(ipod) filler up
(post edit: rip PJ)
off topic, apologies:
Philip Johnson died last night.
RIP PJ. I was a big fan up to a point. 99. the news hasnt hit the papers yet.
nice tribute.
here's the AP story
thats a screen still from logans run of the ever so dangerous watergarden in fort worth.
heres more of that AP story:
Toward the end of his life, Johnson went public with some private matters - his homosexuality and his past as a disciple of Hitler-style fascism. On the latter, he said he spent much time in Berlin in the 1930s and became "fascinated with power," but added he did not consider that an excuse.
"I have no excuse (for) such utter, unbelievable stupidity. ... I don't know how you expiate guilt," he says.
He blamed his homosexuality for causing a nervous breakdown while he was a student at Harvard and said that in 1977 he asked the New Yorker magazine to omit references to it in a profile, fearing he might lose the AT&T commission, which he called "the job of my life."
i guess he made his fair share of mistakes in life. but there is plenty of good work too. the sculpture garden at moma is (was) an incredible haven.
Did it survive the renovation?
here is the NYT obit. By Paul Goldberger.
the book, "the international style" is pretty important in my little world. alfred barr sent PJ and henry-russell hitchcock to europe on an architectural fact finding mission in 1930 and they came back with the term and theme. he also had a regular table at the four seasons restaurant where he frequently lunched. a doctor in life style. you know, living walking distance to studio 54. but if you got to go, nice to pass on out in new canaan with a pleasant looking fresh snow fall outside.
I imagine 98 years is many years to feel the awe of living.
(and a standing table at the Four Seasons - bragging rights)
His sister (who lives in Cleveland) is 102.
The glass house now belongs to CT State Park?
pr the nyt obit : "The Glass House compound is willed to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which plans to operate it as a museum."
missed that. sorry. thanks.
more obits
including NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF for the nyt
Flamboyant postmodern architect whose career was marred by a flirtation with nazism
-Andrew Saint
Philip Johnson; a Response to Andrew Saint
But what's essential is to let the shadow fall - to acknowledge that fascism touched something important in his sensibility. Throughout his life, he was an ardent admirer of Nietzsche. His understanding of the great philosopher was surely deeper than that of the Nazis, but he was overly enchanted by the idea of "a superior being," "the will to power" and Nietzsche's view of art. And he loved the monumental.
13 architects remember "their godfather' (New York Magazine)
"Johnson was the Andy Warhol of architecture: He was instrumental in transforming dogmatic modern practice into an issue of style, and the status of the architect into celebrity." Diller & Scofidio
the new yorker postscript: PJ by paul goldberger
"Jules Harris, a longtime KTI member, told me that Johnson's friend and neighbor, Alfred A. List, an art collector and benefactor from Greenwich, was the link between the architect and KTI. Learning that the congregation was in the process of designing a synagogue, Johnson met at List's house in 1953 and hammered out an agreement to present his plans at no cost, as long as the plans weren't altered."
"At an interview at his Glass House nine years ago, Johnson told Preservation magazine, "I'll stay here until I'm 120. Then I'll retire to Rome." He described his boundless fascination with his home: "It's the only house in the world where you can watch the sun set and the moon rise at the same time. And the snow. It's amazing when you're surrounded at night with the falling snow. It's lighted, which makes it look as though you're rising on a celestial elevator."
"Johnson enjoyed a curious immunity to public censure for the political passions that had once been so important to him, and many of the architectural writers who are now in a position to write with candor about the unlovely aspects of his past are still holding back. More than a few of them owe their careers to Johnson."
I have lost a great friend; architecture has lost a great friend.
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(post edit: rip PJ)
- bill 1-26-2005 3:39 pm
off topic, apologies:
Philip Johnson died last night.
- selma 1-26-2005 8:46 pm [add a comment]
RIP PJ. I was a big fan up to a point. 99. the news hasnt hit the papers yet.
