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Historicism and Decorative Theory in and , 1851-1901

Eric Anderson Tuesday 6-8 pm Spring 2006 [email protected]

In the second half of the nineteenth century, a wide-ranging movement to strengthen national industries and improve the artistic of domestic interiors developed in Germany and Austria. At its heart was the that only by grappling with the past could modern designers meet the challenge of creating artistic environments suited to the new demands of a rapidly transforming society. From this conviction arose a rich theoretical discourse on historical forms and their relationship to the present. This course examines the concept of as it was developed in books, periodicals, and exhibition displays. What narratives of design history did theorists construct? How did they view the role of the and the artistic interior in modern society? What were the social and artistic concerns underlying their arguments about the modern use of particular historical styles?

General Reference: • Barry Bergdoll, European , 1750-1890 (Oxford, 2000) [C-H RESERVE / SUGGESTED PURCHASE] • Mitchell Schwarzer, German and the Search for Modern Identity (New York, 1995) [PHOTOCOPY / PARSONS GIMBEL LIBRARY / NYU BOBST LIBRARY] • John Heskett, Design in Germany, 1870-1918 (London, 1986) [C-H RESERVE] • Stefan Muthesius, Das englische Vorbild: eine Studie zu der deutschen Reformbewegungen in Architektur, Wohnbau und Kunstgewerbe im späteren 19. Jahrhundert (, 1974) [BOBST] • Heinrich Kreisel, Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels, v. 3: Georg Himmelheber, Klassizismus, Historismus, (Munich, 1973) [C-H RESERVE] • Blackbourn, The Long Nineteenth Century: A , 1780-1918. (New York, 1998) [BOBST]

1. Introduction: What’s the matter with Historicism? and the nineteenth-century domestic interior. Suggested background reading: • Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory: xi-32

2. What is Historicism? Required readings for discussion: • Henry Russel Hitchcock and Phillip Johnson, The International . (New York, 1996 [1932]), especially Ch 1 “Introduction: The Idea of Style” and Ch. 2 “History.” [PHOTOCOPY] • Nikolaus Pevsner, An Outline of European Architecture (Harmondsworth, 1943), “Romantic Movement, Historicism, and Modern Movement, 1760–1914,” 242-274 [PHOTOCOPY] • Siegfried Giedion, Mechanization Takes Command (New York, 1948), esp. 329-388 [C-H RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY] • Alan Colquhoun, “Three Kinds of Historicism” in Modernity and the (Cambridge, Mass., 1989) [PHOTOCOPY] Additional definitions of historicism: • Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of , (London, 2000). “Historicism.” [PHOTOCOPY] • The Encyclopedia of (New York, 1998), “Historicism and Architecture,” 412-415 [PHOTOCOPY] • Grove Dictionary of Art Online, “Historicism.” [PHOTOCOPY] • Neil Levine, "Robert Venturi and ‘The Return of Historicism.’” In Keith Eggener, ed., American Architectural History: A Contemporary Reader (New York, 2004) 3. The Classical and the Gothic Alternative in the 18 th Century. Zopf and Empire . Required readings for discussion: • Marc-Antoine Laugier, An Essay on Architecture (Los Angeles, 1977 [1753]), 1-38, 100-120 [PHOTOCOPY] • J. J. Winckelmann, Reflections on the and of the Greeks (London, 1999 [1755]) [PHOTOCOPY] • ------, “Remarks on the Architecture of the Ancients” (1762). In David Irwin, ed. Winckelmann. Writings on Art. (London, 1972), 86-88 [PHOTOCOPY] • J. W. Goethe, “On German Architecture.” (1772) In Goethe on Art, ed. John Gage. (London, 1980): 103-112. [PHOTOCOPY] Suggested background reading: • Bergdoll, European Architecture, 1-41, 139-152 • Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 33-42, 48-50 • Daniel Purdy, The Tyranny of : Consumer Cosmopolitanism in the Era of Goethe (Baltimore, 1998) [BOBST] • Journal des Luxus und der Moden (, begun 1786) [NYPL] • and Pierre François Léonard Fontaine, Empire Stylebook of Interior Design: All 72 plates from the Recueil de Décorations Intérieures (New York, 1991 [1801])

