«This translation from Spanish (the original text) to English is not professional. I used Google Translate, so there may be linguistic errors that I ask you to overlook. I have often been asked to share my texts in English, which is why I decided to try. I appreciate your patience, and if you see anything that can be improved and would like to let me know, I would be grateful. In the meantime, with all its imperfections, here are the lines I have written«. Hugo Kliczkowski Juritz
«Doctors cover their mistakes with dirt, lawyers with papers, and architects advise putting plants». F. Ll. Wright
To save money on the construction of the homes, Wright used laminated cedar wood in many elements, whether partitions, roofs or in the design of the furniture.
After several tests, where the budgets had practically doubled, in the Jacobs House (example 1), it was able to reach a cost of $5,500 (about $117,442.01 in Nov 2022).
But in the Goetsch-Winkler House (example 5), the original budget was doubled again, even though (or perhaps because) the owners personally participated in its construction.
Despite their limited budget, Usonian houses continued to be thought of as “Total Works of Art” (Gesamtkunstwerk), this was manifested in the fact that their design was total, including furniture, cabinets, shelves, and even tables with fixed, integrated furniture. in the formal and constructive design of the house.
He thus tried to control the budgets, which is why he used the same laminated wood boards that he used in the partitions of the houses, so that in this way it could be done by any carpenter or by the user himself, avoiding a specialized cabinetmaker.
Wright related the design of the furniture to the design of the home where it would be placed, thus furniture with octagonal, hexagonal, circular shapes, among others, emerged.
The “Origami” armchair or the Sondern House chairs were built based on intersecting plywood boards.
4
1939 Bernard and Fern Schwartz House (Wright named it Still Bend), Adams 3425, Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
It has 278 m2. An example of “the house of dreams”, designed for Life magazine. It is one of the few “Usonian Houses” with 2 floors.
At a special moment in his professional career, The Architectural Forum magazine dedicated a complete issue of his work in 1938, with the title “Usonian Architect”.
There was special admiration for the recently completed Falling Water, and the Johnson Wax that was under construction.
Additionally, Life magazine in collaboration with The Architectural Forum invited Wright to participate in an article called “Eight Houses for Modern Living.”
Life commissioned the designs of one of those “Dream Homes” for four typical American families with incomes between 2 and 10 thousand dollars a year (between 42,100 and 210,500 dollars in 2022).
Two Rivers businessman Bernard Schwartz commissioned one of the projects.
Wright modified the plans and changed the materials from stucco and stone to red tide cypress board and batten, the bricks and concrete floor were also red.
Raising the living ceiling leaves room for a huge second-floor balcony that overlooks the 23 meters long recreation room.
Wright designs the tables, chairs, beds, sofa with integrated shelves, pillows, lamps, fruit bowls.
He also designed various extensions, such as a utility room that would allow for the addition of a carpentry workshop, garden plans, a pergola that was to lead from the house to a small farm, and a boathouse to be built in East Twin Rivers, below the home, none of them came to fruition.
Until 1971 Bernard, Fern and their son Steven lived in the house.
The second owner lived there for 33 years, and today the house is owned by brothers Gary and Michael Ditmer who have carefully restored it, and rent it out to spend a few days there.
It is possibly the home with the oldest functioning underfloor heating system in the country.
In an AAO (Association of Architecture Organizations) report in October 2010 to Michael Ditner, he says:
«This house was designed for a 1938 Life magazine article «Dream House.» Four families representing different income ranges were selected. Each family had two houses designed for them: one modern and one traditional.
The Blackbourn family selected the modern option designed by Wright, unfortunately the bank would not agree to finance such an unconventional design so they built the traditional option“.
A man named Bernard Schwartz read the article and contacted Wright about designing a house. This gave Wright the opportunity to build his “Dream House” with some modifications. It differs from the standard Usonian model because it is larger and has a second floor.
Frank Lloyd Wright described the original design of this house as “…a small private club with special privacy and amenities at all times”.
They allow you to tour the house, they last an hour. Admission for adults is $25, for children under 18, $5. Reservations are required.
3425 Adams Street, Two Rivers, Wisconsin 54241. +1 (612) 840-7507
Rental, minimum 2 nights, 6 people $595 per night, up to 2 additional people $50 per person.
In winter, Sunday to Thursday $595 per night, Friday and Saturday $675 per night.
In spring and summer between $675 and $795 per night. Between December 18 and January 3 $995 per night. I was curious to know what demand there is for rental requests for the house, and on November 8, 2022 I looked at what the availability was:
In November none, in December 2 days available, in January 11 days and in February 14 days.
5
1940 Goetsch – Winckler House, located at 2410 Hulett Rd, Okemos, Michigan.
Highly valued for the finishes that Wright made, its rich interior decoration transforms it into one of the most elegant in the series.
In the 1930s, eight professors from Michigan State University, located in the small town of East Lasing, between Ingham and Clinton counties, formed a cooperative and purchased a 50-acre tract of land in Okemos,
Two of them, Alma Goetsch and Kathrine Winckler asked Wright to design a community of neighbors. (1)
They wanted to build seven houses and a smaller one for the caretakers, they wanted to have a farm, a garden and a pond with fish.
The project proposed access to the houses through a U-shaped path around the farm, each house would be built at the end of a long path, each one would have its private garden.
Frank Lloyd Wright, chair and stool for the Goetsch-Winkler House, Okemos, Michigan
The general lines would be flat roofs, horizontal lines and simple volumes,
But the banks did not want to finance “unconventional” projects.
Only the Goetsch-Winckler House was built, but on another site.
Years later, after the Second World War, another member of the cooperative, Erling P. Brauner (example 6), built a Wright project less than 2.5 km from the Goetsch – Winckler house.
It is one of the oldest Wright houses of the so-called “Usonian online”. The garage, the living room, the dining room, the kitchen and the bedrooms separated by a bathroom, were designed within rectangular spaces, and were located one after the other.
The living room takes up most of the house, with a fireplace at one end facing a work area, the bedrooms open onto the gallery,
Like all his houses, this one seems spatially larger despite its small size. This is because the furniture and shelves are incorporated into the structure of the house. This is how he solved the dining room table, the seat next to the fireplace, the bar, the desk and the shelving in the work area.
6
1948 Erling P. Brauner House, 2527 Arrowhead Road, Okemos. Míchigan.
The owners were part of the group that wanted to build 8 houses in the area.
But there was no financing for such unconventional houses, and the group was unable to carry out their project.
Years later the Brauners built their house, close to the Goetsch-Winkler House, both located in a suburban area, at the end of a heavily wooded cul-de-sac.
Built with painted concrete blocks, situated on an elevated lot, it is closed to the front, the private side of the house is glassed in with views of the garden and pool.
The mailbox is made from the same concrete blocks as the rest of the house.
They do not allow visitors.
Notes
1
Caroline Knight, “Frank Lloyd Wright”, p. 158, Parragón publishing house, distributed by ASPPAN, 2004.
«This translation from Spanish (the original text) to English is not professional. I used Google Translate, so there may be linguistic errors that I ask you to overlook. I have often been asked to share my texts in English, which is why I decided to try. I appreciate your patience, and if you see anything that can be improved and would like to let me know, I would be grateful. In the meantime, with all its imperfections, here are the lines I have written». Hugo Kliczkowski Juritz
He was deeply influenced by Wright.
Throughout his life, Lautner was a passionate admirer of his mentor, whom he usually referred to as «Mr. Wright” and remained a dedicated practitioner of Organic Architecture.
Of his time at Taliesin, he wrote “…Mr. Wright was constantly pointing out things that contributed to the beauty of the space, or the building, or the function of the kitchen, or the dining room, or whatever. And also the details of construction: how a certain way of detailing, which he would call grammar, contributed to the total idea, the whole, the total expression. And then he kept stressing the idea that there was no real architecture unless you had a whole idea… So I really learned that you have to have a big whole idea or you don’t have anything, they’re just stories. What most people do is just a set of clichés or facades or whatever…”
In ‘Taliesin East’, Frank Lloyd Wright and his scholarship recipients, including John Lautner (1937)
Lautner studied and admired the work of Henry Clumb, Oscar Niemeyer, Eero Saarinen, Hans Scharoun, JØrn Utzon and Juan O’Gorman.
He trained traveling as a self-taught person does, through Europe and Mexico, visiting and studying the work of Pier Luigi Nervi, Eduardo Torroja, Frei Otto and Félix Candela.
He understood the structure for its rigor and for its plastic and spatial dimension. The structural expression of his works were an integral part of the design of the spaces he created.
He sought new models of habitability, liberalizing spaces in flexible floor plans. He worked to reach its optimal level in the relationship between the built space and the natural landscape that surrounds his architecture, “all the functions of living are spatial experiences.”
The interviews he conducted (6) reveal that he had little regard for the International Style and its main architects, “None of them had anything like Frank Lloyd Wright… In fact, I heard in person Gropius, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and all the greats. And they are nothing compared to Frank Lloyd Wright. They are simply nothing. So when people want to discuss it with me, it’s crazy, that’s all (and laughs)…”
“…I never copied any of Mr. Wright’s drawings or took photographs because he was a purist, and I was an idealist. I wanted to work from my own philosophy, and that is what he wanted the apprentices to do too: that wherever they went, they would contribute to the infinite variety of nature by being individual, creating for individuals something that grows and changes. Well, practically none of them could do it. I mean, I’m one of the two or three who may have done it…»
“Architecture has to do with all aspects of life, that is why it has no end. When you have turned 70 or 80 you are still starting and learning and that is what I want for myself“.
Chemosphere
“Architecture has to contribute to human well-being: it must be joyful, it must have light, air, free spaces and be alive”.
He explained in the interview for UCLA. (6) «…architecture is for me a form of art and for that it has to be alive, I always encourage my students to, with whatever money and whatever, build something. The drawings, the paper, are not useful. People want to see something tangible”. So he did, in Silver Lake, a place where many architects made their homes, Lautner made his in 1939.
“Architecture has to do with all aspects of life, that is why it has no end. When you’re 70 or 80 you’re still starting and learning, that’s the kind of life I wanted for myself».
Chemosphere
Among his projects, the Chemosphere House stands out (in its time nicknamed “flying saucer”), which has become a landmark in Los Angeles.
Perhaps because in it he sought to transmit both hope and madness, it is not just a house, he designs and solves the way to build an observatory house with a view towards the San Fernando Valley, on a piece of land with more than 45% slope, making it structurally stable and economically viable
In 2000 the German publisher Benedikt Taschen (1961) bought and restored the house with the architects Frank Escher and Gunewardena Ravi.
Googie style
He was recognized for his residential works, as well as for the design of commercial premises.
After designing the Googie cafeteria in 1949, futuristic, eccentric, full of impossible angles, the name was used as a derogatory reference to his particular designs.
In a 1952 article by Professor Douglas Haskell in the Yale University magazine he writes “The coffee shop is distinguished by its glass walls, the shape and the exuberant signage oriented towards automobile traffic, which is an advertisement in itself”. Other chains quickly imitated that appearance, which demonstrated its acceptance on a commercial and popular level.
Googie was part of the post-war zeitgeist (Zeit-geist), but was ridiculed by architects in the 1950s.
Qualified as superficial and vulgar, Robert Venturi rescued it in 1972 in his book “Learning from Las Vegas” and said that “the main ideas of architecture are they come closer to Lautner’s logic.”
The googie look is that of those roadside bars, gas stations and cafes in the United States that are as cinematic as they are “Tarantinian”.
Full of colors, with references to the space race and airplanes.
A Las Vegas style, which was optimistic, fun and unapologetic.
Lautner’s Henry’s restaurant chain (1949-52) is in that line, after some years of little work between the 50s and 60s, it enjoyed a resurgence with its concrete houses, in particular, the Bob Hope residence and other homes in Palm Springs.
Works by Lautner
These lists of works were obtained from the endnotes of “The Architecture of John Lautner” by Alan Hess and “Between Earth and Sky: The Architecture of John Lautner” edited by Nicholas Olsberg.
The more than one hundred buildings built by Lautner, mostly private residences, are distinguished by a high degree of individuality and a taste for experimentation.
Throughout his life, he sought new forms and construction methods: the houses had to adapt to their inhabitants and increase the quality of life through light and air. Despite incorporating spectacular elements, they always transmitted a feeling of tranquility and balance.
– 1940. Lautner Residence, Los Angeles.
– 1940. Norman Springer Cottage, Los Angeles.
– 1941. Bell House, Los Angeles.
Bell House
– 1944. Carling House, Los Ángeles.
– 1945. Darrow Office Building, Beverly Hills.
– 1945. Hancock House, Silver Lake.
Hancock House
– 1946. Edgar Mauer Residence, Los Angeles.
– 1946. Coffee Dan’s No. 1, 2, 3 and 4, Los Angeles.
– 1946. Garnett and Betty Hancock House, Los Angeles.
Garnett and Betty Hancock House
– 1946. Arthur Eisele’s guest house, Los Angeles.
– 1947. The Desert Hot Springs Motel, Coachella Valley in Palm Springs. It still works today.
The Desert Hot Springs Motel
– 1947. Henry’s Restaurant, Glendale.
– 1947. Jacobsen House, Hollywood.
– 1947. W. F. Gantvoort House, La Canada Flintridge.
– 1947. Tower Motors Lincoln Mercury Showroom.
– 1947. Foster Carling House. The Angels.
Foster Carling House
– 1947. Edgar F. y Allison Mauer House, Los Ángeles.
– 1947. George Jacobson House, Hollywood.
Edgar F. y Allison Mauer House
– 1947. Florence Polin House, Hollywood.
George Jacobson House
– 1948. Valley Escrow Offices, Sherman Oaks.
– 1948. Salkin House, Los Ángeles.
Florence Polin House
– 1948. Arthur Eisele Guest Pavilion, Los Angeles.
– 1956. Reiner-Burchill “Silvertop” House, Los Angeles.
– 1956. Speer Contractors Building, Los Angeles.
– 1956. Kaynar Factory, Pico Rivera.
– 1956. Stanley Johnson House, Laguna Beach.
Casa Stanley Johnson
– 1956. Casa Willis Harpel House Nº1, Los Ángeles.
Willis Harpel House Nº1
– 1956. Stanley House, Laguna Beach.
Stanley House
Notes
6
Interview with Lautner by Laskey in 1986.
In 1986, Marlene Laskey interviewed John Lautner for the Oral History Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His six and a half hour interview was published by UCLA under the title “Responsibility, Infinity, Nature”.
It is available through the Internet Archive, an online library for researchers, historians and academics. The library maintains copies of the book in several different formats. Can be read online or downloaded.
InternetArchive. Responsibility, infinity, nature oral history transcription: Lautner, John, 1911- interviewed: free download, loan and transmission: Internet Archive
¿A dónde van las palabras que no se quedaron? ¿A dónde van las miradas que un día partieron? Acaso flotan eternas Como prisioneras de un ventarrón O se acurrucan entre las rendijas Buscando calor
Rolly (o como él firma Rol Ando), me envía una foto, vive en Miami, es argentino, hace mucho que vive en los Estados Unidos.
Fue en 1966, cuando junto a Susana y a su hermano Gaby, divulgaron como pocos, la música Rock en la Galería del Este.
Concetamente en el Agujerito, en el local 10. Muchos ya sabrán de quien hablo.
Ayer al recibir la foto del libro, no sabia donde la sacó y le pregunto:
-Where? ¿Tu casa?
Me escribe
-Alguien lo dejó en la calle con otros libros y me traje algunos…
Le contesté
-Hace años, me pasó lo mismo, eran unos números de la revista A/mbiente, que editabamos junto al Grupo dirigido por el Arq. Rubén Pesci, CEPA.
La foto es del libro Morphosis 1989-1999, y figura en la portada en dos líneas, la editorial Kliczkowski Publisher y ASPPAN – CP´67, lo editamos en el año 2004.
Busco en Amazon, porque ya la memoria, funciona, pero lenta, y recuerdo, “Morphosis: Buildings and Projects 1989-1992”, con la Introducción de Richard Weinstein, y el prefacio de Thom Mayne (1944).
Compramos los derechos a la editorial Rizzoli de NY, para la traducción al español. 288 páginas, tapa blanda.
El grupo Morphosis, creado por Thom Mayne y Michael Rotondi, fue un estudio de arquitectura interdisciplinario, con diseñadores, grafistas y urbanistas. En 1979 Mayne recibe el premio Jay Pritzker, era el octavo arquitecto estadounidense que obtenía este reconocimiento desde su creación en 1979.
¿Y a dónde van? ¿A dónde van?
En que estarán convertidos mis viejos zapatos A dónde fueron a dar tantas hojas de un árbol ¿Por dónde están las angustias Que desde tus ojos soltaron por mí? ¿A dónde fueron mis palabras sucias De sangre de abril?
El destino físico de nuestros libros, los que editamos, fue siempre diverso, una amiga fue a comprar una sartén para hacer Wok y vino acompañado de unos libros que editábamos de comida, en este caso Wok, los he visto (husmeando a través de ventanas) en estudios de arquitectura, en casas de decoración sobre una mesa (para eso se hacen los llamados “coffe table books”).
También en la casa museo de Alvar Aalto en Finlandia, sobre una repisa, junto a otros libros de Aalto; en una pizzeria en Nueva York vi en juna vidriera el ya conocido y famoso perspectivas 6 abierto en la parte de dibujos de NY, en la Colección Permanente del Museo del Diseño de Barcelona (Victor Horta y Gustavo Eiffel).
Tambien en el Circulo de Bellas Artes, expuestos en una vitrina en la exposición del premio Daniel Gil de Diseño y en varias bibliotecas, entre ellas, me emocioné y mucho de ver varios libros en la Bibioteca de la Phillips Exeter Academy de Louis Kahn en New Hampshire.
Gracias Rolly por el dato.
Fuerte abrazo a quien en pocas semanas será mi compañero de habitación, en el Camino de Santiago.
Este año desde Sarriá a Santiago, que haremos un grupo de 6 arquitectos y (pobre, la que le espera) un médico.
¿A dónde van los pequeños Terribles encantos que tiene el hogar? Acaso nunca vuelven a ser algo Acaso se van
«This translation from Spanish (the original text) to English is not professional. I used Google Translate, so there may be linguistic errors that I ask you to overlook. I have often been asked to share my texts in English, which is why I decided to try. I appreciate your patience, and if you see anything that can be improved and would like to let me know, I would be grateful. In the meantime, with all its imperfections, here are the lines I have written». Hugo Kliczkowski Juritz
John Lautner, his architecture in dialogue with the “borrowed landscape”.
John Edward Lautner Jr (Marquette 1911 – 1994 Los Angeles).
He grew up in a rural area of the United States trapped by nature, surrounded by lakes and forests, on the shores of Lake Michigan, undoubtedly a reference in the design of his houses, always in communion with the environment.
His father was a university professor of German origin, a scholar, and his mother was a painter from an Irish family. “I have never been able to be either completely free like an Irishman or disciplined like a German”, he said in one of his most extensive interviews in 1986. (6)
Perhaps in that ambivalence lies the secret of his genius.
Lautner received a scholarship at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Talliesin School to train in architecture for six years in the 1930s, coinciding with great artists and architects such as Euine Fay Jones (1921 – 2004) (3), Santiago Martínez Delgado(4) and Paolo Soleri.(5)
While in Taliesin he participated in two projects in Los Angeles (including the Sturges House), and collaborated as director of the works of the “Wingspread” residence ” that Wright designed for SC Johnson.
Wingspread House
The house is in the middle of a large area of land of 12 hectares, it attracts with its horizontal lines and the use of natural wood.
The name Winspread comes from the four wings of the house that extend from the central hall. It was the home of the Johnson family in the 1950s, it was later donated to the Johnson Foundation where it functions as a conference center, it is located eight kilometers from Racine in Wisconsin.
Over the past 50 years, Wingspread was the birthplace of several organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the International Criminal Court, and National Public Radio. In 1989 it was declared a National Historic Site.
Lautner defined himself as half a “completely free Irish savage” by his mother and half as a “completely squared German” by his father.
His father John Edward Lautner, emigrated from Germany in 1870 and was self-taught. As an adult he graduated from the University of Michigan. He spent eleven years in Europe between the universities of Paris, Göttingen and Leipzig; When he returned to the United States he lived in Marquette (Michigan), working as a teacher and teaching classes in “anthropology, philosophy, ethics, French and German”.
