Talking Modernism

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"Attempting to stand outside of time, the house neither aged nor weathered: it merely cracked and deteriorated"
Welcome to the first episode of the new series "Talking Modernism". In this episode we'll be exploring what exactly modernism is through one of its iconic buildings, the Villa Savoye.
Useful links, in case you want to investigate further:

• Photo study of Villa Savoye
• Wikpedia on Le Corbusier
• Wikipedia on "Towards a New Architecture"
• Malcolm Gladwell's podcast Revisionist History

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Photo credit Rory Hyde - https://www.flickr.com/photos/roryrory/2520028487, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92939219

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“The airplane is the symbol of the new age . A new state of modern conscience. A new plastic vision. A new aesthetic. "
Welcome back to the second season of Talking Modernism, and the first of a 2-part series on Streamline Moderne, the style that is so evocative of Depression era America. In this episode I'll be talking about the glamorous world of train travel in the 1930s, and the ground-breaking Pioneer Zephyr, the first of the streamliner trains.
To explore further :

• Wikipedia on Pioneer Zephyr
• Book Shafer& Welsh, "Streamliners - History of a Railroad Icon", MBI Publishing, 1997
• Article on the economics of rail travel in America
• Article on railway dining
• Wikipedia on the Shienenzeppelin
• Article on the Fliegender Hamburger train
• Film of the 1938 20th Century Limited: the most beautiful train ever made?
• Photos of Mossehaus by Erich Mendelsohn
• Article on the Universum Cinema, also by Mendelsohn
• PDF copy of Aircraft by Le Corbusier, 1935
• 1934 film The Silver Streak

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"I know it when I see it”
Final in a 3-part series on the 1925 Paris exposition and the Art Deco style. In this episode I explore the origins of the Art Deco style, especially its roots in avant-garde art. Plus the role of the forgotten giant of fashion Paul Poiret in packaging the avant-garde for the mass market.
To explore future:

• High-level overview of avant-garde art
• Article on Antonio Sant'Ella 1910 Futurist building designs
• Unesco site, Centennial Hall, 1913, Wroclaw
  Video of Grosse Schauspielhaus , 1919 Berlin
• Article on 1914 Deutsche Werkbund exhibition, Cologne
• Colour video reconstruction of the Glass Pavilion, 1914 Deutsche Werkbund expo
• Article on Paul Poiret
• Article on Corbusier's Pavillion de l"esprit Nouveau, 1925
• World Heritage site on Corbusier's Cité Frugès, 1924

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Photo credit: Ambassador study-library, designed by Pierre Chareau, Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris

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"The first impression of the Exhibition is startling. Passing through the silver obelisk-like towers of the Port d’Honneur, one comes at once upon a cubist dream city, or the projection of a possible city in Mars, arisen overnight in the heart of Paris. "
Second in a 3-part series on the 1925 Paris exposition, the "Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Moderne", that sparked a world-wide explosion of the glamorous and much-loved Art Deco style. In this episode I discuss how Paris battled to regain its position as style leader of the Western world against the challenge of foreign innovators such as the Deutsche Werkbund, culminating in the 1925 Paris Exposition.
To explore further:

• Article on the Thonet Number 14 chair
• Article on the Deutsche Werkbund
• Article on Peter Brehens, one of the founders of the Werkbund
• Article on the AEG Turbine Hall, one the pioneers of modern factory design
• Article of the 1910 Salon d'Automne
• More photos of the Deutsche Werkbund exhibits at the 1910 Salon d'Automne
• Jean Metzinger's Cubist painting Nu a la cheminee
• Comprehensive article by Arthur Chandler on the 1925 Paris Exhibition
• Photos of the 1925 Paris Exhibition
• Film "Paris a Cinq Jours", ("Paris in 5 Days"), silent comedy from 1925. Contains actual footage of the 195 Paris expo at 40.49 minute mark

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Photo credit: Thonet Number 14 Chair, thonet.com.au/products/no-14-vienna/

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"Paris is the world, the rest of the earth nothing but its suburbs"
First in a 3-part series on the 1925 Paris exposition, the "Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Moderne", that sparked a world-wide explosion of the glamorous and much-loved Art Deco style. In this episode I discuss the genesis of Paris' position as the fashion capital of the world, and also explore early responses of decorative art and design to the challenge of modernity.
To explore further:

• Article How King Louis IV invented fashion as we know it
• Book "Empire of Things", Frank Trentman
• Article Great Exhibition 1851
• Article Crystal Palace, with photos
• Article "The Gallery of False Principles" exhibition, 1852
• Article Arts & Crafts movement
• Article Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School of Arts
• Article British "Modern" style
• Excellent article by Arthur Chandler on 1900 Paris Expo
• Film of the 1900 Paris Expo
• Article on Art Nouveau

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Photo credit: Crystal Palace relocated to Sydenham, Historic England Archive FF91/00334