Building-Art: Modern Architecture under Cultural Construction

Building-Art: Modern Architecture Under Cultural Construction is an anthology of essays by noted critic Joseph Masheck. Considering topics in nineteenth and twentieth century architecture, its theory and practice, as well as selected achievements by such great modernists as Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Louis Kahn, Masheck also analyzes important monuments and architectural ideas of such artists as Giorgio di Chirico and Tony Smith. Contextualizing and culturally speculative, these studies address such issues as the distinction between architecture and "mere" building, and architecture and engineering, frequently drawing the reader into architectural problems that have persisted for at least two centuries. Demonstrating a concern with on-going modernism, Masheck's essays guide the reader through the anti-modernist polemics of the 1970s and 1980s, which are particularly relevant in light of Postmodernism's demise. Joseph Masheck, editor-in-chief of Artforum from 1977-1980, is Associate Professor of Art History and coordinator of the graduate humanities program at Hofstra University. He is the author of several books and many articles.

Demonstrating a concern with on-going modernism, Masheck's essays guide the reader through the anti-modernist polemics of the 1970s and 1980s.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 222-290) and index.

List of illustrations; Sources [of previously published essays]; Introduction; 1. Bentham's panopticon: an architectural perpetration; 2. Politics of style: Dublin pro-cathedral in the Greek revival; 3. An American utopian schoolhouse design; 4. Note on Sullivan and the use of beauty; 5. De Chirico's pathos of lost antiquity; 6. Text life of the living machine; 7. Reflections in onyx on Mies van der Rohe; 8. Ex Tenebras Lux: approaching the Ronchamp Wall of Light; 9. Kahn: the anxious classicist; 10. Crystalline form, Worringer and the minimalism of Tony Smith; 11. Form behind concept: the Bechers' imaging of industrial architecture; 12. Classical Sass: Notes on soft postmodernism; 13. Tired tropes: cathedral vs. bicycle shed; 'duck' vs. decorated shed; Notes; Index.