- bill 1-26-2005 8:59 pm [add a comment]
- bill 1-26-2005 9:09 pm [add a comment]
nice tribute.
- selma 1-26-2005 9:12 pm [add a comment]
here's the AP story
- selma 1-26-2005 9:37 pm [add a comment]
thats a screen still from logans run of the ever so dangerous watergarden in fort worth.
heres more of that AP story:
i guess he made his fair share of mistakes in life. but there is plenty of good work too. the sculpture garden at moma is (was) an incredible haven.
- bill 1-26-2005 9:54 pm [add a comment]
Did it survive the renovation?
- tom moody 1-26-2005 10:01 pm [add a comment]
I guess it depends who you are asking... but apparently Johnson never got to see the 'new' MoMA. Blessing in disquise that he didn't get to voice a reaction?
- selma 1-26-2005 10:33 pm [add a comment]
here is the NYT obit. By Paul Goldberger.
- selma 1-26-2005 10:18 pm [add a comment]
the book, "the international style" is pretty important in my little world. alfred barr sent PJ and henry-russell hitchcock to europe on an architectural fact finding mission in 1930 and they came back with the term and theme. he also had a regular table at the four seasons restaurant where he frequently lunched. a doctor in life style. you know, living walking distance to studio 54. but if you got to go, nice to pass on out in new canaan with a pleasant looking fresh snow fall outside.
- bill 1-26-2005 11:41 pm [add a comment]
I imagine 98 years is many years to feel the awe of living.
(and a standing table at the Four Seasons - bragging rights)
His sister (who lives in Cleveland) is 102.
The glass house now belongs to CT State Park?
- selma 1-27-2005 12:08 am [add a comment]
pr the nyt obit : "The Glass House compound is willed to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which plans to operate it as a museum."
- bill 1-27-2005 12:29 am [add a comment]
missed that. sorry. thanks.
- selma 1-27-2005 12:30 am [add a comment]
more obits
including NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF for the nyt
- bill 1-27-2005 6:08 pm [add a comment]
Flamboyant postmodern architect whose career was marred by a flirtation with nazism
-Andrew Saint
Philip Johnson; a Response to Andrew Saint
- bill 1-31-2005 2:18 am [add a comment]
- bill 1-31-2005 5:05 pm [add a comment]
13 architects remember "their godfather' (New York Magazine)
"Johnson was the Andy Warhol of architecture: He was instrumental in transforming dogmatic modern practice into an issue of style, and the status of the architect into celebrity." Diller & Scofidio
- selma 2-01-2005 12:51 am [add a comment]
the new yorker postscript: PJ by paul goldberger
- bill 2-01-2005 5:27 pm [add a comment]
the goldberger link is now working / BUT THATS IT ?
- bill 2-05-2005 8:19 pm [add a comment]
"Jules Harris, a longtime KTI member, told me that Johnson's friend and neighbor, Alfred A. List, an art collector and benefactor from Greenwich, was the link between the architect and KTI. Learning that the congregation was in the process of designing a synagogue, Johnson met at List's house in 1953 and hammered out an agreement to present his plans at no cost, as long as the plans weren't altered."
- bill 2-01-2005 9:00 pm [add a comment]
"At an interview at his Glass House nine years ago, Johnson told Preservation magazine, "I'll stay here until I'm 120. Then I'll retire to Rome." He described his boundless fascination with his home: "It's the only house in the world where you can watch the sun set and the moon rise at the same time. And the snow. It's amazing when you're surrounded at night with the falling snow. It's lighted, which makes it look as though you're rising on a celestial elevator."
- bill 2-02-2005 6:03 pm [add a comment]
"Johnson enjoyed a curious immunity to public censure for the political passions that had once been so important to him, and many of the architectural writers who are now in a position to write with candor about the unlovely aspects of his past are still holding back. More than a few of them owe their careers to Johnson."
- bill 2-03-2005 9:51 pm [add a comment]
I have lost a great friend; architecture has lost a great friend.
- bill 3-02-2005 6:15 pm [add a comment]