4. “In What Style Should We Build?” Theories of architectural development and the idea of a modern style in the 1830s and 1840s. Reading for discussion: • Heinrich Hübsch, “In What Style Should We Build?” (1828). In Wolfgang Herrmann, ed., In What Style Should We Build? The German Debate on (Santa Monica, 1992), 63-101 [C- H RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY] • Karl Friedrich Schinkel, selection from “Notes for a textbook on architecture” (ca. 1830) and “Notes for a textbook on architecture” (ca. 1835). In Harry Francis Mallgrave, ed., Architectural Theory v. 1 (Malden, MA, 2006), 412-415 [PHOTOCOPY] • C. A. Rosenthal, “In What Style Should We Build? (A Question Addressed to the Members of the Deutsche Architektenverein)” (1844). In Wolfgang Herrmann, ed. In What Style Should We Build? The German Debate on Architectural Style (Santa Monica, 1992): 113-123 [C-H RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY] • A. W. N. Pugin, The True Principles of Pointed Architecture (London, 1973 [1841]) [C-H RESERVE] • Journal für Möbelschreiner und Tapezirer (begun 1836) [C-H RARE BOOKS] Background reading: • Bergdoll, European Architecture, 152-205 • Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 42-48, 50-69 • Wolfgang Herrmann, “Introduction.” In What Style Should We Build? The German Debate on Architectural Style (Santa Monica, 1992), 1-63 • Barry Bergdoll, " vs. History: Heinrich Hübsch's critique of and the beginnings of Historicism in German Architectural Theory," Oxford Art Journal 5 (1983), 3-12 • Gerhart Egger, ed., in the Age of Schubert: The Interior 1815-1848. (London, 1979) • Georg Himmelheber, Biedermeier Furniture. (London, 1974). • Marianne Zweig. Zweites Rokoko: Innenräume und Hausrat in Wien um 1830-1860. (Vienna, 1924)

5. ’s Historicism. Reading for discussion: • Gottfried Semper, selected writings in Harry Francis Mallgrave and Wolfgang Herrmann, eds., Gottfried Semper: The Four Elements of Architecture and Other Writings. (Cambridge, Engl.: 1989): 101-129, 168-173, 246-263 [C-H RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY] Background reading: • Bergdoll, European Architecture, 224-238 • Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 167-178 • Harry Francis Mallgrave, Gottfried Semper, Architect of the Nineteenth Century (New Haven, 1996) • Mari Hvattum, Gottfried Semper and the Problem of Historicism. (Cambridge, Engl., 2004)

6. Semper and Industrial Art at the Crystal Palace. Reading for dicussion: • Gottfried Semper, Science, Industry, and Art (1852) in Mallgrave and Herrmann, eds., The Four Elements of Architecture and Other Writings, 130-167 [C-H RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY] • Henry Cole, "Universal Infidelity in Principles of Design." Journal of Design 5 (1851): 158-61 [PHOTOCOPY] • Ralph Wornum, “The Exhibition as a Lesson in ” in The Crystal Palace Exhibition Illustrated Catalogue (New York, 1970 [1851]). I-XXII (end of volume). [C-H RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY] Background reading: • Bergdoll, European Architecture, 207-224 • Mari Hvattum, “'A Complete and Universal Collection': Gottfried Semper and the Great Exhibition,” in Mari Hvattum and Christian Hermansen, eds., Tracing Modernity: Manifestations of the Modern in Architecture and the City. (London, 2004) [PHOTOCOPY]

7. The birth of the German movement: Semper’s role in the Museum of Practical Art. The Austrian Museum and the German Industry Museum. Early design journals Readings for discussion: • Rudolf Eitelberger and Jakob von Falke, Statutes and Organization of the Austrian Museum (1864) [PHOTOCOPY] • Organization of the German Industry Museum, Berlin (1867) [PHOTOCOPY] • Henry Cole, et al. “General Classification,” “Formation of the Museum,” and Extracts Illustrating the Principles of Ornamental Art.” In A Catalogue of the Museum of Ornamental Art. (London, 1856): 5-8, 117-125 [PHOTOCOPY] • Gewerbehalle (, begun 1863) [selected issues in C-H RARE BOOKS] • Das Kunsthandwerk (Stuttgart, begun 1874) [selected issues in C-H RARE BOOKS] Background reading: • Schwarzer, “The Design Prototype as Artistic Boundary: Debates on History and Industry in Central European Applied Arts Museums, 1860 – 1900,” Design Issues 9 (Fall 1992) • Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 88-106 • Stefan Muthesius “Communications between Traders, Users and Artists: The Growth of Serial Publications on Domestic Interior Decoration in the Later Nineteenth Century,” Journal of Design History 18 (2005), 7-20 • Peter Noever and Hanna Egger, eds., Kunst und Industrie: die Anfänge des Museums für Angewandte Kunst in Wien (Ostfildern-Ruit, 2000)

