Architecture and Modernity : A Critique

113

nology is applied here to further the ends of the dream: art nouveau explores the

technical possibilities of concrete and wrought iron within a concept where “art” is

primordial. This strategy is doomed to failure: “The attempt by the individual to do

battle with technology on the basis of his inwardness leads to his downfall.”^97

The endeavor to give expression to the inner personality does not tally with the

reality of an industrial civilization that is characterized by a poverty of genuine expe-

rience. This poverty of experience means that the individual is not capable of con-

structing a personality for himself.^98 For this reason, art nouveau’s bid to express this

personality conflicts with the actual forces underlying the age. Only a new barbarism

is in a position to give it form. Only a new barbarism is capable of saving what once

112

58

Henry van de Velde,

Bloemenwerf, Uccle,

1895–1896.

(From Henry van de Velde,

Geschichte meines Lebens

[Munich: Piper, 1962], fig. 33.)

59

A dress for the lady of the house,

designed by Henry van de Velde

around 1898.

(From Henry van de Velde,

Geschichte meines Lebens,

fig. 50.)