Historicism and Decorative Arts Theory in Germany and - H-Net

Historicism and Decorative Arts Theory in Germany and Austria, 1851-1901
Eric Anderson
Spring 2006
Tuesday 6-8 pm
[email protected]
In the second half of the nineteenth century, a wide-ranging movement to strengthen national art industries
and improve the artistic quality of domestic interiors developed in Germany and Austria. At its heart was
the belief that only by grappling with the past could modern designers meet the challenge of creating
artistic environments suited to the new demands of a rapidly transforming society. From this conviction
arose a rich theoretical discourse on historical forms and their relationship to the present. This course
examines the concept of Historicism as it was developed in books, periodicals, and exhibition displays.
What narratives of design history did theorists construct? How did they view the role of the decorative arts
and the artistic interior in modern society? What were the social and artistic concerns underlying their
arguments about the modern use of particular historical styles?
General Reference:
• Barry Bergdoll, European Architecture, 1750-1890 (Oxford, 2000) [C-H RESERVE / SUGGESTED
PURCHASE]
• Mitchell Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory and the Search for Modern Identity (New York,
1995) [PHOTOCOPY / PARSONS GIMBEL LIBRARY / NYU BOBST LIBRARY]
• John Heskett, Design in Germany, 1870-1918 (London, 1986) [C-H RESERVE]
• Stefan Muthesius, Das englische Vorbild: eine Studie zu der deutschen Reformbewegungen in
Architektur, Wohnbau und Kunstgewerbe im späteren 19. Jahrhundert (Munich, 1974) [BOBST]
• Heinrich Kreisel, Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels, v. 3: Georg Himmelheber, Klassizismus,
Historismus, Jugendstil (Munich, 1973) [C-H RESERVE]
• David Blackbourn, The Long Nineteenth Century: A History of Germany, 1780-1918. (New York,
1998) [BOBST]
1. Introduction: What’s the matter with Historicism? Modernism and the nineteenth-century
domestic interior.
Suggested background reading:
• Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory: xi-32
2. What is Historicism?
Required readings for discussion:
• Henry Russel Hitchcock and Phillip Johnson, The International Style. (New York, 1996 [1932]),
especially Ch 1 “Introduction: The Idea of Style” and Ch. 2 “History.” [PHOTOCOPY]
• Nikolaus Pevsner, An Outline of European Architecture (Harmondsworth, 1943), “Romantic
Movement, Historicism, and Modern Movement, 1760–1914,” 242-274 [PHOTOCOPY]
• Siegfried Giedion, Mechanization Takes Command (New York, 1948), esp. 329-388 [C-H RESERVE
/ PHOTOCOPY]
• Alan Colquhoun, “Three Kinds of Historicism” in Modernity and the Classical Tradition (Cambridge,
Mass., 1989) [PHOTOCOPY]
Additional definitions of historicism:
• Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, (London, 2000). “Historicism.” [PHOTOCOPY]
• The Encyclopedia of Aesthetics (New York, 1998), “Historicism and Architecture,” 412-415
[PHOTOCOPY]
• Grove Dictionary of Art Online, “Historicism.” [PHOTOCOPY]
• Neil Levine, "Robert Venturi and ‘The Return of Historicism.’” In Keith Eggener, ed., American
Architectural History: A Contemporary Reader (New York, 2004)
3. The Classical Paradigm and the Gothic Alternative in the 18th Century. Zopf and Empire
Furniture.
Required readings for discussion:
• Marc-Antoine Laugier, An Essay on Architecture (Los Angeles, 1977 [1753]), 1-38, 100-120
[PHOTOCOPY]
• J. J. Winckelmann, Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks (London, 1999 [1755])
[PHOTOCOPY]
• -----------------------, “Remarks on the Architecture of the Ancients” (1762). In David Irwin, ed.
Winckelmann. Writings on Art. (London, 1972), 86-88 [PHOTOCOPY]
• J. W. Goethe, “On German Architecture.” (1772) In Goethe on Art, ed. John Gage. (London, 1980):
103-112. [PHOTOCOPY]
Suggested background reading:
• Bergdoll, European Architecture, 1-41, 139-152
• Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 33-42, 48-50
• Daniel Purdy, The Tyranny of Elegance: Consumer Cosmopolitanism in the Era of Goethe (Baltimore,
1998) [BOBST]
• Journal des Luxus und der Moden (Weimar, begun 1786) [NYPL]
• Charles Percier and Pierre François Léonard Fontaine, Empire Stylebook of Interior Design: All 72
plates from the Recueil de Décorations Intérieures (New York, 1991 [1801])
4. “In What Style Should We Build?” Theories of architectural development and the idea of a
modern style in the 1830s and 1840s.
