Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2010 Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House: An Annotated & Illustrated Bibliography Compiled and Annotated by John Crosse Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House: An Annotated & Illustrated Bibliography (Uncorrected Proof – Not for Sale) Announcement card for the Nov. 4, 1960 exhibition member’s preview opening at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. From Julius Shulman Studio Archive. Compiled and Annotated by John Crosse ©2010 modern-ISM Press 6333 Esplanade Playa del Rey, CA 90293 [email protected] 310-301-6339 2 3 Introduction I would like to acknowledge Julius Shulman for the inspiration to create this bibliography. As I gradually became an avid fan and collector of material pertaining to Southern California modernist architecture over the last few years, I grew to appreciate the great importance of Shulman’s legacy in chronicling its evolution and growth. I also started to realize the ubiquitousness of his images in the architectural literature and on the covers of same. I approached him a few years back and asked if he had ever thought of doing a book which would collect all of the covers from books, shelter magazines, and architectural journals that his photos have graced. He liked the idea and invited me up to his idyllic Raphael Soriano- designed studio in the Hollywood Hills. After an introductory chat he told me to open the doors to his closet and pull down some of the dusty old 8X10 Kodak film storage boxes from the top shelf. They were stuffed to the gills with clippings and tear sheets he had saved over the years from various articles containing his photos. As we rummaged we found numerous covers he had long forgotten about and which I had never seen. Thus began a journey on which there seems to be no end. Julius gave me much encouragement and allowed me free reign to browse, and catalogue his studio archives. He also graciously shared with me his assignment log book which contains over 7,000 records and counting as he continued to work beyond his recently-celebrated 98th birthday. He introduced me to important historians, film makers and archivists and regaled me with anecdotes on his assignments and clients. To date we have uncovered over 800 covers on which his photos have appeared. Julius has chosen the title “Julius Shulman Covers Up” for this effort and uses it with an impish twinkle in his eyes. While conducting my exhaustive search for Shulman covers I began compiling an annotated bibliography of all the publications his work has appeared in. It has become a labor of love which now approaches 8,000 items. It has also provided focus to, and facilitated, my collecting efforts. The history of Shulman’s relationship with his first and most important client, Richard Neutra, is well- known. Neutra was eminent in international architectural circles prior to his introduction to Shulman but it was Shulman’s artistic style that exhibited Neutra’s work in a way that truly focused a viewer’s attention on the evolution of modern residential architecture in Los Angeles and Southern California. Their collaborative body of globally-published work greatly enhanced both their reputations and established Southern California as a modernist Mecca for American and foreign architects alike, as well as critics, journalists, historians and enthusiasts of the genre. Neutra and Shulman’s careers are so intertwined that one really cannot be researched without the other. Therefore, while I was assembling Shulman’s bibliography it made sense to me to concurrently create another for Neutra. This has led to a Neutra annotated bibliography comprised of over 5,000 entries to date, about 40% of which contain Shulman photos. Likewise, roughly 30% of Shulman’s bibliography items contain photos of work by Neutra. Neutra’s proficiency at self-promotion and marketing his unique brand of nature-based architecture he coined “Biorealism” is evidenced by the over 2,000 articles containing Shulman photos resulting from only about 225 assignments. Neutra always ordered 10 sets of prints, split them up and distributed them to editors all over the world and ordered many reprints of selected projects. Neutra’s Kaufmann House is one of the most important icons of Southern California Modernism. It is arguably exceeded in significance by only Neutra’s Lovell Health House and/or R. M. Schindler’s Kings 4 Road House. Julius Shulman’s photographs have played a momentous role in establishing the house’s iconic status and it is both men’s most published work. The reader is referred to an excellent essay by Simon Niedenthal which appeared in the November 1993 issue of the Journal of Architectural Education “Glamourized Houses: Neutra, Photography, and the Kaufmann House” to obtain a sense of Neutra’s early eagerness to broadly publicize his masterpiece balanced by Kaufmann’s desire for a slow roll-out in the national press and journals as evidenced in the letter below from Kaufmann. The Niedenthal article goes into depth regarding the creation of Shulman’s “glamorous” image and the importance photography plays in an architectural monument achieving iconic status. Also noteworthy is Christie’s “Richard Neutra: The Kaufmann House” May 13, 2008 auction catalogue for its photos and illustrations and contextual historic background information. The following letter scanned from that catalog ironically authorizes Neutra only one publication in Architectural Forum. Kaufmann did not know with whom he was dealing in terms of publicizing his work as this bibliography contains 500 publications to date. Courtesy Neutra Archive, Dept. of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA. From Christie’s 2008 Auction Catalog in my collection. http://socalarchhistory.blogspot.com/2010/05/introduction-i-would-like-to.html 5 My bibliographic software is easily searchable and sortable. Recent searches of my Shulman and Neutra bibliographies for the Kaufmann House turned close to 500 hits which segued into this publication. Neutra’s relentless and strategic efforts to universally publish all of his work resulted in over 150 articles referencing the Kaufmann House (most with Shulman photos) from its completion in 1947 until his death in 1970 despite Kaufmann’s aforementioned aversion to publicity. Only 70 articles are documented from then until the purchase of the house for restoration by Beth and Richard Harris 25 years later. From 1995 to date there have been close to 275 articles resulting from the publicity surrounding the restoration efforts by the Harrises and their architects Marmol & Radziner, and the rekindled interest in Neutra’s work by architectural historians, Palm Springs Modernism, architectural preservation and modernism in general, and publicity surrounding the recent Christie’s Realty International auction. No bibliography is ever truly complete, especially one involving the work of publishing dynamos of the likes of Richard Neutra and Julius Shulman. This bibliography collects Kaufmann House-related items from all existing Neutra bibliographies and books by or about Neutra and countless modern architecture histories and anthologies. Despite my exhaustive on-line database searches, cover-to-cover journal and magazine searches at local research institutions and libraries, Neutra and Shulman archival searches at the UCLA Charles Young Research Library and Getty Research Institute, respectively, there is yet much material to be mined on these two idols of modernism in the research libraries of the world. Consequently this document should best be viewed as an attempt to stimulate further in-depth research on the Kaufmann House and possibly provide a starting point for a book on the subject. It is my intention to periodically update this compilation as new material continues to be uncovered. Internet searches for the Kaufmann House uncover thousands of additional references. Suggestions for improvements and submissions of new items are always welcomed. My contact information is on the title page. 6 Neutra drawing of the courier losing a set of Kaufmann House drawings on the way down Silver Lake Blvd. to the blueprint reproduction shop. Note the mosernist dwellings sketched in on the west hillside of the lake. For this poignant story go to the following link. CharredDrawings.pdf 7 Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House: An Annotated & Illustrated Bibliography (Uncorrected Proof – Not for Sale) 8 9 1947 Howard, L. (1947). "Glittering Among the Primitive Boulders." Los Angeles Times Home Magazine(Jun 15): Cover, D4-5. Includes a Julius Shulman cover photo and 9 article photos and a floor plan of Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House in Palm Springs. (1947). "Homes Inside Out." Time Magazine 49(Feb 3): 59. Article references and compares Richard Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright. Includes photo of Neutra and a Julius Shulman photo of the Neutra's Channel Heights Housing Project in San Pedro and Shulman photos of Neutra's Kaufmann House in Palm Springs. Neutra, R. (1947). "House in the Colorado Desert Designed by Richard Neutra." Architects' Journal 106(Aug 7): 119-123. Includes Julius Shulman photos of Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, Calif. (1947). "House in the Colorado Desert: Richard J. Neutra, architect." Architectural Review 102(Nov): 151-154. Includes Julius Shulman photos of Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, Calif. 10 Howard, L. (1947). "Los Angeles Now the Architectural Capital of the World." Los Angeles Times Home Magazine(Dec 7): H8-9. Includes 3 Julius Shulman photos of Richard Neutra's Tremaine House in Montecito, Kaufmann House in Palm Springs and Nesbitt House in Los Angeles. (1947). "Modern Homes Dot Village Landscape: Designed for Desert Living." Palm Springs Desert Sun(Mar 25): B-1. Includes Julius Shulman photos of Neutra's Miller House and 2 of the Kaufmann House, both in Palm Springs. Kaufmann, E. (1947). "Modern Rooms of the Last Fifty Years." Interiors CVI(7, Feb): 68-82. Includes a Julius Shulman photo of an all-purpose room in Richard Neutra's Kelton Apts.