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The Invention of Modern Design – The Early Years of the German Werkbund, Khorein Book Series, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade 2026
The cultural, economic, and political role of the German Werkbund in the German Empire leading up to the First World War raises many questions of contemporary relevance regarding the relationship between the applied arts (design and architecture) and their connection to industry, state, and society. This book describes and explains how modern design was launched by the German Werkbund since 1907 as a concerted strategy to shift German industrial exports up the value chain in the age of monopoly capitalism and high-tariff imperialism.
Schumacher, Patrik. The Invention of Modern Design: The Early Years of the German Werkbund (p. 17). Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade. Kindle Edition.
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Summary:
The Invention of Modern Design: The Early Years of the German Werkbund revisits the formative moment when modern design emerged within the social and economic dynamics of early twentieth-century monopoly capitalism. Originally developed as a PhD thesis in the 1990s and now published in English for the first time, the book offers a socio-economic and political analysis of the German Werkbund and the strategic ideas that shaped modern design culture. Drawing on the analytical framework of Marx’s historical materialism, it examines how design functioned within industrial production, ideology, and the broader economic process. Rather than presenting modern design as a gradual stylistic evolution, the book argues that it was actively “invented” through deliberate, theory-driven interventions by a small group of influential protagonists. This work provides both an insightful contribution to architectural history and an early glimpse into ideas that would later reappear in the author’s subsequent writings.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Research Question / Motivation
Premises and Historiographic Principles
Historically Relevant Innovations
Meaning and Function of the Concept of Art
Monopolization Excursus: Imperialism
Critique of Historiography: Call for a Historical-Materialist Account
Monographs:
Joan Campbell, Der Deutsche Werkbund 1907–1934
Wend Fischer (Ed.), Zwischen Kunst und Industrie: Der Deutsche Werkbund
Kurt Junghanns, The German Werkbund: Its First Decade
Francesco Dal Co, Figures of Architecture and Thought: German Architectural Culture 1880–1920
Socio-Economic and Political Account of the Werkbund:
The Export Policy Program of the German Werkbund
Germany’s Global Economic Ambition
The Dark Side of the Export Policy Strategy
The Domestic Political Fronts and the Political Ideology of the Werkbund
Organizational Structure and Membership:
Financing
The Relationship with the State
Organizational Work and Concrete Projects of the Werkbund:
Publicity Activities and Propaganda
Distribution Society and Trademark
Export and Sales Organizations
Museums, Technical Colleges, and Exhibitions
Cologne Exhibition of 1914
Wartime Activities
Historical-Economic Derivation of the Artistic Principles Advocated by the Werkbund: Attempt at a Detailed Critique of Ideology:
The Ideals of the German Werkbund
Quality
Truth to Material
Design According to Function
Machine-Suitable Design: Machine Style
Excursus: A Historical Materialistic Account of Aesthetic Regimes
Timely Design: Style and Spirit of the Time
German National Style
Typification
Unity of Style and Gesamtkunstwerk
Joy in Work
The Concept of Art and the Ideal of the Independent Artist/Designer
Conclusion
Bibliography
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