What’s on the The International Style poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
The label Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson gave European modernism in the 1932 Museum of Modern Art exhibition and its accompanying book.
- Volume rather than mass: a thin skin over space.
- Regularity rather than axial symmetry.
- No applied ornament; proportion does the work.
- Presented as a style, stripped of its social programme.
- That stripping is the main criticism of the term.
- It carried European modernism into American practice.
- MoMA exhibition — 1932
- Curators — Hitchcock, Johnson
- Lever House, New York, 1952, by Gordon Bunshaft of SOM, is the corporate outcome.
Against ornament and historic style. Criticised for converting a political and social argument into a marketable look.
Questions about the The International Style poster
- What’s on the The International Style poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. The label Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson gave European modernism in the 1932 Museum of Modern Art exhibition and its accompanying book. Volume rather than mass: a thin skin over space.; Regularity rather than axial symmetry.; No applied ornament; proportion does the work.; Presented as a style, stripped of its social programme.; That stripping is the main criticism of the term.; It carried European modernism into American practice.; MoMA exhibition — 1932; Curators — Hitchcock, Johnson; Lever House, New York, 1952, by Gordon Bunshaft of SOM, is the corporate outcome.. Against ornament and historic style. Criticised for converting a political and social argument into a marketable look.
- Who is the The International Style poster for?
- The International Style belongs to the Architecture section rather than to a school year, because design is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning history & theory can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the The International Style poster?
- Use it carefully. A label applied from outside, not a name the architects chose. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so The International Style belongs on the wall where that design work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with The International Style?
- Buildings to Know, The Classical Orders and What Each Movement Opposed sit alongside The International Style in the Architecture section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Buildings to KnowThe Classical OrdersWhat Each Movement Opposed
- Is the The International Style poster free to download and print?
- Yes. The International Style downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Architecture section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the The International Style poster print at?
- The International Style is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of The International Style loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside The International Style on the same wall.
Browse every Architecture poster, or start from the full catalogue.