The International Style: A Revolution in Modern Architecture, Design, and Art

Between the wars in Europe, architecture abandoned the ornate features of the past in favor of a bold, new, modernist approach that transformed city skylines across the world. Emphasizing simplicity, clean lines, and the use of modern materials, the International Style was not only one of the most influential movements in modern architecture and design, but its aesthetic was also mirrored by revolutionary artists.

“Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep”

Le Corbusier

Emerging from the catastrophe of World War I, the gleaming steel, glass, and imposing concrete forms of the International Style was a global symbol of modernity. Rooted in the principles of modernism, the International Style came to prominence in the 1920s and ‘30s as a response to industrialization and the need for functional, efficient buildings. And this was achieved with unvarnished honesty, as these new buildings stripped away ornamentation, blurred interior and exterior space, and celebrated the building’s construction in a glorious nod to a new machine age.

And such has been its impact that today when people speak of the “architecture of the modern movement,” they usually mean the International Style. The plain, straight, and unfussy approach to buildings made from steel, reinforced concrete, and glass became and global phenomenon. Given its name by the historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock and architect Philip Johnson, its impact on skylines might provoke a divided discussion, but the fact that it was one of the first architectural movements to be adopted unequivocally on every inhabited continent isn’t open for debate.

Principally originating in Germany and France, the rise of the Nazi authoritarianism in the 1930s forced many of the International Style’s European proponents to resettle in the United States, while this new approach to architecture also took hold in Latin America and Asia where it became a symbol of growth and prosperity. This was particularly true of the United States after World War II where the popularity of the International Style reflected the county’s prosperity.

The Walter Gropius-designed Bauhaus in Germany was one of the first buildings in the International Style, and perhaps by association it resonated with leftist political groups. The transformative International Style was largely shaped by the teachings of the Bauhaus School in Germany, as well as the work of architects and designers like Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Walter Gropius. Formally recognized in 1932 when Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson organized an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the International Style was as much a movement as it was an aesthetic, although it was defined by a few key characteristics.

Defining Features

Often labelled as minimalist architecture, International Style buildings celebrated their lack of structural ornamentation and their fusion of interior and exterior space, together with their proud glorification of modern industrial materials like steel, concrete, and glass.

The unmistakable modernity of the International Style was there for all to see in its use of modern materials. Where brick and timber buildings once stood, this new and distinctive style wore its contemporary approach with pride as glass, steel, and reinforced concrete created sleek, open spaces, large windows, and flat roofs.

Defined by geometric shapes and clean unbroken lines, the design inside and out was often emphasized by horizontal and vertical lines. Take a look at the interior of the Chase Manhattan Bank (1958-61), which was open plan and adaptable, reflecting the desire for flexibility in modern living and working spaces, while large windows and open terraces helped bring the outside inside and create a connection between indoors and outdoors. And this approach was also mirrored in art.

International Style in Art

Paralleling the architecture of the International Style, artists emphasized minimalism, abstraction, and universal aesthetics in their own work to create distinctly modernist art. Primarily remembered as an architectural movement, the key principles of the International Style can be seen in a variety of visual artforms, but particularly in modernism.

The geometric abstraction, clean lines, and primary colors of Piet Mondrian’s art is a prime example that reflects the grid-like structure of International Style architecture. As one of the founders of De Stijl, Mondrian radically simplified his paintings to create a clear, universal aesthetic on canvas. Reducing his shapes to lines and rectangles not only takes its influence from the geometric forms and minimalist structure of the International Style, but also influenced modernist design and architecture.

One of the most famous Bauhaus artists and teachers, Josef Albers was a similarly important figurehead in bringing European modernism to America and left a legacy as a teacher of artists at Black Mountain College. His art profoundly influenced the development of modern art in the United States during the 1950s and ‘60s, and his Homage to the Square series focused on color relationships and simple geometric compositions, aligning them with the International Style’s principles of clarity and minimalism.

Albers wasn’t the first artists to explore minimalist color compositions. Instead, that accolade belongs to Kazimir Malevich and his Black Square (1915), which is the first instance of someone producing a painting that wasn’t of something tangible. Malevich called his new abstract approach suprematism, which focused on color and shape in painting, rejected ornamentation and emphasized pure form, similar to the aesthetics of the International Style.

Described by the art critic Peter Schjeldahl as, “relentlessly experimental,” László Moholy-Nagy advocated a utopian type of high modernism in his art that often integrated technology and industry. A charismatic multi-talent and Bauhaus artist, Moholy-Nagy’s kinetic sculptures like his Light-Space Modulator reflected the International Style’s embrace of modern materials and technology.

And what better way to decorate this new open-plan interior than a modernist chair designed by Le Corbusier. Combining geometric purity with ergonomic needs, the innovative tubular steel frames of his LC-4 Chaise Longue and LC-2 Sofa share a philosophy of purity in design with International Style. Alternatively, Marcel Breuer’s Wassily chairremains a classic of modern design that used innovative bent tubular steel for the frame, demonstrating its use of modern industry applications. Or how about Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair?

International Buildings

Influencing urban landscapes from New York to Tel Aviv and Tokyo, the International Style was famously adopted in the creation of Brasilia, emphasizing its new global image as a nation on par with the traditional Western powers.

It was the United States though that welcomed the International Style with open plan arms. Its influence can still be seen across many major cities, but it was in Philadelphia where it first made its mark. The Philadelphia Savings Fund Society Building (1929-32) was the first International Style skyscraper to be built in the USA and was the brainchild of the Swiss-born William Lescaze. The first tall building in the country to be air-conditioned, it was a radical departure from the traditional symmetrical classicism of bank architecture, with a tower using a T-shaped plan. It proved too radical for the age though as the next International Style American skyscraper wasn’t built until after World War II.

That building was the United Nations General Assembly Building, New York (1948-52) designed by an international design team that included Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. The original complex has been expanded over the years, but is still renowned for the clarity of its conception and has become a prototype for the architectural identity of corporations and institutions in the USA and across the globe.

Similarly, The Chase Manhattan Bank (1958-61) was the first International Style skyscraper in Lower Manhattan, where tall buildings traditionally had used a variety of revivalist styles. Representing a high point of urban transformation in the 1960s, the rectilinear shape of the 60-story skyscraper stood in stark contrast to the older spires downtown, while its expansive plaza created a vast outdoor public space within one of America’s densest neighborhoods and its interior laid the blueprint for restrained corporate workspace.

The same aesthetic blueprint was also applied to domestic residencies, and this was perfectly applied to the Lovell House in Los Angeles, designed and built by Richard Neutra between 1927 and 1929, which is today revered for its design and earned its place on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Influence and Legacy

The temptation when strolling through a large city is to only take in the sights at eye level. Look up though and it’s likely that the International Style has influenced the architecture. Truly a global phenomenon, the movement became the foundation for mid-century modern architecture and influenced the design of skyscrapers, homes, public buildings, and even art.

The International Style remains a defining movement in modern architecture and design, celebrated for its clarity, rationality, and innovative approach to space and materials, its longevity is reflected in its continued influence on architecture and art. The principles of the movement continue to shape contemporary architecture, particularly in minimalist and high-tech designs, ensuring its lasting impact on cityscapes. Broad in its influence, this stylistic approach shared a similarly transformative approach to art, as modern materials, clean lines, geometric forms, and a minimalist structure created distinctly modernist art that remains as gleamingly modern then as it does now.