Overview

This beautifully illustrated book provides a new interpretation of modern architecture and design in Germany during the heyday of the Bauhaus and the Werkbund, tracing modernism's lasting allure to its many manifestations of luxury. Robin Schuldenfrei casts the work of legendary figures such as Peter Behrens, Walter Gropius, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in an entirely different light, revealing the complexities and contradictions inherent to modernism's promotion and consumption.Luxury and Modernism shows how luxury was present in bold, literal forms in modern designs--from lavish materials and costly technologies to deluxe buildings and household objects-and in subtler ways as well, such as social milieus and modes of living. While modernism was publicized as a fusion of technology, new materials, and rational aesthetics to improve the lives of ordinary people, it was often out of reach to the very masses it purportedly served. Schuldenfrei exposes the disconnect between modernism's utopian discourse and its luxury objects and elite architectural commissions. Despite the movement's egalitarian rhetoric, many modern designs addressed the desires of the privileged individual. Yet as Schuldenfrei demonstrates, luxury was integral not only to how modern buildings and objects were designed, manufactured, and sold, but has contributed to modernism's appeal to this day.Featuring stunning color images throughout, Luxury and Modernism provides an entirely new look at one of the most celebrated and influential eras in the history of architecture.

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9780691175126

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Reviews

Courageous and compelling, Luxury and Modernism is an important work that offers a critical reassessment of key figures and designs that have become central to our understanding of the birth, evolution, and legacy of modernism. --Monica Penick, University of Texas at Austin Luxury and Modernism offers many wonderful insights into a story we thought we already knew. By repurposing the notion of luxury away from being a taint, Schuldenfrei makes an important case for the depth and complexity of modernism as it was practiced, sold, and consumed. --Amy F. Ogata, author of Designing the Creative Child: Playthings and Places in Midcentury America One of the most persistent myths about modern architecture is that it was inherently politically progressive. In this compelling account, Robin Schuldenfrei reminds us that modernism was often out of the reach of the masses, which of course enhanced its appeal to those who embraced its lavishness. --Kathleen James-Chakraborty, University College Dublin This provocative book upends long-standing tropes about the egalitarian credo and industrial mantra integral to the canonic episodes of German design history. Schuldenfrei unveils modernism's guilty pleasures to confront us with the foundational paradoxes at the heart of the Werkbund, the Bauhaus, and Mies van der Rohe's most heralded residential designs. --Barry Bergdoll, Columbia University

In Luxury and Modernism, Robin Schuldenfrei punctures the idealistic, lofty, socialist rhetoric of the Bauhaus's artist-craftsmen. The Bauhaus, she reveals, imposed an elitist, aristocratic notion of taste on the masses, who largely didn't want it.---Christopher Turner, Apollo Courageous and compelling, Luxury and Modernism is an important work that offers a critical reassessment of key figures and designs that have become central to our understanding of the birth, evolution, and legacy of modernism. --Monica Penick, University of Texas at Austin This provocative book upends long-standing tropes about the egalitarian credo and industrial mantra integral to the canonic episodes of German design history. Schuldenfrei unveils modernism's guilty pleasures to confront us with the foundational paradoxes at the heart of the Werkbund, the Bauhaus, and Mies van der Rohe's most heralded residential designs. --Barry Bergdoll, Columbia University Luxury and Modernism offers many wonderful insights into a story we thought we already knew. By repurposing the notion of luxury away from being a taint, Schuldenfrei makes an important case for the depth and complexity of modernism as it was practiced, sold, and consumed. --Amy F. Ogata, author of Designing the Creative Child: Playthings and Places in Midcentury America One of the most persistent myths about modern architecture is that it was inherently politically progressive. In this compelling account, Robin Schuldenfrei reminds us that modernism was often out of the reach of the masses, which of course enhanced its appeal to those who embraced its lavishness. --Kathleen James-Chakraborty, University College Dublin

