Pioneers of Modern Design – From William Morris to Walter Gropius is the seminal book on early Modernism and its historical formation. The book was written by Nikolaus Pevsner (1902–1983), an esteemed British scholar of the history of architecture and published by The Museum of Modern Art in New York first in 1936. Pioneers of Modern Design soon became one of the most quoted references of the history of the Modern Movement.
Pevsner’s theory rests on positioning simplicity, honesty and service at the heart of modernist way of thinking about architecture. The first realisation of these principles took place during the Deutscher Werkbund movement, and they were further developed in Art Nouveau and the innovative engineering at the turn of the century. According to Nikolaus Pevsner, the new, genuine and legitimate style of the 20th century was achieved by 1914. The book discusses the history of modernism and the theoretical developments in art and architecture between the 1890s and 1914 and it has a rich black-and-white illustration of houses, artworks and designs from the period.
The copy in stock is the 2nd hardback edition of this landmark publication. It is an ex-library copy, so it has the usual library markings and stamps. However, the pages are mostly clean and tidy and the book is still completely usable.