German Cities and Bourgeois Modernism, 1890-1924

Bibliographic Data

ID19973820
AuthorsMaiken Umbach (0000-0001-6860-2102, corresponding author)
Year2009
Pages272
Publication date2009-06-01
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueGerman cities and bourgeois modernism, 1890-1924 (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199557394.001.0001
OpenAlexW360509899
ISBN9780199557394
Open LibraryOL23191969M
LanguageEN
Citations received12

This is a study of a distinctive brand of modernism, which first emerged in late 19th‐century Germany, and remained influential throughout the inter‐war years and beyond. Its supporters saw themselves as a new elite, ideally placed to tackle the many challenges facing the young and rapidly industrializing German nation‐state. They defined themselves as bourgeois, and acted as self‐appointed champions of a modern consciousness. Focusing on figures such as Hermann Muthesius, Fritz Schumacher, and Karl‐Ernst Osthaus, and the activities of the Deutscher Werkbund and other networks of bourgeois designers, writers and 'experts', this book shows how bourgeois modernism shaped the infrastructure of social and political life in early 20th‐century Germany. Like the project of liberal governmentality described by Foucault, bourgeois modernism exercised its power not so much in the realm of ideas, but by transforming the physical environment of German cities, from domestic interiors, via consumer objects, to urban and regional planning. Drawing on a detailed analysis of key material sites of bourgeois modernism, and interpreting them in conjunction with written sources, this study offers new insights into the history of the bourgeois mindset and its operations in the private and public realms. Thematic chapters examine leitmotifs such as the sense of locality and place, the sense of history and time, and the sense of nature and culture. Yet for all its self‐conscious progressivism, German bourgeois modernism was not an inevitable precursor of neo‐liberal global capitalism. It remained a hotly contested historical construct, which was constantly redefined through its performance in different geographical and political settings

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Bourgeoisie · Elite · German · Modernism (music) · Political science · Politics · Realm · Sociology · Central European national history · European history and politics · European Political History Analysis · History · Law · 1871-1918 · 1918-1933 · Architecture · Cities and towns · City and town life · Culture matérielle · Germany · Material culture · Middle class · Modernism (Aesthetics) · Modernisme (Esthétique) · politics and government · Politics and government · Social conditions · Social Science · Urban · Vie urbaine · Villes

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