Reading for discussion:
• Heinrich Hübsch, “In What Style Should We Build?” (1828). In Wolfgang Herrmann, ed., In What
Style Should We Build? The German Debate on Architectural Style (Santa Monica, 1992), 63-101 [CH RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY]
• Karl Friedrich Schinkel, selection from “Notes for a textbook on architecture” (ca. 1830) and “Notes
for a textbook on architecture” (ca. 1835). In Harry Francis Mallgrave, ed., Architectural Theory v. 1
(Malden, MA, 2006), 412-415 [PHOTOCOPY]
• C. A. Rosenthal, “In What Style Should We Build? (A Question Addressed to the Members of the
Deutsche Architektenverein)” (1844). In Wolfgang Herrmann, ed. In What Style Should We Build?
The German Debate on Architectural Style (Santa Monica, 1992): 113-123 [C-H RESERVE /
PHOTOCOPY]
• A. W. N. Pugin, The True Principles of Pointed Architecture (London, 1973 [1841]) [C-H
RESERVE]
• Journal für Möbelschreiner und Tapezirer (begun 1836) [C-H RARE BOOKS]
Background reading:
• Bergdoll, European Architecture, 152-205
• Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 42-48, 50-69
• Wolfgang Herrmann, “Introduction.” In What Style Should We Build? The German Debate on
Architectural Style (Santa Monica, 1992), 1-63
• Barry Bergdoll, "Archaeology vs. History: Heinrich Hübsch's critique of Neoclassicism and the
beginnings of Historicism in German Architectural Theory," Oxford Art Journal 5 (1983), 3-12
• Gerhart Egger, ed., Vienna in the Age of Schubert: The Biedermeier Interior 1815-1848. (London,
1979)
• Georg Himmelheber, Biedermeier Furniture. (London, 1974).
• Marianne Zweig. Zweites Rokoko: Innenräume und Hausrat in Wien um 1830-1860. (Vienna, 1924)
5. Gottfried Semper’s Historicism.
Reading for discussion:
•
Gottfried Semper, selected writings in Harry Francis Mallgrave and Wolfgang Herrmann, eds.,
Gottfried Semper: The Four Elements of Architecture and Other Writings. (Cambridge, Engl.: 1989):
101-129, 168-173, 246-263 [C-H RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY]
Background reading:
• Bergdoll, European Architecture, 224-238
• Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 167-178
• Harry Francis Mallgrave, Gottfried Semper, Architect of the Nineteenth Century (New Haven, 1996)
• Mari Hvattum, Gottfried Semper and the Problem of Historicism. (Cambridge, Engl., 2004)
6. Semper and Industrial Art at the Crystal Palace.
Reading for dicussion:
• Gottfried Semper, Science, Industry, and Art (1852) in Mallgrave and Herrmann, eds., The Four
Elements of Architecture and Other Writings, 130-167 [C-H RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY]
• Henry Cole, "Universal Infidelity in Principles of Design." Journal of Design 5 (1851): 158-61
[PHOTOCOPY]
• Ralph Wornum, “The Exhibition as a Lesson in Taste” in The Crystal Palace Exhibition Illustrated
Catalogue (New York, 1970 [1851]). I-XXII (end of volume). [C-H RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY]
Background reading:
• Bergdoll, European Architecture, 207-224
• Mari Hvattum, “'A Complete and Universal Collection': Gottfried Semper and the Great Exhibition,”
in Mari Hvattum and Christian Hermansen, eds., Tracing Modernity: Manifestations of the Modern in
Architecture and the City. (London, 2004) [PHOTOCOPY]
7. The birth of the German applied arts movement: Semper’s role in the Museum of Practical Art.
The Austrian Museum and the German Industry Museum. Early design journals
Readings for discussion:
• Rudolf Eitelberger and Jakob von Falke, Statutes and Organization of the Austrian Museum (1864)
[PHOTOCOPY]
• Organization of the German Industry Museum, Berlin (1867) [PHOTOCOPY]
• Henry Cole, et al. “General Classification,” “Formation of the Museum,” and Extracts Illustrating the
Principles of Ornamental Art.” In A Catalogue of the Museum of Ornamental Art. (London, 1856): 5-8,
117-125 [PHOTOCOPY]
• Gewerbehalle (Stuttgart, begun 1863) [selected issues in C-H RARE BOOKS]
• Das Kunsthandwerk (Stuttgart, begun 1874) [selected issues in C-H RARE BOOKS]
Background reading:
• Schwarzer, “The Design Prototype as Artistic Boundary: Debates on History and Industry in Central
European Applied Arts Museums, 1860 – 1900,” Design Issues 9 (Fall 1992)
• Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 88-106
• Stefan Muthesius “Communications between Traders, Users and Artists: The Growth of German
Language Serial Publications on Domestic Interior Decoration in the Later Nineteenth Century,”
Journal of Design History 18 (2005), 7-20
• Peter Noever and Hanna Egger, eds., Kunst und Industrie: die Anfänge des Museums für Angewandte
Kunst in Wien (Ostfildern-Ruit, 2000)
