Protomodernism

Protomodernism took place between 1897-1959 primarily in Germany and Austria. This era contained the seeds of the Modernism movement that would occur later, these "seeds" can be seen in several furniture pieces and architectural elements.

In Germany this movement was known as the "Deutscher Werkbund Movement" and took place in Munich. This movement in Germany is the equivalent to the Arts and Crafts era in the States and it focused on the relationship between the designer and the manufacturer to create high quality mass produced products.

In Austria this movement was called the "Vienna Secession", and included world wide advancements in art, history, physiology, and philosophy. The Vienna Secession was an idealistic movement an included many great designers and artists. Josef Hoffmann was one designer from the Vienna Secession who created many amazing furniture pieces that are iconic to this timer period. One piece he created was the Morris chair. This chair features a bent beechwood frame, light caned seat, and adjustable back.

Another designer of this period was Koloman Moser, he designed several prominent pieces of furniture and textiles. His armchair features many wooden slats and a black and white checkered print woven seat.

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Peer Reviews:
I read Haley H's blog post this week. She did an excellent job talking about the protomoderism period. I really liked the piece of art that she shared that featured the face of a woman crying with golden tears. I thought it was such a beautiful piece of art!

I also read Amanda's blog, she did a good job describing this movement and her pictures were great!