Talking Modernism

" Come tour the future with General Motors! A transcontinental flight over America in 1960! What will we see? What changes will transpire? " Conclusion of a 2-part series on Streamline moderne, In this episode I'll discuss why it took particular root in Depression-era America, and also discuss how the critics viewed modern art in the 1930s. Photo credit: Wes Magyar To explore future: Book"The Streamlined Decade",PicturesPicturesPicturearticledocumentaryvideoCatalogue"Machine Art"BookMachine Art 1934"diagram

“The airplane is the symbol of the new age . A new state of modern conscience. A new plastic vision. A new aesthetic. " Welcome back to the second season of Talking Modernism, and the first of a 2-part series on Streamline Moderne, the style that is so evocative of Depression era America. In this episode I'll be talking about the glamorous world of train travel in the 1930s, and the ground-breaking Pioneer Zephyr, the first of the streamliner trains. To explore further : WikipediaBookStreamliners - History of a Railroad Icon"ArticleArticleWikipediaShienenzeppelinArticleFliegender HamburgerFilm20th Century LimitedPhotosArticlePDFAircraftfilmThe Silver Streak

"I know it when I see it” Final in a 3-part series on the 1925 Paris exposition and the Art Deco style. In this episode I explore the origins of the Art Deco style, especially its roots in avant-garde art. Plus the role of the forgotten giant of fashion Paul Poiret in packaging the avant-garde for the mass market. To explore future: overviewUnesco VideoArticlevideoArticleArticleWorld Heritage Email feedback and suggestions to talkingmodernism@gmail.com Photo credit: Ambassador study-library, designed by Pierre Chareau, Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris

"The first impression of the Exhibition is startling. Passing through the silver obelisk-like towers of the Port d’Honneur, one comes at once upon a cubist dream city, or the projection of a possible city in Mars, arisen overnight in the heart of Paris. " Second in a 3-part series on the 1925 Paris exposition, the "Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Moderne", that sparked a world-wide explosion of the glamorous and much-loved Art Deco style. In this episode I discuss how Paris battled to regain its position as style leader of the Western world against the challenge of foreign innovators such as the Deutsche Werkbund, culminating in the 1925 Paris Exposition. To explore further: ArticleArticleArticleArticleArticlephotosNu a la chemineearticlePhotosFilmEmail feedback and suggestions to talkingmodernism@gmail.com Photo credit: Thonet Number 14 Chair, thonet.com.au/products/no-14-vienna/

"Paris is the world, the rest of the earth nothing but its suburbs" First in a 3-part series on the 1925 Paris exposition, the "Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Moderne", that sparked a world-wide explosion of the glamorous and much-loved Art Deco style. In this episode I discuss the genesis of Paris' position as the fashion capital of the world, and also explore early responses of decorative art and design to the challenge of modernity. To explore further: ArticleBookArticleArticleArticleArticleArticleArticlearticleFilmArticle Email feedback and suggestions to talkingmodernism@gmail.com Photo credit: Crystal Palace relocated to Sydenham, Historic England Archive FF91/00334

Second in a 2-part series on Tel Aviv's "White City", the world's largest collection of modernist-style architecture. In this episode I discuss the growth, decline and rediscovery of the White City. I also discuss the contrasting work of Expressionist architect Erich Mendelsohn To explore further: Newsreels WikipediaEngel HouseRubinsky HouseDizengoff SquarePlanBookWhite City, Black CityExpressionist architectureEinstein TowerWeizmann VillaBookSeizing Jerusalem - The Architectures of Unilateral Unification,, Email feedback and suggestions to talkingmodernism@gmail.com

"From the froth of a wave and a cloud I built myself a white city" Second in a 2-part series on Tel Aviv's "White City", the world's largest collection of modernist-style architecture. I discuss how in the 1930s a radical architecture style largely developed in Northern Europe took hold in a new city on the shores of the Mediterranean. To explore further: White CityWikipediaAliyahsBalfour DeclarationGeddes PlanHa'avarah agreementWikipediacartoon Do tell me you loathe it!Email feedback and suggestions to talkingmodernism@gmail.com Photo credit: Bialik House, 1925 The Times of Tel Aviv

"On or about December 1910 human nature changed. All human relations shifted, and when human relations change there is at the same time a change in religion, conduct, politics, and literature.” Final of a 3-part series based on the book "Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age" by Modris Ekstiens, about the evolution of the modernist spirit in Western Europe. This episode explores how the modernist spirit developed through the optimism and relaxing of social norms of the "Roaring 20s", through to its final perverted expression in Fascism and Nazism. To explore further: BookThe Dark Valley Film clipFantasiaWikipediaBookPostliberal Politics: The Coming Era of RenewalEmail feedback and suggestions to talkingmodernism@gmail.com Photo credit: Charles Lindbergh, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

"Now all roads lead to France; And heavy is the tread Of the living; but the dead; Returning lightly dance" Second of a 3-part series based on the book "Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age" by Modris Ekstiens, about the evolution of the modernist spirit in Western Europe. This episode explores how the slaughter of WW1 and continued disruption after the war eroded the values of the Victorian age and hastened the adoption of aspects of modernism To explore further: PhotoExhibitionBookThe Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to EndEmail feedback and suggestions to talkingmodernism@gmail.com Photo credit: Paul Nash, Menin Road 1918, Imperial War Museum

"The most discordant composition ever written. Never has the cult of the wrong note been applied with such industry, zeal, and ferocity" First of a 3-part series based on the book "Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age" by Modris Ekstiens, about the evolution of the modernist spirit in Western Europe. In this episode I discuss the tumultuous 1913 premiere of the ballet "The Rite of Spring", plus the growth of modernistic Germany prior to WW1. To explore further: ArticlearticleVideorecordingArticleEmail feedback and suggestions to talkingmodernism@gmail.com Photo credit: Joffrey ballet 2013 production of The Rite of Spring, NPR

"If I had known they'd talk about nothing else I never would have designed that damn kitchen" In this episode we discuss the Frankfurt kitchen the first mass-produced fitted kitchen. Designed in 1926 by the amazing and brilliant Greta Schutte-Lihotzky, we'll also discuss functionalist design, the birth of public housing and the idea of "wicked problems" To explore further: herehereherehereThe Secret History of Home EconomicshereherehereherehereherehereherehereEmail feedback and suggestions to talkingmodernism@gmail.com Photo credit Wikimedia commons Christos Vittoratos

"Attempting to stand outside of time, the house neither aged nor weathered: it merely cracked and deteriorated" Welcome to the first episode of the new series "Talking Modernism". In this episode we'll be exploring what exactly modernism is through one of its iconic buildings, the Villa Savoye. Useful links, in case you want to investigate further: Villa SavoyeLe Corbusier"Towards a New Architecture"Revisionist HistoryEmail feedback and suggestions to talkingmodernism@gmail.com Photo credit Rory Hyde - https://www.flickr.com/photos/roryrory/2520028487, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92939219