This major study of one of the 20th century's greatest architects reevaluates the entire body of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's work in America. Based on considerable new research and bringing to light previously unstudied material-drawings and collages, photographs, project documents, and oral histories-Mies in America presents fresh, original, and corrective interpretations of the architect's achievements. The book includes nine essays that together offer a portrait of Mies's evolution as an artist. Packed with more than 550 illustrations, the book looks beyond Mies's most famous architectural triumphs, from the IIT campus in Chicago to the Seagram Building in New York, to probe the relationship between a seminal body of work and its cultural context.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
One of the century's major architects receives a thorough, beautiful and masterfully documented treatment in this pair of massive books prompted by a pair of linked New York exhibits, at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, which run through September. After adding the magisterial "van der Rohe" of his maternal grandfather to his name, Ludwig Mies (1886-1969) built up an impressive record of angular houses and advanced theories in Germany before he fled to America in 1938. Once here, he perfected the spacious, modernist, glass-and-steel structures that brought fame to his International Style among them New York's Seagram Building and Chicago's Illinois Institute of Technology a style also championed and promulgated by the young Phillip Johnson. MoMA's first Mies show, in 1947, cast him as a hero of abstracts and absolutes. The new volume on his Berlin years, by contrast, aims to humanize the architect and to show him responding to his times. Here are dozens of blueprints and drawings some never built along with photographs of his early houses (some predating WWI). Here, too, are essays from nine scholars and critics about his urban theory, about Berlin's early skyscrapers and about Mies's relations with dada, the movies, Prussia and philosophy. The attractive book on his American work may have slightly broader appeal: essays and photo spreads here focus on Mies's U.S. colleagues and collaborations, and on his interactions with Chicago; 10 essayists contribute, among them Rem Koolhaas (S, M, L, XL), who plans an addition to Mies's IIT. The Berlin volume boasts 200 full-color, 150 duotone and 166 b&w images; its American companion offers 141 color and 499 b&w. (Sept.)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
Phyllis Lambert, an architect, is founding director and chair of the board of trustees of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. Werner Oechslin is a professor at the Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur in Zurich. Detlef Mertins is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. Peter Eisenman is an internationally acclaimed architect. Rem Koolhaas is the winner of the 2000 Pritzker Architecture Prize. K. Michael Hays is adjunct curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art and a professor at Harvard University.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A welcome focus on Van Der Rohe in America,
By "jeffrugh" (los Angeles) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mies in America (Hardcover)
It is a rare occasion to find such an exhaustive study done on an artists work anywhere. Although the work of Van Der Rohe will always be seen as a vital contribution to the history of architecture, the depth and focus of the essays in this catalog will certainly bring appreciation beyond a simple fetishization of Van Der Rohe's Barcelona Pavillion. The inclusion of models, sketches, historical photographs, and works of art from his time offer a multi-faceted explanation of his works and their importance. It is a book that is not only scholarly in nature but also has a beauty that will engross the reader whether they take the time to read the essays or not. The book gets better the more you look at it and the final essay by Koolhaas offers a refreshing and pointed critique of the role of the conservator of Mies' work and how alive his work is. In this age where high modernism has been reduced to style without context and weight this book takes one of its best practitioners, shakes the dust the things that Van Der Rohe created, and offers us a stellar view of a brilliant contribution to American life.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
mvdr / grs,
By Gene Summers (Healdsburg, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mies in America (Hardcover)
The book by Phyllis Lambert "Mies in America" is the most intelligent and correct interpretation of the work of this master architect that has yet appeared in book form.It is deep in detail of all his major works in this country. It is a necessary read for all architects and historians of contemporary architecture who seek knowledge of this major twenith century artist . The research done for this writing puts the work considerably ahead of any other Mies publication.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It must be the best book about Mies,
This review is from: Mies in America (Hardcover)
When I saw this book half priced (just 59 €!!) at a bizarre spanish store , I just could't help buying it. Wonderful edition, it excedes in: content, photographs, drawings, design, typography and material quality. Very serious and recommended book.
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