His father met his future wife, Vida Cathleen (née Gallagher), a student 20 years his junior. She was an interior designer and painter. (6)
The Lautners were very interested in art and architecture; in 1918, their Marquette house «Keepsake», designed by Joy Wheeler Dow, was featured in The American Architect magazine.
A crucial early influence on Lautner’s life was the construction of the family’s summer cabin, “Midgaard,” located on a rock platform on a remote promontory on the shore of Lake Superior. (7)
The Lautners designed and built the log cabin themselves and their mother designed and painted all the interior details, based on her study of Norse houses, in 2013 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1929, he studied philosophy, ethics, physics, literature, drawing, art, and architectural history at the Northern State Teachers College. He played piano and wind instruments. He never had a formal education in architecture, until he entered Wright’s Taliesin (in Spring Green, Wisconsin).
He lived in Boston, New York, and Chicago, enjoying these stays during his father’s sabbatical years.
Under Wright’s tutelage
He always adored Frank Lloyd Wright, he admired him.
When he considered his own path, he decided that “I was going to work from my own philosophy; since that is what Wright wanted the apprentices to do, he stated, my plan to be an architect is to work from scratch and from my philosophical ideas”.
About the process of his work he said “…I always start from scratch with the sketches and try to get a complete idea. I collect all the client’s information: what they like and what they don’t, the idiosyncrasies of physical things, etc.; and I absorb all the requirements. So, in addition to consolidating that knowledge, I try to create a totally new idea that can solve that particular problem. It may take me a short time or several months. Sometimes I need so much time to assimilate the situation and assume my role that it is actually a contribution in itself.”
From 1933 to 1939 he worked and studied with Wright in studios in Wisconsin and Arizona where Wright had created a school for the training of architects. He avoided Taliesin’s drawing room, preferring the daily tasks of «carpenter, plumber, farmer, cook, and dishwasher».
Taliesin East School taught him more than just drawing, he learned to work in stonemasonry and carpentry, and to live as a team.
Years later in an interview for UCLA (University of California), (6) he told Marlene Laskey“There were no classes, no rules or laws of any kind, except not to be late for breakfast“. Nobody taught anything. «Physical work and manual learning were essential“.
His teacher Wright had instilled in him the teachings that Lautner mentions.
Lautner refers to Casa Arango, in Acapulco “I knew exactly the environments they required. They had bought that land that overlooked the bay and had asked me to design a mountain house. When I went to explore the area I sat on the ground and, after a while, I discovered some higher areas on the slope that extended directly towards the main room. So I was able to conceive everything as a global idea. I would make an open terrace, without obstacles that could spoil the panorama, with a strip of water around it as a transition element that integrates the house with the bay. Then I could imagine something like a slope that disappeared into the sky, out of sight. “It would be a free space, suspended visually and psychologically between the sky and the sea”.
Lautner progressed rapidly under Wright’s mentorship.
When he married MaryBud in 1934, he was preparing the design details of a Wright house in Los Angeles for Alice Millard, working at the Playhouse and Studios in Taliesin, in 1936, he was assigned to what became a project that lasted two years supervising the Deertrack House, designed by Wright in Marquette for Mrs. Abby Roberts. The mother of Mary Faustine Roberts (MaryBud), who would be his wife. Years later his eldest daughter Carol would live there.
In 1937, he agreed to supervise the construction of the Johnson family residence «Wingspread» near Racine, Wisconsin (his personal favorite among the Wright projects he worked on), and traveled with Wright to supervise the photography of the Malcolm Willey House in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this project was a very important source for their own homes.
He was also deeply involved in the construction of the drawing room at Taliesin West, which influenced the design of his Mauer House (1946), collected photographs of Wright’s work for a 1938 special issue of Architectural Forum, and then returned briefly to Taliesin , to help assemble models and materials for a 1940 Museum of Modern Art exhibition.
He remained with Wright for six years until he moved to Los Angeles in 1940 to take up the profession independently.
“…I am aware of not wanting to be classified, but rather to continue growing and changing without interruption, to develop real basic ideas that enrich life itself and, furthermore, a timeless enjoyment of spaces. This is what I call “real architecture.” Without beginning or end…»
He told Wright that while he pursued an independent career, he remained «ready to do whatever you or your Fellowship (team) needed».
They worked together on about eleven Los Angeles projects over the next five years. In March 1938 he moved to Los Angeles to take charge of two of Wright’s works, mainly the Sturges House (1939) and decided to stay, cut the umbilical cord and try his luck in a huge city that at first horrified him.
“The first time I drove down Santa Monica Boulevard it seemed so ugly that I became physically ill. I was like that for a year. After having spent my life in the nature of Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin… It was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen, I have tried with my work to create oases of beauty despite being in Los Angeles».
Their first child, Karol, was born in May. (8)
Lautner’s first independent project was a low-cost $2,500 one-bedroom frame house for the Springer family.
In September 1938, Wright contacted him, so Lautner supervised a series of projects in Los Angeles, the Green, Lowe, Bell and Mauer houses.
During this period, Lautner worked with Wright on the designs for the Sturges House in Brentwood Heights, California and the Jester House, which was not built.
Lautner also oversaw the construction of the Sturges House for Wright, but during construction he encountered serious design, cost, and construction problems that culminated in the threat of legal action by the owners, forcing Wright to bring in students from Taliesin to complete repairs.
When the Mauers fired Wright for not turning in working drawings on time they decided to hire Lautner.
Wright gave the Bell House commission to Lautner which was quickly completed and cemented his previous success for his house, earning him widespread recognition and praise: the University of Chicago requested plans and drawings to use as a teaching tool.
Lautner was a research architect who experimented throughout his professional practice with form and structure; with the spatial relationship between architecture, natural environment and its materialization.
It was published in numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, three pages in the June 1942 issue of Arts and Architecture. It was declared «the model house for California living» in the May 1944 issue of House and Garden, in California Designs, in the Architectural Forum, and in The Californian.
Relevant was the exhibition at the Hammer Museum (9) in 2008 “Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner” and Getty-Hammer.
Then he performs in Glasgow, Scotland.
Likewise, the symposium “Against Reason: John Lautner and Postwar Architecture” generated an avalanche of publicity and interest in Lautner’s life and work.
Such as the catalog of the 1991 Viennese exhibition “John Lautner: Architect: Los Angeles”, with text by Lautner and edited by Frank Escher and the website of the John Lautner Foundation.
His first solo project was his own home in Los Angeles, the 1939 Lautner House.
Her article published in the June-July issue of California Arts & Architecture is about her.
Henry-Russell Hitchcock wrote in Home Beautiful that it was “the best house in the United States by an architect under thirty”.
In 1943, he worked for the Structon Company, on wartime military construction and engineering projects.
In 1944, Lautner worked with architects Samuel Reisbord and Whitney R. Smith before becoming a design associate at Douglas Honnold.
Douglas Honnold used his architect’s license, since Lautner did not have his until 1952.
Honnold had started in the 1930s as an interior decorator, working as an art director and film set designer at Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Lautner collaborated with Honnold on several projects, including the Coffee Dan’s restaurants on Vine St., Hollywood and on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, and a redevelopment of the Beverly Hills Athletic Club (since demolished), as well as two solo projects, Mauer House and the Eisele guest house.
Significant was the article «Three Western Homes» in the March issue of House & Garden, which included plans of the Bell Residence and four photos by Julius Shulman. (10)
These photos marked the beginning of a lifelong partnership between architect and photographer; Over the next fifty years, Shulman recorded some 75 assignments on various Lautner projects (for him and other clients) and his photos of Lautner architecture have appeared in at least 275 articles.
In 1945, Lautner became a partner in the studio, and left two years later after falling in love with his partner’s wife, Elizabeth Gilman.
Despite that detail, Honnold and Lautner remained lifelong friends.
Following his divorce from his first wife in 1947, John and Elizabeth married in 1948. He moved to the Honnold residence at 1818 El Cerrito Place, where he had his studio.
MaryBud returned to Marquette with her four children, Karol (1938-2015), Mary Beecher (1944), Judith Munroe (1946), and Michael John (1942-2005).
He was married to Elizabeth until her death in 1978 after many years suffering from a chronic illness.
In 1982 he married Francesca Hernández, Elizabeth’s caregiver.
Lautner’s output that year included the Tower Motors Lincoln-Mercury showroom in Glendale and the Sheats «L’Horizon» apartments,
He embarked on a number of major design projects, including Carling Residence, Desert Hot Springs Motel, Gantvoort Residence and Henry’s Restaurant in Glendale.
In the late ’40s and early ’50s
Her work appears regularly in popular and professional publications, including Architectural Record, Arts & Architecture, House & Garden, Ladies’ Home Journal and Los Angeles Times, RIBA, Avery, World Cat, WilsonWeb, Art Index among others.
1949-50
He created Dahlstrom Residence, Googie’s Coffee House and UPA Studios in Burbank.
1950
He was part of a group exhibition of sixteen California architects at Scripps College in Claremont, California
1951
His work was included in Harris and Bonenberg’s influential A Guide to Contemporary Architecture in Southern California (Watling 1951).
1952
Obtains his architect license. House and Home published the article «Googie Architecture» by Douglas Haskell, including two photographs by Shulman of the Los Angeles restaurant, accompanied by an article on the Foster and Carling houses and the L’Horizon apartments.
1984
He is named Olympic Architect for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Architect Duncan Nicholson, who worked in his studio for five years in the early 1990s, wrote, “Lautner was an architect’s architect, he did not wear a bow tie or pretend to be something he was not. He always seemed straightforward, although if you were working for him, you better know what you were doing, because you would pay dearly if you didn’t”.
Lautner spoke of his clients this way “My clients are all individuals with quite a bit of personality; If not, they would not come”.
Many of those clients were related to the world of entertainment, such as Bob Hope, Anne Baxter – Wright’s granddaughter – and John Hodiak, others were musicians such as George Carling, Miles Davis and Russ Garcia, or artists such as Helen Sheats, interior designers such as Arthur Elrod, and, above all, engineers and technicians, such as Leonard Malin and Kenneth Reiner, the latter worked in the innovative aerospace industry, and provided solutions to some of its buildings, so that without them they would not have been as they are.
1999
«The Architecture of John Lautner» is published by the Rizzoli publishing house, by Alan Hess and Alan Weintraub.
2008
An exhibition is held in 2008 at the Hammer Museum curated by architect Frank Escher and architectural historian Nicholas Olsberg.
Lautner is not only remembered for the development of the Geogie style, but for the style of the so-called “Atomic Age”, a period from 1940 to 1963 when Western society was immersed in concerns about the Cold War.
Architecture, industrial design, commercial design (including advertising), interior design, and fine art were influenced by themes of atomic science, as well as the Space Age. Atomic Age design became popular and recognizable, with the use of atomic motifs and space age symbols. From that time are the Leonard Malin House, the Paul Sheats House, the Garcia House or the Rainbow House.
John Lautner designed more than 200 architectural projects during his career, but many large building designs were never realized. In the architectural press, his current work has been dominated by his domestic commissions; Although he designed numerous commercial buildings, including Googie’s, Coffee Dan’s and Henry’s restaurants, Beachwood Market, Desert Hot Springs Motel and the Lincoln Mercury Showroom in Glendale, several of these buildings have sadly been demolished.
With exceptions such as the Arango Residence in Acapulco, the Turner House in Aspen, Colorado, the Harpel House #2 in Anchorage, Alaska, the Ernest Lautner House in Pensacola, Florida, almost all of Lautner’s existing buildings are in California, mainly in Los Angeles and surroundings.
Lautner’s final years were marred by declining health and loss of mobility.
Notes
1
AV. Living Architecture. Frank Escher, 12/31/2010. John Lautner 1911-1994
2
John Lautner infinite space. Collection directed by Murray Grigor. Texts by Architect Jorge Gorostiza. Original title “A Infinite Space. The Architecture of John Lautner (USA, 2008-92)”. Arquia Collection / Documentary 36.
3
Thorncrown Chapel
American architect and designer Euine Fay Jones was an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright.
He is the only one of Wright’s disciples to have received the AIA Gold Medal (1990), the highest honor awarded by the American Institute of Architects.
He rose to international prominence as an architectural educator during his 35 years of teaching at the University of Arkansas School of Architecture.
4
The Colombian muralist, painter, illustrator and publicist Santiago Martínez Delgado (Bogotá 1906 – 1954 Cajicá) was a representative of the Art Deco style.
He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Chicago, United States, and was a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin.
He received, among others, the Logan Medal of Arts, the National Hall of Artists of Colombia and the Order of Boyacá Cross for his work on the mural in the Elliptical Hall of the National Capitol, considered one of the most significant murals in Colombia.
In 1986, Marlene Laskey interviewed John Lautner for the Oral History Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
His six and a half hour interview was published by UCLA under the title “Responsibility, Infinity, Nature”.
It is available through the Internet Archive, an online library for researchers, historians and academics. The library maintains copies of the book in several different formats. It can be read online or downloaded.
Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes in North America. Among freshwater lakes, it is the largest in the world by surface area and the third largest by volume. It is shared by Canada and the US, and flows into Lake Huron through the St. Mary River.
8
“John Lautner. Architect». By Alicia Paz González Riquelme and Eduardo Basurto Salazar Department of Methods and Systems. Metropolitan Autonomous University. Mexico.
9
The Hammer Museum is an art museum and cultural center, part of the University of California, Los Angeles. Founded in 1990 by industrial entrepreneur Armand Hammer to house his personal art collection, the museum has since expanded its reach to become «the most modern and culturally relevant institution in the city.»
Critically acclaimed by the museum are presentations by emerging contemporary artists, many of them historically overlooked. It hosts more than 300 programs year-round, from conferences, symposiums and readings to concerts and film screenings.
10
Julius Shulman was born in Brooklyn, and grew up on a farm in Connecticut. He moved to Los Angeles to begin his studies, but never finished them. His mentor was Richard Neutra, who upon seeing the photos he took of the Kun Residence, commissioned him to immortalize his projects. “Actually I’m just a salesman, I sell architecture».
When John Entenza, director of the magazine Arts and Architecture, launched his Case Study program in 1945, Julius transformed projects by Eames, Neutra or Soriano into Icons.
“Shulman’s Stahl House snapshot is one of those images that summarizes an entire city” wrote the New York Times critic of the time (referring to Case Study 22, designed by Pierre Koenig from 1959).
Case Study # 21 (1958) de Pierre Koenig
«When I started working I realized that very few of my colleagues captured people in their work, but I thought that if I was going to photograph architecture I wanted to show it being functional».
«My images always tell a story, perhaps because there are people in them».
He lived in a house designed by Raphael Soriano in the Hollywood Hills. In 2015, the Californian studio LOHA restored it respecting its original design.
See previous article http://onlybook.es/blog/las-obras-de-frank-lloyd-wright-parte-9-casa-bach-y-the-illinois/
«This translation from Spanish (the original text) to English is not professional. I used Google Translate, so there may be linguistic errors that I ask you to overlook. I have often been asked to share my texts in English, which is why I decided to try. I appreciate your patience, and if you see anything that can be improved and would like to let me know, I would be grateful. In the meantime, with all its imperfections, here are the lines I have written». Hugo Kliczkowski Juritz
H. Allen Brooks. «Wright and the destruction of the box.» 1990 (original text from 1979)
The invisible corners
There are many writings by Wright about “the destruction of the box,” in his search for open, fluid spaces.
By the end of the 1880s, the strong ideas of “Shingle Style” or “Queen Anne” (1) had been exhausted, but Wright knew how to draw ideas to generate the use of generous intermediate spaces between main spaces. (2)
House in Shingle Style, House – Wright’s Study, 1889
Inside, the traditional house had one box next to another, the sum of a series of boxes of this type resulted in a house. He shared concepts with Bruce Price in his 1897 project of the Kent House at 18 Pepperidge Road, in Tuxedo Park (Dutch Colonial style), especially in the resolution of cruciform floor plans.
Ross House
Wright redefined the concept of interior space by dismantling the traditional box. Already in 1902 he approached the resolution of the problem at the Ross House. It was one of the first houses on the Prairie.
Ross House Interior
Bruce Price(3) not only influenced Wright, he also influenced other young architects. Wright, in his search for his own language, discovered that to advance in the conceptualization of what he wanted to achieve with his designs, he had to solve the corner. His conclusion was that the point of greatest resistance in a home was the corner. His solution was to dissolve it, by allowing one piece (or space) to penetrate into the other.
House Price
It thus creates an overlapping area that serves as a connection between the pieces, as it proposes various uses for the “now” single space, reducing dimensions and cost, without making it appear smaller spatially.
In the words of architectural historian and professor at the University of Toronto H. Allen Brooks (1925 – 2010) (4) “This, when explained, is a simple idea (most great ideas are simple), but in its ultimate consequences is one of the most important discoveries ever made in architecture”.
Wright’s works propose a space that acquires a relative value (it is not fixed), since it influences the observation of an empirical space, where the participation and reality of people’s observation of the space is changing. Spatial perception is varied, it is diagonal, and not frontal, so it changes a lot with movement.
Wright broke away from interior corners as well as exterior corners, and created “invisible corners” with glass angles, this became one of the achievements of the modern movement. When the eye travels along the side wall, it does not find any interruption in the corner, but rather passes outside through the doors.
The boxes have an upper face and a lower face, as well as side faces, and from the Ross House, Wright began to manipulate the height of the ceiling, adapting it to the activities that took place below it, highest where we stand in the room from being near the fireplace or walking along the windows on the exterior walls, and lower down in the dining room, places where we normally sit, places for reflection and conversation.
Casa Loren B. Pope
In the Loren B. Pope House, Mt Vernon from 1939, Wright made two levels of ceiling, upon entering some steps allow descent and simultaneously the ceiling is raised in correspondence with the activities to be carried out standing in the living area. The ceiling lowers in the dining room and in the windows where you sit.
If we talk about the “sense of shelter”, the exterior, perforated, and openwork walls lose their closing function and it is in the roof where the “sense of protection” resides. It exchanges roles by going from an architecture of walls to an architecture of ceilings, which it achieves with the skillful management of their heights.
But it was not understood as something desirable, Mr. Moore, a resident of Oak Park, demanded “We want you to build our house, but I do not want you to present us with anything that reminds us, in the least, of Mr. Winslow’s“.. «I wouldn’t like to have to take the train in the morning through small alleys, to avoid being laughed at“.
In his autobiography Wright says “…It was the last time I considered my status as a family man with three children to feed…”
It was not so, on Christmas 1922, a fire destroyed part of the Moore house, and Wright, renouncing his principles, carried out another project in 1923.
It is said that the term «Prairie School» is attributed to the historian Brooks. In March 1908, Wright in the magazine Architectural record defined: «… we live on the prairie. The meadow has a very characteristic beauty. We must recognize and accentuate this natural beauty, its tranquil expanse. Hence the gently sloping roofs, the small proportions, the peaceful silhouettes, the massive chimneys, the protective eaves, the low terraces and the advanced walls, which limit small gardens…”
It introduced a sense of mystery into the spatial sequence.
In a first step, Wright eliminates the corners, and transforms the walls into sheets, free and mobile. In a second step, through the assembly of segments of the sheets, it forms spaces, creating a new spatial context that integrates the functions that previously made up the destroyed pieces
In the drawings on the left, a typical Shingle Style plant, with large openings between room pieces main, right, in a Wright house one piece penetrates the other at the corners.In the following drawing you can see the resolution of the plants, the dimensions of the pieces in these two plants are identical.
They are not «uncontrolled openings of spaces», they use different procedures such as in the Willits House with vertical sheets of wood combined with low shelves for books, or walls that do not reach the ceiling (Roberts and Hanna houses -1935/7) (5), homes and chimneys that open onto the neighboring space (Martin and Robie houses).
Roberts House
Robie House
Wright had a three-dimensional way of thinking, which is verifiable in the frequency with which he so often brings together ceiling and walls with simple resources, many of which can be seen in the Robie house. Spatially, Wright dissolves the corner and makes it transparent, the corner glasses meet butt, they do not have frames or opaque materials.
Willits House
In the case of the Willits house, the core that articulates the ground floor is formed by the fireplace and two continuous benches. This cross arrangement allows for many views, but restricts a total view of the space, which forces the visitor to the house to walk through it. The dining room and living room share exterior walls, but the “wall” that separates the two pieces is a free-standing fireplace. The flues move to the sides and make possible a large opening in the mass of the chimney at roof level.
