Mid-century modern

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Mid-century modern architecture
California Mid-Century Modern Home with open-beam ceiling 1960.jpg
Tract house in Tujunga, California, featuring open-beamed ceilings, c. 1960
Years active1945–1970
Location United States
Influences International, Bauhaus

Mid-century modern (MCM) is a movement in interior design, product design, graphic design, architecture and urban development that was popular in the United States and Europe from roughly 1945 to 1970 during the United States's post-World War II period. [1]

Contents

MCM-style decor and architecture have seen a major resurgence that began in the late 1990s and continues today. [2]

The term was used as early as the mid-1950s, and was defined as a design movement by Cara Greenberg in her 1984 book Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s. It is now recognized by scholars and museums worldwide as a significant design movement.

The MCM design aesthetic is modern in style and construction, aligned with the Modernist movement of the period. It is typically characterized by clean, simple lines and honest use of materials, and generally does not include decorative embellishments.

Architecture

Tulip chair (designed 1955-56) by Eero Saarinen Saarinen Tulpanstolen.jpg
Tulip chair (designed 1955–56) by Eero Saarinen
Detail of Copan, a Niemeyer building in Sao Paulo, Oscar Niemeyer Edificio Copan, Oscar Niemeyer (5877795893).jpg
Detail of Copan, a Niemeyer building in São Paulo, Oscar Niemeyer

The mid-century modern movement in the U.S. was an American reflection of the International and Bauhaus movements, including the works of Gropius, Florence Knoll, Le Corbusier, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. [3] Although the American component was slightly more organic in form and less formal than the International Style, it is more firmly related to it than any other. Brazilian and Scandinavian architects were very influential at this time, with a style characterized by clean simplicity and integration with nature. Like many of Wright's designs, Mid-century architecture was frequently employed in residential structures with the goal of bringing modernism into America's post-war suburbs. This style emphasized creating structures with ample windows and open floor plans, with the intention of opening up interior spaces and bringing the outdoors in. Many Mid-century houses utilized then-groundbreaking post and beam architectural design that eliminated bulky support walls in favor of walls seemingly made of glass. Function was as important as form in Mid-century designs, with an emphasis placed on targeting the needs of the average American family.

Eichler Homes - Foster Residence, Granada Hills Eichler Homes - Foster Residence, Granada Hills.jpg
Eichler Homes  – Foster Residence, Granada Hills

In Europe, the influence of Le Corbusier and the CIAM resulted in an architectural orthodoxy manifest across most parts of post-war Europe that was ultimately challenged by the radical agendas of the architectural wings of the avant-garde Situationist International, COBRA, as well as Archigram in London. A critical but sympathetic reappraisal of the internationalist oeuvre, inspired by Scandinavian Moderns such as Alvar Aalto, Sigurd Lewerentz and Arne Jacobsen, and the late work of Le Corbusier himself, was reinterpreted by groups such as Team X, including structuralist architects such as Aldo van Eyck, Ralph Erskine, Denys Lasdun, Jørn Utzon and the movement known in the United Kingdom as New Brutalism.

Pioneering builder and real estate developer Joseph Eichler was instrumental in bringing Mid-century modern architecture ("Eichler Homes") to subdivisions in the Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay region of California, and select housing developments on the east coast. George Fred Keck, his brother Willam Keck, Henry P. Glass, Mies van der Rohe, and Edward Humrich created Mid-century modern residences in the Chicago area. Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House is extremely difficult to heat or cool, while Keck and Keck were pioneers in the incorporation of passive solar features in their houses to compensate for their large glass windows.

Mid-century modern in Palm Springs

Miller House, by Richard Neutra Miller House, Palm Springs, California.jpg
Miller House, by Richard Neutra

The city of Palm Springs, California is noted for its many examples of Mid-century modern architecture. [4] [5]

Architects include: [6] [7]

Examples of 1950s Palm Springs motel architecture include Ballantines Movie Colony (1952) – one portion is the 1935 Albert Frey San Jacinto Hotel – the Coral Sands Inn (1952), and the Orbit Inn (1957). [17] Restoration projects have been undertaken to return many of these residences and businesses to their original condition. [18]

Case study houses

The Case Study Houses was a program creating a series of architectural prototype-homes involving major mid-century architects, including Charles and Ray Eames, Craig Ellwood, A. Quincy Jones, Edward Killingsworth, Pierre Koenig, Richard Neutra, Ralph Rapson, Eero Saarinen, and Raphael Soriano to design and build modern efficient and inexpensive model homes for the post-WWII residential housing boom in the United States. The program began in 1945 and lasted through 1966. The houses were documented by architectural photographer Julius Shulman. [19] [20]

Industrial design

Wright Accessories (Russel Wright and Mary Wright) Spun aluminum coffee urn, c.1935 Russel Wright. Coffee Urn, ca. 1935.jpg
Wright Accessories (Russel Wright and Mary Wright) Spun aluminum coffee urn, c.1935

Scandinavian design was very influential at this time, with a style characterized by simplicity, democratic design and natural shapes. Glassware (Iittala – Finland), ceramics (Arabia – Finland), tableware (Georg Jensen – Denmark), lighting (Poul Henningsen – Denmark), and furniture (Danish modern) were some of the genres for the products created.

In the United States, east of the Mississippi, the American-born Russel Wright and Mary Wright, designing for Steubenville Pottery, and Hungarian-born Eva Zeisel designing for Red Wing Pottery and later Hall China created free-flowing ceramic designs that were much admired and heralded in the trend of smooth, flowing contours in dinnerware.

On the West Coast of the United States, the industrial designer and potter Edith Heath (1911–2005) founded Heath Ceramics in 1948. The company was one of the numerous California pottery manufacturers that had their heyday in post-war United States, and produced Mid-Century modern ceramic dish-ware.

