Pioneering Modernism

"Pioneering Modernism" by Paul Greenhalgh was an article which discussed both the modernism movement itself, and its origins and evolution. The modernist movement, as discussed in the article, began with a rough start. The essential “rules” of modernism were unclear, and various schools practiced their own different forms and executions of what modernism was. This lead to a really disjointed and not comprehensive, even, clean start for the modernist movement. Because of this, many different styles and efforts eventually all fell under the category of “modernism.” Greenhalgh talks about how the followers of modernism wanted to change the world through their design. These designers believed that by creating clean, sleek, simple pieces, people would feel the same way—clean, effective, new, ect. This clean, sleek feeling that accompanies modernism was what tied modernism in with mass-production of products. For example, instead of someone hand-making a wooden chair and hand-carving details and designs into in, a modernist chair would eliminate any carved designs, and strip that chair down to the sleekest, simplest design which was easily manufactured. The art and design pieces which I was able to see at the Bauhaus exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art all fall into this category of modernist art and design, and the Bauhaus’s pieces were arguably some of the most successful of any school at the time.