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ERICH MENDELSOHN
 
 
 
 
  Name   Erich Mendelsohn
       
  Born   March 21, 1887
       
  Died   September 15, 1953
       
  Nationality   USA, Germany
       
  School   CONSTRUCTIVISM; EXPRESSIONISM;
       
  Official website    
     
       
       
     
 
BIOGRAPHY        
   

Erich Mendelsohn’s career showcases the evolution of modernism during the 20th century. He began by dealing with the machine age in an expressionist mode but was later forced to adapt modernism to geographic and technological circumstances different from those of Europe. He tried to develop a Hebrew version in Palestine and was able to conclude his life's work with a humanized version of modernism in his American period.

Mendelsohn was exposed to expressionism during his studies in Munich. These encounters with progressive artists led him to see artistic creation as the discharge of a personal rhythmic feeling. He believed that artists were guided by vision. Mendelsohn based his designs on the constituent elements of architecture. In his early sketches, he tried to find a personal expression for the architecture of the industrial age. The energetic forms and structures of Art Nouveau architecture influenced these designs. Through their continuous surfaces, they emphasized the dynamic conquest of space. In his forms, Mendelsohn alluded to the novel transportation vehicles for their symbolic value.

Mendelsohn abandoned expressionism quickly after World War I. He tried to build his earlier visions, particularly in the Einstein Tower (1924) in Potsdam, but was unable to find a contractor capable of producing the complicated formwork needed for the cast-concrete construction. Moreover, his political insight, which he related in his 1919 article "Das Problem einer neuen Baukunst," made Mendelsohn more pragmatic. His subsequent designs followed more closely International-style forms and surfaces. However, he never adhered to the theory that materials, structure, and function were the only requirements for good form. His buildings combined functional performance successfully with a dynamic impression of the form. He managed to formulate a personal vocabulary that has sometimes been denigrated as "Reklamearchitektur" (or commercial architecture). Mendelsohn himself aimed to develop a corporate design image for his clients through his designs. An example of this is found in the Stuttgart Schocken Store (1928), in which the masonry pattern imitates a motif found in the Schocken corporate logo. His forms were carefully composed either to create visually exciting shapes or to articulate the traffic flow of modern city streets. In the addition to the Mosse House (1923) in Berlin, exciting tensions are generated between supporting and supported parts and between open and closed, horizontal and vertical, and flat and cubical forms. In the large-scale department stores and office buildings that made him famous, he unified these contrasts into streamlined facades characterized by alternating horizontal bands. The various Schocken Department Stores and the Columbus House (1932) in Berlin were masterfully integrated into their urban context, were functionally and technologically up-to-date, and provided publicity effects through exterior and interior lighting. Emphatic staircases and other protrusions allow his buildings to be visible from oblique angles. The horizontal window bands, a Mendelsohn trademark, eliminated the need for ample interior lighting and light courts. In the Stuttgart Schocken Store, these devices allowed him to integrate the building into the radically different building contexts that faced its four sides.

In March 1933, after Hitler became German chancellor, the Mendelsohns immigrated to England. In partnership with Serge Chermayeff, he produced a few designs that continued the forms developed in his German period, thus helping bring this style to the United Kingdom. In the De-La-Warr Pavilion (1935) in Bexhill, emphatic circular staircases are added to rectangular building blocks to create highly visible accents.

Beginning in 1934, Mendelsohn received commissions in Palestine and ultimately moved to Jerusalem. There, he was intrigued by the mixture of old and new that he found in the existing local Arab tradition and the modernism brought by the Jewish immigrants. He attempted to alleviate the differences between these two contrasts by forging a Hebrew version of the International Style. While still using modernist forms, his buildings tried to accommodate themselves into the different situation. Especially in the interior layout, these houses exploit the local climate through open courtyards with pools. The houses are closed on the outside but open up inside. The exteriors were in local sandstone to integrate the buildings into the Arab traditions. His Weizmann House (1936) in Rehovot manages to combine these diverse sources masterfully and can stand on its own against the villas of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. Its main purpose is to represent, and it is situated on a promontory to provide views to Jerusalem and the Mediterranean. In the Anglo-Palestine Bank (1939) in Jerusalem, the solid exterior makes a reference to the Wailing Wall. The Hadassah Hospital (1939) in Jerusalem exploits its site on Mount Scopus to dramatic effect with cupolas, a cantilevered chapel, and vertically placed window slits.

When World War II closed in on Palestine, the Mendelsohns decided to move once more. In 1945 they settled in San Francisco. The American work consists primarily of synagogues and community centers. By providing additional spaces for educational and communal needs, Mendelsohn helped pioneer the use of synagogues during the week, not only on Sundays. His interiors were flexible to accommodate the changing numbers of worshipers on high holy days. The buildings were no longer purely modernist designs but aimed to create forms and spaces that could be grasped intuitively. In this way, Mendelsohn attempted to generate a sense of community in the audience. He humanized his designs by responding to social, economic, and scientific changes. Building shapes and decoration referred to traditional Jewish symbolism, particularly to the "Temple in the Wilderness." Instead of overt stylistic references, this was essential architecture made of planar surfaces with skin-like facades. Park Synagogue (1953) in Cleveland transforms the modernist ocean-liner image into a sweeping occupation of its site; Jewish motifs make up its interior decoration.

