Spain - (Modern Architectures in History) by David Cohn (Paperback)

About the Book

"An investigation of Spain's remarkable yet little-known 20th-century architecture. Spain's remarkable twentieth-century architecture evolved against a turbulent background of revolution, civil war, dictatorship and transition to democracy. Architecture played a key role in Spain's struggle out of poverty and isolation and its search for identity in the modern world. This new account examines Spanish architecture from the roots of modernism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the present, analysing significant figures and their works in relation to their political, social and cultural contexts. From Madrid's early, austere local modernism and Barcelona's internationally influenced works to the 'Organicist' modernism of the 1960s and the flourishing public architecture of the late twentieth century and beyond, this book provides a penetrating account of the country's rich and varied built environment."--

Book Synopsis

An investigation of the influences and evolution of modern Spain's underappreciated, but foundational, architecture.

Spain's remarkable twentieth-century architecture evolved against a turbulent background of revolution, civil war, dictatorship, and transition to democracy. Architecture played a key role in Spain's struggle out of poverty and isolation, and its search for identity in the modern world.

This book examines Spanish architecture from the roots of Modernism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the present, analyzing significant figures and their works in relation to their political, social, and cultural contexts, as well as their contributions to architecture as a whole. From the austere, local Modernism of the 1920s, the influence of international trends in the '30s, the renewed, "Organicist" Modernism of the '50s and '60s, to the flourishing public architecture of the late twentieth century and beyond, Spain provides a penetrating account of the country's rich and varied built environment.

About the Author

David Cohn is an American architecture critic based in Spain. His books include Young Spanish Architects and monographs on the Spanish architects Manuel Gallego and Francisco Mangado.