Angie Bonk: Protomodernism Movement

The Protomodernism movement started in 1897 and ended in 1959. This movement included projects containing the seeds of modernism. Within this movement. there was another movement called the Deutscher Werkbund movement happening in Germany and Austria. The purpose of this movement going on in Germany was to have the highest quality design to the mass produced output. This movement was also equivalent to the Arts and Crafts movement because it was because of a protest. During this time, there was a protest against artistic establishment. This was similar to the Arts and Crafts movement because in Arts and Crafts, there was a protest against the Victorian period which is what made that movement take place. The aspect that was different was while the Arts and Crafts movement was hand crafting, the Deutscher Werkbund movement was embracing the use of the machine. Another event that was taking place during the Protomodernism movement was the Vienna secession. During this secession, there were world wide advances in art, history, psychology and philosophy. This brought unity of the arts; household objects were worthy of design. An important designer during this period was Gustav Klimt. He believed that there should be a union between art and design which helped make this movement expand to a new style. Another movement that began in the Netherlands was called the De Stijl movement. This movement focused on elementary shapes, primary colors, and flat surfaces. Using these, it made this movement also focus on vertical and horizontal lines. For De Stijl, the major architect was Gerrit Rietveld and the major artist was Piet Mondriangg.

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