MAKERS OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Author(s): FILLER MARTIN
Everyone knows what modern architecture looks like, but few understand how this revolutionary new form of building emerged little more than a century ago or what its aesthetic, social, even spiritual aspirations were. Through his illuminating studies of the leading men and women who forever changed our built environment, veteran architecture critic Martin Filler offers fresh insights into this unprecedented cultural transformation. From Louis Sullivan, father of the skyscraper, to Frank Gehry, magician of post-millennial museum, Filler emphasizes how their force of personality has had a decisive effect on everything from how we inhabit our homes to how we shape our cities. Why was the sudden shift in architectural fashion that wrecked the career of the Scottish designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh not enough to destroy the indomitable spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright, who rose from adversity to become America's greatest architect? Why was Philip Johnson, "dean of American architecture" during the 1980s, so haunted by the superior talent of his less-fortunate contemporary Louis Kahn that he could barely utter his name even at the peak of his own success? How did Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's dictum "Less is more" give way to Robert Venturi's "Less is a bore"? Surveying such current urban design sagas as the reconstruction of Ground Zero and the reunification of Berlin, Filler also trains his sharp eye on some of the biggest names in architecture today, puncturing more than one overinflated reputation while identifying the true masters who are now building for the ages.
General Information
- :
- : New York Review of Books, Incorporated, The
- : New York Review of Books Collections
- : 0.522
- : 01 July 2007
- : United States
- : books
Other Specifications
- : FILLER MARTIN
- : BB
- : 607
- : English
- : 720.922
- : 352
- : Illustrations
More About The Product
"Most of these 17 short essays by Filler (architecture critic, "House & Garden") originally appeared in the "New York Review of Books"; some have been expanded and updated. They touch on aspects of the work and lives of 20-plus giants of modern architecture (e.g., Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier) as well as contemporary practitioners (e.g., Frank Gehry, Richard Meier)...Filler's engaging observations and insights are worth reading." -"-Library Journal"
"Since the mid-1980s, Martin Filler has contributed a medley of long critical essays on architects and architecture to "The New York Review of Books." A new book by that publisher released on July 17 collects and updates Filler's essays in a single offering entitled Makers of Modern Architecture: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry. Arriving in time for the dog days, Filler provides something to sink our teeth into. Delicious!...Filler's essays consist of a rich amalgam of biographical analyses, emphasizing each individual's ca
Martin Filler is the architecture critic of House & Garden and a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books and The New Republic. He is the co-author, with Olivier Bossiere, of The Vitra Design Museum: Frank Gehry, Architect.