From each of the pieces you can see the ceiling of the other, which increases the feeling of space without decreasing privacy, and you have a continuous perspective on the side walls of these two connected pieces. Due to the absence of corners (there are no visual cues to stop us) it is impossible to say where those exterior walls end, or when they stop belonging to the space where we are; The resource works, no visual break, neither outside nor inside, denotes the limits of either of the two spaces.
Wrightian space depends on the location of the observer and not on a predetermined limit. Wright creates a sense of expansion, a visual extension of space that the actual dimensions of his buildings would seem to make impossible. It had amazing effects not only on Wright’s works, but also on the future of architecture.
This release of the walls from their corners turns them into a sheet, and they are no longer in a fixed position, turning from a wall into a sheet. A free and mobile sheet can rotate on its axis, be divided into smaller sheets, into segments of that sheet, assembled with others and define a new spatial concept.
Project plan for a fire house for 5,000 usa from 1906, published in Ladies of the Home Journal, in April 1907
In the diagram, a plant appears with its four walls locked in their corners; when these are eliminated, the walls become independent planes or sheets. Rather than enclosing, they define an area that remains similar to that of the traditional scheme, but the exception is in the corners.
An example is the plan of the 1904/6 Darwin D. Martín House in Buffalo, New York, which was widely disseminated in Europe when it was published in the Wasmuth Portfolio in 1910.
Charles S. Ross House: Floor Plan Analysis by R.C. Mac Cormac, from which he determined the mesh used by Wright in his design. Architectural Review 1958
The dimensions and location of the elements that define the spaces, whether screens, sheets, pillars, roofs and chimneys, were never casual or arbitrary, but were controlled and governed by what Wright called “a system of units”.
The floors present a special theme, in Willits House and Davidson House (Prarie houses), a single level change was introduced. It is interesting to see how in the Palmer House, a difference in level of one step is used to discourage the visitor from approaching the bedroom wing, or, as in the Pope House, to magnify the feeling of majesty as one descends from the entrance to the rooms. more public sectors of the house.
Wright managed the scale of the design as well as the proportions, materials, furniture and color, to create as perfect a harmony as possible (many times he achieved total harmony), he did not admit discordant notes.
Unlike other “crutches or aids”, such as the golden section (a/b = b/ [a + b]), or Le Corbusier’s Modulor, Wright never explained how his system worked.
See article http://onlybook.es/blog/el-modulor-de-le-corbusier/
Wright later applied this system to elevations as well. An essential aspect of Wright’s organic architecture is the idea that interior space must find exterior expression.
A comparison between the Willits House (1902) and the Robie House (1908) shows its evolution. . The buildings became more informal, more open, and their relationship with the natural environment is more immediate.
The “Usonian house,” with its modest size, was the perfect expression of all this. The spatial situations inside could be read externally. A masonry wall, closed in a U shape, illuminated internally only by a clerestory window under a low ceiling slab, was a study, a place to retreat; a higher ceiling and a row of glazed French doors signaled a more public living space; smaller windows facing a protected patio corresponded to a bedroom. Space always manifested itself; had been defined, a definition that everyone sees and recognizes.
Reorganizing the home spatially was an arduous intellectual process for Wright.
Traditionally the pieces or rooms are delimited with locked walls in the corners; during the 19th century, English country houses made “ridiculous” use of this spatial segmentation.
Wright recognizes this “problem” and sets about “correcting” it. He detected that the corners were the most expressive element of the problem and decided to solve it.
It dismembered the intermediate walls, the ceilings, and even the floors. Finally, he reassembled the fragmented pieces in a different spatial context. He defined the functions by creating an environment where I will live smaller, but psychologically healthier.
He was a brilliant architect, and he takes the essential step of “destroying the box”. (6)
The system has some structural advantages, overhangs occur naturally when the main structure moves away from the corners.
In a next step Wright would use floor-to-ceiling French doors to achieve the desired effect. Initially, the free-standing fireplace opened on both sides, and the ceiling bands brought together the living room, the fireplace and the entrance hall into a single spatial entity. Unfortunately one side of the chimney has been closed off by the new owners, and the roof bands have been removed.
I recommend reading this article from a collaborator of Wright, until he was invited to retire from Taliesin, in 1948.
His philosophical concepts about the way a city should help the development of life for its inhabitants, and his criticism of F.LL.Wrigh’s concept of urban development in Broadacre City (a project financed by Edgar Kaufmann) confronted him with his teacher.
He began his life project in Arizona.
I have had the opportunity to visit it and discovered that even today ancient artisans and followers of Architect Paolo Soleri still live there:
His project for the new SULIMENE ceramics factory south of Naples (declared an Italian Monument) is very interesting, an organic and expressive work.
Notes
1
It was the rise of the New England school of architecture, which opposed the ornaments of the Eastlake style. The concept was of “mass”, an entire volume, with continuous horizontal lines.
2
H. Allen Brooks. Wright y la destrucción de la caja. 1990 (texto original de 1979)
3 y 4
H. Allen Brooks (1925 – 2010) was an architectural historian and professor on the faculty of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Toronto. He was the editor of the 32 volume Le Corbusier Archive. He wrote and researched Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School. The term “Prairie School” is attributed to Brooks. His first book «The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and his Midwest Contemporaries“ (1972), received the Alice Davis Hitchcock Award from the Society of Architectural Historians, as well as the Wright Spirit Award, the highest award given by the Society of Architectural Historians, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. He was president and member of the Society of Architectural Historians, a founding member of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, and a life member of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain.
5
For the young Hanna couple, at 737 Frenchman’s Road, who adapted the house for 25 years. The house is designed in a geometry based on hexagons skillfully innovated by Wright.
6
About the Box, see “An Autobiography”, New York, Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1943, in the “Building the New House” section.
Boynton House
A shining example is the dining room of the Boynton House (1908) in Rochester, where three ceiling heights relate directly to Wright’s furniture, which after seventy years is still (incredibly) in place.
A small table for breakfast or lunch is situated against the outside window; Above it, the ceiling is only head-high and creates a feeling of intimacy at family meals. Towards the interior of the room there is a large and imposing table, flanked by chairs with high backs; It corresponds to formal family gatherings and the reception of guests, and in scale with this the ceiling is higher.
Between these two tables with their ceilings in relation is a clerestory (line of windows, open in the thickness of the walls) on one side that illuminates the main table and gives light to the deepest corners of the room. This one and a half story high ceiling covers the area where one can walk inside the room.
When it came to uniting the interior and exterior space, he created a screen of glass doors between the interior and the terrace, as in the Willits House or other Usonian houses.
«This translation from Spanish (the original text) to English is not professional. I used Google Translate, so there may be linguistic errors that I ask you to overlook. I have often been asked to share my texts in English, which is why I decided to try. I appreciate your patience, and if you see anything that can be improved and would like to let me know, I would be grateful. In the meantime, with all its imperfections, here are the lines I have written». Hugo Kliczkowski Juritz
“The good building is not the one that damages the landscape, but the one that makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built». F.Ll.W.
«I came to Princeton to preach», says Wright, who was invited to give six lectures by patron Otto H. Kahn (1) at Princeton University in May 1930.
Wright was option B of the University organizers, since option A was the Dutchman Jacobus J. P. Oud, but because he was ill he could not speak about the “New Architecture”.
Wright was considered “a great innovator” by the prestigious critic and historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock (Boston 1903 – 1987 New York) but not “the new avant-garde” led by Walter Gropius (Walter Adolph Georg Gropius Berlin 1883 – 1969 Boston), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, (Aachen 1886 – 1969 Chicago), Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret- Gris, La Chaux-de-Fonds 1887 – 1965 Roquebrune-Cap-Martin), and Jacobus J. P. Oud (Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud, Purmerend 1890 – Wassenaar 1963).
Preacher’s Eloquence “I went to Princeton to preach.” (3)
It was not just any comment, Henry-Russell Hitchcock(2) (Boston 1903 – 1987 New York) knew what he was talking about, he was famous for being the father of the term “International Style” applied to rationalist architecture.
Left to right Bob Beharka, Mark Heyman, Jim Pfefferkorn, Kenn Lockart, Eric Loyd Wright, Joe Fabris, Tom Casey, Jack owe and Arnold Roy. Approximately 1950 in Taliesin West
Now we can intuit Wright’s reasons, which led him to the intelligent gesture of presenting his “Mile High Building” (The Illinois) years later.
A very Wrightian resource to demonstrate that he was not being surpassed by “so many European architects”.
See http://onlybook.es/blog/las-obras-de-frank-lloyd-wright-parte-9-casa-bach-y-the-illinois/
Preacher’s Eloquence “I went to Princeton to preach.” (3)
“Wright at Princeton: Preacher’s Eloquence». The Kahn Lectures. Princeton 1930. Paidos Madrid 2010.
Living Architecture 145. 2012
“Wright at Princeton: Preacher’s Eloquence.” The Kahn Lectures. Princeton 1930. Paidos Madrid 2010. Living Architecture 145. 2012
In May 1930, when he gave the Kahn Lectures in Princeton, Frank Lloyd Wright was about to turn 63; by then he had already entered history; only for the works built up to 1910 could he have been considered an extraordinary architect, the year in which the one who left his family and fled to Europe with a client’s wife,
The six lectures given by Wright were published in 1931 in the university publishing house, and in 1953 they were included in his book “The Future of Architecture”, the latter was soon translated into Spanish “El Futuro de la Arquitectura», edited by Poseidon, Buenos Aires in 1957, with the translation by Eduardo Goligorsky.
It was reprinted in 1979 and in 2008.
The ideas presented by Wright had already existed in Spanish for a long time, the reason why Princeton reissued it in 2010 we suppose was the addition of the excellent introduction by Neil Levine (1941), an art historian specialized in Frank Lloyd Wright.
What is new in this reissue is its introduction and the original preface of 193l, in addition to a new improved translation with respect to the Poseidon version.
The numerous notes (190 in 66 pages) could be discouraging, but it is a pleasant and rigorous text that explains in detail the contents of Wright’s lectures, making it easy to read his texts, who were more given to emotional preaching than to description. analytics
Neil Levine explains “Wright was more eloquent, more compelling, and even more poetic in his buildings than in his words. Likewise, he was much more original and creative in his architectural projects than in his theoretical writings.”
What did he preach to the Princeton students?
The first two conferences (4) explain his position on the «introduction of the machine in construction and its consequences on the new style of North American architecture«.
The first, titled “Machines, Materials and Men», included another conference given in Chicago in 1903, “Arts and Crafts of the Machine», with which Wright claimed his role as a pioneer in the step of artisanal production, defended by the movement. English Arts & Crafts, compared to the machine production advocated by the Central European Modern Movement.
In his second conference he spoke about “Style in the industry».
In his third conference “The Death of the Cornice”, he mercilessly attacks classical architecture, especially that of the Italian Renaissance, to end up trying to explain what he understood by “organic architecture”, a concept traditionally linked to his work, but which he himself He never managed to specify more than explain “…which is what is conceived from the inside out».
He called his fourth conference “The Cardboard House», carefully explaining his works from the first decade of the 20th century.
It explains the spatial concept generated by its low ceilings (many refer to its height of 1.70), describes that it is “continuous space», and details the “ideal of organic simplicity” in the famous nine points applied in its “houses of the prairie».
The fifth lecture, “The Tyranny of the Skyscraper” sharply criticizes contemporary skyscrapers (the Chrysler had just been inaugurated in New York and the Empire State Building was being completed), after lovingly narrating how this type of building was born when its “beloved teacher”Louis Sullivan , asked him to clean up the elevation of the Wainwright building. Wright did not criticize the tall construction itself, but rather its generally staggered composition; In fact, he was also busy with the St. Mark’s tower project, which would ultimately not be built.
In the sixth conference “The City”, he outlines that urban conception that a few years later, in 1932, he would capture in his book The Disappearing City: a dispersed city, with plots of one acre (about four thousand square meters) for each family to build. his own house, and with the public buildings concentrated in singular points, around what were then the true landmarks: the gas stations. Wright named this city Broadacre City and built a large model that was exhibited throughout the country in the following years.
Wright in his architectural exhibitions (5)
Comments on the book «Wright on exhibition» by Kathryn Smith.
The book features color renderings, photos and plans, as well as an exhibition listing and an illustrated catalog of extant and lost models made under Wright’s supervision.
The exhibition of his works was a central practice in his career.
“There should be as many styles of houses as there are styles of people and as many differentiations as there are different individuals». “A man who has individuality has the right to his expression and his own environment«. F.Ll.W.
More than one hundred exhibitions of Frank Lloyd Wright’s projects were mounted between 1894 and his death in 1959.
Wright organized most of these exhibitions, which he considered as crucial to his self-presentation as his extensive writings. He used them to promote his designs, attract new viewers and persuade his detractors. «Wright on Exhibit» presents the first story of his influential career.
Drawing heavily on Wright’s unpublished correspondence, Kathryn Smith challenges the preconceived notion of Wright as a self-promoter who displays his work in pursuit of money, clients, and fame.
She shows that he was an artist-architect who projected an avant-garde program, an innovator who expanded the palette of installation designs as technology evolved, and a social activist driven to revolutionize society through design.
Wright in the 1930s was creating public installations intended to inspire debate and change public perceptions of architecture.
Broadacre City. Frank Lloyd Wright. 1932
The nature of his exhibitions expanded over time beyond models, drawings, and photographs to include more immersive tools such as slides, films, and even a large-scale structure built especially for his 1953 retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum.
In 1930, when he delivered the Princeton Lectures, many thought Wright was nearing retirement.
But shortly after Wright would meet two decisive characters: Edgar J. Kaufmann (Pittsburgh 1885 – 1955 Palm Springs) and Herbert F. Johnson Jr. (Racine 1899 – 1978 Wind Point).
For the first, he would build between 1934 and 1937 the most famous house in the history of architecture: “Fallingwater, the Waterfall House».
For the second, he would build between 1936 and 1939 one of the most suggestive and imaginative interior spaces of the 20th century: the offices of the Johnson Wax company.
His posthumous masterwork still remained: the Guggenheim Museum in New York, completed 30 years after the Princeton conferences.
Whenever he was asked what he considered his best work, Wright inevitably responded “Next”, perhaps no wonder the Guggenheim was completed thirty years after the Princeton conferences.
“Frank Lloyd Wright. Modern Architecture: The Kahn Lectures”, author Jorge Sainz. Princeton, 1930 Paidós, Madrid, 2010 248 pages.
The Clinton Walker House is in Carmel, California
Frank Lloyd Wright designed it in 1952. It could look like “the bow of a ship in the water making use of the reef”.
It is small, only 92.9 m2, with a 37.2 m2 living room, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a kitchen. The plan was based on a hexagon, similar to the Hanna House in Palo Alto. Its lines are low and horizontal.
The bedrooms are in the wings of the house, which join at an angle. From above, it is shaped like an arrow.
For privacy, he minimized the windows on the sides of the house and planned a cypress hedge that runs toward the street.
Original plans called for a cantilevered copper roof made of interlocking triangular panels, but material shortages during the Korean War made this impossible, so it was covered with blue-green tiles. When the house was expanded to 130 m2 in 1956, the roofs were changed and copper was installed, this material was replaced again in 1990.
Designed with cedar wood, Carmel stone and glass on a triangular plot, from its hexagonal living room you have impressive panoramic views of the sea.
The sliding window frames are painted in Wright’s signature «Cherokee Color». Inside, all rooms have spectacular views.
The living room has a floor-to-ceiling fireplace, supports the weight of the roof and allows for nearly uninterrupted windows facing the ocean.
The dominant motif is the triangle that extends to the coffee table in the living room.
The house has been part of the US National Register of Historic Places since 2016.
«As transparent as the waves, but as resistant as the rock… with the long white surf lines of the sea, that’s the kind of house I promised my client».
Its owner was Della Walker, an artist and widow of Minneapolis lumber executive Clinton Walker.
The couple moved to California in 1904 and lived there for four decades until Walker’s death in 1944.
A year later, Della Walker writes to Wright, asking him to consider doing the project:
“I am a woman who lives alone. I want protection from the wind and privacy from the road and a house as durable as the rocks but as transparent and lovely as the waves and delicate as the seashore, you are the only person who can do this, will you help me?”
It is the only oceanfront home designed by Wright, in the dreamy coastal enclave of Carmel.
A few years later in 1948 Wright designed the VC Morris Gift Shop (140 Maiden Lane) in San Francisco.
A small gem, which perhaps anticipated the concept of the Guggenheim ramp in New York.
When you travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco, you are fascinated by the beauty of the rugged Pacific, you see diverse things, from oil platforms, which draw attention at night with their lights, to hundreds of sea lions. grouped on rocky promontories.
The route is two-way, you must go very slowly (the fines educate you), there is no guardrail, the view is beautiful, every now and then you see people surfing, or with a glass of wine, saying goodbye to the sun at sunset.
Sea lions at the 17 Mile Drive Natural Area in Monterey, California
I saw a very elegant man, looking towards the sun bathing in the Pacific, I thought the moment was ideal to ask him
– What a beautiful sight, it comes often
And looking at me with the poise and dignity that – I suppose – those who know themselves to be exquisite have, he answered me.
– I have been doing it every evening for 50 years.
I believed. If the wine was as good as the glass…
Sea lions can be seen at Pier 39 at Fisherman’s Wharf, or on Piedras Blancas Beach near Hearts Castle, but especially on the 17 Mile Drive, a 17 km long coastal route on the peninsula that connects Monterey with Carmel-by-the-sea, where actor and director Clint Eastwood (San Francisco 1930) was mayor from 1986 to 1988.
I slept in Carmel two times, the first time I arrived at night, the entire city was dark without lights, I asked if it was an electrical failure, and they told me no, it was to avoid light pollution, that’s how fine they are.
Like the indications of the name of each street, made of carved wood.
There are no fast food type restaurants like «McDonald’s» since to avoid this they require 1 waiter every few tables, the issue has been resolved.
Ms. Walker’s descendants sold it in early 2023 for $22 million to the investment firm Esperanza Carmel LLC.
Columnist Herb Caen described it as “a house so striking that it resembles a bird with outstretched wings, landing in the waves».
Wright said that “…the house looks like “a ship, pushing outward from the rocky shore, but almost one with it.”
His great-grandson, architect Brooks Walker, in an interview with Architects Take magazine, mentioned that construction took five years.
The Mrs. Walker wanted a door to take out the garbage from the kitchen, but “Wright was opposed to that wish because he thought it would destroy the integrity of the complex. “I was willing to sacrifice practicality for an architectural idea», his client had to fight to get a door.
“The kitchen is narrow and small, but for the context of the site, the house is brilliant – it fits perfectly with the sea around it».
The correspondence between them fills a thick folder, in addition to the kitchen door, another issue was the addition of a dishwasher. As a consolation, the house has its own small beach.
In 1959 the film “A Summer Place”, based on the novel of the same name by Sloan Wilson, set on the East Coast, shows interior and exterior views of the Walker House.
It was directed by Delmer Daves, and starred Richard Egan (character Ken Jorgenson), Dorothy McGuire (Sylvia Huntter), Sandra Dee (Molly Jorgenson) and Troy Donahue (Johnny Hunter).
The characters Ken and Sylvia say that Frank Lloyd Wright«designed their beach house, as he did».
The residence looks like «a ship».
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Grades
1
Otto Hermann Kahn (Mannheim 1867 – 1934) was a German-born American banker, collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. He was a well-known figure who appeared on the cover of Time magazine, he was called the «King of New York.» In business, he was a partner in Kuhn, Loeb & Co., which reorganized and consolidated the railroads. An extremely wealthy financier, Kahn was chairman of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Opera, vice president of the New York Philharmonic, and treasurer of the American Federation of the Arts. He supported many artists, including Hart Crane, George Gershwin, and Arturo Toscanini. He was also in love with Hollywood, to which the Kuhn Loeb bank provided much commercial support and Kahn, personal support.
2
The historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock (1903 – 1987) was a professor at MIT, and at Wesleyan, Yale, Harvard, and Cambridge universities. Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Benjamin Franklin Medal.
In 1932, together with the architect Philip Johnson, he curated the exhibition Modern Architecture – International Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, for which they wrote the book “The International Style: Architecture since 1922”, which gave rise to the term “ International Style”, also known as “Modern Movement”.
With basically strict aesthetic criteria, leaving aside other more programmatic ones (for which they received abundant criticism), the projects had to meet their guidelines, and had to meet a series of parameters, such as the absence of ornamentation, the composition in terms of volume and not of mass, and in modular regularity and not in axial symmetry. As for architects, they left out the work of the pioneers of the movement, such as Peter Behrens, Auguste Perret, Adolf Loos, Antonio Sant’Elia and Frank Lloyd Wright, and established Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies as paradigms of the new movement. van der Rohe, Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud, Gerrit Rietveld and Richard Neutra.
