The Wonderful World of Bruno Taut

This is the model of a glass palace, and the name of the palace is Dandanah. I saw it at the exhibition of Modernism that was hosted by the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Dandanah is a Turkish word; Romanians also use this word, to express some degree of trouble. An old piece of poetry was starting like that:

La Bacau, la Bacau, intr-o mahala,
S-a'ntamplat, s-a'ntamplat mare dandana!

I will not translate the verses, it's not that important. I would however note that mahala is also of Turkish origin, and the whole poetry finds its charm in using such words, no more in the current use.

Well, to find a Dandanah in an exhibition in Washington DC was for me a delightful surprise, and I was interested to find more about the author of this little gem. It was a German architect, Bruno Taut, who spent his last years of life in Turkey, as a Professor of Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul.

Here is another gem of Bruno Taut: the Glass Pavilion of the Cologne Werkbund Exhibition, from 1914. I wouldn't wonder to find out that Bruno Taut were actually some hero of a story from Thousand and One Nights.



(Avangarda 20)