Nikolaus Pevsner, Pioneers of the Modern Movement (1936) / EDAR

This lecture is part of the course Bad Books by Marson Korbi, within The Doctoral Program of EDAR, EPFL

Nikolaus Pevsner, Pioneers of the Modern Movement (1936)
In his 1936 book, Pioneers of the Modern Movement, Nikolaus Pevsner offered a seminal interpretation of the origins and evolution of one particular definition of the Modern Movement in architecture. Beyond proposing its pioneers, the book responded to a precise cultural and political agenda aimed at legitimizing a certain view of the Modern Movement, serving as a form of advocacy for its establishment, first in Great Britain (first edition) and later in the United States (second edition). Moreover, it provided a linguistic and conceptual framework that continues to shape the discourse of architectural history. Pioneers of the Modern Movement can be taken as the starting point to interrogate the shifting meanings of “modern architecture,” the “Modern Movement”, “Modern Design”, “Modernism”, tracing how these terms evolved over time. Pevsner’s text raises profound questions about the transformation of architectural moments into fixed cultural references, inviting deeper inquiry into the broader narratives of architectural and cultural history, ultimately revealing how architecture is equally shaped by the interplay of affinities and tensions among critics, architects, and historians.

Silvia Groaz is an assistant professor in the history of architecture at the Université de Liège and at ENSA Paris-Est, and the author of New Brutalism: The Invention of a Style, 2023.