8. The birth of German domestic design reform: Jakob von Falke’s theory of the house. Readings for discussion: • Jakob von Falke, Art in the House (Boston, 1879 [1871]) Historical section (chs. I-IV), “General Critical Observations (ch. V), “Woman’s Aesthetic Mission (ch. X) [C-H RESERVE] • Robert Kerr, The Gentleman's House (London, 1972 [1864]), esp. 1-69 “A Sketch of the History and Development of Domestic Plan in ”; 356ff. [C-H RESERVE] Background reading: • Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 112-120 • Eva B Ottillinger, "Jakob von Falke (1825-1897) und die Theorie des Kunstgewerbes." Wiener Jahrbuch fuer Kunstgeschichte XLII (1989), 205-23

9. Ringstrasse Vienna: Culture, politics, and design. The 1873 World Exhibition. Reading for discussion: • Carl Schorske, Fin-de-Siecle Vienna: Culture and Politics (New York, 1980): 24-62. [C-H RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY] • , The Civilization of the in Italy (Basel, 1860), part II “The Development of the Individual” and part V “Society and Festivals.” [C-H RESERVE] • Kunst und Kunstgewerbe auf der wiener Weltausstellung 1873. ed. Carl von Lützow. , 1875. [C-H Rare Books] Background reading: • Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 69-77 • Eva Ottillinger and Lieselotte Hanzl-Wachter. Kaiserliche Interieurs: die Wohnkultur des Wiener Hofes im 19. Jahrhundert und die Wiener Kunstgewerbereform (Vienna, 1997) • Pemsel, Jutta. Die Wiener Weltausstellung von 1873: Das Gründerzeitliche Wien am Wendepunkt. (Vienna, 1989)

10. The in Munich and the Gothic Revival of the Hannover School: national design style and the “culture war” in Germany. Reading for discussion: • Hirth, Das deutsche Zimmer der Renaissance (Munich, 1880) [C-H RESERVE] • Zeitschrift der Kunstgewerbeverein zu München, (1851-) [NYPL] • Die Kunst im Gewerbe (begun 1872) [C-H RESERVE] • G. G. Ungewitter, Entwürfe zu gothischen Möbeln [C-H RARE BOOKS] • G. G. Ungewitter, Entwürfe zu Stadt- und Landhäusern [NYPL] Background Reading: • Michael J. Lewis, The Politics of the German Gothic Revival: August Reichensperger (Cambridge, MA, 1993) • Stefan Muthesius, "Das Münchner Kunstgewerbe und das künstlerische Wohninterieur: Gabriel von Seidl und Georg Hirth," in C. Holtz, ed., Schön und Gut. Positionen des Gestaltens seit 1850 (Munich, 2002), 57-68 11. The triumph of the eclectic interior in the 1880s and early 1890s. Reading for discussion: • Oskar Mothes, Unser Heim im Schmuck der Kunst (1880) [NYPL] • Chronik der Deutsch-Nationalen Kunstgewerbe-Ausstellung in München (Munich, 1888) [C-H RESERVE] • Illustrirte kunstgewerbliche Zeitschrift für Innen Dekoration zur Ausschmückung u. Einrichtung der Wohnräume. (Begun 1890) [NYPL / WATSON] • Leopold Gmelin, German Artistical Handicraft at the time of the World's-Exhibition in Chicago (1893) [C-H Rare Books] Background reading: • Duncan Berry, "From Historicism to : on some of Wagner's sources," in Harry Mallgrave, ed., Otto Wagner: Reflections on the Raiment of Modernity. (The Getty Center, 1993)

12. The emergence of the and psychological theories of form. Guest Lecturer: Albert Narath. Reading for Discussion: • Heinrich Wölfflin, Reniassance and Baroque (London, 1964) [C-H RESERVE] • Harry Francis Mallgrave and Eleftherios Ikonomu, eds. Empathy, Form, and Space: Problems in German Aesthetics, 1873-1893 (Santa Monica, 1994). Selections TBA [C-H RESERVE] Background reading: • Mallgrave and Ikonomou, “Introduction,” In Empathy, Form, and Space: Problems in German Aesthetics, 1873-1893 (Santa Monica, 1994), 1-85

