Modern Architecture and Expressionism

The format is approximately 8 inches by 9.5 inches. xiii, [3[, 204, [4] pages. Illustrations. Notes on the text. Appendices. Chronology of Buildings and Events. Bibliography. Index. The dust jacket has slight wear and soiling. The price on the DJ flap is inked over. Includes sections on The roots and background of Expressionism; Architecture and Expressionism, and Vision, Fantasy and Utopia. Dennis Sharp (30 November 1933 – 6 May 2010) was a British architect, professor, curator, historian, author and editor. His obituary in The Guardian stated that he 'was well-known as an architectural historian, teacher and active defender of the environment'. He had considerable success as a working architect. In 1963, he was appointed senior research architect, Civic Trust for the North West, Manchester. He was Lecturer at the School of Architecture, University of Manchester (1964–1968). He was appointed Head of History studies at the AA school in 1968. He was AA General Editor and founder Editor of AA Quarterly (1968–1982), and member an AA Vice-president. In 1988, he became editor of the journal World Architecture: Journal of the International Academy of Architecture of the IAA – International Academy of Architecture in Sofia, Bulgaria. Sharp was the author and editor of several books, including Modern Architecture and Expressionism", "The Picture Place", "The Bauhaus", Phaidon, "Twentieth Century Architecture. A Visual History" and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture as well as surveys of the work of Calatrava, Manfredi Nicoletti, and Kurokawa. Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing arts that especially developed and dominated in Germany. Brick Expressionism is a special variant of this movement in western and northern Germany, as well as in the Netherlands (where it is known as the Amsterdam School). The term "Expressionist architecture" initially described the activity of the German, Dutch, Austrian, Czech and Danish avant garde from 1910 until 1930. Subsequent redefinitions extended the term backwards to 1905 and also widened it to encompass the rest of Europe. Today the meaning has broadened even further to refer to architecture of any date or location that exhibits some of the qualities of the original movement such as; distortion, fragmentation or the communication of violent or overstressed emotion. The style was characterized by an early-modernist adoption of novel materials, formal innovation, and very unusual massing, sometimes inspired by natural biomorphic forms, sometimes by the new technical possibilities offered by the mass production of brick, steel and especially glass. Many expressionist architects fought in World War I and their experiences, combined with the political turmoil and social upheaval that followed the German Revolution of 1919, resulted in a utopian outlook and a romantic socialist agenda. Economic conditions severely limited the number of built commissions between 1914 and the mid-1920s, resulting in many of the most important expressionist works remaining as projects on paper, such as Bruno Taut's Alpine Architecture and Hermann Finsterlin's Formspiels. Ephemeral exhibition buildings were numerous and highly significant during this period. Scenography for theatre and films provided another outlet for the expressionist imagination, and provided supplemental incomes for designers attempting to challenge conventions in a harsh economicate. Important events in Expressionist architecture include; the Werkbund Exhibition (1914) in Cologne, the completion and theatrical running of the Großes Schauspielhaus, Berlin in 1919, the Glass Chain letters, and the activities of the Amsterdam School. The major permanent extant landmark of Expressionism is Erich Mendelsohn's Einstein Tower in Potsdam. By 1925, most of the leading architects such as Bruno Taut, Erich Me.…