectilinear block

made up of complex,interpenetrating planes of wall,roof, and projecting decks, withvoids filled by glass in metalsash.

Its rigorous geometries and

open-plan layout, articulatedwith screens and panels ofcolour, form a new, so calledmodernist, aesthetic.


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Gerrit Reitveld

Ground floor First floor



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Gerrit Reitveld The most complete realization of thede Stijl aesthetic.

North East Elevation

South East Elevation

South West Elevation


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Sc oede ouse, Ut ec t ( 9 )

Gerrit ReitveldThe Interior

The (upper) main living floor is

divided by a system of slidingpanels that permit rearrangementto achieve varying degrees of

openness.

Built-in and movable furniture ofRietveld's design is geometric andabstract in concept.

Only primary colors and black areintroduced within the generallywhite and gray tones of mostsurfaces.


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Rietveld used the typical Stijlcolors: red, blue and yellow,combined with white, grayand black.

Living area is on the firstfloor in a flexible area.

This is why the variousrooms, with the exception of

the bathroom and thestaircase, are separatedfrom each other by loosesliding walls.

This enabled her to changethe layout of this floor inaccordance with her wishes.

Dutch De Stijl


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jSchroeder House, Utrecht (1924)

Gerrit Reitveld

The Interior


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(4) Russian Constructivism

1919 - 1932

Konstruktsiia

The development of the Design

Method

Russian Constructivism


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Russian ConstructivismKonstrukstiia The Concept Has to do with the structure of ideas, with the

construction of arguments through theassembling sequence of ideas.

Denotes a mode of thinking, a certain orderingof the process of thought.

Mechanical engineering was the basic logicalparadigm of thinking, the same way our age ofinformation uses system analysis today.

A scientific theory of the design of form ispossible through the dialectical method ofthinking by the application of mathematicalmethods of analysis.

Constructivism was born out of the 1917 RussianRevolution the embodiment of Lenins socialist


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Revolution the embodiment of Lenin s socialistideals.

Origins to be found in post-revolutionary street artforms such as large scale street art.

Authorities campaign to cover every availablesurface with inflammatory slogans and evocativeiconography.

By 1920, Inkhuk (the Institute for Artistic Culture)and Vkhutemas (Higher Artistic Technical Studios)were founded in Moscow as institutes for thecomprehensive education in art, architecture anddesign.

Before the socialist style of architecture wasformulated, experiments were made in the realmsof art and furniture design


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In particular, they experimented with building up asculpture from nothing by adding elements (such as

paper, metal etc) rather than traditional sculptureswhich were created by taking away material from asolid block (of stone, wood etc).

Gabo and Pevsner wrote the Realistic Manifestoin 1920.

Did not agree with the Soviet Constructivists that all

art must be for Marxist political purposes.


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They identified the main formal features ofConstructivist sculpture as:

planar and linear forms

dynamic composition

kinetic elements (time, movement)

minimisation of mass (space elementemphasised)

modern materials such as plastic and

electroplated metal.


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Constructivist Sculpture


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The Architects;

(a) Vladimir Tatlin(b) El Lissitzky (1890 1941)

(c) Konstantin Melnikov

(a) Vladimir Tatlin


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( )

Pioneering artist whose works shows the clearcubist influence that early constructivists worksexhibited.

Influence from Picasso, Lipschitz and

Archipenko when he visited Berlin and Paris in1913.

Having been inspired, started with collages andreliefs from metal, wood and

glass becoming one of the

first to truly develop the

constructivist style.

Tatlin "Counter Relief (Corner)" 1915


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Painter, sculptor. Passionatebeliever in the grand Communistcause.

Pioneering works began to blur theline between architecture and art.

Designed the "Monument to theThird International" in 1919-20,

which was supposed to be theUSSR's answer to the Eiffel Tower- but bigger, better... andimpossible to build so it never

was...


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(b) El Lissitzky (1890 1941)

Design produced for a Lenin

Tribune. Recognised as un-realisable.

True expression of the early

Constructivist style.


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(c) Konstantin Melnikov

One of the few constructivist whosaw his designs being realised in

the real world.USSR Pavilion at Paris 1925

Designed for the Paris

Exposition des Arts Decoratifs


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Konstantin MelnikovUSSR Pavilion at Paris 1925

Designed for the Paris Exposition desArts Decoratifs

It was revered as being a synthesis ofthe more progressive aspects of Soviet

architecture to date. It recalled not

only the traditional vernacular of thesteppes, but also those exhibition

pavillions which had been designed forthe All Russian Agricultural and Craft

Exhibition of 1923.

Interior of the building designed to

display the layout for an ideal workers

club.


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USSR Pavilion at Paris 1925

Designed for the Paris Exposition desArts Decoratifs

USSR Pavilion at Paris 1925

Designed for the Paris Exposition des


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Arts Decoratifs

Russian Constructivism


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Association of Contemporary Architects 1924

Formed after 13th Party Congress addressing issuesof poor social housing.

Josef Ginzburg as leader.

Tackled issues of communal housing with theinclusion of other expertise of sociologist and

engineers. Housing as Social Condensers.

Failure as failed to develop sufficient concreteproposals for large scale or evolution of residentialbuilding types which were needed by the socialist

state.


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THE END

Abstract of Form n Line

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