In its spread from Britain to the United States, the Arts and Crafts Movement evolved from its roots in individual craftsmanship to a mainstream trend increasingly adapted for mass production by American retailers. Inspired by John Ruskin in Britain...

Scholars have long stressed the problem of ornament and expression when considering Viennese modernism. By the first decade of the 20th century, however, the avant-garde had shifted its focus from the surface to the interior. Adolf Loos (1870-1933),...

For German-born Kem Weber (1889-1963), design was not about finding a new expression; it was about responding to "structural, economic, and social requirements...characteristic of our daily routine of living". He sought to ensure that each design he...

When it was completed in 1911, the Goldman & Salatsch Building in Vienna, commonly known as the Looshaus, incited controversy for its austerity and plainness. It represented a stark rejection of the contemporary preference for ornamentation, though i...

Arriving in the United States in 1914, Viennese-born Paul T. Frankl (1886-1958) brought with him an outsider's fresh perspective and an enthusiasm for forging a uniquely American design aesthetic. In the years between the two world wars he, more than...