Product Details
Paperback
88 pages
Harry N Abrams
Published 2001
From Library Journal
In life, avant-garde West Coast architect Rudolf Schindler had his loyal admirers, but he was largely dismissed by prominent tastemakers for perceived transgressions against Modernist design principles. Only long after his death in 1953 have serious efforts gone into assessing his oeuvre. The books reviewed here are welcome additions to the now-burgeoning field of Schindler studies. The Architecture of R.M. Schindler offers five scholarly essays and a wealth of illustrations and photos. Curators Smith and Darling compiled the catalog to accompany a major retrospective put together by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and traveling to Washington, DC, and Vienna, Austria. The text examines the distinct phases of his creative evolution from 1912 until his death but breaks no new ground, except perhaps for disclosures found in recently released personal correspondence detailing the bohemian life Schindler and family led at his west Los Angeles home. It is this landmark 1921 house that is the subject of Schindler House, a happy collaboration between one-time resident Smith (Frank Lloyd Wright: Hollyhock House and Olive Hall) and photographer Mudford. As his own home, Schindler built one of the most startlingly original structures of the 20th century, provoking both fulsome praise and bewildered condemnation. Probing its history and presenting the structure from all angles, this slim volume does more to promote an appreciation of this legendary abode than any prior publication. Schindler House is a most attractive purchase for large public and academic libraries. Comprehensive architecture collections should have The Architecture of R.M. Schindler. For general collections, the most balanced treatment remains David Gebhard's Schindler (William Stout, 1997. reprint). David Solt?sz, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description:
Lauded in recent years as a 20th-century masterpiece, Schindler House in West Hollywood was designed and built by Viennese emigré Rudolph M. Schindler in 1921-22. Intended as a communal dwelling for the architect and his wife and another couple, and featuring open living spaces and rooftop “sleeping baskets” suited to the mild Southern California climate, this remarkable home is considered the first modern house to be built in the world.
This, the first book on the Schindler House, features new photography—specially commissioned color images by Grant Mudford, one of the leading architectural photographers working today—as well as many archival shots. Author Kathryn Smith incorporates new research on Schindler as she analyzes every aspect of the house’s design and construction and shows why it was such a radical departure from residential architecture that came before—and why it is one of the icons of the modern era. |
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