Tessenow‘s drawings are immediatly recognizable for being straightforward and yet precise in the description of a building or a space. The essence of a spatial situation is synthetized through a black linear trait on a white background and the materiality of every single component are underlined by means of simple and precise textures. Tessenow’s interiors drawings are related to his famous housing projects, precise and understating, deeply studied in each detail and still looking very simple in their outcome. The perspectives show the always evolving relationship between modernity and tradition and the one between industry and craft, two of the leitmotifs of the whole Tessenow’s body of work, presenting them as a plain evidence in the carefully composed images.
Further readings:
Francisco Martínez Mindeguía, (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) “Heinrich Tessenow, Study of a house over the lake, 1903”
Selected texts by H.Tessenow (in Italian)
Josep Maria Montaner “The return of Tessenow”
Some images via: EPFL Lapis
This is a great series of drawings by an almost unknown master. Thanks for creating it and keeping it up.
Thank you for the kind words, but Tessenow was one of the most important German architects of the first half of the 20th Century.