Description: Julius Posener was twenty-two years old when he entered Hans Poelzig's design course in Berlin. During his three years of study with Poelzig, the student was captivated by the man, and convinced by the teacher. Having remained close to Poelzig, to whom he would refer thereafter as "My Master", Posener has produced an eloquent memoir of one of the most important twentieth-century German architects. His detailed study of Poelzig is the first to appear in English. Several of Poelzig's major works, such as the Berlin Schauspielhaus interior and the Capitol Cinema - also in Berlin - appear today to epitomize German Expressionist architecture. And yet Poelzig distanced himself from the so-called German Expressionists - Bruno Taut, Erich Mendelsohn, Otto Bartning, the Brothers Luckhardt. For Poelzig, architecture should be a natural development out of the past, rather than the creation of new forms. At the same time that he criticized the Expressionists, he challenged a younger generation that included Gropius and Mies van der Rohe. Posener sets Poelzig's work within the context of this most fertile time in the history of architecture. For many decades, Julius Posener has made major contributions to the history of modern German architecture in his books, articles, and lectures. He has taught at schools of architecture in Britain, Kuala Lumpur, and Berlin, where he lives at present.

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