Lewis Mumford

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Lewis Mumford, drawn by Leandro Gonzalez de Leon

Lewis Mumford (born October 19, 1895 in Flushing , Queens , New York City , † January 26, 1990 in Amenia , Dutchess County , New York ) was an American architecture critic and scientist . A closer categorization as historian , philosopher , sociologist or even writer hardly does justice to the interdisciplinary character of Mumford's diverse work. In the German-speaking world, Mumford is best known for his writings on the history of the city and technology .

Life

Lewis Mumford, son of Lewis and Elvina Mumford, grew up in poor conditions. He studied at various New York universities, but without graduating. His first book, a study of literary utopias (The Story of Utopias) , he published in 1922. With his work on Herman Melville (1929) he contributed to the rediscovery of this author. With his work Sticks and Stones. A Study of American Architecture and Civilization (1924) and countless architectural reviews, including the New Yorker , Mumford became an influential figure on architecture and town planning . Mumford's concern was human-friendly urban and regional planning . As in his informative study of American architecture and civilization, 'Vom Blockhaus zum Skenkratzer' (published in Germany in 1925 by Bruno Cassirer ), he understood architecture not only as a building art. His main work, Die Stadt , published in 1961 . History and Outlook was awarded the National Book Award in 1962 . In his Myth of the Machine , published in two volumes in 1967 and 1970 , he describes the emergence and history of western civilization as a technocratic culture organized as a global mega- machine .

Honors and Membership

In 1969 Mumford was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Medal , a prestigious prize for the history of technology from the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) founded by Melvin Kranzberg . He was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964), one of the highest civilian awards in the United States, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1930), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1947) and the American Philosophical Society ( 1941).

Works

  • The Story of Utopias (1922)
  • From log house to skyscraper (1925)
  • Sticks and Stones (1924)
  • The Golden Day (1926)
  • The Brown Decades: A Study of the Arts in America, 1865–1895 (1931)
  • "Renewal of Life" series
    • Technics and Civilization (1934)
    • The Culture of Cities (1938)
    • The Condition of Man (1944)
    • The Conduct of Life (1951)
  • Values ​​for Survival (1946)
  • The Transformations of Man (1956)
    • de: hope or barbarism. The metamorphoses of man. Eichborn-Verlag, Ffm. 1981.
  • The City in History (1961) is often referred to as his most important work.
    • de: The city. History and Outlook . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1963.
  • The Myth of the Machine. (1967–1970) 2 volumes.
  • The Urban Prospect (1968, essay collection)
  • My Work and Days: A Personal Chronicle (1979)
  • Sketches from Life: The Autobiography of Lewis Mumford (1982 New York: Dial Press)
  • The Lewis Mumford Reader. Donald L. Miller, ed. (1986 New York: Pantheon Books)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John H. Ford: An evaluation of the philosophy of art of Lewis Mumford. Dissertation. University of Ottawa, 1958, p. 4 ( online as PDF, released on September 23, 2017)
  2. ^ Nils Gutschow, Jörn Düwel: A Blessing in Disguise: War and Town Planning in Europe 1940-1945 . DOM Publishers, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86922-295-0 .
  3. ^ Society for the History of Technology ( Memento of the original of July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. The Leonardo da Vinci Medal, description and list of the winners @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.historyoftechnology.org
  4. ^ Members: Lewis Mumford. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed April 17, 2019 .
  5. ^ Book of Members / M
personal data
SURNAME Mumford, Lewis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American architecture critic and scientist
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York
DATE OF DEATH January 26, 1990
Place of death Amenia, Dutchess County , New York