This stunning volume presents the result of a major undertaking by
photographer Niels Lehmann and researcher Christoph Rauhut: to document
all the remaining Expressionist buildings in Berlin. Expressionism
powerfully heralded the onset of the twenties, and nowhere was it more
important or powerful than in Berlin. The buildings that remain
demonstrate great creativity with form and skillful use of light, color,
and material, highlighting verticality and drama—the essence of the
modern metropolis.
Fresh from their success with Modernism London Style,
hailed by The Financial Times on June 29, 2013, as 'this gorgeous
photographic survey', photographer Niels Lehmann and editor Christoph
Rauhut present their latest exciting project. Fragments of Metropolis documents all the remaining Expressionist buildings in Berlin, arguably the movement's most important architectural centre. The
architecture of Expressionism heralded the onset of the roaring
twenties. Berlin's remaining Expressionist buildings demonstrate a great
creativity of form and a skilful use of light, color and material. In
contrast to the Bauhaus architecture of the same era, they sought
complexity, vertical enhancement and drama to create the modern
metropolis. Fragments of Metropolis documents 120 buildings in Berlin
and its environs with Niels Lehmann's new photographs, drawings, an
illustrated index of every building, and maps that divide the locations
into areas. In celebrating the birth of the metropolis Berlin, the book
is the rediscovery an important part of the city's heritage.
Lehmann's new photographs are
here set alongside drawings, an illustrated index of buildings, and maps
that help the reader group the buildings by area. Simultaneously a
celebration of a lost period and a reminder of the riches it has left to
us, Fragments of Metropolis is a stunning achievement of historical and artistic preservation.
