Ornamentation depicting Trades

Outside of expressionism and Art déco, ornamentation was largely rejected in the 1920s. Movements like Bauhaus promoted radical functionalism and clean façades. This was a conscious break from the overloaded historicist styles of the Gründerzeit, which copied past eras, mixed everything together, and often cared more about decoration than livability.

However, the exception proves the rule. Some 1920s buildings still used minimal ornamentation, and one of the most common forms were sculptures depicting trades such as bricklayers or carpenters. In the Weimar Republic, society idealized the working class as the backbone of Germany. Many construction projects were initiated by socialist housing cooperatives, and these sculptures served as visual propaganda for their values.

Architecture at the time was also in transition. Modernism rejected ornament in theory, but many architects still relied on traditional techniques and simply replaced the eclectic historicism of the past with modern themes like industry and labor.

Sculpture of a bricklayerMunich

Sculpture of a bricklayerMunich

Sculpture of a hand holding a hammerHamburgWikimedia Commons