In 1951, Hitchcock made the following retrospective analysis of the parameters used for the exhibition: “…too few in number and too narrow… are the principles that we stated so firmly in 1932. Today I would add a third principle: the articulation of structure and «I would omit the reference to decoration, which constitutes an aesthetic rather than a formal issue».
3
Frank Lloyd Wright Modern Architecture: The Kahn Lectures, Princeton, 1930 Paidós, Madrid, 2010 248 pages.
4
Book Magazine (RdL). Jorge Sainz. Dec 1, 2011.
5
Princeton University Press. Author Kathryn Smith
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«This translation from Spanish (the original text) to English is not professional. I used Google Translate, so there may be linguistic errors that I ask you to overlook. I have often been asked to share my texts in English, which is why I decided to try. I appreciate your patience, and if you see anything that can be improved and would like to let me know, I would be grateful. In the meantime, with all its imperfections, here are the lines I have written». Hugo Kliczkowski Juritz
A permanent interest in my travels is the search for relevant works of architecture.
It is a good resource, because as many are dispersed, it is an excellent excuse to tour and visit places outside the “program.”
Sometimes I turn the search into «travel books», like when I went to see Palladio’s works in Vicenza, I made a 68-page book (which I later bound with covers and rings), I wrote it on one side, the odd one, and I leave the other, the even one, blank to write down notes. He had obtained information from the 4 books on Palladio’s architecture, which he edited in 1570, where he explained his works, in reality as he imagined them, and then, by visiting them, he could review the differences, in many cases, important.
In the case of Japan it was more than 70 pages. This preparation helps me a lot to understand places and areas, they are an important part of the pleasure of traveling, I write down what I read and what I want to see, in addition to addresses, schedules, and other information.
I had already visited many works (this was my third trip to Japan), but I was interested in seeing what they call the Frank Lloyd Wright Suite, in the Imperial Hotel, which was built on the land where Wright had built what was the second and famous headquarters of the Hotel.
The “new and luxurious” hotel has different objects scattered around, a chair here, a stained glass there, the projection of images on columns of how those were demolished.
After this pastiche, I went to the hotel management and got to the topic:
– I would like to see the Wright Suite.
Ms. Yono Akimoto, front desk manager, explained to me:
– It is not available, and only “special guests” are allowed to stay overnight at the modest price of 10,000 usa per night.
I guess it will be that price or zero, depending on the guest who sleeps there.
The kind Yono Akimoto assisted me and, seeing the difficulty of being allowed to see the 14th floor where the reconstructed Wright Suite is, I made the following proposal:
– If I tell you something about Wright that you may not know, will you take me to see it?
-He told me…let’s see, tell me (well Hugo, we’ve already made some progress…)
And I started to tell him,
–Wright had run away in 1909 with the wife of a client Edwin Cheney, named Mamah Bouton Borthwick, and since his stay in the United States due to that infidelity was unsustainable, they went to a villa on the outskirts of Florence in 1910 to prepare the “Wasmuth Portfolio,” a lavish 2-volume publication by art book editor Ernst Wasmuth. (1)
And continue, …as an example, the editor of the Spring Green, Wisconsin, newspaper condemned Wright for bringing a scandal to the people, his European trip was described as a «spiritual hegira» (in Arabic, it is breaking with old ties), He called Mamah and Wright «soulmates» and also referred to Taliesin as the «love castle» or «love bungalow.»
The scandal affected Wright’s career for several years; He did not receive a major commission until the Imperial Hotel in 1916.
I, faithful to my interest, and “with a fixed gear” continue my negotiation:
– Upon his return, they settled in his house in Taliesin in Wisconsin, (he introduced her as the manager of the house, which no one believed, and while Wright was at the Midway Gardens site in Chicago, Julian Carlton, a servant from Barbados crazy and murderous, he set fire to the house and murdered 7 people with an ax, including Mamah and her two little children John and Martha; and…
The lady, very kind, told me, OK, let’s go see the Wright Suite.
They explained to me that the front of the Wright Hotel and its Lobby are in the city of Meiji Mura.
The walk that you can take in Meiji Mura is a walk through history.
Known as Hakubutsukan Meij – Mura, that is, “Meiji Village Museum”, it is an open-air museum focused on the Meiji period (1868 – 1912), which allows you to see some works of the architectural heritage of modern Japan, with incredible surprises such as the front and lobby of the Imperial Hotel by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The Meiji period was characterized by a strong Western influence due to the opening of the Nippon archipelago to the rest of the world, it was the basis of its modernization.
Japanese architecture suffered this influence from the West, the country left its Samurai past and entered (in its own way) into the modern era.
The Samurai, or Bushi, were a class of elite warriors, experts in the use of the bow and sword. They emerged in the 10th century and served until the 19th century.
The museum is located in the city of Inuyama (Aichi Prefecture), it can be reached by train or bus or both, from Nagoya or from Kyoto (139 km away).
Meiji-era buildings are spread across the 100 hectares
Which occupies this picturesque area of hills on the shores of Iruka Pond, in the city of Inuyama (Aichi)
At Nagoya Station, take the Meitetsu Inuyama Line towards Inuyama Station, transfer to the Gifu Bus towards Meiji Mura, the journey takes 1 hour.
The museum preserves historic buildings from the Meiji (1867-1912), Taishó (1912-1926), and early Shōwa (1926-1945) periods of Japan. Many of the buildings built during the Meiji period were destroyed during the war or demolished to remodel the cities.
Some “landmark” buildings have been relocated here from Japan or abroad, such as the Sapporo telephone exchange, the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo and the Francis Xavier Cathedral in Kyoto. To attract tourism, many of the buildings have been converted into shops or cafes, where it is possible to try traditional dishes from the Meiji period, such as curry with rice and beef croquettes.
To facilitate the visit, a tram and a steam train run through the place.
Wright’s Imperial Hotel
The main entrance to the Imperial Hotel, a building originally built in 1923 in Hibiya (Tokyo)
It was inaugurated in 1890, it was a demand of the Japanese aristocracy.
It was located south of the gardens of the Imperial Palace, its clientele was “high profile”, people who liked to see and be seen, and above all served by a more than helpful staff. In the Meiji Era, this special neighborhood was called Kojimachi, currently it is called Chiyoda. It is in the heart of Tokyo, occupied by the Imperial Palace, bordering Chùò, is Tokyo Station, and bordering Minato, Hubiya Park, it is an area occupied by administrative offices and agencies. The rest (especially the west and northwest has upper-class residential areas, next to the Yasukuni Shrine. A problematic and conflictive sanctuary since for China, North Korea and South Korea, as well as other countries victims of Japanese military aggression, it is a symbol of Japanese militarism during the Second War world and proto-fascist Japanese nationalism.
Their rooms were located in the main building or in the tower overlooking the 16 hectares of Hibiya Park, the palace and the Ginza mud.
Many participated in the traditional tea ceremony (called Chanoyu, “hot water for tea) or a cocktail at the Old Imperial Bar, Art Deco style with murals and terracotta tiles designed by Wright in 1823.
The main entrance of the Imperial Hotel is the best-known of the many buildings that house Meiji Mura.
The construction work on said hotel, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright—who in Japan is synonymous with being a representative figure of 20th century architecture—concluded on September 1, 1923.
An hour before the start of the party to commemorate the completion of the project, the Great Kantō Earthquake occurred, the building hardly suffered any damage and provided shelter to many victims of the catastrophe.
In the years to come it would receive many accolades, both in Japan and abroad, for its status as a landmark hotel for state guests, as well as for being a masterpiece of Wright architecture.
However, in the second half of the 1960s, the Imperial Hotel could no longer serve its growing clientele and the building was beginning to deteriorate; Consequently, the administration of the establishment decided to demolish it and build a new one, despite the numerous voices that were in favor of preserving it.
However, everything changed in 1967 thanks to the quick response of Prime Minister Satō Eisaku, who had just returned to Japan after a summit with the president of the United States. During his appearance before the press, a journalist from that country asked him what was going to happen to the Imperial Hotel. “It will be moved to Meiji Mura for reconstruction there,” stated the Japanese president. Although only the hotel’s main entrance was preserved, Satō’s immediate response made it possible for later generations to inherit an architectural heritage of immense value.
The entrance and lobby of the Imperial Hotel were saved and moved from Tokyo between 1967 and 1985.
Inauguration of Meiji Mura
Opened in March 1965, its origins date back to 1940 when the architect Taniguchi Yoshirō (1904 – 1979), who later served as the museum’s first director, witnessed the demolition (due to its poor condition) of the Rokumeikan building, a symbol of of the flourishing of an entire civilization. Wishing that buildings from the time could be preserved, it was proposed to move the buildings from the Meiji era (1868-1912), whose destiny was to be demolished, and open them to the public with the aim that future generations They could enjoy what he considered a gift. It is a project to rescue historic buildings
The Rokumeikan Building
The Rokumeikan, built at Uchisaiwaichō 1, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, was known as «Deer-cry Hall» or «Deer Cry Pavilion», it was inaugurated in 1883 and designed by the renowned British architect Josiah Conder, and promoted by the Minister of Japanese foreigners Inoue Kaoru.
Conder was located within the “Oyatoi”, foreigners hired by the government to contribute their knowledge to the modernization of Japan.
The building was built between 1881 and 1883. I have not been able to update it, but as information at its time (1881) it had a cost of ¥140,000.
The Rokumeikan served to host foreign diplomats, as well as to hold celebrations and dances attended by the Japanese upper class, who were in turn educated in Western customs and good manners.
The building was damaged in the 1894 Tokyo earthquake, in 1897 Conder was called in by the Kazoku Kaikan (Peers Club) to repair the building and make additional modifications, changing the name of Rokumeikan and becoming known as Kazoku Kaikan.
Slope
In 1890, the Tokyo Imperial Hotel opened near the Rokumeikan (Inoue also participated in this project).
The opening of the hotel eliminated the need for the Rokumeikan as a residence for foreign visitors. The banquets and dances continued, and the native reaction did not stop the construction of other Western-style buildings in Tokyo, but with the progressive Westernization of Japan, a growing sense of cultural nationalism, and the eventual elimination of unequal treaties, the Rokumeikan gradually lost importance.
It was partially demolished in 1935 and completely in 1941.
The Meiji Era
It was the era of Japan that occurred after the resignation of the last Tokugawa Shögun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu (Keiki Koishikawa Edo 1837 – 1913), and the restoration of imperial power in 1868, it was characterized as the period of modernization and Westernization of Japan. . After the transfer of the capital from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo, the new Meiji government began to establish the foundations of the nation’s modernization.
Inoue Kaoru, Foreign Minister of Japan (1879-1887)
The construction of a large number of buildings in “Western style” responded to various needs, where carrying out activities that were not common, such as universities or museums, wanted to give the impression of a Japan with an authority capable of directly governing the world. country, unlike its predecessors Tokugawa Shogunate.
This need to have Power and provide Stability would ensure the possibility of integrating among developed nations, accompanying this change, they also wanted to show changes in architecture. They considered that the architectural styles of the past were hardly appropriate for this. Most of the styles that the public recognized were associated with the culture of the Tokugawa Era, styles that, in the eyes of the Meiji government, lacked the monumentality necessary in the new era. The Western architectural style, clearly different from that of the Edo culture, presented a modern image, showing a government of progress, the Western style buildings were imposing, a rare quality in the architecture of the Edo Period, this imposing modernity was characterized by buildings monumental stone or brick.
The Edo Period (called «the era of uninterrupted peace»), was a division of Japanese history, extending from March 24, 1603 to May 3, 1868, the year in which the government was restored. imperial.
Ukiyo-e illustration of the Rokumeikan dance hall («Kiken butō no ryakuzu» by Toyohara Chikanobu)
Seduced by the ideas of John Stuart Mill, Inoue insisted that to have the same equality as Westerners, the Japanese must also adopt their ways and this insistence was his door to decadence, failing miserably. The fall of Inoue Kaoru was linked to the decline in the importance of the Rokumeikan, although its political failure was not the only cause, as it had significant defects such as broken pillars and several cracks that threatened the safety and integrity of the building.
The building was partially demolished in 1935, and in 1941 it was completely destroyed. This was an event that disturbed architects Taniguchi Yoshiro and Moto Tsuchikawa, who recognized the danger of these structures’ potential oblivion, eventually leading them to create the Meiji Mura for the conservation of Meiji-era buildings.
Architect Josiah Conder
Josiah Conder was the architect and author of the Rokumeikan (1852 – 1920) he studied at the South Kengsington School of Art and the University of London
For two years he worked in the studio of the architect William Burges (1827 – 1881), a designer of the Victorian era who, according to the historian and writer Olive Edith Checkland (1920 – 2004) “brought the neo-Gothic to the brink of eccentricity”, not We know if it was really a compliment.
He received the Soane Medal from the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) and was hired in 1877 by the Japanese government as a teacher of architecture at the Imperial College of Engineering founded 4 years earlier.
The goal was to modernize Japanese architecture. He completed several buildings, including completing the Imperial Museum in Ueno Park in 1881. That same year he was commissioned to design the Rokumeikan, a state-owned guesthouse and club, on adjacent land where the Imperial Hotel would later be built in 1883.
Conder also designed the first modern office building in Japan: a three-level brick building for Mitsubishi, followed by others that ended up forming a complex known as the London Block.
Taniguchi Yoshirō
In 1961, about 20 years after the demolition of the Rokumeikan, he proposed the idea of creating a commission to preserve Meiji-era buildings.
The idea was supported by the architect. Yoshirō Taniguchi (1904–79), and Motoo Tsuchikawa (1903–74) the vice president and later president and general manager of Meitetsu, the Nagoya Railway Company.
On July 16, 1962 they formed a foundation for this purpose, and the Nagoya Railway provided the funding. Meiji-mura was opened on March 18, 1965 on the shores of Lake Iruka Reservoir, operated under the Nagoya Railway with Taniguchi as museum director.
When they learned that a prominent building from the Meiji era would be demolished, members of the Meiji Mura Construction Committee, experts in Architectural History, went to the site to rescue it.
They managed to save 15 buildings, which were from Hokkaidō, in the north, to Kyoto, in the south, and moved them, with the aim of rebuilding them, to a 50-hectare plot of land, owned by Meitetsu, on the shores of Lake Iruka.
After making the pertinent modifications to the landscape to adapt it to the different constructions, the Meiji Mura Museum was inaugurated.
In 1975 they expanded the land by another 50 hectares, exceeding 40 buildings. Many buildings that survived earthquakes and wars could not avoid being demolished in the midst of the rapid economic development that Japan experienced between 1980 and 1990, to expand roads.
Many were preserved, the Meiji Mura houses 64 buildings of different types: religious, government, residential from foreign settlements, commercial, educational, a lighthouse… In addition, the properties are not limited to the national territory, but also include buildings that were in countries where Japanese had emigrated, such as the United States (Hawaii and Seattle) and Brazil.
About 1,000 cherry blossoms bloom in the village in spring (Shimbashi Factory of the Japan Railway Bureau)
Of them, 11 were declared Intangible Cultural Assets of Importance after their relocation to the museum. On the other hand, in 1968, the year in which the centenary of the beginning of the Meiji era was commemorated, they received more than 1.5 million visitors, another example of the boom that the event unleashed.
Meiji-era buildings are spread across the 100 hectares of this picturesque area of hills on the banks of Iruka Pond, in the city of Inuyama (Aichi).
The interior that Wright designed contains bricks and terracotta from Tokoname (Aichi) and stone from Ōya (Tochigi) showing a different appearance depending on the season, climate and time.
Other structures preserved at Meiji Mura include Lafcadio Hearn’s summer house of Shizuoka (1868), the former St. Francis Xavier Catholic Cathedral of Kyoto (1890).
The old cathedral is rented for weddings.
“Kikunoyo” Brewery
Barracks, Sixth Infantry Regiment
Kitasato Institute
Chihaya-Akasaka Primary School Auditorium
Mie Prefectural Normal School
Mie Prefectural Office
Reception Hall of the House of Marquis Tsugumichi Saigo
Church of Saint John of Kyoto
Tokyo Imperial Palace Cabinet Library
Kureha-za Theatre, built in 1868
Japan Red Cross Central Hospital, built in 1890
Tōmatsu House of Funairi-chō, Nagoya, built in 1901
One of Nagoya’s surviving traditional merchant houses is the Tōmatsu House (Tōmatsu-ka jūtaku), which was built in 1901 in Funairi-chō, Nagoya. It survived the bombing of Nagoya in World War II and was moved to the museum in the 1970s. It is protected as a Cultural Property.
“Zagyo-so”, Prince Kimmochi Saionji Village
Preserved Kyoto tram
Meiji Era House
In this house from 1887, from the Meiji Era, built in Sendagi, (Tokyo district of Bunkyō), the writers Mori Ōgai (author of “The Messenger”) and Natsume Sōseki (author of “The Cat”) lived in different periods.
The former Mie Government building, originally built in 1879 in Tsu
The Higashi-Yamanashi City Hall building, built in 1885 in the city of Yamanashi
The former Mie Government and Higashi-Yamanashi City Hall buildings.
Although colonial in style (from Southeast Asia), they maintain Western lines. Its front balcony prevents the sun’s rays from hitting the interior directly.
Buildings built of wood, their corners were plastered to look like real stone.
Residence of Saigō Tsugumichi
It was one of Saigò’s former residences, in Meguro, Tokyo. Saigō Tsugumichi (1843 – 1902) was a Japanese politician and admiral in the Meiji Era.
It is characterized by its semicircular balcony, influenced by Louisiana (at that time a French colony in America), the materials of the windows and the fireplace contain metal, imported from Paris, a French engineer participated in the project. It was elected Cultural Heritage of Japan.
The residence of Saigō Tsugumichi, originally built in 1880
Although there was a widespread attraction to Western architecture during the Meiji era, this era can also be considered the zenith of Japanese woodworking and traditional architecture.
The Tōmatsu, were a family of merchants from Nagoya, the house has an open roof forming a double height.
The first floor houses a gallery comparable to a typical tea house garden, as well as a room for the tea ceremony, Nagoya is the city of tea.
It makes good use of natural lighting and ventilation, as well as a good security system.
The Tōmatsu family residence, originally built in Nagoya, acquired its current appearance in 1901 after several expansion works.
Exhibitions
Furniture and historical documents are exhibited, some of its 30,000 pieces are exhibited inside the buildings.
There is furniture from the Rokumeikan, Meiji Palace, and the former Tōgū Palace (now Akasaka Palace; that is, the State Guest House).
As well as furniture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Takeda Goichi, and Endō Arata. among other objects.
Balloon back chair, fashionable in 19th century England, lacquered with cherry blossoms according to a Japanese decoration technique.
It is displayed in the residence of Saigō Tsugumichi.
The “Peacock” chair was designed specifically for the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo in 1921, and is on display in the lobby of the main entrance of the Hotel.
Shinbashi Railway Factory
Ring spinning machine from the English firm Pratt, to apply twist to the fibers using a rotating coil
At the Shinbashi Railway Factory, built at the dawn of the Japanese railway industry, various types of machinery, the basis of Japan’s modernization, are exhibited.
Three machines declared Important Cultural Assets and a Brunat engine used in the Tomioka Silk Factory, World Cultural Heritage since 2014, stand out.
Large harmonium, from the 1890s, made in the USA
In 2018 it was restored and they usually play it when there are events.
English Sharp Stewart steam locomotive that made the journey between Shinbashi and Yokohama (34 km) at the dawn of the Japanese railway industry, there is also the first tram in Japan, which circulated through Kyoto.
Another Museum to visit in Tokyo
The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architecture Museum (Edo Tōkyō Tatemono).
It is the «Edo Tokyo Building Garden» in Koganei Park, Tokyo, a museum of historical Japanese buildings.
Imperial Palace Main Gate Ishibashi Ornamental Lamp
The park includes many buildings, from the Japanese experience of the middle classes to the homes of rich and powerful people, such as former Prime Minister Takahashi Korekiyo.
The park’s Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architecture Museum, which opened in March 1993, features characteristic buildings from different historical periods and some that were built by famous Japanese architects. The buildings were moved from their original locations and arranged on the museum site to mimic a village setting.
