The Modern Mid-Century Esthetic

In 1932 the label "International style" was applied to modern architecture by the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, anticipating its growing acceptance around the world. The United States became a stronghold of modern architecture after the emigration of Gropius, Mies, and Breuer from Germany during the 1930s. By the mid-20th cent. modern architecture had become an effective instrument for dealing with the increasingly complex building needs of a global society. Large architectural firms such as Harrison and Abramovitz and Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill did much to popularize modern architecture around the world after World War II.

Increasingly, during the 1950s, modern architecture was criticized for its sterility, its "institutional" anonymity, and its disregard for regional building traditions. More varied and individual, as well as regionalist, modes of expression were sought by architects of the next generation, although the basic emphasis on structure and materials continued. This tendency was evident in the works of Louis Kahn, Edward Durell Stone, and Philip Cortelyou Johnson in the United States, and the architects of the so-called New Brutalism movement in England. A dynamic sculptural unity distinguished the buildings of Eero Saarinen and the late works of Le Corbusier. Other leading architects of this generation include Alvar Aalto of Finland, the Italians Pier Luigi Nervi and Paolo Soleri, and in Central and South America, Lúcio Costa, Oscar Niemeyer, Juan O'Gorman, and Felix Candela.

"designers like Bertoia, Braakman, Deam, Eames, Ekselius, Heywood-Wakefield, Pierre Guariche, Jacobsen, Juhl, Kagen, Kjaerholm, Knoll, Loewy, McCobb, Noguchi, Nelson, Paulin, Prouvé, Pucci, Risom, Saarinen, Schultz, Van der Rohe, Vignelli, Vodder, Wegner, and Wormley created objects that were not merely easy on the eyes, but appealing because they served their purpose with organic grace."-The Mid-Century Modernist

Choosing Colors

The Modern Living Room

The Mid-Century Modern Bath