Lechner in Paris

Text: Barry Bergdoll

Henri Labrouste: Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1854-75 © Georges Fessy, MOMA

Ödön Lechner’s highly original corpus of work in the 1890s and opening years of the twentieth century is so associated with the notion of Secessionist departure from tradition and with the folk art infused art nouveau practices of other designers – like Antonio Gaudi in Catalonia or Lars Sonck in Finland – that the impact of major debates that he witnessed first-hand during a four year stay in Paris seems to me to offer new avenues for thought of the elements that went into his highly individual and highly culturally specific search for a new language of urban architecture.