8. The birth of German domestic design reform: Jakob von Falke’s theory of the house.
Readings for discussion:
• Jakob von Falke, Art in the House (Boston, 1879 [1871]) Historical section (chs. I-IV), “General
Critical Observations (ch. V), “Woman’s Aesthetic Mission (ch. X) [C-H RESERVE]
• Robert Kerr, The Gentleman's House (London, 1972 [1864]), esp. 1-69 “A Sketch of the History and
Development of Domestic Plan in England”; 356ff. [C-H RESERVE]
Background reading:
• Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 112-120
• Eva B Ottillinger, "Jakob von Falke (1825-1897) und die Theorie des Kunstgewerbes." Wiener
Jahrbuch fuer Kunstgeschichte XLII (1989), 205-23
9. Ringstrasse Vienna: Culture, politics, and design. The 1873 World Exhibition.
Reading for discussion:
• Carl Schorske, Fin-de-Siecle Vienna: Culture and Politics (New York, 1980): 24-62. [C-H
RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY]
• Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (Basel, 1860), part II “The Development
of the Individual” and part V “Society and Festivals.” [C-H RESERVE]
• Kunst und Kunstgewerbe auf der wiener Weltausstellung 1873. ed. Carl von Lützow. Leipzig, 1875.
[C-H Rare Books]
Background reading:
• Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 69-77
• Eva Ottillinger and Lieselotte Hanzl-Wachter. Kaiserliche Interieurs: die Wohnkultur des Wiener
Hofes im 19. Jahrhundert und die Wiener Kunstgewerbereform (Vienna, 1997)
• Pemsel, Jutta. Die Wiener Weltausstellung von 1873: Das Gründerzeitliche Wien am Wendepunkt.
(Vienna, 1989)
10. The German Renaissance in Munich and the Gothic Revival of the Hannover School: national
design style and the “culture war” in Germany.
Reading for discussion:
• Hirth, Das deutsche Zimmer der Renaissance (Munich, 1880) [C-H RESERVE]
• Zeitschrift der Kunstgewerbeverein zu München, (1851-) [NYPL]
• Die Kunst im Gewerbe (begun 1872) [C-H RESERVE]
• G. G. Ungewitter, Entwürfe zu gothischen Möbeln [C-H RARE BOOKS]
• G. G. Ungewitter, Entwürfe zu Stadt- und Landhäusern [NYPL]
Background Reading:
• Michael J. Lewis, The Politics of the German Gothic Revival: August Reichensperger (Cambridge,
MA, 1993)
• Stefan Muthesius, "Das Münchner Kunstgewerbe und das künstlerische Wohninterieur: Gabriel von
Seidl und Georg Hirth," in C. Holtz, ed., Schön und Gut. Positionen des Gestaltens seit 1850 (Munich,
2002), 57-68
11. The triumph of the eclectic interior in the 1880s and early 1890s.
Reading for discussion:
• Oskar Mothes, Unser Heim im Schmuck der Kunst (1880) [NYPL]
• Chronik der Deutsch-Nationalen Kunstgewerbe-Ausstellung in München (Munich, 1888) [C-H
RESERVE]
• Illustrirte kunstgewerbliche Zeitschrift für Innen Dekoration zur Ausschmückung u. Einrichtung der
Wohnräume. (Begun 1890) [NYPL / WATSON]
• Leopold Gmelin, German Artistical Handicraft at the time of the World's-Exhibition in Chicago (1893)
[C-H Rare Books]
Background reading:
• Duncan Berry, "From Historicism to Realism: on some of Wagner's sources," in Harry Mallgrave, ed.,
Otto Wagner: Reflections on the Raiment of Modernity. (The Getty Center, 1993)
12. The emergence of the Baroque and psychological theories of form. Guest Lecturer: Albert
Narath.
