Book review: Art & Architecture, 1945-1949, by David F. Travers
Arts & Architecture is the magazine that helped put many American architects on the international map. It nurtured several, now famous, west coast talents such as Charles Eames, Richard Neutra, Lloyd Wright and Gregory Ain.
by David Travers
Taschen
Arts & Architecture is the magazine that helped put many American architects on the international map. It nurtured several, now famous, west coast talents such as Charles Eames, Richard Neutra, Lloyd Wright and Gregory Ain.
Produced on a shoestring, and written largely for the public, it captured the excitement of the era, covering everything from arts and music to politics and social critique.
Taschen released the full series of volumes, spanning 1945-54, as a collector's edition in 2008. This time the publisher presents, in one hefty tome, a selection of highlights that were curated by founder Benedikt Taschen himself.
This edition focuses on the first five years under the editorial leadership of John Entenza, and showcases the Case Study House Programme, an avant-garde initiative that brought the magazine fame. Entenza invited eight architects to design eight homes in south California, following the lifting of wartime restrictions.
The magazine posed as the client, giving each designer a brief based on an imaginary family with different needs. Some houses were never built due to lack of funding, but the exercise had an impact on post-war housing in America.