Lewis Mumford
was born in Flushing, Long Island on 19th October, 1895. He grew up
in New York City and developed an interest
in architecture.
In 1913
Mumford published his first article in Forum
Magazine. By 1919 he was reviewing for The
Dial,
for which he later became Associate Editor. His first book on architecture,
Sticks and Stones, was published
in 1924.
Mumford
worked as a lecturer at the New School for Social Research (1931-35)
and was a member of the
League for Independent Political Action. The group, that included
Archibald
MacLeish
and John
Dewey, promoted alternatives to a capitalist system they
considered to be obsolete and cruel.
Mumford was concerned with
the adverse effect of technology on contemporary society and this
is reflected in his books, Technics and Civilization
(1934) and The Culture of Cities
(1938). Other books by Mumford include The
Condition of Man (1944), Green
Memories, The Story of Geddes Mumford (1947), A
Study of the Arts in America, 1865-1895 (1950) and The
City in History (1961).
In later years Mumford
was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964), the National
Medal for Literature (1972) and in 1975 became an honorary knight
commander of the Order of the British Empire. Lewis
Mumford died in 1990.
(1)
Lewis Mumford, Sticks and Stones (1924)
The leaders of modernism do not, indeed, make the mistake that some
of their admirers have made: Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright's pleasure pavilions
and hotels do not resemble either factories or garages or grain elevators;
they represent the same tendencies, perhaps, but they do so with respect
to an entirely different set of human purposes. In one important characteristic,
Mr. Wright's style has turned its back upon the whole world of engineering;
whereas the steel cage lends itself to the vertical skyscraper, Mr.
Wright's designs are the very products of the prairie, in their low-lying,
horizontal lines,
in their flat roofs, while at the same time they defy the neutral
gray or black or red
of the engineering structure by their colors
and ornament.
In sum, the best modern
work does not merely respect the machine; it respects the people who
use it. It is the lesser artists and architects who, unable to control
and mold the products of the machine, have glorified it in its nakedness,
much as the producer of musical comedies, in a similar mood of helpless
adulation, has "glorified" the American
girl - as if either the machine or the
girl needed it.
Lewis
Mumford (1895-1990)
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