The *American architecture of Joseph Urban.
Item
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Title
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The *American architecture of Joseph Urban.
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Identifier
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AAI9946142
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identifier
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9946142
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Creator
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Betts, Mary Beth.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Rosemarie Haag Bletter
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Date
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1999
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Art History | Architecture
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Abstract
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The Austrian-American architect and designer, Joseph Urban (1872--1933) helped to introduce and popularize European modern design in the United States during the early part of the twentieth century. Urban emigrated to the United States in 1911, after establishing a reputation as a designer in Europe. Imported European designers and theatrical troupes as well as exhibitions and periodicals displaying the latest European avant-garde set designs formed an early source of information for American designers during the 1910s and 1920s. Theater also provides a critical model for assessing Urban's visual forms and professional role. During the 1910s--1920s many European theatrical designers and directors made a radical visual shift from Expressionist to epic theater. While visually discontinuous, the shift evolved out of concerns with the audience, and the use of visual effects to engage or detach the viewer. This provides a better model for assessing the aims and impact of architects like Urban who shifted from Art Deco forms to an International Style vocabulary than the formalist and functionalist approach that has dismissed the work of such architects as inconsistent.;Recent scholarship has suggested that modernism not only consisted of the machine aesthetic of cubism but the exotic decorations of painter Henri Matisse, the Russian ballet, and fashion designer Paul Poiret. Modern artists often began with the materials from their contemporary life and popular activities. The forms of urban vernacular culture provided inspiration for the content and the visual language of modern art. Modern designers during the 1910s and 1920s took this a step further by creating works for broad commercial cultures rather than elite markets.;Urban's involvement and promotion of European design in the 1900s and the United States during the 1910s, his use of the forms and subjects of urban commercial culture and work for commercial art industries identifies him as a key figure in the development and spread of modernism in the United States. Urban's transfer of his celebrity status from the theatrical to the architectural worlds profoundly influenced his own practice and the professional role and public perception of American architects.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
