This exhibition, curated by Donald Albrecht, is a survey of contributions made be Jewish designers, architects and patrons on the midcentury modern America home.
Origami Fountain by Ruth Asawa, located in the Nihomachi Pedestrian Mall in Japantown, San Francisco. This, and a second fountain, were fabricated in corten steel in 1974. Due to deterioration, in 1996 they were recast in bronze.
The Robert L. Lewis studio was located in the El Paseo and Casa de la Guerra in downtown Santa Barbara. Walter Lamb worked for Lewis and legend has it that Lamb was caught in Lewis's backyard tracing a pattern from a Lewis chair.
Kipp Stewart for Terra takes us one step further on the Lewis lineage. Apparently, Stewart worked for Brown Jordan making Walter Lamb furniture, then in the late 70s embarked on a venture of making his own line of remarkably similar garden furniture.
Read the dirt here.
Climate Change: Midcentury Modern La Jolla was curated by Dave Hampton. It explores 1950s and 1960s La Jolla modern architecture, objects, furnishings and art that were exhibited in the community’s museums and galleries, offered locally in retail outlets, or created by local residents.
The Matheny print above was made and exhibited in 1965 at the Nexus Gallery. The gallery/bookstore, owned by Laurence McGilvery, was located in the Wisteria Cottage-- the very place the Climate Change exhibition is being held. The 1965 exhibition at the Nexus Gallery ran concurrently with Matheny’s exhibition of sculpture held at the neighboring La Jolla Museum of Art.
Eudorah Moore's California Design exhibition catalogs. Considering Eudorah made these exhibitions what they were, these books have surely been blessed by the California craft gods.
Shiro Ikegawa sushi set. This was part of a "sushi event" where Ikegawa not only created the ceramics, but also caught the fish, prepared the meal and made the saki. The lot comes with a book created by the author which outlines the process, lists the attendees, and even includes a seating chart for the 1976 event.
The pitcher design was included in the 1953 MoMA Good Design exhibition. La Gardo Tackett is listed as the designer in the catalog. The boss often gets all the credit.
Designed by architects John Michael Lee, Paul A. Ryan and Angus McSweeney, in collaboration with Pier Luigi Nervi and Pietro Belluschi
"Our Lady of Maytag"
The kinetic sculpture above the altar is by Richard Lippold. "Alive with reflected light, the 14 tiers of triangular aluminum rods symbolize the channel of love and grace from God to His people, and their prayers and praise rising to him. The sculpture, suspended by gold wires, is 15 stories high and weighs one ton." - Via SF Archdiocese
The plaza was designed in collaboration with Mexican architect Luis Barragan. Kahn invited Barragan to the project after seeing his work at MoMA in New York. Barragan suggested the plaza should consist of a single water feature, free of plant life and dirt. It was indeed the right thing to do.
In 1960, the citizens of San Diego voted to give the land (adjacent to the planned UCSD campus) to the Salk Institute. Charles Dail, the San Diego mayor at the time, was a polio survivor, so bringing the Salk Institute to San Diego was a feet that had much personal importance. Construction began in 1962.
The Droste House has been slightly under the radar for some years. In this case, that turned out to be a good thing. Of all the houses on the MAK tour, it was in the most original condition. Eric Lamers, who specializes in Schindler restorations, was running around soaking up all the unmolested glory of the cabinetry, built-ins and finishes. The Schindler nerds were in heaven.
Schindler's masterful skill of working with difficult sites is on full display with this hillside project. Each of the four units has a patio/garden, great views, all with retaining a high level of privacy.
OK, now I'm just getting nosy, but it looks like whoever lives in this unit knows where to shop: Book/Shop. It's a great little spot in Oakland.
That satellite dish above this back patio is a real bummer. That should be a violation of the Mills Act! Schindler would have figured out a clever way to hide that thing, besides in the obvious place- the trash.
The house was meticulously restored, which included the recreation of the original furnishings (based on Schindler's plans). This happened in the late 1980's and/or early 2000's (conflicting sources). Anyway, by 2009 the rebuilt furnishings ended up for sale at LAMA. The fate of the original furniture is unknown.
I guess people were shorter in the 30s because the desk is a lot higher now. I think Marmol Radziner did a great job bringing this house back to looking like a Schindler, but I'm going to get a little nit-picky here. In the original configuration (a few photos above) the top of the desk lined up with the bottom of the piece around the corner, almost like a puzzle. Now it doesn't. I guess it's not that bad if you didn't know. I'm a jerk. In other news, look at that girl at the bottom of the stairs giving me the eye. Actually, she's probably trying to stay out of the photo.
