| Title |
Department of Architecture, MoMA, 1937-1946 : Expansion of Architectural Discourse in Modern America |
| Keywords |
Architectural Exhibition ; Public Discourse ; Museum of Modern Art ; John McAndrew ; Elizabeth B. Mock |
| Abstract |
The success of "Modern Architecture: International Exhibition" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1932 defined the curatorial characteristics of the institution's Department of Architecture, formed just after the show. However, for ten years from the mid 1930s, in the absence of the Department's founding director Philip Johnson, a new direction was sought that deviated from the previous high-art-inspired stylistic approach. This paper looks into the exhibitions and publications of this often neglected interim, and the individuals responsible for the period's reformed curatorialship - John McAndrew and Elizabeth B. Mock. With a broader scope of architecture to include all building types, processes and external influences that contribute to the creation of the built environment, they endorsed an expanded discourse of modern architecture, seeking a rational and practical engagement in the matters of modern life. Such changes would later be discarded with Johnson's return to the Museum in late 1945, as he reinstated to the Department's following shows the aesthetic viewpoint behind the original International Style show. |