http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8sj1mft No online items John and Marilyn Neuhart papers, 1916-2011; Bulk, 1957-2000 Finding aid prepared by Saundarya Thapa, 2013; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé. The processing of this collection was generously supported by Arcadia. UCLA Library Special Collections Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1575 (310) 825-4988 [email protected] © 2013 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. John and Marilyn Neuhart papers, 1891 1 1916-2011; Bulk, 1957-2000 Title: John and Marilyn Neuhart papers Collection number: 1891 Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections Language of Material: English Physical Description: 40.0 linear ft.(57 document boxes, 3 record cartons, 10 flat boxes, 4 telescope boxes, 1 map folder) Date (bulk): Bulk, 1957-2000 Date (inclusive): 1916-2011 Abstract: John and Marilyn Neuhart were graphic and exhibition designers and UCLA professors who also worked at the Eames Design Office in Los Angeles. This collection includes research files for their books on the Eames Office, material documenting the design and organization process for Connections, an exhibition on the Eames Office which was held at UCLA in 1976, ephemera relating to the work of the Eames Office as well as the Neuhart’s own design firm, Neuhart Donges Neuhart and a large volume of research files and ephemera that was assembled in preparation for a proposed book on the American designer, Alexander Girard. Language of Materials: Materials are in English. Physical Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information. Creators: Neuhart, John and Marilyn Restrictions on Access COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information. Restrictions on Use and Reproduction Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], John and Marilyn Neuhart papers (Collection 1981). Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA. UCLA Catalog Record ID UCLA Catalog Record ID: 7128095 Provenance/Source of Acquisition This collection was donated by Marilyn Neuhart in two installments. The first donation with material on the Connections exhibition and the Eames Design and Eames House books was made in July, 2011; material on The Story of Eames Furniture and Alexander Girard were added in a second donation made in April 2012. Processing Information Processed by Saundarya Thapa in 2013 in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Jillian Cuellar. The processing of this collection was generously supported by Arcadia. Biography/History John and Marilyn Neuhart worked in the Los Angeles area for 55 years as graphic and exhibition designers and professors. They taught several courses at UCLA, including color theory, painting, graphic design, and typography; John retired from UCLA as a Professor Emeritus in 1984. Friends and colleagues of the Eameses, John worked fulltime for the Eames Office for four years and as a freelance designer for 27 years. The Neuharts organized, designed and installed the exhibition Connections: The Work of Charles and Ray Eames at UCLA in 1976 and at other venues in the United States and Europe. They are the authors and designers of three books on the office: Eames Design (Abrams, 1989), Eames House (Ernst and Sohn, 1994) and the two volumes comprising The Story of Eames Furniture (Gestalten Verlag, 2010). Having moved on to UCLA’s Art Department after graduating from Long Beach City College (LBCC), the Neuharts were introduced to “mid-century modern” design in their course work and through visits to galleries and local businesses that were beginning to sell products designed in the postwar years. Familiar with the work of the Eames Office, they first met Charles Eames in 1952 when Norma Matlin, one of their former LBCC instructors, invited them to an on campus lecture where Eames talked about recent works and showed a few scenes from A Communication Primer, a film that his office had made for IBM. For the Neuharts, it wasn’t just the Eameses’ design sensibilities that inspired them; it was also that Charles John and Marilyn Neuhart papers, 1891 2 1916-2011; Bulk, 1957-2000 worked with his wife, Ray Eames – something uncommon for couples to do at the time. In 1957, John returned from serving two years in the army and was hired by the Eames Office as a graphic designer. This was the same year that the Neuharts got married and also started their garage-based printing business, The Hand Press. As freelance designers, the Neuharts also worked with other Los Angeles based designers. Their relationship with Alexander Girard, an important and influential designer who, together with George Nelson and Charles Eames, comprised the great design triumvirate at Herman Miller Furniture in the mid-twentieth century, began in 1956 when they started doing graphic work for his Santa Fe, New Mexico based firm. Over the years they worked on a number of exciting projects together. One of these was Marilyn’s small, embroidered cloth dolls inspired by Medieval and Renaissance embroidery. First created for her children and nieces, Girard commissioned a hundred of these dolls for the 1961 opening of his Textile and Objects store which showcased his Herman Miller textiles as well as folk art from around the world. By the time all the Girard shops closed down, she had made nearly 2,000 dolls. In the spring of 1976, John proposed to Charles Eames that he use his upcoming sabbatical leave from his teaching duties at UCLA to research and design an exhibition on the Eames Office. Charles agreed to the idea and John proposed the project to the UCLA Art Council, which raised the funds to support the work. The council received a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and small grants from both Herman Miller, Inc. and the IBM Corporation, two important patrons of the Eames Office. By April, the Neuharts had already begun work researching and organizing the exhibition and scheduled the opening of the 6,500 sq. ft. show in the Wight Gallery at UCLA for December 6. Working through the summer, they designed the exhibition and began to fabricate the exhibition panels and structures. The largest, most comprehensive exhibition on the work of the Eames Office to date, Connections: The Work of Charles and Ray Eames, opened on schedule to good reviews and subsequently travelled to the University of Texas, Washington University in St. Louis and a number of other venues in Britain and Europe. Co-authored with Ray Eames, the Neuharts’ 1989 book Eames Design, catalogs chronologically all of the work produced by the office from 1941 to 1978 and can be seen as an extension of the exhaustive research that they did for Connections. From 1980 to 1998, the Neuharts partnered with Richard Donges in their own design firm, Neuhart Donges Neuhart, Designers, Inc. (NDN). A colleague from the Eames Office, Richard Donges began his tenure there the same year as John Neuhart (1957) and left at the end of 1979, a year after the death of Charles Eames which also marked the effective functional end of the office. Located in El Segundo, California, the firm specialized in exhibition and graphic design and had a clientele that included the IBM Corporation, Herman Miller, Inc., the Huntington Library and Art Gallery, the Doheny Library, the Getty Museum and many other local businesses and institutions. In 1984, as part of its participation in the design program for the summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles that year, the company managed the design and production of the Olympic torch. Amongst other projects for IBM, NDN also carried on the work that was formerly performed by the Eames Office. For example, in 1980 NDN assumed the management of the Mathematica exhibition which the Eames Office designed and produced for IBM starting in 1961. The firm was retained by the company to keep the show refurbished and in good order. When the Chicago version of the exhibit moved to Boston in 1981, NDN managed the move, re-ordered the exhibition to fit in the new space, and refurbished the graphics and the addition of new material. They continued to service the exhibition in Boston and at its original site at the Science and Industry Museum in Los Angeles until IBM transferred ownership and maintenance to the individual museums in the mid-1980s. Both the Eames Design and Eames House books were also researched and designed as part of NDN’s work. In 2010, Gestalten Verlag published The Story of Eames Furniture (2010), Marylin Neuhart’s thoroughly researched and gorgeously designed book in two volumes which deconstructs the brand name that is “Eames.” Thirteen years of research in the making, the book sheds light on the whole foundation of hard work behind Eames furniture by focusing on the people who did the day-by-day work. It profiles a first generation of established designers like Gregory Ain, Griswold Raetze and Herbert Matter who worked together with the Charles Eames at Evans Products Company in the 1940s and a second generation of talented designers such as Don Albinson, Charles Kratka, Dale Bauer and Deborah Sussman, who began their design careers by joining the Eames Office in the 1950s.