Deborah Ascher Barnstone: Beyond the Bauhaus: Cultural Modernity in Breslau, 1918-33 (2016)

“Although the Breslau arts scene was one of the most vibrant in all of Weimar-era Germany, it has largely disappeared from memory. Studies of the influence of Weimar culture on modernism have focused almost exclusively on Berlin and the Dessau Bauhaus, yet the advances that occurred in Breslau affected nearly every intellectual field, forming the basis for aesthetic modernism internationally and having an enduring impact on visual art and architecture. Breslau boasted a thriving modern arts scene and one of the premier German arts academies of the day until the Nazis began their assault on so-called degenerate art. This book charts the cultural production of Breslau-based artists, architects, art collectors, urban designers, and arts educators who operated in the margins of Weimar-era cultural debates. Rather than accepting the radical position of the German avant-garde or the reactionary position of German conservatives, many Breslauers sought a middle ground.

This richly illustrated volume is the first book in English to address this history, constituting an invaluable addition to the literature on the Weimar period. Its readership includes scholars of German history, art, architecture, urban design, planning, collecting, and exhibition history; of the avant-garde, and of the development of arts academies and arts pedagogy.”

Publisher University of Michigan Press, 2016
Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany series
Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0
ISBN 0472119907, 9780472119905
xi+256 pages

Publisher
OAPEN
WorldCat

PDF, PDF (32 MB)

Fritz Neumeyer: The Artless Word: Mies van der Rohe on the Building Art (1986/1991)

“Mies van der Rohe’s architecture has been well documented, yet his writings, which contain the key to understanding his work, have been largely unexplored. From a body of writing that is surprisingly large for the self-described “unwilling author,” Fritz Neumeyer reconstructs the metaphysical and philosophical inquiry on which Mies based his modernism.

An appendix presents all of the essential texts by Mies, including some that have not previously appeared in English. Of special interest is the manuscript notebook from the Mies van der Rohe Archive in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, dating from the crucial years 1927-28 and published for the first time in this book.”

First published as Mies van der Rohe. Das kunstlose Wort. Gedanken zur Baukunst, Siedler, Berlin, 1986.

Translated by Mark Jarzombek
Publisher MIT Press, 1991
ISBN 0262140470
xxii+386 pages

WorldCat

PDF (26 MB)

Beatriz Colomina (ed.): Sexuality & Space (1992)

The first book-length publication dedicated to a comprehensive discourse on sexual identity within the discipline of architecture. Based on a symposium held at Princeton University School of Architecture in March 1990.

Publisher Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1992
ISBN 1878271083, 9781878271082
389 pages
via Dubravka

Reviews: Elizabeth Wilson (Harvard Design M 1997), Nadir Lahiji & D.S. Friedman (AA Files 1999).
Commentary: Samuel Ray Jacobson (master’s thesis, 2013).

WorldCat

PDF (9 MB)