Edward Robert de Zurko: Origins of Functionalist Theory (1957)

12 October 2014, dusan

“The main purpose of this book is to study the idea of functionalism from a historical point of view. The research media are the literary sources of functionalism. Early functionalist trends in writings on architecture shall be analyzed and compared with each other and with modern interpretations of the concept. By means of this es­sentially semantic study I hope to demonstrate (1) the antiquity of functionalist ideas, especially the tendency to connect ideas of use with ideas of beauty; (2) the variety of guises assumed by this type of theory; and (3) the recurrent ideas which have generally charac­terized functionalist theory.” (from the Introduction)

Publisher Columbia University Press, 1957
265 pages
via Charles

PDF (9 MB)

El Lissitzky, Hans Arp: Die Kunstismen / Les ismes de l’art / The Isms of Art: 1914–1924 (1925) [DE/FR/EN]

18 August 2014, dusan

“Habe eine Idee für das letzte Merz-Heft 1924: ‘Letzte Truppenschau aller Ismen von 1914-24’.” schrieb El Lissitzky in einem Brief. Es gelang ihm, Hans Arp für diese Idee zu begeistern.

This book begins with definitions by well-known artists of the various movements, or forms of art, of the period. They range from Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, Abstract Art, through Metaphysicians, Suprematism, Simultanism, Dadaism, Purism, Neoplasticism, Merz, Proun, Perism, Constructivism, to Abstract Film. The section is followed by reproductions illustrating each movement.

Publisher Eugen Rentsch, Erlenbach-Zürich, 1925
Typography El Lissitzky
Print Staehle & Friedel, Stuttgart
xi+48 pages, 75 ills., 26.5 × 24.5 cm
Unlimited Edition

Wikipedia-DE

PDF (64 MB, via Bibliothèque Kandinsky)
PDF (43 MB, added on 2020-12-5, via Kunsthaus Zurich)
Find more Lissitzky’s publications on Monoskop wiki.

Staatliches Bauhaus Weimar, 1919-1923 (1923) [German]

17 August 2014, dusan

This work was published on the occasion of the major Bauhaus exhibition in August and September 1923 in 2,000 copies (another 300 were printed in English and 300 in Russian). The colour plates include nine original lithographs by Herbert Bayer, Marcel Breuer, L. Hirschfeld-Mack (2), R. Paris, P. Keler and W. Molar, K. Schmidt (2), and F. Schleifer. The texts are by Walter Gropius, Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee, Gertrud Grunow, Wassily Kandinsky, László Moholy-Nagy, Oskar Schlemmer, Johannes Itten, Georg Muche, Lothar Schreyer, Gerhard Marcks, Adolf Meyer and others.

Publisher Bauhausverlag, Weimar and Munich, 1923
Typography L. Moholy-Nagy
Cover design Herbert Mayer
Print F. Bruckmann, Munich (texts), V. Lübecke, Erfurt (printing blocks for the 4-color prints), and Dietsch & Brückner, Weimar (colour plates)
225 pages, 20 colour plates, 147 halftone ills., 25 × 26 cm
via Bibliothèque Kandinsky

PDF (325 MB, updated on 2018-3-6)
See also Bauhaus publications on Monoskop wiki.