Artist 45: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was born in 1886 in Germany.  He is one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture.  He worked for his father in his stone-carving shop and he also worked for several local design firms.  He then moved to Berlin where he worked for the interior designer Bruno Paul.  In 1908 he began his apprenticeship of architecture.  In 1912 he set out on his own, receiving many independent commissions.  At the start of his career he was designing upper class homes, his style was a return to the purity of the nineteenth century.  He began to develop projects that embodied a harmony with the spirit of the emerging modern society.  He openly abandoned ornament when he proposed at 1921 all-glass skyscraper.  He emphasized the straightforward display of materials and forms, believing that the way in which every architectural element is arranged, especially the character of enclosed space, must contribute to a unified expression.  In 1930 Mies served as the last Director of the Bauhaus school and in 1933 he was forced to close the school due to Nazi pressure.  He moved to the United States in 1937 and in 1944 he became a citizen.  He continued to create architectural pieces of artwork and pursued his goal of a new architecture for the twentieth century.