Prof. David B. Brownlee <dbrownle@sas> Spring 2000

Mr. Nicholas Sawicki <nsawicki@sas>

OFFICE HOURS: Brownlee (Mondays 3-5, in Harnwell 211; please make appointments in advance at the Harnwell office or by calling 573-3497; Thursdays 4-6, in Jaffe 210; please make appointments in advance at the History of Art office or by calling 573-9702). Sawicki (tba, in Jaffe B-8).

Lecture Section for the week

J 17 Introduction none

19 Engineering in the later 19th century

* 21 Louis Sullivan and the skyscraper

24 The Arts and Crafts Movement DISCUSSION: Louis Sullivan

26 -- and writing about architecture

28 Frank Lloyd Wright to 1909

31 Art Nouveau: Horta, Van de Velde, Guimard DISCUSSION: Loos and Wright

F 2 Voysey, Mackintosh, Berlage, Gaudi

4 Vienna: Wagner, Olbrich, Hoffmann, Loos

7-10 no lectures DISCUSSION: Wagner Modern Architecture

* 14 Behrens, the Werkbund, and early Gropius EXCURSION: PMA fin de siècle decorative arts

16 Garnier and Perret

18 Futurism and Expressionism

21. -- DISCUSSION: Le Corbusier

25 Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus

28 Holland and the USSR DISCUSSION: review for midterm examination

M 1 America and the "International Style"

3 MID-TERM EXAMINATION

6 Twentieth-century classicism EXCURSION: Benjamin Franklin Parkway

8 --

10 Art Deco

20 Mies van der Rohe in Europe; Alvar Aalto EXCURSION: Philadelphia skyscrapers

22 Frank Lloyd Wright: The Middle Period

24 --

27 Le Corbusier: 1930-1965 SUNDAY (4/2) EXCURSION: Wright’s Beth Sholom

29 Frank Lloyd Wright: Usonia

31 --

A 3 Gropius and Mies in America; Philip Johnson DISCUSSION: the glass box

5 Britain after World War II

7 --

10 Louis I. Kahn EXCURSION: Kahn’s Erdman Hall

12 --

14 Saarinen, Rudolph, Roche, Pei

17 Venturi and Moore DISCUSSION: Venturi et al.

19 Greys and whites Learning from Las Vegas

* 21 The Presence of the Past

24 East and West, North and South none

26 After the twentieth century

28 --

* Papers due on these dates; see separate assignment sheets.
 
 

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HISTORY OF ART 282: Modern Architecture READINGS

Prof. David B. Brownlee Spring 2000

Readings for the week beginning:
 
 

HISTORY OF ART 282: Modern Architecture BOOK LIST

Prof. David B. Brownlee Spring 1999

*Ulrich Conrads. Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-century Architecture. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT

Press, 1975.

*William Curtis. Modern Architecture Since 1900. 3rd edition. New York: Prentice Hall, 1996.

*Le Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture. Reprint. New York: Dover, 1986.

Lewis Mumford. From the Ground Up: Observations on Contemporary Architecture, Housing, Highway

Building, and Civic Design. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1956.

*Nikolaus Pevsner. Pioneers of Modern Design. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975.

*Vincent Scully. American Architecture and Urbanism. New York: Henry Holt, 1988.

*Louis Sullivan. Kindergarten Chats. Reprint. New York: Dover, 1979.

*Robert Venturi, et al. Learning from Las Vegas. Revised edition. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1977.

Otto Wagner. Modern Architecture. Tr. and ed. Harry Mallgrave. Santa Monica: Getty Center, 1988 [1902].

Frank Lloyd Wright. "The Art and Craft of the Machine," [1901] in Writings and Buildings, Edgar

Kaufmann and Ben Raeburn (eds.) New York: Horizon, 1960. Pp. 55-73.
 
 
 
 

All books are on reserve at the Fischer Fine Arts Library in the Furness Building. Those marked with an asterisk are available for purchase at the Pennsylvania Book Center, in their new location at 130 South 34th Street.

Consult the READINGS sheet for weekly page assignments.
 
 
 
 

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HISTORY OF ART 282: Modern Architecture FIRST PAPER

Prof. David B. Brownlee Spring 2000
 
 

A short paper (no more than two double-spaced, typed pages) is due in class on Friday, January 21. It will not be graded, but it must be completed in order to receive credit for the course.

The subject of the paper is the new Walnut Street entrance of the Annenberg School building by MGA architects. Although we will later discuss the historical context of this building, that is not what you should worry about now. Concentrate instead on the visual forms that the architects have created in order to communicate their ideas. Look at the building carefully, define its effects on the viewer, and then try to explain how MGA have created them.

