Modernism for everyone (with an overstuffed wallet)
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In Sunday’s paper, Greg Goldin reviewed the new boxed magazine reissue ‘Arts & Architecture, 1945-54: The Complete Reprint.’ The magazine was ‘the most influential architecture magazine ever published,’ he writes, and ‘it convinced the world that Los Angeles was at the vanguard of reinventing the single family home.’ Some of those homes, such as John Lautner’s Chemosphere (pictured) are showcased in the paper’s photo essay of the all-time best homes in L.A.
But back to the reissue. ‘Arts & Architecture’ was run by editor John Entenza, who had both a visionary aesthetic and a sense of purpose. The magazine commissioned the now-famous Case Study Houses -- from Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames and other noted architects -- that were meant to be models of affordable, beautiful efficiency. Goldin writes:
As the country drifted into the deadening alikeness of the Truman-Eisenhower years, Entenza and his obscure magazine, with a circulation of no more than 10,000, fought to express the conviction that, for less than $10 per square foot, art and architecture could stir the soul. The magazine attacked on two indivisible fronts, intellectual and aesthetic. Entenza’s monthly ‘Notes in Passing’ were not-so-quiet sermons against war and greed and blind obeisance to the powers that be.
The description of the reprint is tantalizing; Goldin makes clear that the magazines themselves are artifacts of engaging, enrapturing design. But the set lists for $700 retail (Amazon currently has it on sale for $441), meaning that its cost is far more than $10 per square foot. Just like the architecture it fostered, ‘Art & Architecture’ is now anything but affordable.
-- Carolyn Kellogg