One of six ornamental lamps installed on the parapet of the Ishibashi main gate of the Imperial Palace (on the front of the Nijūbashi Bridge). Made around 1886 (Meiji 20). Due to aging, a lamp of the same shape was made and replaced in 1986. Another is displayed in the Meiji-Mura museum.
Takei Sanshōdō and Hanaichi Florist
Ueno Fire Station
Ueno Fire Station (former Shimotani Fire Station). At its top is the fire watch tower used from 1925 to 1970.
Kunio Maekawa Residence
Tokiwadai Photo Studio
Former Jishōin Mausoleum
Around the Plaza de la Zona Este (April 2009)
Ms. Nekano Yuko is Curator of Meiji Mura. (2)
Photos
Many of the photographs are from the Meiji Mura Museum, others from Getty Images, and others from me.
Notes
1
Invited to Berlin in order to hold a major exhibition on his work, after a fruitful period of professional activity in the Prairie Style with around 140 works produced between 1893/1909, Frank Lloyd Wright decided in 1910, after a personal crisis that leads him to move away from his wife and six children and in search of new horizons, to voluntarily go into exile for a year in Europe, accompanied by Mamah Borthwick, the wife of his client Edwin Cheney, with whom he would rent a villa on the outskirts of Florence to prepare the drawings and attend the publication of his monograph that would make him the most renowned architect and pioneer of modern North American architecture.
The illustrations, published in the Wasmuth Portfolio, a luxurious publication about his work made in two volumes, made up of 100 lithographic plates in 64 x 41 cm format. «Ausgefuhrte Bauten Entwurfe und von Frank Lloyd Wright» made in Berlin in 1910, by the art book editor Ernst Wasmuth, who five years earlier had edited the works of Viennese Modernism by Joseph María Olbrich, undoubtedly constitutes one of the most transcendent legacies of 20th century architecture. (RA PULOPULO Fadu UBA blog)
2
Nekano Yuko holds a law degree from Keio University in Tokyo, and a master’s degree in international relations and economics, with a concentration in strategic studies, from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
In the summer of 1999, he worked at an NGO in Macedonia and Kosovo, where he was responsible for peacebuilding projects.
In 2021, it carries out a cross-sectional study on the architectural, physical, chemical and educational history aspects of the scientific experiment center moved to Meiji Mura, preparing an exhibition.
Yuko Nakano is a Japan Chair Fellow and associate director of the US-Japan Strategic Leadership Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Prior to joining CSIS, she was an associate associate producer in the Washington, DC office of NHK Japan Broadcasting Corporation.
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Un interés permanente en mis viajes es la búsqueda de obras relevantes de arquitectura.
Es un buen recurso, porque como muchas estan dispersas, es una excelente excusa para recorrer y visitar lugares fuera “de programa”.
A veces la búsqueda la vuelco en “libros de viaje”, como cuando fui a ver las obras de Palladio a Vicenza, elaboré un libro de 68 páginas (que luego encuaderne con cubiertas y anillas), lo escribo en una cara, la impar, y dejo la otra, la par, en blanco para apuntar notas. Habia sacado informacion de los 4 libros de la arquitectura de Palladio, que editó en 1570, donde explcaba sus obras, en realidad como él las imaginó, y luego, al visitarlas, podia revisar las diferencias, en muchos casos, importantes.
En el caso de Japón fueron más de 70 páginas. Esa preparación, me ayuda mucho a ir entendiendo lugares y zonas, son parte importante del placer de viajar, apunto lo que leo y lo que deseo ver, además de direcciones, horarios, y otros datos.
Muchas obras ya las había visitado (este fue mi tercer viaje a Japón), pero tenía interés en ver lo que llaman la Suite Frank Lloyd Wright, en el Hotel Imperial, que fue construido en el terreno donde Wright había construido la que fue la segunda y famosa sede del Hotel.
El “nuevo y lujoso” hotel, tiene dispersos, distintos objetos, una silla aquí, un vitreaux alli, la proyección de imágenes sobre columnas de cómo fueron aquellas demolidas.
Pasado este pastiche, me dirigi a la dirección del hotel y fui al tema:
– “Desearía ver la Suite Wright”.
La Sra. Yono Akimoto, directora de recepción, me explicó:
– “No está disponible, y solo se le permite pernoctar a “invitados especiales “al módico precio de 10.000 usa la noche”.
Supongo que será ese precio o cero, dependiendo del invitado que duerma en ella.
La amable Yono Akimoto, me atendió y yo viendo, la dificultad de que se me permitiera ver la planta 14 donde esta la Suite Wright reconstruida, le hice la siguiente propuesta:
– ¿Si le cuento algo de Wright que quizás no sepa, me lleva a verla?
-Me dijo…a ver, cuénteme (bien Hugo, ya avanzamos algo…)
Y comencé a contarle,
–Wright se había escapado en 1909 con la esposa de un cliente Edwin Cheney, llamada Mamah Bouton Borthwick y como su estancia en los EE. UU. por esa infidelidad era insostenible, se fueron a una villa en las afueras de Florencia en 1910 a preparar el “Portfolio Wasmuth” una lujosa publicación en 2 volúmenes realizada por el editor de libros de arte Ernst Wasmuth. (1)
Y continue, …como ejemplo, el editor del periódico de Spring Green, Wisconsin, condenó a Wright por traer un escándalo al pueblo, su viaje europeo fue calificado como una «hégira espiritual» (en árabe, es romper con los viejos lazos), llamó a Mamah y a Wright «almas gemelas» y también se refirió a Taliesin como el «castillo del amor» o el «bungalow del amor».
El escándalo afectó la carrera de Wright durante varios años; no recibió un encargo importante hasta, el Hotel Imperial, en 1916.
Yo fiel a mi interés, y “a piñón fijo” continue mi negociación:
– A su regreso, se instalaron en su casa en Taliesin en Wisconsin, (la presentó como la administradora de la casa, cosa que nadie creyó, y mientras Wright estaba en la obra de Midway Gardens en Chicago, Julian Carlton, un sirviente de Barbadosloco y asesino, prendió fuego a la casa y asesino con un hacha a 7 personas, entre ellas a Mamah y sus dos pequeños hijos John y Martha; y…
La señora, muy amable, me dijo, OK, vamos a ver la Suite Wright.
Me explicaron que el frente del Hotel de Wright y su Lobby estan en la ciudad de Meiji Mura.
El paseo que se puede hacer en Meiji Mura, es un paseo por la historia.
Conocido como Hakubutsukan Meij – Mura es decir «Museo de la Aldea Meiji», es un museo al aire libre centrado en el periodo Meiji (1868 – 1912), que permite conocer algunas obras del patrimonio arquitectónico del Japón moderno, con sorpresas increíbles como el frente y el Lobby del Hotel Imperial del Arq. Frank Lloyd Wright.
El periodo Meiji se caracterizó por una fuerte influencia occidental debida a la apertura del archipiélago Nipón al resto del mundo, fue la base de su modernización.
La arquitectura japonesa sufrió esa influencia de occidente, el pais dejaba su pasado Samurái y se adentraba (a su manera) en la era moderna. Los Samurái, o Bushi, eran una clase de guerreros de élite, expertos en el uso del arco y la espada. Surgieron en el siglo X y que prestaron servicio hasta el siglo XIX.
El museo se encuentra en la ciudad de Inuyama (Prefectura de Aichi), se puede llegar en tren o autobús o ambos, desde Nagoya o desde Kioto (a 139 km).
Los edificios de la era Meiji se encuentran repartidos por las 100 hectáreas que ocupa esta pintoresca zona de colinas a orillas del estanque Iruka, en la ciudad de Inuyama (Aichi)
En la estación de Nagoya, hay que tomar la línea Meitetsu Inuyama en dirección a la estación de Inuyama, se hace un trasbordo al autobús Gifu en dirección a Meiji Mura, el trayecto dura 1 hora.
El museo conserva edificios históricos de los períodos Meiji (1867- 1912), Taishó (1912 – 1926), y Shōwa temprano (1926-1945) de Japón.Gran parte de los edificios construidos durante el periodo Meiji fueron destruidos durante la guerra o demolidos para remodelar las ciudades.
Algunos edificios “referentes”, se han reubicado aquí desde Japón o del extranjero, como la central telefónica de Sapporo, el hotel Imperial de Tokio y la catedral de Francis Xavier de Kioto. Para atraer al turismo, muchos de los edificios se han reconvertido en tiendas o cafeterías, donde es posible probar platos tradicionales del periodo Meiji, como curri con arroz y croquetas de ternera.
Para facilitar la visita un tranvía y un tren de vapor recorren el lugar.
Hotel Imperial de Wright
La entrada principal del Hotel Imperial, edificio construido originalmente en 1923 en Hibiya (Tokio)
Fue inaugurado en el año 1890, fue una demanda de la aristocracia japonesa.
Estaba ubicado al sur de los jardines del Palacio Imperial, su clientela, era de un “alto perfil”, de gente que gustaba ver y verse, y sobre todo atendidos con un personal más que servicial. En la Era Meiji, se llamaba Kojimachi a ese barrio especial, actualmente se llama Chiyoda. Esta en el corazón de Tokio, ocupado por el Palacio Imperial, bordeando con Chùò, está la estación de Tokio, y bordeando con Minato el Parque Hubiya, es una zona ocupada por oficinas administrativas y agencias, El resto (especialmente el oeste y noroeste tiene zonas residenciales de clases alta, junto al Santuario Yasukuni. Un santuario problemático y conflictivo ya que para China, Corea del Norte y Corea del Sur, asi como otros paises víctimas de la agresión militar japonesa, es un símbolo del militarismo japones durante la segunda guerra mundial y del nacionalismo japones proto-fascista.
Sus habitaciones estaban situadas en el edificio principal o en la torre con vistas a las 16 hectáreas del parque Hibiya, el palacio y el barro de Ginza.
Muchos participaban de la tradicional ceremonia del té (llamado Chanoyu, “agua caliente para el té) o un cocktail en el Old Imperial Bar, de estilo Art Deco con murales y azulejos de terracota diseñadas por Wright en 1823.
La entrada principal del Hotel Imperial es la edificación más conocida de las muchas que alberga Meiji Mura. Las obras de construcción de dicho hotel, diseñado por el arquitecto Frank Lloyd Wright —que en Japón es sinónimo de ser una figura representativa de la arquitectura del siglo XX—, concluyeron el 1 de septiembre de 1923.
Una hora antes del comienzo de la fiesta para conmemorar la conclusión del proyecto, ocurrió el Gran Terremoto de Kantō, el edificio apenas sufrió daños y dio cobijo a muchísimos damnificados por la catástrofe.
En los años venideros recibiría multitud de elogios, tanto en Japón como en el extranjero, por su condición de hotel de referencia para los huéspedes de Estado, así como por ser una obra maestra de la arquitectura de Wright.
Sin embargo, en la segunda mitad de la década de 1960, el Hotel Imperial ya no podía atender a su creciente clientela y el edificio comenzaba a deteriorarse; consecuentemente, la administración del establecimiento decidió demolerlo y construir uno nuevo, a pesar de las numerosas voces que se posicionaron a favor de conservarlo.
No obstante, todo cambió en 1967 gracias a la rápida respuesta del primer ministro Satō Eisaku, que acababa de regresar a Japón tras una cumbre con el presidente de Estados Unidos. Durante su comparecencia ante la prensa, un periodista de ese país le preguntó qué iba a pasar con el Hotel Imperial. “Se trasladará a Meiji Mura para su reconstrucción allí”, sentenció el mandatario nipón. Aunque solo se conservó la entrada principal del hotel, la respuesta inmediata de Satō hizo posible que las generaciones posteriores heredaran un patrimonio arquitectónico de inmenso valor.
La entrada y el vestíbulo del Hotel Imperial se salvaron y se trasladaron desde Tokio entre 1967 y 1985.
Inauguración de Meiji Mura
Inaugurado en marzo de 1965, sus orígenes se remontan a 1940 cuando el arquitecto Taniguchi Yoshirō (1904 – 1979), que luego fue su primer director del museo, fue testigo de la demolición, (debido a su mal estado) del edificio Rokumeikan, símbolo del florecimiento de toda una civilización, Deseando que se pudiera conservar construcciones de la época, se propuso trasladar las edificaciones de la era Meiji (1868-1912), cuyo destino era ser demolidas, y abrirlas al público con el objetivo de que las generaciones futuras pudieran disfrutar de lo que él consideraba un regalo. Es un proyecto para rescatar edificios históricos
El edificio Rokumeikan
El Rokumeikan, construido en Uchisaiwaichō 1, Chiyoda-ku, Tokio, era conocido como «Deer-cry Hall» o “Deer Cry Pavilion”, fue inaugurado en 1883 y diseñado por el reconocido arquitecto británico Josiah Conder, e impulsado por el ministro de Exteriores japonés Inoue Kaoru.
Conder estaba ubicado dentro de los “Oyatoi”, extranjeros contratados por el gobierno para contribuir con sus conocimientos a la modernización del Japón.
El edificio fue construido entre 1881 y 1883. No lo he podido actualizar, pero como dato en su época (1881) tuvo un costo de 140.000 ¥.
El Rokumeikan sirvió para acoger diplomáticos extranjeros, así como para realizar celebraciones y bailes donde asistía la clase alta japonesa, instruida a su vez en las costumbres y buenos modales occidentales.
El edificio se dañó en el terremoto de 1894 de Tokio, en 1897 Conder fue llamado por la Kazoku Kaikan (Peers Club) para reparar el edificio y realizar modificaciones adicionales, cambiando el nombre de Rokumeikan y pasando a ser conocido como Kazoku Kaikan.
Declive
En 1890, el Hotel Imperial de Tokio abrió cerca del Rokumeikan (Inoue participa tambien en este proyecto).
La apertura del hotel eliminó la necesidad del Rokumeikan como residencia para los visitantes extranjeros. Los banquetes y bailes continuaron, y la reacción de los nativos no frenó la construcción de otros edificios de estilo occidental en Tokio, pero con la progresiva occidentalización del Japón, un creciente sentimiento de nacionalismo cultural, y la eventual eliminación de los tratados desiguales, el Rokumeikan fue perdiendo importancia paulatinamente.
Fue demolido parcialmente en 1935 y completamente en 1941.
La Era Meiji
Fue la época del Japón que se dio tras la renuncia del último Shögun Tokugawa, Tokugawa Yoshinobu (Keiki Koishikawa Edo 1837 – 1913), y la restauración del poder imperial en 1868, se caracterizó por ser el periodo de la modernización y la occidentalización del Japón. Tras el traslado de la capital de Kioto a Edo, a la que se la rebautiza como Tokio, el nuevo gobierno Meiji comenzó a establecer las bases de la modernización de la nación.
Inoue Kaoru, ministro de Exteriores del Japón (1879-1887)
La construcción de gran cantidad de edificios en “estilo Occidental”, respondía a diversas necesidades, donde llevar a cabo actividades que no eran habituales, como universidades o museos, deseaban dar la impresión de un Japón con una autoridad capaz de gobernar en forma directa el pais, a diferencia de sus antecesor Shogunato Tokugawa.
Esta necesidad de tener Poder y dar Estabilidad, aseguraría la posibilidad de integrarse entre las naciones desarrolladas, acompañando a ese cambio, deseaban también mostrar cambios en la arquitectura. Consideraban que los estilos arquitectónicos del pasado eran poco apropiados para ello. La mayoría de los estilos que el público reconocía eran asociados con la cultura de la Era Tokugawa, estilos que, a ojos del gobierno Meiji, carecían de la monumentalidad necesaria en la nueva era. El estilo occidental arquitectónico, claramente diferente al de la cultura Edo, presentaba una imagen moderna, mostrando un gobierno de progreso, los edificios de estilo occidental eran imponentes, una cualidad poco común en la arquitectura del Período Edo, esta imponente modernidad se caracterizaba por construcciones monumentales de piedra o ladrillo.
El Período Edo (llamado “la era el de la paz ininterrumpida”), era una división de la historia de Japón, que se extiende desde el 24 de marzo de 1603 hasta el 3 de mayo de 1868, año en que se restauró el gobierno imperial.
Ilustración ukiyo-e de la sala de bailes del Rokumeikan («Kiken butō no ryakuzu» de Toyohara Chikanobu)
Seducido por las ideas de John Stuart Mill, Inoue insistió en que para tener la misma igualdad que los occidentales, los japoneses debían adoptar también sus maneras y esta insistencia fue su puerta a la decadencia, fracasando estrepitosamente. La caída de Inoue Kaoru fue ligada a la disminución de la importancia del Rokumeikan, aunque el fracaso político de este no fue la única causa, ya que tenía importantes desperfectos como pilares rotos y varias grietas que amenazaban la seguridad y la integridad del edificio.
El edificio fue parcialmente demolido en 1935, y en 1941 se destruyó totalmente. Este fue un acontecimiento que perturbó a los arquitectos Taniguchi Yoshiro y Moto Tsuchikawa, quienes reconocieron el peligro del potencial olvido de estas estructuras, lo que finalmente les llevó a crear el Meiji Mura para la conservación de edificios de la época Meiji.
Arquitecto Josiah Conder
Josiah Conder fue el arquitecto y autor del Rokumeikan (1852 – 1920) estudió en la Escuela de Arte de South Kengsington y en la Universidad de Londres
Durante dos años trabajó en el estudio del arq William Burges (1827 – 1881) diseñador de la era victoriana que, al decir de la historiadora y escritora Olive Edith Checkland (1920 – 2004) “llevó el neogótico al borde de la excentricidad”, no sabemos si era realmente un halago.
Recibe la medalla Soane del RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) y es contratado en 1877 por el gobierno japonés como maestro de arquitectura en el Colegio Imperial de ingeniería fundado 4 años antes.
El objetivo era modernizar la arquitectura japonesa. Realizó varios edificios, entre ellos completar el Museo Imperial en el Parque Ueno en 1881, Ese mismo año recibió el encargo de diseñar el Rokumeikan, una casa de huéspedes y club propiedad del estado, en un terreno adyacente donde luego se construiría el Hotel Imperial en 1883.
Conder también diseño el primer edificio de oficinas moderno en Japón: un edificio de ladrillo de tres niveles para Mitsubishi, al que siguieron otros que terminaron formando un conjunto conocido como la manzana de Londres.
Taniguchi Yoshirō
En 1961, unos 20 años después de la demolición del Rokumeikan, propuso la idea de crear una comisión que preservara los edificios de la era Meiji.
La ide fue apoyada por iniciado por el arq. Yoshirō Taniguchi (1904–79), y Motoo Tsuchikawa (1903–74) el vicepresidente y luego presidente y director general de Meitetsu, la Compañía de Ferrocarriles de Nagoya.
El 16 de julio de 1962 formaron una fundación para este propósito, y el Ferrocarril de Nagoya proporcionó la financiación. Meiji-mura fue inaugurado el 18 de marzo de 1965 a orillas del embalse del lago Iruka, operado bajo el ferrocarril de Nagoya con Taniguchi como director del museo.
Cuando se enteraban de que se derribaría algún edificio destacado de la era Meiji, los integrantes del Comité de Construcción de Meiji Mura, expertos en Historia de la Arquitectura, acudían al lugar para rescatarlo.
Lograron salvar 15 edificios, que estaban desde Hokkaidō, al norte, hasta Kioto, al sur, y los trasladaron, con el objetivo de reconstruirlos, a un terreno de 50 hectáreas, propiedad de Meitetsu, a orillas del lago Iruka, en la ciudad de Inuyama (Aichi).
Tras realizar las modificaciones pertinentes en el paisaje para que se adecuara a las distintas construcciones, quedó inaugurado el Museo Meiji Mura,
En 1975 ampliaron el terreno otras 50 hectáreas superaron las 40 construcciones. Muchos edificios que superaron terremotos y guerras no podían evitar ser demolidos en plena fiebre del desarrollo económico acelerado que vivió Japón entre 1980 y 1990, para ampliar carreteras.
Muchos fueron preservados, el Meiji Mura alberga 64 edificios de distintos tipos: religiosos, gubernamentales, residenciales de los asentamientos extranjeros, comerciales, educativos, un faro… Además, las propiedades no se limitan al territorio nacional, sino que abarcan también construcciones que se encontraban en países adonde habían emigrado japoneses, como Estados Unidos (Hawái y Seattle) y Brasil. De ellas, 11 fueron declaradas Bien Cultural Intangible de Importancia tras su reubicación en el museo. Por otra parte, en 1968, año en el que se conmemoró el centenario del comienzo de la era Meiji, recibieron a más de 1,5 millones de visitantes, una muestra más del boom que desató la efeméride.
