From Ornament to Object: Genealogies of Architectural Modernism (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780300175332)

In the late 19th century, a centuries-old preference for highly ornamented architecture gave way to a budding Modernism of clean lines and unadorned surfaces. At the same moment, everyday objects--cups, saucers, chairs, and tables--began to receive critical attention.

Alina Payne addresses this shift, arguing for a new understanding of the genealogy of architectural modernism: rather than the well-known story in which an absorption of technology and mass production created a radical aesthetic that broke decisively with the past, Payne argues for a more gradual shift, as the eloquence of architectural ornamentation was taken on by objects of daily use. As she demonstrates, the work of Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier should be seen as the culmination of a conversation about ornament dating as far back as the Renaissance. Payne looks beyond the usual suspects of philosophy and science to establish theoretical catalysts for the shift from ornament to object in the varied fields of anthropology and ethnology; art history and the museum; and archaeology and psychology.

Author: Alina Payne
ISBN-10: 0300175337
ISBN-13: 9780300175332
Publisher: Yale University Press
Language: English
Published: 07/31/2012
Pages: 360
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.95lbs
Size: 10.10h x 7.60w x 1.20d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 01/01/2013