Expressionist Utopias: Paradise, Metropolis, Architectural Fantasy

Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993. Paperback. VG. Navy and color-illustrated softcover with white lettering. 339 pp., 303 illustrations, 57 in color. Issued in conjunction with a 2003-2004 exhibition that "explores how the optimistic and forward-looking themes of utopia and fantasy sustained faith among artists and architects in the power of art to shape a better world during the tumultuous era surrounding World War I in Germany. When the construction of buildings there became nearly impossible, paper became the medium of the unbridled imagination. at the center of the activity were the 'utopian architects' of the Working (truncated) Council for Art and the Crystal Chain, whose architectural inventions ranged from ideal agrarian communities to futuristic worlds dependent on miraculous advances in technology for their creation or discovery. ... Presents the diverse manifestations of the utopia metaphor in its progression throughout Expressionism from arcadian to man-made utopias using selections from the realms of paradie, metropolis, architectural fantasy, anti-utopia, and film and stage." (dj) With thematic essays by Reinhold Heller, David Frisby, Ian Boyd Whyte, and Anton Kaes. The exhibition included more than 300 pieces, and many are pictured here. (Inventory #: 167069)