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This weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) to have a look at the newly opened Modernism exhibition. Apart from being packed full of people, the exhibition was a great chance to learn more about modernism in a very visual and friendly environment. The whole exhibition took us around four hours to look around which I think is a bargain for the £9 entry fee.
The exhibition is split into the following sections:
- Searching for utopia
- Machine
- Performing Modernism
- Sitting on air
- Building utopia
- Healthy body culture
- Modernism and nature
- National Modernisms
- Mass-market Modernism
The topics guide the visitor through the various stages of the era and with a huge number of authentic and real objects from within the era, the displays were particularly impressive. Generally the V&A exhibitions are highly impressive and this is no exception. The attention to detail of the exhibition design, as well as the content and the layout is awesome!
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The exhibition doesn’t just cover one aspect of design but lends an ear to theatre, furniture design, art, architecture, modern living, industrial design and plenty more. This shows the breadth of subject areas that Modernism covers and displays the huge talent of a number of the prolific members of the movement. People like Walter Gropius, Bruno Taut, Le Corbusier, Johannes Itten, Henry Ford, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, Alexander Rodchenko, Marcel Breuer, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Grete Lihotzky crop up throughout the exhibition, often with recurring thoughts, ideas and over various subject areas.
After visiting the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany and the Villa Savoye just outside Paris, France, this Modernism exhibition has helped to tie the two together a little more. One of my favourite items from the exhibition was the Swivel Armchair by Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand (see picture), excellent design!
So, if you’re thinking about taking a trip down to London then this exhibition is well worth the time and the energy. Whether you take one, two or even four hours taking a look around there is definately something to learn about and plenty of written and visual information to take on board!
