Author Description

Erich Mendelsohn, the most well-known of the Expressionist architects, first published this book, his Complete Works, in 1930 (the title is something of a misnomer, as it does not include his later, less successful work). It encompasses his wartime sketches, some of them no larger than a postage stamp, the seminal Einstein Observatory, and his splendid commercial work of the 1920s and 30s, including factories, office buildings, theaters, housing, and department stores. Over 50 projects are shown through period photographs, including interiors, sketches, drawings, and models. Reproduced here in full are all of the sketches Mendelsohn made when he was a soldier on the Russian front during the First World War, fine examples of his early work and some of the most intensely personal drawings to come out of his period. Also included is the first English translation of two lectures Mendelsohn delivered on his own unique vision of architecture and society.