Reading for Discussion:
• Heinrich Wölfflin, Reniassance and Baroque (London, 1964) [C-H RESERVE]
• Harry Francis Mallgrave and Eleftherios Ikonomu, eds. Empathy, Form, and Space: Problems in
German Aesthetics, 1873-1893 (Santa Monica, 1994). Selections TBA [C-H RESERVE]
Background reading:
• Mallgrave and Ikonomou, “Introduction,” In Empathy, Form, and Space: Problems in German
Aesthetics, 1873-1893 (Santa Monica, 1994), 1-85
13. The Jugendstil and the Rejection of Historicism.
Reading for discussion:
• Otto Wagner, Modern Architecture (Santa Monica, 1988 [1895]) [C-H RESERVE]
• Henry Van de Velde, “A Chapter on the Design and Construction of Modern Furniture” [Pan 3 (1897):
260-264]; “The New Ornament” [from Die Renaissance im modernen Kunstgewerbe (Berlin, 1901)];
“The Role of the Engineer in Modern Architecture” [from Die Renaissance im modernen
Kunstgewerbe (Berlin, 1901)]. In Tim and Charlotte Benton, eds. Form and Function: A source book
for the History of Architecture and Design 1890-1939 (London, 1975), 17-19, 32-34. [PHOTOCOPY]
• Henry Van de Velde, “Observations Toward a Synthesis of Art,” (1895). In Isabelle Frank, ed. The
Theory of Decorative Art: An Anthology of European & American Writings, 1750-1940 (New Haven,
2000), 194-200 [PHOTOCOPY]
• August Endell, “The Beauty of Form and Decorative Art” [Dekorative Kunst 1 (1897); 75-77; 119125]. In Benton, Form and Function, 20-26. [PHOTOCOPY]
Some journals of Jugendstil design:
• Illustrirte kunstgewerbliche Zeitschrift für Innen Dekoration zur Ausschmückung u. Einrichtung der
Wohnräume [also Fachblatt für Innen-Dekoration and Innendekoration], (Darmstadt, begun 1890)
[WATSON / selected issues in C-H RARE BOOKS]
• Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration (Darmstadt, begun 1897) [WATSON / selected issues in C-H RARE
BOOKS]
• Dekorative Kunst (Munich, begun 1898) [WATSON / selected issues in C-H RARE BOOKS]
• Das Interieur (Vienna, begun 1900)
Background reading:
• Bergdoll, European Architecture, 269-279
• Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 215-237
• Mallgrave, “Introduction.” In Otto Wagner, Modern Architecture (Santa Monica, 1988), 1-51
• Michaela Rammert-Götz, Richard Riemerschmid, Möbel und Innenräume von 1895-1900 (Munich,
1987)
•
•
Renate Ulmer, Jugendstil in Darmstadt (Darmstadt, 1997)
Hermann Bahr, Die Überwindung des Naturalismus (Vienna, 1891); Secession (Vienna, 1900)
14. Some critiques of Style: Riegl, Lichtwark, Loos
Reading for discussion:
• Alois Riegl, Problems of Style: Foundations for a History of Ornament. (1893; transl. 1992),
introduction and Ch. 1 [C-H RESERVE]
• Alfred Lichtwark, “Palace Window and Folding Door,” [Pan 2 (1896), 57-60]; “Practical
Application,” [Dekorative Kunst 1 (1897), 24-27]. In Tim and Charlotte Benton, eds. Form and
Function: A source book for the History of Architecture and Design 1890-1939 (London, 1975), 9-11,
14-15. [PHOTOCOPY]
• Adolph Loos, Spoken Into the Void: Collected Essays 1897-1900. (Cambridge, Mass., 1982),
selectsions TBA [C-H RESERVE]
Background reading:
• Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 152-166, 201-204, 238-260
• Margaret Olin, Forms of Representation in Alois Riegl's Theory of Art. (University Park, Pa, 1992)
• Jennifer Jenkins, Provincial modernity: local culture and liberal politics in fin-de-siècle Hamburg.
(Ithaca, 2003)
15. Hermann Muthesius
Reading for discussion:
• Hermann Muthesius, Style Architecture and Building Art. (Santa Monica, 1994 [1901]) [C-H
RESERVE]
• -------------------------, The English House. (New York, 1979 [1904-05]), introduction and illustrations
[C-H RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY]
• Frederic J. Schwartz, The Werkbund: Design Theory and Mass Culture Before the First World War
(New Haven, 1996) [C-H RESERVE]
• Mark Jarzombek, "Discourses of a Bourgeois Utopia, 1904-1908, and the Founding of the Werkbund"
In: Imagining Modern German Culture, 1889-1910 (Nat'l Gallery of Art, 1996), 127-146
[PHOTOCOPY]
• --------------------, "The Kunstgewerbe, the Werkbund, and the Aesthetics of Culture in the Wilhelmine
Period," JSAH 53 (March 1994), 7-19 [PHOTOCOPY]