Landscape and modernity in Europe in the 1920's

Abstract

Formal experiences made since the end of the First World War gave new impetus to the reformulation of conceptions currently applied to garden design We took notice of contrasting trends coexisting at that time: on one side, an overruling tendency developed by a group of professionals that fulfilled the demands both from private clients and from the estate, which presented a traditional and nationalist character; on another side were the renewal trends developed by landscape architects and architects linked somehow to the artistic avant-garde. The purpose of this article is to point out two modernizing trends affecting landscape design production during the 1920´s in Europe. One of these trends, developed by landscape designers and architects, is strongly influenced by Cubism and Expressionism, associated to art déco, thus bearing a highly ornamental connotation. Gabriel Guevrekian and Robert Mallet-Stevens are among the supporters of this trend. Another modernizing trend originates from the work of the members of early modern movement, as much in their approach to garden design as in the concepts employed by them to create exterior space. Among a wide range of experiences in this field it is possible to notice distinct positions assumed by architects such as Le Corbusier and Erik Gunnar Asplund.