This final creative burst shows that Mendelsohn never abandoned his visionary, progressive spirit. He influenced many younger colleagues through his teachings at the Universities of Oregon, Oklahoma, and California at Berkeley. He died on 15 September 1953 of cancer.

 

Hans R. MORGENTHALER

Sennott R.S. Encyclopedia of twentieth century architecture, Vol.2 (G-O).  Fitzroy Dearborn., 2005.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
TIMELINE
   

1887 Born in Allenstein, East Prussia (now Olsztyn, Poland), on 21st March;

1907-08 Studied economics at the University of Munich, at his father's insistence;

1908-10 Pursued architecture at the Technische Hochschule, Berlin;

1910-12 Under Theodor Fischer, studied architecture at the Technische Hochschule, Munich;

1911-14 Worked as an independent designer in Munich;

1914-18 Served as an engineer in the German Army on both fronts during World War I; created many sketches during his service;

1918 Joined Arbeitsrat für Kunst and Novembergruppe;

1920 Visited Rotterdam and Amsterdam;

1923 Traveled to Israel;

1924 Traveled to the United States;

1925 Joined Der Ring in Berlin;

1925-28 Toured Russia;

1933 Emigrated to England;

1933 Invited to London by the Royal Institute of British Architects;

1933-36 Formed a partnership with Serge Chermayeff in London;

1934 Invited to Palestine;

1935 Established a branch office in Jerusalem;

1938 Naturalized in England;

1939 Relocated his practice to Jerusalem;

1941 Immigrated to the United States;

1941 Moved his firm to New York;

1941-46 Taught at numerous colleges and universities;

1946 Naturalized in the United States;

1946 Practiced in San Francisco, California;

1953 Died in San Francisco on 15th September.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
FURTHER READING
   

Selected Publications

Amerika: Bilderbuch eines Architekten, 1926

Ruinen, Europa, Amerika: Ein Architektonischer Querschnitt, 1929

Neues Haus - Neue Welt, 1931

Erich Mendelsohn: Letters of an Architect, edited by Oskar Beyer, 1967

 

Further Reading

Mendelsohn's work has rarely found the critical acclaim it deserves. Praise by noted scholars such as Nikolaus Pevsner, Bruno Zevi, and Reyner Banham came only after his death. In the 1970s, a new generation of historians began dealing with his works. A group of them has just collaborated on a monograph that combines the latest scholarship.

 

Ahronov, Ram and Christina Toren, "The Lost Genius of Erich Mendelsohn," Blueprint 42 (November 1987)

Eckardt, Wolf von, Erich Mendelsohn, New York: Braziller, 1960; London: Mayflower, 1961

De Einsteinturm in Potsdam: Architektur und Astrophysik, Berlin: Ars Nicolai, 1995

Hart, Vaughan, "Erich Mendelssohn and the Fourth Dimension." Architectural Research Quarterly (Winter 1995)

Heinze-Mühleib, Ica, Erich Mendelsohn: Baukunst und Projekte in Palästina (1934-1941), Munich: Scaneg, 1986

James, Kathleen, Erich Mendelsohn and the Architecture of German Modernism, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997

Morgenthaler, Hans R., The Early Sketches of German Architect Erich Mendelsohn (1887-1953): No Compromise with Reality, Lewiston, New York: Mellen Press, 1992

Nitzan-Shiftan, Alona, "Contested Zionism - Alternative Modernism: Erich Mendelsohn and the Tel Aviv Chug in Mandate Palestine." Architectural History 39 (1996)

Palmer, Renate, Der Stuttgarter Schocken-Bau von Erich Mendelsohn: Die Geschichte eines Kaufhauses und seiner Architektur, Stuttgart, Germany: Silberburg, 1995

Posener, Julius and Peter P'fankuch, Erich Mendelsohn, Berlin: Akademie der Künste, 1968

Posener, Julius, and Uriel Adiv, "Betrachtungen über Erich Mendelsohn: Erich Mendelsohns 'Carmelstadt.'" Bauen: 79 (March 1988)

Stephan, Regina, Studien zu Wohn- und Geschäftshäusern, Erich Mendelsohns in Deutschland, Munich: Tuduv, 1992

Stephan, Regina (editor), Erich Mendelsohn: Architekt, 1887-1953, Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany: Hatje, 1998; as Erich Mendelsohn: Architect, 1887-1953. New York: Monacelli Press, 1999

Whittick, Arnold, Erich Mendelsohn, New York: Dodge, and London: Faber and Faber, 1940; 2nd edition, London: Leonard Hill, and New York: Dodge, 1956

Zevi, Bruno, Erich Mendelsohn, Bologna, Italy: Zanichelli, 1982; as Erich Mendelsohn. New York: Rizzoli, and London: Architectural Press, 1985

Zevi, Bruno, Erich Mendelsohn: The Complete Works, Basel, Switzerland, and Boston: Birkhäuser, 1999

 

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