Modern Movement

Modern Movement. A term that in the 20th century has sometimes been used more or less as a synonym for modern art or for modernism, but which is generally used to refer primarily to architecture and design rather than to painting and sculpture. R. H. Wilenski's book The Modern Movement in Art (1927) is about painting and sculpture; Nikolaus Pevsner's Pioneers of the Modern Movement (1936) is mainly about architecture and design (although it has a chapter on painting) and was retitled Pioneers of Modern Design for its third edition in 1960; Kurt Rowland's A History of the Modern Movement (1973) is, as the subtitle states, about ‘Art, Architecture, Design'. In architecture the term is particularly equated with the style known as ‘International Modern’ (or ‘International Style'). Characterized by rationality and clarity of design, clean lines, generally cubic shapes, and a conscious renunciation of all historical references, this style was dominant among progressive architects in the period between the two world wars. Leading exponents included Gropius, Le Corbusier, and Mies van der Rohe (see BAUHAUS), and the style also influenced certain aspects of the work of Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), the most illustrious American architect of his time. These four are generally regarded as the greatest architects of the 20th century, which is an indication of the central importance of the International Modern Style. It continued to flourish after the Second World War, but its dominance was challenged in the 1950s by a rougher and more expressive style called Brutalism and in the 1960s and 1970s by the eclecticism of Postmodernism and the ‘structural exhibitionism’ of High Tech (see POMPIDOU CENTRE).