Protomodernism

Protomodernism

Protomodernism was began between 1892 and 1959.
Many of the projects containing the seeds of Modernism. It emerged by rejection of historical styles and "ornamentation". This time period makes significant experimentation with form and ideas.
Protomodernism began in Munich, Germany in 1892 under the name of Deutscher Werkbund Movement, then moved to Vienna, Austria in 1898 under the name of Vienna Secession. And it made its way back Berlin in 1899.

 During this period, two movement were outstanding: the Deutscher Werkbund Movement and the Vienna Secession. The Deutscher Werkbund Movementpurpose to have the highest quality design to the mass produced output which was major influence on the early careers of Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe.

Deutscher Werkbund Movement

Founded by Hermann Muthesius in 1907, the aim of the Deutscher Werkbund was to foster links between artists and German industrialists to develop a German identity through design and architecture. By 1914 there were 1,870 members in 6 countries.

The Werkbund expanded on the English Arts and Crafts movement, adopting concerns that craft and design influenced people’s lives and propagating a rejection of historicism in favor of vernacular architecture suited to the modern age. The major difference between the Arts and Crafts movement and the Deutscher Werkbund was that the Werkbund sought to combine promotion of craft with industry, as opposed to a rejection of machine production. The Werkbund embraced technology to design objects and buildings that fulfilled the changing needs of society.

AEG Turbine Hall, Peter Behrens, 1908-09, Berlin, Germany

‘Between 1894 and 1904 the value of Germany’s foreign trade doubled, and by 1913 Germany overtook Great Britain in percentage of world production.’ Industry was vital to the German economy, and as they had no access to cheap materials, the focus was directed towards high quality craft production. In contrast to British Arts and Crafts ideals, architects in Germany started to see mechanisation as necessary, and therefore needed expression through architecture and design. Muthesius was interested in exploring nationality, and seeking to ‘express architectonically the dignity and calm endeavor of a new, confident national German spirit.’ Some Werkbund architects including Walter Gropius were involved in plans for social housing, developing notions of standardization and prefabrication. For the most part however, the focus was on industrial production.

The Deutscher Werkbund was an incredibly important and influential movement; the idea that architects and designers could be part of mass production and industrial design continued to develop in Germany with the Bauhaus movement and Werkbund architect Walter Gropius

Vienna Secession

Secession Exhibition Building(1897-8)

The Vienna Secession was part of a wider Secession movement with branches in Munich and Berlin. It was not solely an architectural movement but included visual artists. While anti-academic and anti-historicist, plurality was encouraged; there was no specific artistic or architectural style. The group were influential for their development of a new national style rejecting historicism.

The Vienna Secession was founded in 1897 by Gustav Klimt, Joseph Maria Olbrich, and Josef Hoffman. Otto Wagner joined them few years later. Contemporary Vienna was reacting to the Beaux-Arts classicism used in the construction of the municipal buildings on the Ringstrasse in the period 1871-1891, believed by many architects to fail to represent Vienna as a growing modern metropolis. Influenced by Arts and Crafts, particularly the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Secessionists rejected historicism and embraced geometry and abstraction in architecture. Described as the German branch of Art Nouveau, they were also developing the Jugendstil decorative style with curvilinear, organic ornamental designs. The ideas of the group were disseminated through their magazine ‘Ver Sacrum’ (1898 -1903), celebrating youth and promoting a rebirth in Viennese visual culture.

As Ludwig Münz and Gustave Künstler assert, ‘In the battle for the new art, handicrafts and architecture came to the fore.’ This idea is epitomized by the Secession Exhibition Building, Joseph Maria Olbrich (1897-8). It was built as an exhibition space, so the interior is very flexible. It is on a Greek cross plan. Four pylons support a gilded openwork laurel wreath dome. The plan and the forms embrace pure geometry. Ornamentation is extensive; flat stylized organic forms. The construction is brick with iron reinforcements, the surfaces covered in plaster and whitewashed. The inscription above the entrance reads ‘Der Zeit ihre Kunst / Der Kunst ihre Freiheit’, meaning ‘to every age its art, every art its freedom’, emphasizing the desire to form a representative artistic language.

The contemporary reception of the Secession Exhibition Building was often critical. Adolf Loos, a contemporary Viennese architect, disliked the Secessionists, especially Olbrich, as he objected to their use of ornament. The search for an appropriate architectural form for their context troubled Viennese architects but they failed to reach a consensus.

As the movement progressed, architects became increasingly interested in planar and classical forms. Otto Wagner in particular was also key in developing new typologies, for example the Austrian Postal Savings Bank (1904-06) which manipulated reinforced concrete construction in a revolutionary way.

The Vienna Secession movement were revolutionary in their rejection of historicism and combined an interest in modernity and symbolist notions of ‘truth’ that proved influential on later architects.

Current Application

The design is simple overall. Chairs are functional and mass productive. 

It is hard to find the furniture unnecessarily placed in the room.