Aproximadamente 1000 flores de cerezo florecen en el pueblo en primavera (Fábrica Shimbashi de la Oficina de Ferrocarriles de Japón)
Los edificios de la era Meiji se encuentran repartidos por las 100 hectáreas que ocupa esta pintoresca zona de colinas a orillas del estanque Iruka, en la ciudad de Inuyama (Aichi).
El interior que diseñó Wright contiene ladrillos y terracota de Tokoname (Aichi) y piedra de Ōya (Tochigi) mostrando un aspecto distinto en función de la estación, el clima y la hora.
Otras estructuras conservadas en Meiji Mura incluyen la casa de verano de Lafcadio Hearn de Shizuoka (1868), la antigua Catedral Católica San Francisco Javier de Kioto (1890).
La antigua catedral se alquila para celebrar bodas.
Cervecería «Kikunoyo»
Cuartel, Sexto Regimiento de Infantería
Instituto Kitasato
Auditorio de la escuela primaria Chihaya-Akasaka
Escuela Normal de la Prefectura de Mie
Oficina de la Prefectura de Mie
Salón de Recepciones de la Casa del Marqués Tsugumichi Saigo
Iglesia de San Juan de Kioto
La Iglesia de San Juan de Kioto (1907) fue diseñada por James McDonald Gardiner.
Catedral de San Francisco Javier
Biblioteca del Gabinete del Palacio Imperial de Tokio
Teatro Kureha-za, construido en 1868
Hospital Central de la Cruz Roja de Japón, construido en 1890
Casa Tōmatsu de Funairi-chō, Nagoya, construida en 1901
Una de las casas de comerciantes tradicionales que sobrevivió de Nagoya es la Casa Tōmatsu (Tōmatsu-ka jūtaku ), que fue construida en 1901 en Funairi-chō, Nagoya . Sobrevivió al bombardeo de Nagoya en la Segunda Guerra Mundial y fue trasladado al museo en la década de 1970. Está protegida como Bien Cultural.
«Zagyo-so», Villa del Príncipe Kimmochi Saionji
Tranvía de Kioto conservado
Casa de la Era Meiji
En esta casa de 1887, de la Era Meiji, construido en Sendagi, (distrito tokiota de Bunkyō), vivieron en distintos períodos los escritores Mori Ōgai (autor de “El mensajero”) y Natsume Sōseki (autor de “El Gato”).
Los antiguos edificios del Gobierno de Mie y del Ayuntamiento de Higashi-Yamanashi
El antiguo edificio del Gobierno de Mie, construido originalmente en 1879 en Tsu
El edificio del Ayuntamiento de Higashi-Yamanashi, construido en 1885 en la ciudad de Yamanashi
Aunque de estilo colonial (del Sudeste asiático), mantienen líneas occidentales. Su balcón delantero evita que los rayos solares den directamente en su interior. Edificios construidos en madera, sus esquinas se enlucieron para aparentar piedra auténtica.
Residencia de Saigō Tsugumichi
Fue una de las antiguas residencias de Saigò, en Meguro, Tokio. Saigō Tsugumichi (1843 – 1902) fue un político y almirante Japonés en la Era Meiji.
Se caracteriza por su balcón semicircular, influencia de Luisiana (en aquella época colonia francesa en América), los materiales de las ventanas y la chimenea contienen metal, importados de París, un ingeniero francés participó en el proyecto. Fue elegida Patrimonio Cultural de Japón.
La residencia de Saigō Tsugumichi, construida originalmente en 1880
Aunque durante la era Meiji hubo una atracción generalizada hacia la arquitectura occidental, esta época puede considerarse también como el cenit de la carpintería japonesa y su arquitectura tradicional.
Los Tōmatsu, era una familia de comerciantes de Nagoya, la casa tiene el techo abierto formando una doble altura. el primer piso alberga una galería comparable con un jardín típico de una casa de té, así como una estancia para la ceremonia del té, Nagoya es la ciudad del té.
Tiene un buen aprovechamiento de la iluminación y ventilación natural, además de un buen sistema de seguridad.
La residencia de la familia Tōmatsu, construida originalmente en Nagoya, adquirió su aspecto actual en 1901 tras varias obras de ampliación.
Exposiciones.
Se exhiben muebles y documentos históricos, algunos de sus 30.000 piezas se exhiben en el interior de las construcciones.
Hay mobiliario del Rokumeikan, el Palacio de Meiji y el antiguo Palacio Tōgū (en la actualidad, el Palacio de Akasaka; esto es, la Casa de Huéspedes del Estado), así como muebles diseñados por Frank Lloyd Wright, Takeda Goichi y Endō Arata, entre otros objetos.
Silla con respaldo de globo, de moda en la Inglaterra del siglo XIX, lacada con flores de cerezo según una técnica japonesa de decoración; está expuesta en la residencia de Saigō Tsugumichi.
La silla “Peacock” o pavo real, fue diseñada específicamente para el Hotel Imperial de Tokio en el año 1921, está expuesta en el vestíbulo de la entrada principal del Hotel
Fábrica de Ferrocarriles de Shinbashi
Hiladora a anillos de la firma inglesa Pratt, para aplicar torsión a las fibras mediante una bobina giratoria
En la Fábrica de Ferrocarriles de Shinbashi, construida en los albores de la industria ferroviaria japonesa, se exhiben varios tipos de maquinaria, base de la modernización de Japón.
Destacan tres máquinas declaradas Bien Cultural de Importancia y un motor Brunat empleado en la Fábrica de Seda de Tomioka, Patrimonio Cultural de la Humanidad desde 2014.
Armonio de gran tamaño, de la década de 1890, fabricado en los EEUU
En 2018 se restauró y suelen tocarlo cundo hay eventos.
Locomotora a vapor inglesa Sharp Stewart que hacía el trayecto entre Shinbashi y Yokohama (34 km) en los albores de la industria ferroviaria japonesa, tambien está el primer tranvía de Japón, que circulaba por Kioto.
Otro Museo para visitar en Tokio
El Museo de Arquitectura al Aire Libre Edo-Tokyo (Edo Tōkyō Tatemono).
Es el «Jardín de Edificios Edo Tokyo» en el Parque Koganei, Tokio un museo de edificios históricos japoneses .
Imperial Palace Main Gate Ishibashi Ornamental Lamp
El parque incluye muchos edificios, desde la experiencia japonesa de las clases medias hasta las casas de personas ricas y poderosas, como el ex primer ministro Takahashi Korekiyo.
El Museo de Arquitectura al Aire Libre Edo-Tokio del parque, que abrió sus puertas en marzo de 1993, cuenta con edificios característicos de diferentes períodos históricos y algunos que fueron construidos por famosos arquitectos japoneses. Los edificios se trasladaron de sus ubicaciones originales y se organizaron en el sitio del museo para imitar la configuración de un pueblo.
Una de las seis lámparas ornamentales instaladas en el parapeto de la puerta principal Ishibashi del Palacio Imperial (en la parte frontal del puente Nijūbashi ). Fabricado alrededor de 1886 (Meiji 20). Debido al envejecimiento, se fabricó y reemplazó una lámpara de la misma forma en 1986. Otra se exhibe en el museo Meiji-Mura .
Floristería Takei Sanshōdō y Hanaichi
Estación de Bomberos de Ueno
Estación de bomberos de Ueno (antigua estación de bomberos de Shimotani).
En su parte superior está la torre de vigilancia contra incendios utilizada desde 1925 hasta 1970.
Residencia de Kunio Maekawa
Estudio fotográfico Tokiwadai
Antiguo mausoleo de Jishōin
Alrededor de la Plaza de la Zona Este (abril de 2009)
La Sra. Nekano Yuko es Curadora de Meiji Mura. (2)
Fotos
Muchas de las fotografías son del Museo Meiji Mura, otras del Getty Images y otras mías.
Notas
1
Invitado a Berlín con el fin de realizar una gran exposición sobre su obra, tras un fructífero periodo de actividad profesional en el Prairie Style con alrededor de 140 obras producidas entre 1893/1909, Frank Lloyd Wright decide en 1910, luego de una crisis personal que lo lleva a alejarse de su mujer y seis hijos y en búsqueda de nuevos horizontes, a exiliarse voluntariamente durante un año en Europa, acompañado de Mamah Borthwick, la mujer de su cliente Edwin Cheney, con quien alquilaría una villa en las afueras de Florencia para preparar los dibujos y asistir a la publicación de su monografía que lo convertiría en el arquitecto de mayor renombre y pionero de la arquitectura moderna norteamericana.
Las ilustraciones, publicadas en el Portfolio Wasmuth, una lujosa publicación sobre su obra realizada en dos volúmenes, conformada por 100 láminas litográficas en formato 64 x 41 cm. «Ausgefuhrte Bauten Entwurfe und von Frank Lloyd Wright» realizada en Berlín en 1910, por el editor de libros de arte Ernst Wasmuth, quien cinco años antes había editado las obras del Modernismo Vienés de Joseph María Olbrich, constituye indudablemente uno de los más trascendentes legados de la arquitectura del siglo XX. (blog RA PULOPULO Fadu UBA)
2
Nekano Yuko tiene una licenciatura en derecho de la Universidad de Keio en Tokio, y una maestría en relaciones y economía internacionales, con especialización en estudios estratégicos, de la Escuela de Estudios Internacionales Avanzados Johns Hopkins (SAIS).
En el verano de 1999, trabajo en una ONG en Macedonia y Kosovo, donde fue responsable de proyectos de consolidación de la paz.
En 2021 lleva a cabo un estudio transversal sobre los aspectos arquitectónicos, físicos, químicos y de la historia de la educación del centro de experimentos científicos trasladado a Meiji Mura preparando una exhibición.
Yuko Nakano es miembro de la Cátedra de Japón y director asociado del Programa de Liderazgo Estratégico Estados Unidos-Japón en el Centro de Estudios Estratégicos e Internacionales (CSIS). Antes de unirse a CSIS, fue productora asociada adjunta en la oficina de NHK Japan Broadcasting Corporation en Washington, DC.
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Childe Hassam. Dorchester 1859 – 1935 East Hampton.
«La Quinta Avenida en Washington Square», Nueva York 1891
Óleo sobre lienzo. 56 x 40,6 cm. Colección Carmen Thyssen
Textos de Kenneth W. Maddox, Ohio 1936 – 2018. Obtuvo su doctorado en Historia del Arte en la Universidad de Columbia en 1999, su interés estuvo en los trabajos de los artistas de la Escuela del Río Hudson, fue un experto en la obra de Jasper F. Cropsey. Desempeñó funciones docentes adjuntas en CUNY, así como en NYU, y en la Fundación Newington Cropsey en Hastings, Nueva York,
Hassam
Frederick Childe Hassam, hijo de un comerciante de Boston, estudió en la Mather School de Dorchester, donde recibió formación en dibujo y acuarela, tuvo como maestro a George E. Johnson, un grabador de Boston, pero en 1879 se convirtió en un ilustrador que trabajaba por libre y proporcionaba dibujos a periódicos tales como Harper’s Century y Scribner’s. Durante esta época estudió también en el Boston Art Club en el Lowell Institute, donde tuvo como maestro a William Rimmer. Recibió clases particulares de Ignaz M. Gaugengigl. En 1883, Hassam realizó el primero de los que con el tiempo se convertirían en cinco viajes a Europa. El pintor Edmund H. Garrett le acompañó en su periplo por Escocia, Inglaterra, Francia, Países Bajos, Suiza, Italia y España. Al volver recibió clases en el Boston Art Club y se convirtió en miembro del Boston Paint and Clay Club, una organización que reunió a artistas y críticos. Hacia el año 1885 comenzó a pintar vistas diurnas y nocturnas de la atmósfera de la ciudad de Boston con sus calles envueltas por la niebla, la lluvia o cubiertas por la nieve. Cuando Hassam volvió a Europa en 1886, pasó la mayor parte de su tiempo en París. Asistió a clases en la Académie Julian, en la que tuvo como maestros a Gustave Boulanger y Jules-Joseph Lefebvre. Expuso El otoño y Sol y flores en el Salón de París del año 1889, así como cuatro pinturas en la Exposition Universelle, en la que recibió una medalla de bronce. En 1890, Hassam conoció y se hizo amigo de John Twachtman y de J. Alden Weir. Expuso en la muestra final de la Society of Painters in Pastels, formó parte del Players Club y se convirtió en miembro de la Society of American Artists y de la American Watercolor Society. Volvió a Appledore, islas Shoals, pequeña isla cercana a la costa de New Hampshire, lugar que conocía desde su juventud, y continuaría pintando durante los siguientes quince años. En Appledore la actividad literaria y artística se centraba en torno al salón de la poetisa Celia Thaxter, la primera discípula de Hassam, quien ilustró su libro An Island Garden, publicado en 1894.
En 1895, Hassam visitó La Habana, Cuba, y en 1896-1897 viajó de nuevo a Europa, donde pasó un año en Francia, Inglaterra e Italia. Tras dimitir del puesto que ocupaba en la Society of American Artists en 1898, Hassam entró a formar parte del Grupo de los Ten American Painters. Hassam publicó Three Cities en 1899, un libro ilustrado con las vistas que el pintor había ejecutado de París, Nueva York y Londres. En 1902 fue elegido miembro asociado de la National Academy of Design y en 1906 se convirtió en académico. En 1915 Hassam empezó a interesarse en el grabado al aguafuerte y a lo largo del año 1917 empezó a ejecutar litografías. Entre los años 1916 y 1919 pintó sus conocidas Pinturas de banderas, una serie de unas treinta vistas de la Quinta Avenida decorada con estandartes, empavesados y banderas colocadas para conmemorar varias celebraciones patrióticas. Estos cuadros se expusieron por vez primera en las Galeries Durand-Ruel en 1918. Hassam se trasladó a East Hampton, Long Island, NY, en 1919, lugar que convirtió en su residencia permanente durante el verano. Fue elegido miembro de la American Academy of Arts and Letters en 1920.
En la foto de Barack Obama en el Despacho Oval, aparece al fondo el cuadro de Frederick Childe Hassam “The Avenue in the Rain”, que representa banderas de Estados Unidos y sus reflejos en la lluvia. Es uno de los cuadros de la colección de arte de la Casa Blanca y Barack Obama lo situó en la Oficina Oval al comienzo de su presidencia. Pertenece a la serie llamada “Flag”, de treinta cuadros, que comenzó a pintar en 1916, inspirándose en el desfile por la Quinta Avenida de los voluntarios de Estados Unidos para la Primera Guerra Mundial.
textos de Kathleen Pyne
Cuando en 1889 Hassam regresa de París, se instala en el número 95 de la Quinta Avenida, a unos pasos de Washington Square, uno de los enclaves elegantes de la ciudad. Esta obra probablemente representa el edificio de piedra rojiza y tal vez la acera que pasaba por delante del estudio-vivienda del pintor. Eligió como lugar de residencia una parte de la Quinta Avenida que se parecía a los bulevares de París, con sus paseos de árboles. Cerca de aquel lugar, el Arco de Washington, diseñado por Stanford White, y que no tardaría en inaugurarse, recordaba el Arco de Triunfo de los Campos Elíseos. A principios de la década de 1890, Hassam pintó una serie de vistas de la Quinta Avenida bajo diferentes condiciones atmosféricas y pronto alcanzó popularidad con ellas. También ilustró un artículo sobre este tema escrito por Marianna G. Van Rensselaer que se publicó en The Century Magazine en 1893.
Durante sus dos estancias en Francia en la década de 1880, asimiló la técnica pictórica y el abrupto formato compositivo que sugería el ritmo de la vida urbana moderna utilizado por los pintores impresionistas y naturalistas franceses, que eran sus vecinos en Montmartre. Siguiendo la pauta de los artistas franceses, Hassam decía que su principal interés en estas escenas era captar “la humanidad en movimiento”. En “Quinta Avenida a la altura de Washington Square”, las pequeñas y borrosas figuras humanas y los coches de caballos que pasan por la calle se ven desde una perspectiva algo elevada, hecho que tal vez se explique porque en aquella época el artista había optado por pintar mirando por la ventanilla de un coche de punto. Lo que desde allí alcanzaba a ver probablemente le ayudaba a enmarcar la composición, en la que destaca su evidente geometría y orden interno, cuidadosamente equilibrado; la intersección de las diagonales que dibujan la calzada, la acera y los altos árboles enmarcan las figuras y, por contraste, subrayan sus pequeñas dimensiones y su movimiento. La orientación vertical del lienzo resalta la bóveda que forman las copas de los árboles, que da a los elegantes paseantes una sensación de protección. La amplitud del trazado lateral de la avenida y del paseo también recuerda los bulevares de París. Hassam envuelve la escena en una delicada y centelleante luz dorada, que complementan los fríos verdes y azules de las sombras. Gran parte de la delicadeza y el encanto de la obra procede de las breves y ligeras pinceladas que reflejan la afición del pintor a la técnica del pastel.
Aunque Hassam asimiló la composición y la luz del Impresionismo de Monet, su modo de armonizar los colores y de deleitarse con la “belleza en sí misma” está en deuda con el esteticismo de Whistler. Hassam, al que los críticos de su época ya consideraban como exponente de una síntesis entre dos corrientes distintas, presenta en sus vivos y alegres cuadros una forma altamente estetizada e híbrida de Impresionismo, que los americanos acogieron con entusiasmo en la década de 1890 y en las primeras décadas del siglo XX.
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Textos de Kathleen Pyne, Profesora Emérita de Historia del Arte, es Doctora de la Universidad de Michigan. Su interés es sobre los vínculos entre ciencia, misticismo y arte, que abordó en su primer libro “Art and the Higher Life: Painting and Evolutionary Thought in Late Nineteenth-Century America”, University of Texas Press, 1996. Su investigación sobre mujeres artistas en el modernismo estadounidense de principios del siglo XX culminó en su libro “Modernism and the Feminine Voice: O’Keeffe and the Women of the Stieglitz Circle”, Universidad de California Press, 2007. Su libro “Anne Brigman: The Photographer of Enchantment”, es la primera monografía importante sobre la vida y el arte de esta fotógrafa de principios del siglo XX, Yale University Press, 2020.
Las Notas con mis comentarios y referencia, las indico en cursiva.
Frederick Carl Frieseke (Owosso 1874 – 1939 Le Mesnil-sur-Blangy)
Malvarrosas. hacia 1912 – 1913
Óleo sobre lienzo. 80,7 x 80,7 cm. Colección Carmen Thyssen
Durante las dos primeras décadas del siglo XX, Frieseke se recluyó en “Le Hameau”, una casa vecina a la residencia de Monet en Giverny, y pintó imágenes de un mundo idílico. No le interesaban ni la vida urbana ni el arte moderno, y se jactaba de que muy raramente leía el periódico.
En cambio, Frieseke optó por perpetuar una visión impresionista de finales del siglo XIX, mucho después de que el propio Monet hubiera modificado notablemente sus objetivos y métodos.
El tema de la mujer monumental y elegante portando una sombrilla aparece con frecuencia en las obras de Monet y de Renoir de las décadas de 1870 y 1880, y en la producción de Frieseke entre 1909 y 1915.
Aunque el pintor solía hablar con desdén de las convenciones, sus figuras femeninas de cuerpo entero y sus desnudos de mujer recuerdan los de Renoir -al que consideraba como “jefe de los impresionistas”- y mentalmente también las asociaba con las de otros artistas que rindieron homenaje a la gracia femenina, entre ellos Botticelli, Tiziano y Watteau.
Autorretrato, 1938
En esta composición, la figura de la mujer, situada en posición central y para la que probablemente posó la esposa del artista, se articula en forma de masa suave y continua. Frieseke ha enmarcado su silueta curvilínea sobre una trama vertical y horizontal de flores y senderos y su solidez contrasta con un decorativo fondo creado a base de pequeñas y deslumbrantes pinceladas. En el método del artista, el dibujo desempeña un papel fundamental. Mediante un tratamiento simétrico del lienzo cuadrado, subraya la calidad plana y decorativa de la superficie y deja que la figura flote sobre ella. La composición gira en torno a la sólida figura femenina colocada en el centro.
Frieseke admitió abiertamente que este planteamiento de la naturaleza era selectivo. Aunque seguía los dictados del “Impresionismo puro” que Monet estableció en la década de 1870, también se esforzó por plasmar de la forma más espontánea posible sus sentimientos frente a la naturaleza, tratando de observar los fugaces efectos de la luz y del color desde una perspectiva científica. Muy aficionado a la experimentación impresionista, pintó al aire libre y del natural, tratando de captar efectos nuevos y accidentales.