Edith Heath's "Coupe" line remains in demand and has been in constant production since 1948, with only periodic changes to the texture and color of the glazes. [21]

The Tamac Pottery company produced a line of mid-century modern biomorphic dinnerware and housewares between 1946 and 1972. [22]

Social medium

Printed ephemera documenting the mid-century transformations in design, architecture, landscape, infrastructure, and entertainment include mid-century linen post cards from the early 1930s to the late 1950s. These post cards came about through innovations pioneered through the use of offset lithography. The cards were produced on paper with a high rag content, which gave the post card a textured look and feel. At the time this was a less expensive process.

Along with advances in printing technique, mid-century linen postcards allowed for very vibrant ink colors. The encyclopedic geographic imagery of mid-century linen post cards suggests popular middle-class attitudes about nature, wilderness, technology, mobility and the city during the mid-20th century. [23]

Curt Teich in Chicago [24] was the most prominent and largest printer and publisher of Linen Type postcards [25] pioneering lithography with his "Art Colortone" process. [26]

Other large publishers include Stanley Piltz in San Francisco, who established the "Pictorial Wonderland Art Tone Series", Western Publishing and Novelty Company in Los Angeles and the Tichnor Brothers in Boston. [27] The printing of mid-century linen post cards began to give way in the late 1950s to Kodachrome and Ektachrome color prints.

Examples

Architecture

Furniture

Additional notable names

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Understanding Mid-Century Modern and How To Use it in Your Home". September 29, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Mid-century modern is the style that won't die". The Washington Post. June 13, 2023.
  3. ↑ Jason Peterson (2014-02-01). "Designer Spotlight: Florence Knoll". Emfurn. Retrieved 2015-05-23.
  4. ↑ Wills, Eric (May–June 2008). "Palm Springs Eternal". Preservation. 60 (3): 38–45.
  5. ↑ Cygelman, Adèle; David, Rosa (forward); Glomb, David (photographs) (1999). Palm Springs Modern: Houses in the California Desert. New York: Rizzoli International. p. 192. ISBN   0-8478-2091-2. LCCN   98048811.
  6. ↑ Goldberger, Paul (May–June 2008). "The Modernist Manifesto". Preservation. 60 (3): 30–35.
  7. ↑ "The Time: Modern: Highlights in the development of modernism in the Coachella Valley". Palm Springs Life. Palm Springs, CA. February 2007. Archived from the original on 2015-06-15.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Lost: Maslon House". Palm Springs Preservation Foundation. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  9. ↑ "A Winter Residence in Palm Springs" (PDF). Architectural Digest . Fall 1967. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 17, 2016. Retrieved May 23, 2012. Interior Design by Arthur Elrod, A.I.D. and William Broderick, A.I.D.; Architecture by William Cody, F.A.I.A.
  10. ↑ "Palm Springs Preservation Foundation: Then and Now". Palm Springs Preservation Society. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07.
  11. ↑ "William Krisel". Palm Springs Modern Committee. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  12. ↑ Bradley, Darren (29 June 2013). "Modernist Architecture: William Krisel". modernistarchitecture.blogspot.com. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  13. ↑ Leet, Stephen (2004). Richard Neutra's Miller House. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. p. 191. ISBN   1-56898-274-7. LCCN   2003021531.
  14. ↑ Friedman, Alice T. (2010). "2. Palm Springs Eternal: Richard Neutra's Kaufmann Desert House". American Glamour and the Evolution of Modern Architecture . New Haven, CN: Yale University Press. pp.  262. ISBN   978-0300116540. LCCN   2009032574.
  15. ↑ Bricker, Lauren Weiss; Williams, Sidney J. (2011). Steel and Shade: The Architecture of Donald Wexler. Palm Springs, CA: Palm Springs Art Museum. p. 131. ISBN   978-0981674346. LCCN   2010043639.
  16. ↑ Hess, Alan; Danish, Andrew (2001). Palm Springs Weekend: The Architecture and Design of a Midcentury Oasis. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. p. 180. ISBN   0811828042. LCCN   00024046.
  17. ↑ Howser, Huell (September 27, 2002). "'50s Motel – Palm Springs Week (20)". California's Gold. Chapman University Huell Howser Archive.
  18. ↑ Colacello, Bob; Becker, Jonathan (photographs) (June 1999). "Palm Springs Weekends" (PDF). Vanity Fair : 192–211. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-11.
  19. ↑ Smith, Elizabeth T.; McCoy, Esther (1989). Blueprints for Modern Living History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses. Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art. ISBN   9780262692137 . Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  20. ↑ Smith, Elizabeth A.T. Smith (2016). Case Study Houses: The Complete CSH Program, 1945–1966. Taschen. ISBN   9783836535601 . Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  21. ↑ Zahid Sardar (2004-02-01). "Home Is Where the Heath Is: A Bay Area pottery tradition continues under new ownership". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2006-09-14.
  22. ↑ "Tamac Plate: Decorative Arts". Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  23. ↑ Meikle, Jeffrey L. "A Paper Atlantis". Journal of Design History. 13 (4): 267–286. doi:10.1093/jdh/13.4.267.
  24. ↑ Curt Teich Postcard Archives, Lake County Discovery Museum. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  25. ↑ Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  26. ↑ "An Offset Pioneer" in: American Printer, October 1, 2006.
  27. ↑ Tichnor Brothers Collection, Boston Public Library.
  28. ↑ Mayhew, Augustus (11 July 2011). "Urbane Developments: Miami & Delray". New York Social Diary. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  29. ↑ Saperstein, Pat (2014-08-07). "David Weidman, Animation Artist Whose Work Appeared on 'Mad Men,' Dies at 93". Variety . Retrieved 2014-08-29.

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