Module 7.1: Foundations of the International Style

Avant-Garde

seeks to provoke, disrupt, or redefine established aesthetic traditions, often aligning with broader social, political, or technological change. opposing academic institutions and engaging in new forms of visual expression

How would you describe the Avant-Garde movements?

they are characterized by experimentation, abstraction, and conceptual approaches that often reflected modernity, industrialization, or socio-political critique

Which of the following art movements was closely linked to the avant-garde idea of purification and abstraction?

Cubism

What is an example of avant-garde?

Piet Mondrain, Tableau I, 1921

Kitsch

refers to art, design, or cultural objects that are considered sentimental, mass-produced, or aesthetical excessive, often appealing to popular taste rather than critical artistic standards

How would you describe kitsch objects?

characterized with superficiality, decorative excess, and emotional manipulation, prioritizing immediate visual pleasure over intellectual depth or originality

Bourgeois

the middle class, specifically those who gained wealth and social influence through commerce, industry, or professional occupations

What role did the Bourgeois play?

they shaped the modern capitalism, urban culture, and political revolutions, especially in the 19th century Europe

What was the Bourgeois criticized for?

conservatism, commodification of art, and preference for sentimental or decorative works (kitsch)

Raumplan

“plan of volumes”; an architectural concept developed by Adolf Loos, referring to the three-dimensional organization of interior space

What does De Stijl translate to?

The Style

What architectural concepts are central to the De Stijl Design?

The use of floating planes and intersecting geometric forms

De Stijl artists and architects aimed to create a universal aesthetic based on:

Reduction to fundamental elements of form and color

What is an example of raumplan?

Villa Müller, Adolf Loos, Prague, Czech Republic, 1930

Cubism

a revolutionary modern art movement developed in the early 20th century by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque

How is cubism identified by

the fragmentation of objects into geometric corms, multiple perspectives within a single composition, and the rejection of traditional linear perspective and naturalistic nature

What is an example of cubism?

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Paris, June-July 1907

Adolf Loos, “Ornament and Crime,” 1910, Austria

Goldman & Salatsch Building (Looshaus)

Vienna, Austria, 1909

Who designed the Goldman & Salatsch Building (Looshaus)?

Adolf Loos

Villa Müller

Prague, Czech Republic, 1930

Who designed the Villa Müller?

Adolf Loos

Tableau I

Paris France, 1921

Who designed the Tableau I?

Piet Mondrain

Red/Blue Chair

Utrecht, Netherlands, 1917

Who designed the Red/Blue Chair?

Gerrit Rietveld