Highly recommended. ---L.E. Carranza, Choice In Luxury and Modernism, Robin Schuldenfrei punctures the idealistic, lofty, socialist rhetoric of the Bauhaus's artist-craftsmen. The Bauhaus, she reveals, imposed an elitist, aristocratic notion of taste on the masses, who largely didn't want it. ---Christopher Turner, Apollo Courageous and compelling, Luxury and Modernism is an important work that offers a critical reassessment of key figures and designs that have become central to our understanding of the birth, evolution, and legacy of modernism. --Monica Penick, University of Texas at Austin Luxury and Modernism offers many wonderful insights into a story we thought we already knew. By repurposing the notion of luxury away from being a taint, Schuldenfrei makes an important case for the depth and complexity of modernism as it was practiced, sold, and consumed. --Amy F. Ogata, author of Designing the Creative Child: Playthings and Places in Midcentury America One of the most persistent myths about modern architecture is that it was inherently politically progressive. In this compelling account, Robin Schuldenfrei reminds us that modernism was often out of the reach of the masses, which of course enhanced its appeal to those who embraced its lavishness. --Kathleen James-Chakraborty, University College Dublin This provocative book upends long-standing tropes about the egalitarian credo and industrial mantra integral to the canonic episodes of German design history. Schuldenfrei unveils modernism's guilty pleasures to confront us with the foundational paradoxes at the heart of the Werkbund, the Bauhaus, and Mies van der Rohe's most heralded residential designs. --Barry Bergdoll, Columbia University

Courageous and compelling, Luxury and Modernism is an important work that offers a critical reassessment of key figures and designs that have become central to our understanding of the birth, evolution, and legacy of modernism. -Monica Penick, University of Texas at Austin Luxury and Modernism offers many wonderful insights into a story we thought we already knew. By repurposing the notion of luxury away from being a taint, Schuldenfrei makes an important case for the depth and complexity of modernism as it was practiced, sold, and consumed. -Amy F. Ogata, author of Designing the Creative Child: Playthings and Places in Midcentury America One of the most persistent myths about modern architecture is that it was inherently politically progressive. In this compelling account, Robin Schuldenfrei reminds us that modernism was often out of the reach of the masses, which of course enhanced its appeal to those who embraced its lavishness. -Kathleen James-Chakraborty, University College Dublin This provocative book upends long-standing tropes about the egalitarian credo and industrial mantra integral to the canonic episodes of German design history. Schuldenfrei unveils modernism's guilty pleasures to confront us with the foundational paradoxes at the heart of the Werkbund, the Bauhaus, and Mies van der Rohe's most heralded residential designs. -Barry Bergdoll, Columbia University

In Luxury and Modernism, Robin Schuldenfrei punctures the idealistic, lofty, socialist rhetoric of the Bauhaus's artist-craftsmen. The Bauhaus, she reveals, imposed an elitist, aristocratic notion of taste on the masses, who largely didn't want it. ---Christopher Turner, Apollo Luxury and Modernism offers many wonderful insights into a story we thought we already knew. By repurposing the notion of luxury away from being a taint, Schuldenfrei makes an important case for the depth and complexity of modernism as it was practiced, sold, and consumed. --Amy F. Ogata, author of Designing the Creative Child: Playthings and Places in Midcentury America One of the most persistent myths about modern architecture is that it was inherently politically progressive. In this compelling account, Robin Schuldenfrei reminds us that modernism was often out of the reach of the masses, which of course enhanced its appeal to those who embraced its lavishness. --Kathleen James-Chakraborty, University College Dublin This provocative book upends long-standing tropes about the egalitarian credo and industrial mantra integral to the canonic episodes of German design history. Schuldenfrei unveils modernism's guilty pleasures to confront us with the foundational paradoxes at the heart of the Werkbund, the Bauhaus, and Mies van der Rohe's most heralded residential designs. --Barry Bergdoll, Columbia University Courageous and compelling, Luxury and Modernism is an important work that offers a critical reassessment of key figures and designs that have become central to our understanding of the birth, evolution, and legacy of modernism. --Monica Penick, University of Texas at Austin

Author Information

Robin Schuldenfrei is the Katja and Nicolai Tangen Lecturer in Twentieth-Century Modernism at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London.

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