This should not be seen as an exercise in description, and if you find yourself writing long paragraphs about details that don't seem to go anywhere, you are probably being too descriptive. Naturally, you will have to pay close attention to the materials out of which the building is made and how they are shaped and assembled to make a design, but you must always be sure that you use that kind of analysis in support of generalizations and conclusions. In other words, while you will surely write about some of the building's details, you must seek to explain why they have been shaped as they are.

You may also want to think of this as an analysis of MGA's skill in solving visual "problems." Once they had decided what they wanted to "say" in this space, they had to figure out how to do so. That posed a series of challenges, and what you see is their response to them.

The quality of your prose should receive as much attention as the content of this paper. If you have trouble writing, you will want to review this paper carefully with Mr. Sawicki after it is returned to you. If you've never heard about the Writing Center, or the "Wheel" services in your College House, ask us for details.

Don't worry if this is the first time you've had to do this kind of exercise; it's just a matter of getting your feet wet.

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HISTORY OF ART 282: Modern Architecture PAPER ASSIGNMENT

Professor David Brownlee Spring 2000
 
 

Note that this is a two-part assignment, requiring both a research proposal and a research paper.

Proposal

In order to assign each student a unique topic and to insure the timely commencement of research, you must submit a research proposal of ca. 6 pages. This should identify the major historical questions raised by each of three possible topic buildings and review the research resources (i.e. bibliography) for each. Rank them according to your preference. You will be assigned one of these buildings.

Research paper

The assigned building will be the subject a research paper of about 15 pages. The primary objective of your paper must be to establish the way our understanding of the historical significance of this building has changed over the years. In other words, you must write a paper that acknowledges that history is not an objective science--that our perception of things changes over time. You should try to explain the way that changing ideas about architecture in general have changed the interpretations of your particular building.

In conducting your research, you will need to use all of your ingenuity. Begin with the assigned texts, but get to know the reference section of the Fine Arts Library like the back of your hand. In addition to the biographical dictionaries and specialized bibliographies that live there, you should take note of the Avery Obituary Index (NA 40 A87 1980) and the Avery Index of Architectural Periodicals (Z 5945 C649 1973). The Avery periodical index (and the Art Index and the Bibliography of the History of Art) are also be available online. BUT be very cautious about using the online versions; they do not capture much data that is older than twenty years—and that’s exactly what you want! Your survey of books should start with these:

Banham, Reyner. Theory and Design in the First Machine Age. New York: Praeger, 1960. UPFA

reserve NA 680 B25 1960b

Benevolo, Leonardo. History of Modern Architecture. 2 vols. tr. H.J. Landry. Cambridge, MA: MIT

Press 1971. UPFA non circ. NA 642 B413 1971b

Frampton, Kenneth. Modern Architecture: A Critical History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

UPFA reserve NA 500 F75

1929. UPFA locked case NA 500 H5

Remember, not all of the books and journals that you will need to consult will be available at Penn. Learn how to use interlibrary loan, and put in your orders early. Your inability to find a critically important publication will not be accepted as an excuse for not using it!

Please treat all library resources gently and with respect. If humanly possible, do not charge books out; leave even open shelf books in the library, where others can use them. Book vandals will be treated savagely.

Plagiarism is a very serious and complicated matter. You are expected to know the rules, so ask when in doubt. The consequences are very severe, and my own views on this matter are particularly strong.
 
 

Possible topics

New Zealand Chambers, London

Home Insurance Co., Chicago

Eiffel Tower, Paris

F.L. Wright House, Oak Park

Forster house, Bedford Park

Reliance Building, Chicago

Sezession Building, Vienna

Hill House, Helensburgh

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Metro stations, Paris

Post Office Savings Bank, Vienna

Carson Pirie Scott, Chicago

Larkin Building, Buffalo

Chemical Factory, Luban

Purkersdorf Sanatorium (Hoffmann)

German Embassy, St. Petersburg

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris

Città Nuova (Sant'Elia)

Stadtkrone (Taut)

Contemporary City for 3 Million

Hook of Holland housing (Oud)

Britz Siedlung, Berlin

Törten Siedlung, Dessau (Gropius)

Petersdorff Store, Breslau/Wroclaw

Lovell Beach House, Newport Beach

Viipuri Library

Lenin Mausoleum, Moscow

Empire State Building, New York

Jefferson Memorial, Washington, DC

Resor House, Jackson Hole

Yale Art Gallery, New Haven

Maisons Jaoul, Neuilly-sur-Seine

Royal Festival Hall, London

Harkness Commons and dorms, Harvard

Morse and Stiles Colleges, Yale

Guild House, Philadelphia

Sea Ranch