Mies van der Rohe: An Architect in His Time

A landmark survey, offering a nuanced and deeply researched account of the career and life of the iconic modern architect
 

 
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) was a German-born American architect and designer whose work in Europe and North America has had an enduring influence on modern and contemporary architecture worldwide. During his sixty-year career, he fundamentally rethought architectural types that shaped modern life, including the office building, apartment building, and private home. True to his alleged dictum “less is more,” Mies van der Rohe’s style is characterized by utmost simplicity, elegance of materials, and radical formal and functional innovation, as exemplified by such iconic projects as the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois, and the Seagram Building in New York.
 
In this book, renowned architectural historian Dietrich Neumann presents a new, critical look at Mies and complicates the established narrative about him. Diverging from the reverential posture of many existing accounts, Neumann insists on the importance of the contemporary context―social, political, and architectural―for understanding the architect’s life and work. The book draws on many overlooked archival and primary sources to demonstrate how and why Mies’s designs were shaped and received, foregrounding contemporary critics’ responses and the work of Mies’s collaborators and peers. It presents several previously unknown buildings, projects, and furniture designs and challenges long-established interpretations of key works. Comprehensively illustrated and covering the entirety of Mies’s career, this ambitious book is the most substantial account to date of the life and work of one of the most important architects of the twentieth century.

Review

"A balanced look at the architect in the context of his reception and impact, complete with photographs of Mies's realized works and a selection of his early sketches. . . . In describing the architect's often radical, sometimes brilliant and deeply flawed vision . . . Mr. Neumann simultaneously tells the story of 20th-century American and European modernism."--Cammy Brothers, Wall Street Journal, "Holiday Gift Books: Architecture"

"This deeply researched account places the pioneering modernist architect's output firmly in the social and political context of the period. A must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in 20th-century architecture."--Phoebe Frangoul, Elle Decoration, "Best Books to Give (or Keep)," Christmas 2024

"It is testament to Neumann's research that he has uncovered details of previously unknown buildings by Mies. [This] exhaustive book is a fitting tribute to an architect for whom no detail was too small."--Altair Brandon-Salmon, Literary Review

"Excellent. . . . Peel[s] away the mythical layers to find the hidden truths and examine how Mies was viewed by critics and others at the time."--John Hill, Weekly Dose of Architecture Books (blog)

"In prose as precise as his subject's work, Neumann covers both Mies' best-known projects--the Barcelona Pavilion, the Farnsworth House, the Seagram Building--and also lesser-known works, like his unrealized 1930 Neue Wache Memorial Project, which would become the model for Philip Johnson's cenotaph for John F. Kennedy in downtown Dallas."--Mark Lamster, Dallas Morning News

"Dietrich Neumann's excellent account is of major importance and will unquestionably become the standard book on Mies van der Rohe for years to come."--Jean-Louis Cohen, former Sheldon H. Solow Professor in the History of Architecture at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

"Dietrich Neumann's portrait of Mies van der Rohe not only unearths new works but unequivocally and firmly grounds this enigmatic figure of European modernism in the complex historical context of his era. Page by page, we learn how Mies's iconic masterpieces came into being and what it took to transform a man of few words into a modern icon. Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, this book represents an artist biography at its best."--Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, assistant dean and professor, Yale School of Architecture

 

About the Author

Dietrich Neumann is professor of the history of modern architecture and urban studies at Brown University.