En Malvarrosas Frieseke transmite el calor y la luz de una tarde de verano, acentuando los contrastes entre las pinceladas de color negro, azul muy saturado y verde con los amarillos puros y los intensos rosas y malvas. Consigue algo así como un tour de force técnico con el efecto de las formas iluminadas desde atrás, lo que acentúa la sensación de luz de última hora de la tarde. Al llamar la atención del espectador sobre los extraños juegos de luz, Frieseke pone de manifiesto su fascinación por la fugacidad de la naturaleza. Con los contornos de la mujer bañados en un suave fulgor y la luz que penetra por la translúcida tela de la sombrilla japonesa y el delicado tejido de los pétalos, el tratamiento que el artista da a la luz se pone principalmente al servicio de su constante fascinación ante los misterios privados del mundo femenino.
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Textos de Kenneth W. Maddox, Ohio 1936 – 2018. Obtuvo su doctorado en Historia del Arte en la Universidad de Columbia en 1999, su interés estuvo en los trabajos de los artistas de la Escuela del Río Hudson, fue un experto en la obra de Jasper F. Cropsey. Desempeñó funciones docentes adjuntas en CUNY, así como en NYU, y en la Fundación Newington Cropsey en Hastings, Nueva York,
Frederick Carl Frieseke
La casa en Giverny, hacia 1912
Óleo sobre tabla. 27 x 35 cm. Colección Carmen Thyssen
Cuando Frieseke se instaló por primera vez en Giverny, lo hizo en “Le Hameau” casa de campo situada en la rue du Pressoir.
Este edificio de dos pisos, rodeado por altos muros por tres de sus lados que cercaban un jardín, se hallaba junto a la casa de Claude Monet y había sido ocupado poco antes por la artista americana Lilla Cabot Perry.
Debe señalarse, sin embargo, que la construcción que aparece en «La casa en Giverny» es más probablemente la casa Whitman, la segunda de las tres residencias que Frieseke ocupó en Giverny.
Sus verdes postigos y la característica celosía abierta con enrejados verdes cargados de flores es un motivo recurrente en los cuadros pintados por Frieseke -recuérdese, por ejemplo “Azucenas, La hora del té en un jardín de Giverny” (ambos conservados en la Colección Daniel J. Terra), y “Malvarrosas”, c. 1912-1913 (Colección Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza)-.
La inscripción que figura en ella indica que posiblemente fue regalada o bien entregada como intercambio por servicios prestados.
La intimidad que destila la pequeña pintura de Frieseke y el interés que demuestra en el dibujo decorativo vincula al artista de una forma más directa con los pintores Nabis Vuillard y Bonnard que con su vecino Monet o con Renoir, los impresionistas que más admiraba.
En este cuadro el artista confirmó de una forma práctica el credo artístico que expusiese en una entrevista concedida el año 1914: “Mi único propósito al pintar es reproducir flores iluminadas por la luz del sol. No quiero sugerir el detalle mediante la forma cuando pretendo que aquel detalle se mantenga en el grado máximo posible de su pureza; si lo hiciera así, el efecto del brillo se perdería. No cabe duda de que la fuerza de los pigmentos tiene un límite y el pintor sólo puede aspirar a producir relativamente la impresión de naturaleza. Aunque puedo ver un resplandor de luz blanca al mediodía, no lo puedo representar literalmente… Habitualmente hago mis primeros apuntes e impresiones utilizando leves pinceladas al temple; después aplico sobre ellas pequeños trazos al óleo para producir el efecto de vibración que completo cuando termino la obra”.
Aunque Frieseke no utilizó en este cuadro los colores brillantes característicos de las pinturas de su última etapa, no cabe duda de que supo captar con pinceladas quebradas el resonante brillo de una escena bañada por la luz solar. «Si usted dirige su mirada [afirmó] hacia una masa de flores expuesta a la luz del sol, al aire libre, [y] ve un destello de manchas de diferentes colores, no lo dude un instante: píntelas tal y como las ve». Frieseke creía que el pintor nunca debe trabajar más de una hora en una escena iluminada por el sol, pues, pasado ese lapso, la luz que se desplaza cambia. En 1913, un crítico señaló que Frieseke pintaba sus cuadros “desde las once y media hasta la doce y media en días soleados del solsticio de verano sin cambiar los modelos de posición. De este modo alcanzó un efecto del que puede decirse que solamente ha sido producido por el arte moderno…esta representación fidedigna de la luz solar en un lugar determinado y a una hora concreta es un escollo que nunca intentaron superar los viejos maestros”.
Textos de Antoinette le Normand-Romain,1951, curadora e historiadora del arte, especialista en escultura del siglo XIX, y en particular en Auguste Rodin.
Es doctora en historia del arte por la Universidad de París-Nanterre y por la École du Museo del Louvre. Conservadora de museos nacionales en 1974, después de dos años como residente en la Academia de Francia de Roma (1975-1976), diecisiete años como conservadora de esculturas en el Museo de Orsay (en cuya creación participó), doce años como jefe de esculturas del museo Rodin. En el 2006 fue nombrada directora general del Instituto Nacional de Historia del Arte (INHA). Preside el consejo científico. Supervisó la instalación de la biblioteca de historia del arte Doucet, hasta el 2016.
Las Notas con mis comentarios y referencia, las indico en cursiva.
Auguste Rodin (François-Auguste-René Rodin París 1840 – 1917 Meudon).
El nacimiento de Venus (La Aurora) 1906 – 1907. Mármol.
90 x 70 x 45 cm. Colección Carmen Thyssen
El nacimiento de Venus (La Aurora)se compone del ensamblaje de tres yesos creados por Rodin en la década de 1880.
La figura en cuclillas está tomada de La Esfinge.
Venus, por su parte, es fruto de dos yesos previos: Desnudo femenino reclinado sin cabeza y Hombre de rodillas.
En el caso de los dos primeros Rodin ha cambiado la estructura horizontal primitiva por la vertical que ahora contemplamos. Asimismo, no ha dudado en trastocar las facciones masculinas de Hombre de rodillas por las de Venus, imagen paradigmática de la belleza femenina.
En El nacimiento de Venus (La Aurora),Rodin enfatiza la idea miguelangelesca de la escultura como ente que emerge, que surge de la piedra, no sólo mediante el contraste entre el acabado finito de las figuras y non finito de la peana, sino a través del movimiento intrínseco del conjunto y de la contraposición de horizontales y verticales.
Nota: En 1902 conoció al poeta Rainer-María Rilke, quien permanecería con Rodin hasta 1906 y le ayudaría con tareas administrativas. Se atribuye a una sugerencia de Rilke el encargo de siete esculturas de mármol que el barón Heinrich von Thyssen-Bornemisza hizo a Rodin; de ellas, cuatro pertenecen actualmente a Carmen Cervera y se exponen en el Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza de Madrid.
Auguste Rodin en su taller en Paris, Monumento a Victor_Hugo
ElNacimiento de Venus está formado por una ensambladura de dos figuras que existían previamente. La Esfinge de los años 1880, utilizada en diversas ocasiones por Rodin, aparece aquí inclinada hacia atrás y arrodillada delante de una figura femenina en la cual se reconoce un torso del que se sabe existen varios ejemplares en los depósitos del Musée Rodin en París.
Completan el torso la cabeza y los brazos del Hombre de rodillas, que se utiliza también en el grupo de Fugit Amor. Aunque Rodin no duda en cambiar el sexo de la figura, es indudable que el carácter masculino del rostro de Venus puede sorprender al espectador.
Nota: La puerta del Infierno (La Porte de l’Enfer) es un grupo escultórico monumental creado por Rodin, con la colaboración de la escultora francesa Camille Claudel (Fère-en-Tardenois, Aisne 1864 – 1943 Montdevergues, Vaucluse) entre 1880 y 1917. La obra está compuesta por distintas figuras inspiradas principalmente en la Comedia de Dante Alighieri, Las flores del mal de Charles Baudelaire y por el libro Metamorfosis del poeta latino Ovidio.
Aunque Rodin no logró ver la fundición de la obra, después de su muerte se realizaron ocho fundiciones en bronce (originales múltiples) a partir del modelo en yeso. Estas versiones se encuentran en museos de Francia, Estados Unidos, Suiza, Japón, Corea del Sur y México.
En enero de 2024 he tenido la suerte de ver una de las fundiciones de La puerta del Infierno, en el hermoso Parque Ueno, está en el patio previo a la entrada al Museo Nacional de las Artes Occidentales diseñado en 1958/9 por Le Corbusier junto a Kunio Maekawa, Junzo Sakakura y Takamasa Yoshizaka.
Como ocurrió con Cristo y la Magdalena, Rodin ya había empezado a trabajar este mármol antes de que Thyssen aprobara el encargo. En enero del año 1909 la obra estaba terminada, y no cabe duda de que fue precisamente entonces cuando Bulloz tomó la sorprendente fotografía que representa una serie de pequeños “despojos” (pies y piernas) colocados delante del grupo que puede verse de espaldas y que se destaca sobre una tela tras la cual aparece una cabeza masculina, que quizá corresponda a uno de los obreros que desbasta el mármol (Musée Rodin, foto n.º 2509).
El mármol se encontraba efectivamente en el taller de Rodin junto con la segunda versión de Cristo y la Magdalena y, como esta última obra, llamó la atención de Jean Morgan, quien, al describirlo en Le Gaulois el 21 de enero de 1909, insistió sobre la importancia que Rodin concedía a la luz: “El estudio de estas dos mujeres, una de las cuales está de rodillas, todavía, y ha sido representada en la materia bruta mientras que la obra eleva los brazos por encima de la cabeza con un movimiento poseído por la gracia infinita, sirve maravillosamente al maestro para expresar lo que quiere demostrar …”
“…Ve usted, la escultura no está hecha para ser colocada contra una pared a la manera de un bajorrelieve; hace falta que se pueda circular a su alrededor contemplando todos los aspectos; es preciso que una estatua se bañe en la luz, participe en la vida que la rodea. Soy consciente de que esto es una prueba peligrosa: sólo las obras que la superan satisfacen las exigencias de la belleza. Fijaos por ejemplo en un Tanagra, continúa siendo grande cualquiera que sea el lugar por el que se lo presente…”. El nacimiento de Venus es la única de las esculturas de mármol de la colección Thyssen cuyo molde no posee el Musée Rodin.
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Textos del Dr. Phil. Roberto Contini, Comisario. Desde 1998 es Miembro de la Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Florencia. Desde 2000 Comisario de pintura italiana y española posterior y de pintura francesa del s. XVII. Desde 2014 Miembro del comité científico de la Accademia Carrara, Bérgamo. Desde 2018 Miembro del comité consultivo del «Boletín del Museo del Prado. Conservador de Pintura italiana y española 1500-1700 y Pintura francesa 1600-1700.
Las Notas con mis comentarios y referencia, las indico en cursiva.
Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal Venecia 1697 – 1768 Ibid)
La Escuela de San Marco. Hacia 1765.
Óleo sobre lienzo. 42 x 32,5 cm. Colección Carmen Thyssen
Delante de la fachada de la Escuela de San Marcos, obra maestra del Renacimiento veneciano (realizada por Pietro y Tullio Lombardo y acabada por Mauro Colussi) de la que aparecen sólo los tres arcos occidentales, se celebra una feria animada por gente heterogénea: algunos charlan de pie, apartados; otros, cerca de la fuente, levantan un estandarte; otros, cerca del muelle, arrastran un palo o juegan a las cartas. Mientras tanto, otro personaje gesticula desde el adyacente Ponte del Cavallo, que cruza el Rio dei Mendicanti. Esta pintura apareció en 1981, junto con su pendant, Capricho con columnata en el interior de un palacio, (ver más abajo) en una subasta de Sotheby’s, en Londres, con la declaración genérica de procedencia “The property of a Lady”, pero con la precisión de que ambos cuadros formaban parte de la colección de la familia de la propietaria desde finales del siglo XIX. El hecho de que la pintura pendant se corresponda a un lienzo sobre el mismo tema, fechado en 1765 y conservado en las Gallerie dell’Accademia de Venecia, nos lleva a situar también estas dos pinturas en los últimos años de vida de Canaletto, que murió en 1768.
Nota: Pendant es un término utilizado especialmente en la expresión «formar pendant», para designar a una pareja de piezas (de cuadros, esculturas o incluso obras de artes decorativas, como relojes o candelabros), con el fin de ser exhibida conjuntamente en un espacio adecuado (por ejemplo, flanqueando una puerta o formando simetría en una estancia o sobre un aparador). Habitualmente tienen las mismas o similares dimensiones y proporciones y se refieren al mismo tema artístico.
Se conocen dos vistas juveniles, horizontales y de gran tamaño, con el campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo y la Escuela de San Marcos, una en Dresde, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie (125 x 165 cm), y la otra en una colección particular, antes en Montreal, Legado de Elwood B. Hosmer (90, 5 x 135, 9 cm). Ambas pertenecieron al embajador del emperador procedente de Lucca, Stefano Conti, estando documentadas en 1725 y 1725-1726, respectivamente.
La segunda está tomada desde un ángulo ligeramente alejado, pero suficiente para mostrar íntegramente los escalones del muelle y dos figuras similares a las que aparecen, en ese mismo lugar, en el cuadro Thyssen. Dichas figuras, sin embargo, en lugar de jugar a las cartas, aparecen una de espaldas, con el brazo derecho apoyado en el muro, y la otra de perfil, con el brazo derecho extendido indicando el agua o la góndola, y el brazo izquierdo apoyado en el parapeto. En ambas pinturas, se repite el motivo de un estandarte en el centro, cerca de la fuente, delante del portón de entrada a la Escuela. En el lienzo que nos ocupa, cuarenta años posterior a los mencionados, la perspectiva es tan aplastada que no se percibe la forma circular de los escalones del zaguán. Además, el Ponte del Cavallo aparece acabado, con sus escalones y su peana de acceso completas, a diferencia de las más antiguas vistas Conti, en las cuales estos elementos están tan sólo esbozados o no existen (en la vista de Dresde, incluso aparece una pasarela de madera).
El elemento compositivo dominante de un edificio único, en este caso la Escuela de San Marcos, induce inmediatamente a relacionar esta pintura con otras single building paintings generalmente tardías.
Por ejemplo, la La Escuela de San Teodoro (Londres, Colección John Ward) muy similar a ésta en el tratamiento y en el corte compositivo, aunque menos segura en la perspectiva y más somera en la representación de los personajes. El tamaño, además (41 x 31 cm), casi idéntico al del lienzo de la Colección Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, nos lleva tal vez a sospechar su pertenencia a una serie casi didáctica de edificios venecianos célebres, representados indiferentemente desde el exterior o el interior.
La Escalera de los Gigantes en el Palazzo Ducale
Una serie de la que podrían haber formado parte: La Escalera de los Gigantes en el Palazzo Ducale (Ciudad de México, Colección Pigliai) tanto por estilo como por tamaño (42 x 29 cm); quizá el Interior de la basílica de San Marco -considerado pendant del anterior- conservado en el Museum of Fine Art de Montreal; pero sobre todo la Plaza de San Marcos, hacia la basílica, desde el ángulo sudoeste (Londres, National Gallery), 45 x 35 cm,
Plaza de San Marcos hacia la basílica, desde el ángulo noroeste
la mejor pintura de este grupo, que puede compararse con el pendant de este cuadro y viene acompañada, a su vez, por un pendant: Plaza de San Marcos hacia la basílica, desde el ángulo noroeste (Londres, National Gallery), 46, 5 x 38 cm.
Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal Venecia 1697 – 1768 Ibid)
hacia 1765. Óleo sobre lienzo. 42 x 32,5 cm
Colección Carmen Thyssen
Capricho con columnata en el interior de un palacio
Es una escena de la vida en un palacio, tomada desde un atrevido doble ángulo de perspectiva, que permite abarcar, a la vez, la fila de columnas que, en la planta baja, separan el “portego” del patio interior y la balconada de la planta noble, que se abre bajo el arco de la bóveda, mostrando, simultáneamente, todos los elementos arquitectónicos, desde el forjado de madera debajo de la balconada hasta el techo sobre ella.
Unas lámparas cuelgan de sus largos cables entre columna y columna y un blasón en un patio interior, donde un caballero da una limosna a un muchacho y otro mendigo espera la suya, sentado con la espalda apoyada en una columna, animales de corral corretean y una mujer cose, sentada, a la derecha, delante de unos escalones. Hay dos figuras apoyadas en la balaustrada, una de ellas sujetando una cortina que sobresale de ella, decorada con un blasón. El patio está abierto al fondo y muestra una parte del complejo edificio. Hay una mujer cerca del pozo, a la izquierda, y una escalinata conduce a la planta superior. La escalera queda cerrada por las copas de los árboles detrás del palacio y un trozo de cielo tranquilizador, tan sólo interrumpido por ligeras nubes blancas.
Este pequeño cuadro adquiere una importancia histórica que excede su notable calidad de ejecución. De hecho, se trata de una derivación autógrafa (o quizá una primera elaboración) de una famosa composición de Canaletto, conservada en las Gallerie dell’Accademia de Venecia, que el propio pintor regaló dos años después de haber sido elegido miembro de la Accademia di Pittura e Scultura, pero sólo en segunda instancia, el 11 de septiembre de 1763. Aunque la sección arquitectónica de la Accademia -y, por consiguiente, también la de esta colección- con su casi pedante enfoque analítico, parece cumplir totalmente con los criterios de verosimilitud topográfica que hicieron famoso a Canaletto, la crítica es unánime en considerar que se trata de una visión fantástica, en gran parte creada en el estudio. Tal como ha demostrado irrefutablemente André Corboz, el interior del palacio corresponde a una remodelación, por cambio de estilo, de la Ca’ d’Oro, emplazamiento que, sin embargo, resulta irreconocible. Citando a Corboz, la “articulación general de los lugares y la posición de los acentos principales corresponden punto por punto a la Ca’ d’Oro, que no aparece en ninguna otra obra. Mirando desde el fondo del «portego» hacia el Gran Canal se ve, a la izquierda, el patio, cuya escalinata poseen la misma planta y disposición que la del cuadro, en el que Canaletto ha conservado la balaustrada de simples cilindros y pequeños leones (estos últimos ausentes en la representación Thyssen). Se ha separado el muro de la calle, aun conservando su altura, para conseguir un espacio abierto alrededor del ala del edificio (una solución distinta de este cuadro). El primer tramo de escalera conduce a una puerta coronada por una ventana, que en el lienzo se convierte en un ojo de buey (no sucede así, como veremos, en el cuadro de la Colección Carmen Thyssen). La cornisa curva de la puerta pintada se corresponde con el arco de descarga de la puerta construida … El pórtico real posee tres intercolumnios en el eje principal; el cuarto que aparece en el lienzo sería el resultado de abatir perpendicularmente el primero…Las columnas de la Ca’d’Oro ya son lisas y de estilo corintio. Canaletto las alarga, les coloca anillas y las levanta aún más con un alto zócalo…Trae el portal gótico del arco que se encuentra en el mismo lugar, en la orilla, a la Ca’ d’Oro y cierra el espacio a la derecha con un muro visto rasante. Además, transforma el pórtico en el canal en una terraza que prolonga el empedrado del «portego». Finalmente, abriendo el techo, muestra la hilera de ventanales que se abren al patio en la primera planta”.
Pequeños, pero no insignificantes, detalles diferencian el prototipo veneciano de su reducida réplica: el lienzo de la Accademia, tres veces mayor que el cuadro que nos ocupa, muestra una solución distinta en la escalinata exterior (mucho más amplia y escenográfica), así como un muro de cierre totalmente distinto y separado (como si se tratase de otro cuerpo arquitectónico). Se trata de un muro enfoscado en color rojo ladrillo en el que ya no hay nicho, y en lugar de la estatua, en el ángulo aparece ahora un jarrón de estilo piranesiano con una planta carnosa. En la cortina falta el escudo, pero también hay diferencias en las figuras humanas que pueblan la galería: el muchacho agachado en primer plano a la izquierda ha desaparecido, reemplazado por la mujer que cose. El mendigo ya no pide limosna y los patos han desaparecido, quedando sólo el perrito, ahora atado a la basa de la columna.
