Unknown · CC BY 3.0

Erich Mendelsohn helped define Expressionist architecture in 1920s Germany, most famously with the sweeping curves of the Einstein Tower observatory in Potsdam, and went on to pioneer the dynamic, streamlined style later associated with Art Deco in his designs for department stores and cinemas. He left Germany in 1933 and continued practicing in Britain, carrying his architectural ideas across a career that spanned three countries.