Talking Modernism: Recent Episodes
Michael Hauptman
Talking Modernism - a podcast series exploring how our grandparents and great-grandparents changed the world. In each episode we explore a different aspect of modernism, the revolution in thinking from the 1920s and 30s, and what it can teach us about our world today
" 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, Bush, "The Streamlined Decade", George Braziller Inc, 1075
- Pictures of the Hoover Model 150 by Henry Dreyfuss
- Pictures of the Oriole gas stove by Norman Bel Geddes
- Picture of the Electrolux Model 30 by Lurelle Van Arsdale
- Good article on Norman Bel Geddes' mechanical horse race and his War Game
- Original color documentary by General Motors on the 1939 Futurama exhibit. Ride footage commences at minute 8:00
- Good brief video summarising Norman Bel Geddes' career
- Catalogue of 1934 MOMA exhibition "Machine Art"
- Book, Marshall, "Machine Art 1934", University of Chicago Press, 2012
- MOMA diagram shown progression of modern art 1890-1935
“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 :
- Wikipedia on Pioneer Zephyr
- Book Shafer& Welsh, "Streamliners - History of a Railroad Icon", MBI Publishing, 1997
- Article on the economics of rail travel in America
- Article on railway dining
- Wikipedia on the Shienenzeppelin
- Article on the Fliegender Hamburger train
- Film of the 1938 20th Century Limited: the most beautiful train ever made?
- Photos of Mossehaus by Erich Mendelsohn
- Article on the Universum Cinema, also by Mendelsohn
- PDF copy of Aircraft by Le Corbusier, 1935
- 1934 film The 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 fashion giant Paul Poiret in packaging the avant-garde for the mass market.
To explore future:
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:
- Article on the Thonet Number 14 chair
- Article on the Deutsche Werkbund
- Article on Peter Brehens, one of the founders of the Werkbund
- Article on the ARG Turbine Hall, one the pioneers of modern factory design
- Article of the 1910 Salon d'Automne
- More photos of the Deutsche Werkbund exhibits at the 1910 Salon d'Automne
- Comprehensive article by Arthur Chandler on the 1925 Paris Exhibition
- Photos of the 1925 Paris Exhibition
- Film "Paris a Cinq Jours", ("Paris in 5 Days"), silent comedy from 1925. Contains actual footage of the 195 Paris expo at 40.49 minute mark
Email feedback and suggestions to talkingmodernism@gmail.com
Photo credit: Thonet Number 14 Chair, thonet.com.au/products/no-14-vienna/
First in a 2-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' place as the fashion capital of the world, and also explore early responses of decorative art and design to the challenge of Modernism.
To explore further:
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 of Tel Aviv, including the White City period
- Wikipedia on Levant Fair 1932
- Engel House, White City
- Rubinsky House, White City
- Dizengoff Square, White City
- Plan for Alexanderplatz, Berlin, Mies van der Rohe, 1928
- Book White City, Black City, Sharon Rotbard,2005/2015
- Article on German Expressionist architecture
- Einstein Tower, Berlin
- Weizmann Villa, Rehovot
- Book Seizing Jerusalem - The Architectures of Unilateral Unification, Prof Alana Nitzan-Shiftan, 2017
First 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:
- UNESCO world heritage listing of the White City
- Wikipedia on the Dreyfuss Affair
- History of Aliyahs
- The Balfour Declaration
- The Geddes Plan
- Detailed article about the Ha'avarah agreement
- Wikipedia on functionalist architecture. Interestingly it doesn't mention Tel Aviv
- 1936 Punch cartoon on functionalist architecture- Do tell me you loathe it!
Photo credit: Bialik House, 1925 The Times of Tel Aviv
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:
- Book overview of 1930s The Dark Valley
- Film clip Dinosaur sequence in Fantasia (1940)
- Wikipedia on Italian futurist poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
- Book Postliberal Politics: The Coming Era of Renewal
Photo credit: Charles Lindbergh, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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:
- Photo of Adolph Hitler cheering start of WW1
- Exhibition of modernist war artists
- Book The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End
Photo credit: Paul Nash, Menin Road 1918, Imperial War Museum
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:
- Article about the scandalous sculptures on Sydney's GPO 1884
- Wikipedia article on "The Rite of Spring" ballet
- Video of the 2013 centenary performance of The Rite of Spring
- Oldest recording of the Rite of Spring
- Article by Graham T Allison on the Thucydides Trap.
Photo credit: Joffrey ballet 2013 production of The Rite of Spring, NPR
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:
- Description of the Frankfurt kitchen here
- Video of "Kitchen Dance" here
- Video of Robert Rotifer's song "The Frankfurt Kitchen" here
- Instructional film from 1926 showing the Frankfurt kitchen in use here
- “The Secret History of Home Economics” by Danielle Dreilinger, here
- Article on Red Vienna's housing program here
- Article on Greta Schutte-Lihodzky here
- Article on Ernst May and the New Frankfurt program here
- Wikipedia article on Futura typeface here
- Wikipedia article on Bauhaus here
- Article on gesamtkunstverk here
- Article on Casa Batlo here
- Rittle & Webber's 1973 paper "Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning" here
Photo credit Wikimedia commons Christos Vittoratos
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:
- Photo study of Villa Savoye
- Wikpedia on Le Corbusier
- Wikipedia on "Towards a New Architecture"
- Malcolm Gladwell's podcast Revisionist History
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