Modern Architecture Since 1900

"This book fills a long-felt need by providing a sound, readable and balanced overall view of the history of modern architecture. Dr Curtis examines the origins of the modern tradition in the late nineteenth century, and sets its development in a broad context that includes changing social and technical conditions. Within this framework he emphasizes the variety of personal and regional strands within modern architecture. In developing his central theme of the growth of a modern tradition the author adopts an integrated approach that blends the practical, aesthetic and social dimensions - yet the stress is on the formal and symbolic aspects of the art. Attention is concentrated on major works of the century, and in some chapters individual architects and individual buildings are given the detailed analysis the author believes they deserve. The book is divided into three parts which deal with the period of formation (up to about 1918), the period of crystallization (c. 1918-1940), and the period of dissemination (from about 1940 to the present). The scope is deliberately varied from chapter to chapter as the author traces movements (like Art Nouveau), building types (like the skyscraper), style phases (like the 'International Style'), and political uses and critiques of architecture (as in the Soviet Union and Germany between the wars). The treatment of the major figures such as Wright, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Aalto is thus set in context. The final section of the book examines the history of modern architecture since World War II, and includes the late works of the modern masters as well as the ideas and buildings of their successors. In conclusion , the author casts a critical eye on contemporary fashions, and stresses the emergence of new human needs and cultural problems in the so-called "Third World'. Modern Architecture since 1900 is a wide-ranging yet critical account of a tradition which has been shaped by individual genius as well as by social forces. William Curtis has produced a clear, sympathetic and just appreciation of the main outline, and the rich variety, of modern architecture." -- Book Jacket.