13. The Jugendstil and the Rejection of Historicism. Reading for discussion: • Otto Wagner, (Santa Monica, 1988 [1895]) [C-H RESERVE] • Henry Van de Velde, “A Chapter on the Design and Construction of ” [Pan 3 (1897): 260-264]; “The New ” [from Die Renaissance im modernen Kunstgewerbe (Berlin, 1901)]; “The Role of the Engineer in Modern Architecture” [from Die Renaissance im modernen Kunstgewerbe (Berlin, 1901)]. In Tim and Charlotte Benton, eds. Form and Function: A source book for the and Design 1890-1939 (London, 1975), 17-19, 32-34. [PHOTOCOPY] • Henry Van de Velde, “Observations Toward a Synthesis of Art,” (1895). In Isabelle Frank, ed. The Theory of Decorative Art: An Anthology of European & American Writings, 1750-1940 (New Haven, 2000), 194-200 [PHOTOCOPY] • August Endell, “The of Form and Decorative Art” [Dekorative Kunst 1 (1897); 75-77; 119- 125]. In Benton, Form and Function, 20-26. [PHOTOCOPY] Some journals of Jugendstil design: • Illustrirte kunstgewerbliche Zeitschrift für Innen Dekoration zur Ausschmückung u. Einrichtung der Wohnräume [also Fachblatt für Innen-Dekoration and Innendekoration], (, begun 1890) [WATSON / selected issues in C-H RARE BOOKS] • Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration (Darmstadt, begun 1897) [WATSON / selected issues in C-H RARE BOOKS] • Dekorative Kunst (Munich, begun 1898) [WATSON / selected issues in C-H RARE BOOKS] • Das Interieur (Vienna, begun 1900) Background reading: • Bergdoll, European Architecture, 269-279 • Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 215-237 • Mallgrave, “Introduction.” In Otto Wagner, Modern Architecture (Santa Monica, 1988), 1-51 • Michaela Rammert-Götz, Richard Riemerschmid, Möbel und Innenräume von 1895-1900 (Munich, 1987) • Renate Ulmer, Jugendstil in Darmstadt (Darmstadt, 1997) • Hermann Bahr, Die Überwindung des Naturalismus (Vienna, 1891); (Vienna, 1900)

14. Some critiques of Style: Riegl, Lichtwark, Loos Reading for discussion: • , Problems of Style: Foundations for a History of Ornament. (1893; transl. 1992), introduction and Ch. 1 [C-H RESERVE] • Alfred Lichtwark, “Palace Window and Folding ,” [Pan 2 (1896), 57-60]; “Practical Application,” [Dekorative Kunst 1 (1897), 24-27]. In Tim and Charlotte Benton, eds. Form and Function: A source book for the History of Architecture and Design 1890-1939 (London, 1975), 9-11, 14-15. [PHOTOCOPY] • Adolph Loos, Spoken Into the Void: Collected Essays 1897-1900. (Cambridge, Mass., 1982), selectsions TBA [C-H RESERVE] Background reading: • Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, 152-166, 201-204, 238-260 • Margaret Olin, Forms of in Alois Riegl's . (University Park, Pa, 1992) • Jennifer Jenkins, Provincial modernity: local culture and liberal politics in fin-de-siècle . (Ithaca, 2003)

15. Reading for discussion: • Hermann Muthesius, Style Architecture and Building Art. (Santa Monica, 1994 [1901]) [C-H RESERVE] • ------, The English House. (New York, 1979 [1904-05]), introduction and illustrations [C-H RESERVE / PHOTOCOPY] • Frederic J. Schwartz, The Werkbund: Design Theory and Mass Culture Before the First World War (New Haven, 1996) [C-H RESERVE] • Mark Jarzombek, "Discourses of a Bourgeois Utopia, 1904-1908, and the Founding of the Werkbund" In: Imagining Modern German Culture, 1889-1910 (Nat'l Gallery of Art, 1996), 127-146 [PHOTOCOPY] • ------, "The Kunstgewerbe, the Werkbund, and the Aesthetics of Culture in the Wilhelmine Period," JSAH 53 (March 1994), 7-19 [PHOTOCOPY]