Flick through Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces

Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces, Phaidon, 2024, £100 from Phaidon.com and Amazon

(Image credit: Phaidon)

published 21 September 2024

The masterpiece status of many works of the midentury modern movement is no longer in any doubt, after decades of casual disdain and outright dismissal. We’re living in an age where 'Brutalism' is no longer a pejorative and brutalist architecture thrives, and even the most obscure piece of 1960s-era concrete design can become a social media sensation.

A spread from the Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces — A spread from the *Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces*, featuring Arturo Mezzedimi's Addis Ababa City Hall, Ethiopia, 1965

Flick through the 'Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces'

With all that said, there’s still a dearth of decent information about fine, but overlooked modernist architecture of the period. Dominic Bradbury’s new monograph, Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces, hopes to redress the balance, combining the trademark Phaidon aesthetic excellence with an insight into how the new architecture embodied not just optimism and change, but also the monolithic power of governments and corporations alike.

There’s a lot of familiar material, from the work of John Portman to recently renewed and reassessed icons like the Transamerica Building, covering not just America and Europe, but Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East, as befits the ‘Atlas’ of the title. All in all, there are 450 buildings here, each represented with a potted history and a picture or two of the structure at its best, often in glowing black and white before the reality of weathering, maintenance and insensitive alterations kicks in.

American Embassy, Eero Saarinen, Grosvenor Square, London, Great Britain, 1960

Among the acknowledged classics – the publishers highlight that fans of Arne Jacobsen, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Eero Saarinen, Alvar Aalto, Marcel Breuer, Frank Lloyd-Wright, and Oscar Niemeyer won’t go hungry – there are plenty of lesser-known gems to discover.

Xanadu, Ricardo Bofill, Calpe, Alicante, Spain, 1971

At its best, midcentury modernism eschewed familiar forms and typologies in favour of elaborately expressionist designs, with schools, banks, churches and private houses sharing similar material and structural approaches, all jostling for attention in an age of novelty, visual drama and faith in technology.

Hawaii State Capitol, John Carl Warnecke and Belt, Lemon &amp; Lo, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, 1969 — Hawaii State Capitol, John Carl Warnecke and Belt, Lemon & Lo, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, 1969

Bradbury, an occasional Wallpaper* contributor, is a prolific and highly respected architectural journalist, with many monographs under his belt. The Atlas is a fine synthesis of scholarship and style, a book that’ll definitely enhance your armchair architectural expeditions.

Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces, Dominic Bradbury, Phaidon, £100, Phaidon.com, Amazon.co.uk

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Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.