Es más que evidente que en esta obra tardía Canaletto ha hecho gala de su antiguo, pero “genéticamente” genuino, dominio de un arte al que se dedicó en sus primeros años de artista, colaborando con su padre Bernardo Canal (pintor especializado en escenografías de teatro). No se puede negar el parecido que existe con el enfoque escénico de un cuadro de la National Gallery de Londres, cuyo tamaño es tan similar que nos lleva a pensar que se trata de obras pertenecientes a una misma serie. Se trata de Plaza de San Marcos en dirección al este, desde el ángulo sudoccidental, cuya perspectiva está tomada desde el interior del pórtico de las Prucuratie Nuove y recuerda inmediatamente el doble ángulo de perspectiva del “portego” aquí comentado y sorprendentemente similar.
El prototipo veneciano pudo contar con un dibujo preparatorio a pluma y tinta marrón, con acuarelados grises (36 x 29 cm), anteriormente en la Colección Albertini de Roma, que se corresponde en todos sus detalles al lienzo, y un folio del Museo Correr con apuntes arquitectónicos no tan directamente ligados a la realización pictórica, a pesar de la inscripción que aparece en uno de ellos: “Per la cademia”.
Se conocen numerosas réplicas o copias de este afortunado tema (Constable cuenta ocho de ellas), de las cuales se acepta como autógrafa la pequeña del National Loan Collection Trust de Londres (55, 8 x 41, 9 cm).
3
Texto de Ivan Gaskell, catedrático de Historia Cultural y de Museología en el Bard Graduate Center (Nueva York). Durante su carrera en el Warburg Institute de Londres, en Cambridge y Harvard ha escrito, editado y coeditado once libros, y ha escrito artículos en revistas académicas y obras especializadas de historia, arte y filosofía.
Las Notas son comentarios y referencias mías, indicados en cursiva
Gaspar van Wittel (Vanvitelli), Amersfoort 1652/3 – 1736 Roma.
Piazza Navona, Roma. 1699. Óleo sobre lienzo. 96,5 x 216 cm
Colección Carmen Thyssen
Gaspar van Wittel (nacido como Caspar Adriaensz van Wittel, más tarde llamado Gaspare Vanvitelli o Gaspare degli Occhiali o Caspar Adriaansz van Wittel, fue un pintor holandés establecido en Italia, especialista en vedute.
Nota: El vedutismo (vista en italiano) es un género pictórico muy típico del Settecento italiano, desarrollado sobre todo en Venecia. Enmarcado dentro del paisajismo, en el vedutismo se representan vistas generalmente urbanas, en perspectiva, llegando a veces a un estilo cartográfico, donde se reproducen imágenes panorámicas de la ciudad.
Vanvitelli forma parte del grupo de pintores procedentes del norte de Europa que trabajaron en Roma a finales del siglo XVII y principios del XVIII. En esta vista de la Piazza Navona describe algunos de los proyectos arquitectónicos más destacados de la remodelación llevada a cabo por el papa Inocencio X.
Nota: Inocencio X (Roma 1574 – 1655) fue el 236ª Papa de la Iglesia católica, entre 1644 y 1655.
Nota: Vista del palacio Pamphili, desde la Piazza Navona, y su fachada a la Strada di Pasquino (1699) (Alessandro Specchi, 1668–1729), construido por Girolamo Rainaldi y Carlo Rainaldi en estilo barroco entre 1644 y 1650.
A la izquierda, las reconstrucciones del palacio de la familia Pamphili y de la iglesia de Sant’Agnese in Agone de Borromini, frente a la cual, y en el centro de la composición, se halla la fuente de Los cuatro ríos de Bernini.
Vista de Piazza Navona sobre las ruinas del Circo Agonale (1748-1774), grabado de Piranesi (1720–1778)
Nota La iglesia de Santa Inés en Agone, es una iglesia barroca del siglo XVII.
En el lugar donde la cristiana Santa Inés fue martirizada en el antiguo estadio de Domiciano. Su construcción comenzó en 1652 por los arquitectos Girolamo Rainaldi y su hijo Carlo Rainaldi. Después de numerosas disputas, Francesco Borromini reemplazaría a ambos, aunque tras la dimisión de Borromini, se volvió a llamar a Carlo Rainaldi, con el fin de que continuara con las obras.
Vanvitelli con su pintura hizo una descripción de la ciudad moderna. Sus paisajes urbanos son fruto de parámetros racionales de la visión y de la construcción regular de la perspectiva, tal y como se aprecia en los numerosos dibujos preparatorios que se conservan.
Nota: Bernini recreó el Ganges, el Nilo, el Danubio y el Río de la Plata, los principales ríos de los cuatro continentes conocidos hasta la fecha, en forma de cuatro gigantes de mármol, todos descansando en una gran piscina elíptica sobre la que se eleva el obelisco de Domiciano
De los paisajistas holandeses y flamencos que trabajaron en Roma en distintas épocas de finales del siglo XVII y principios del XVIII, el más destacado es Caspar van Wittel. Su peculiar innovación consistió en consolidar la atención a la ciudad moderna en un tipo de paisaje que se conoce como veduta en lugar de centrarse, como habían hecho sus antecesores, en las ruinas de la Antigüedad clásica.
El grabado ejerció un papel fundamental en esta evolución, en particular en lo que se refiere a la representación panorámica de los emplazamientos urbanos. Tras recibir formación en el taller de Matthias Withoos en Amersfoort, Van Wittel fue a Roma; hay documentación de su estancia ya en 1675.
Parece ser que sobre él influyó la obra del grabador flamenco Lievin Cruyl, que en 1667 publicó dos conjuntos de vistas romanas, que suponían un total de cincuenta planchas. Colaboró con el ingeniero hidráulico Cornelis Meyer, facilitando los modelos para tres grabados de plazas romanas que se incluyeron en una de las publicaciones de Meyer (1683 y 1685). Posteriormente, a partir de 1680, Van Wittel ejecutó varias vistas romanas al temple, en particular de plazas de la ciudad.
Su primera obra conocida de la Piazza Navona es una témpera fechada en 1688 (colección de la familia Colonna, Roma).
Además de centrarse en la ciudad moderna, Van Wittel representó sus vistas urbanas según los principios racionales de la visión y la construcción regular de la perspectiva. Podemos apreciar esto en varios dibujos preparatorios de grandes dimensiones que han llegado hasta nuestros días, que recalcan las ortogonales y un sistema reticular que garantiza la regularidad de la proporción y la recesión. Un dibujo preparatorio de este tipo de la Piazza Navona (pluma, tinta sepia y aguada gris), que incluye retícula y armazón de perspectiva, se conserva en la Biblioteca Nazionale de Roma.
Desde luego Van Wittel no trabajaba de manera aislada. Un lienzo de Antoon Goubau, pintado en Amberes en 1680 (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Amberes) representa la Piazza Navona desde un punto de vista muy parecido al de la composición de Van Wittel. En un documento prácticamente contemporáneo, se menciona que al parecer había enviado dibujos de Roma al que había sido su maestro, Matthias Withoos, los cuales sin duda se habían divulgado ampliamente por los Países Bajos antes de que el propio artista los pasara a pinturas o grabados. Gommarus Wouters grabó la composición Piazza Navona de Van Wittel, que no se publicó en Roma hasta 1693. El texto que acompaña el grabado de Wouters menciona la importancia para los especialistas en antigüedades de la plaza (que repite la forma del Circo Agonalis de Domiciano y se levanta en el emplazamiento que éste había ocupado) y de su remodelación por el papa Inocencio X Pamphili (m. 1655), que hizo de la plaza el centro de su mecenazgo artístico y, por lo tanto, la transformó.
Al elegir este punto de vista, Van Wittel da especial importancia a los tres proyectos arquitectónicos más relevantes de Inocencio X: la reconstrucción del palacio de la familia Pamphilij realizada por Girolamo Rainaldi (el edificio de la izquierda), la reconstrucción de la iglesia de Sant’Agnese in Agone, que llevó a cabo Borromini (en el centro a la izquierda) y la fuente de Los cuatro ríos de Gianlorenzo Bernini que se ve en el centro, delante de la iglesia, coronada por un obelisco. Es posible que el grabado de Wouters tuviera el efecto de dar publicidad al tema, fomentando el deseo de obtener versiones pintadas del mismo. El lienzo que aquí comentamos es, con mucho, el más conocido. Data de 1699, año en el que al parecer Van Wittel fue a Nápoles invitado por el virrey español, el duque de Medinaceli, y allí estuvo dos años. La inscripción “ROMA” delante de la fecha sugiere que lo pintó antes de su marcha. Posteriormente ejecutó dos versiones más pequeñas, fechadas una en 1715 (Colección Chinni, Roma) y otra en 1720 (colección particular, Milán). Aunque la obra de los pintores holandeses y flamencos de vedute se fundamenta en su tradición paisajista y la de los artistas italianos contemporáneos y sus sucesores se basa profundamente en la práctica de los decorados teatrales, el hecho de que haya un lienzo de Canaletto que reproduce casi exactamente el grabado hecho por Wouters a partir de la composición de la Piazza Navona de Van Wittel (en la colección de Sir Arundell Neave, Bart., Wexford, Irlanda, la última vez que se supo de él) sugiere que el gran artista veneciano estudió y adaptó la obra de su antecesor holandés.
4 Texto de Isabelle Cahn, conservadora jefe del Musée d’Orsay.
Las Notas son comentarios y referencias mías, indicados en cursiva.
El paisaje representa un trigal en los alrededores de Wargemont en Normandía, donde Renoir pasó varios veranos en la finca de su amigo y mecenas el banquero Paul Bérard.
Se trata de una obra de madurez, pero al igual que otros paisajes tempranos, pintada íntegramente al aire libre en una o varias sesiones. En ella, el trigal, los árboles de la izquierda, la ladera del fondo y el cielo están construidos a base de grandes masas de color claras y oscuras, pintadas con colores muy diluidos. Sobre ellas, pinceladas de distintos colores atrapan los matices de luz. Renoir pintó Campo de trigo en un momento en el que, debido a su temprano éxito, se vio obligado a aceptar numerosos encargos de retratos. Frente a ellos destaca por su simplicidad y su renuncia a toda anécdota o detalle pintoresco.
Al igual que su amigo Monet, Renoir consideraba que su verdadero estudio de pintor era la naturaleza y que la pintura al aire libre era la piedra angular del Impresionismo.
A lo largo de su vida realizó espléndidos paisajes, hallando en este género una gran libertad de inspiración y un especial deleite. La mayoría de estas vistas no iban destinadas a exposiciones ni respondían a encargo alguno. Lo que el artista pretendía era sencillamente captar la fulgurante belleza de la luz, la animada masa de la vegetación que se tiñe con todos los matices de la paleta, las aterciopeladas lejanías y los nacarados cielos. Quería trasladar al lienzo las sensaciones atmosféricas más inmateriales, pintar la belleza del aire y nada más.
La técnica impresionista, que consistía en cubrir rápidamente el lienzo con pinceladas de color, le resultaba idónea para pintar paisajes al aire libre y para plasmar las impresiones efímeras de los fenómenos atmosféricos. Renoir utilizaba colores muy diluidos, que denominaba “jugos” con el fin de captar el panorama en grandes volúmenes, claros y oscuros, haciendo caso omiso de los detalles descriptivos. Esta capa fina y fluida, que dejaba entrever parcialmente el fondo blanco de la imprimación, constituía la base sobre la que el artista trabajaba el cuadro, aplicando toques de colores más vivos. “Poco a poco, las pinceladas rosas o azules, y luego tierra de Siena, se iban mezclando en perfecto equilibrio”, cuenta Jean Renoir en Souvenirs, libro que trata sobre su padre. “… Al final, de la niebla surgía… el paisaje, casi como habría surgido de una placa fotográfica inmersa en el baño revelador”.
El trigal, que ocupa la mitad de la superficie de este lienzo, está tratado como una masa desenfocada, puntuada en varios lugares con toques de un blanco rosado que indican las espigas y con otros rojos y verdes. Un grupo de árboles da peso a la composición por la izquierda, mientras que los campos que quedan en sombra en último término abren la perspectiva en profundidad. Por un efecto de distorsión visual, los árboles de la loma se funden con el follaje de los que están plantados a orillas del trigal, trazando una línea horizontal casi continua que marca el límite con el cielo. Éste, coloreado con una gama pálida y delicada, sugiere un tiempo algo inestable.
Renoir pintó probablemente este trigal al aire libre, en los alrededores de Wargemont cerca de Dieppe, en Normandía, donde el artista veraneó en 1879 en la finca de los Bérard. Existe un paisaje de la misma época, muy próximo en cuanto a estilo y paleta, titulado Paisaje de Wargemont, en el que se observan las mismas pinceladas arrastradas que puntúan la composición con colores vivos. De estos paisajes pintados en un momento en el que de Renoir, emana una gran serenidad. En ellos, la naturaleza se muestra bajo su aspecto más sencillo y bucólico: un trigal ya maduro, suavemente agitado por la brisa marina. Ningún detalle pintoresco, ninguna anécdota, perturban la majestuosidad del panorama.
Nuestro Blog ha obtenido más de Un Millón de lecturas: http://onlybook.es/blog/nuestro-blog-ha-superado-el-millon-de-lecturas/
Increíblemente recibimos 447.273 visitas con 1.268.252 lecturas al 26/11/2024.
El blog onlybook.es/blog fue creado el 17 de febrero de 2015, hace 9 años, ya.
Ha superado el millón doscientas mil lecturas, cada visita lee un promedio de tres temas.
Recibe una media de 200 visitas diarias, excepcionalmente fueron 350 visitas diarias durante la pandemia.
En la primera nota me presentaba junto a la editorial HK (Hugo Kliczkowski) y las distribuidoras Asppan y Onlybook, todas ellas en Rivas Vaciamadrid, una localidad a 17 km de Madrid.
En una nave (almacén (depósito) de 22 metros de frente y 30 de fondo, con una altura de 14 metros.
En la primera planta, se preparaban los pedidos y se recibían las devoluciones, en la segunda planta, a la izquierda de la escalera estaba el salón de venta con muchos metros de expositores, como si fuese una librería, junto a los comerciales y a la derecha de la escalera, la editorial, con los traductores y diseñadores, y en la 3era y última planta las oficinas de la administración, la sala de reuniones, secretaría y dirección.
Tambien una habitación donde estaba mi piano electrico Yamaha CVP-103, donde recibía clases de piano con Gualli y donde cuando necesitaba distraerme de las tareas, me sentaba a tocar.
En la nave hacíamos muchos asados y tocábamos música de cámara, a veces participaba en ellos, si hacia buen tiempo en un entrepiso que daba al almacen, sino en el salón de ventas, cambiando la orientacion de las sillas, podiamos estar unas 60 personas.
En el área de los depósitos, teníamos 7 líneas de porta pallets con 300.000 libros y tres plantas de baldas abiertas para recoger pedidos de menos de 5 libros de cada título “picking”.
El blog acompañaba la actividad editorial, pero de a poco, mi interés se fue volcando a difundir arquitectos, arquitectura, como un cuaderno de bitácora, y tambien como un diario de viaje.
Por eso, escribi sobre los temas que me interesan, la música, la arquitectura, las ciudades, entre tantos otros.
La pandemia, me llevo por otros derroteros, viajaba a través de ella, sin salir de mi habitación.
Fueron los meses de más lecturas.
La serie de Carlo Scarpa (8 capítulos) desde 7/1 al 14/3 del 2021 atrajo en poco más de 2 meses a 129.796 lectores. http://onlybook.es/blog/carlo-scarpa-1-la-arquitectura-de-la-historia/
mde
La serie sobre Palladio comenzó el 12/6/2016 al 1/11/2021 con los Tratados de Arquitectura y continuo con 13 capítulos incluida la conferencia que di en la Facultad de Guatemala, sede Huehuetenango.
En total tuvo 143.318 lecturas, durante esos 4 años y medio. http://onlybook.es/blog/palladioscamozzi-parte-1-el-teatro-de-la-vida/
Conté de mi experiencia en la exposición sobre Lucien Freud en el Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza en junio del 2023 con 3.510 lecturas. http://onlybook.es/blog/lucian-freud-nuevas-perspectivas-3a-parte-el-retrato/
La Escuela de Chicago, con Louis Sullivan fue seguida por 4.083 lectores.
Los 14 capítulos de la vida y las obras de Frank Lloyd Wright atrajeron a 30.133 lectores.
El tema Plaza de Mayo de Buenos Aires, coincidió con la invitación a hablar de ella en el programa “Argentina en su cultura” dirigido por Magdalena Fallace, FM Radio Cultura, junto a Pacho O´Donnell y Gabriel di Meglio. El blog atrajo a 972 lectores, además de los oyentes de la transmisión.
En la serie de viajes, el que llamé “Viaje al fin del mundo”, que fue Ushuaia, Canal de Beagle, Patagonia, Calafate y Tierra del Fuego consiguió atraer a 6.644 lectores. http://onlybook.es/blog/viaje-al-fin-del-mundo-1a-parte/
Mi artículo “El Principio de El Principito”, con 2.006 lectores motivo la invitación de Magdalena Fallace a hablar del Principito y de Antoine de Saint-Exupéry el 24 de Junio de 2021 junto al consejero Cultural de la embajada de Francia Lionel Paridisi-Coulouma y Director del Institute Francoise. http://onlybook.es/blog/el-principio-de-el-principito/
La Conferencia sociedad de Arquitectos Zona Norte. Palacio Belgrano y Parador Ariston del 5/11/2020 atrajo a 9.224 lectores. Además de la presencia por Zoom de la conferencia.
Salvemos al Palacio Histórico Belgrano/Otamendi de su destrucción consiguió 3.736 de firmas en Change.org desde el 18 de septiembre de 2019 https://chng.it/HZ7h7Zwmhf y presencia en más de 1 docena de medios nacionales de papel y radio, hasta que conseguimos sea protegido como Patrimonio Nacional y fue, luego de 20 años de saqueos y vandalismo, totalmente restaurado.
“El Espacio y sus sentidos”, del 26/4/2018 atrajo a 4.841 lectores y motivo la invitación a dar una conferencia el 26/05/2022 https://youtu.be/105Xa5cl8Fo en la catedra del arq Mario Boscoboinik de la Universidad de Buenos aires. http://onlybook.es/blog/1665-2/
Cuando redacté el artículo “El parador ARISTON, una ruina moderna por HaKj”, no podía imaginar que motivaría la protección del Parador Ariston, declarándolo Monumento Histórico Nacional, ni que años mas tarde en noviembre de 2024, el director Gerardo Panero realizaria un documental «El Ariston», y que seria seleccionado para participar en el Festival de Cine de Mar del Plata.
Y que fuera reproducida en el New York Times, Clarin, Pagina 12, La Nación, La Prensa, El Marplatense entre decenas de diarios y radios, nacionales e internacionales. En el Blog consiguió el interés de 19.229 personas y en Change.org desde el 15 de enero de 2019 la firma de 34.391 personas. https://chng.it/PsfMJ6xtK6.
The New York Times del 21 de abril de 2019
El miércoles 20 de noviembre de 2017, se declaró Monumento Histórico Nacional al Parador Ariston. Entrada 170 del 14/09/2017 por ley 126656.
Aprobada por la Cámara de Diputados y el Senado Argentino.
En el Blog hay mas de 390 artículos, por lo que este resumen es mas que suficiente, no obstante les recomiendo «Johann Sebastian Bach, los cambios, la arquitectura», http://onlybook.es/blog/johann-sebastian-bach-los-cambios-la-arquitectura-por-hakj/. Lo leyeron mas de 10.033 amigos/lectores.
Nuestro Blog ha obtenido más de Un Millón de lecturas: http://onlybook.es/blog/nuestro-blog-ha-superado-el-millon-de-lecturas/
Mi querido amigo Roque, hace muchas cosas, abogado, agricultgor, ganadero, y sobre todo mi hermano del alma.
Hemos recorrido la vida, y sus derroteros, algunos memorables, luces de neon, arena del desierto, ostras recien cultivadas, radios, mensuarios politicos, construcciones y muchas derivas politicas que incluyeron algunas complicaciones.
Se los recomiendo, los dejo con él.
lee mucho, y ha hecho este link
Saludos
Hugo
Nuestro Blog ha obtenido más de Un Millón de lecturas: http://onlybook.es/blog/nuestro-blog-ha-superado-el-millon-de-lecturas/
Arq. Hugo Alberto Kliczkowski Juritz
Onlybook.es/blog
Hugoklico.blogspot.com
sobre arquitectura, Arte, fotografía, diseño por Hugoklico@gmail.com
