Karen Gysin Online Press Room: press.walkerart.org

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1 NEWS Press Contacts: Karen Gysin Online Press Room: press.walkerart.org Lynette Nyman Online Press Room: artsmia.org/press WALKER ART CENTER AND MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS JOINTLY PRESENT FIRST RETROSPECTIVE OF FINNISH- BORN AMERICAN ARCHITECT EERO SAARINEN TRIBUTE EXPLORES SAARINEN S ENTIRE OUTPUT Minneapolis, June 6, 2008 On a four-year international tour of Europe and the United States, the landmark exhibition : Shaping the Future the first major museum retrospective of this Finnish-born American architect s short but prolific career will be jointly presented in Minneapolis at the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts September 13, 2008 January 4, with A Combined Living-Dining-Room- Study project model, created for Architectural Forum magazine, circa 1937 Photographer unknown Courtesy Collection. Manuscripts and Organized by The Finnish Cultural Institute in New York, The National Building Museum in Washington, DC, and The Museum of Finnish Architecture with the support of Yale University School of Architecture, the exhibition features never-before-seen sketches, working drawings, models, photographs, furnishings, films, and other ephemera from various archives and private collections. Exploring his entire output of more than 50 built and unbuilt projects, the exhibition provides a unique opportunity to consider Saarinen s innovations in the use of new materials, technologies, and construction techniques within the larger context of postwar modern architecture. In this collaborative presentation, the Walker Art Center will feature Saarinen s furnishings and residences as well as his designs for churches and academic and corporate campuses, while the Minneapolis Institute of Arts will present his designs for airports, memorials, and embassies, as well as his early work within the context of its modernist design collection. EERO SAARINEN: SHAPING THE FUTURE NO. 72 1

2 was one of the most celebrated, unorthodox, and controversial masters of 20th-century architecture. In many ways he was the architect of what has been dubbed the American century, the post- World War II era when the United States emerged as an influential world superpower. Although Saarinen s most iconic and publicly recognizable design is the soaring Gateway Arch in St. Louis, his work spanned many different areas of architectural practice, including the design of airports, corporate and academic campuses, churches and private residences, and furniture. He was criticized by some architects and critics at the time for having a different style for each job, a strategy that rejected the dogma of an orthodox modernism. His resulting body of work includes such masterpieces as the sweeping concrete curves of the TWA Terminal ( ) at JFK Airport; the grandeur of the General Motors Technical Center ( ), dubbed an industrial Versailles by the media; and the iconic Womb Chair and Ottoman ( ) or the innovative Pedestal ( ) series of tables and chairs, both for Knoll and all classics of midcentury modernism. United States Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis, Missouri, under construction, 1965 From the Collections of Arteaga Photos Ltd. was born in Finland in 1910 and emigrated to the United States with his family in His career began in collaboration with his remarkably gifted family: his father, Eliel ( ), the architect of Helsinki s main train station and many other prominent buildings; his mother, Louise, or Loja ( ), a textile designer and sculptor; and his sister, Eva-Lisa, or Pipsan ( ), a designer and interior decorator. Eliel s design for the Cranbrook campus in suburban Detroit, which the entire family worked on, would remain an important touchstone throughout Eero s career. It served as a model of artistic collaboration and the conviction that architecture must encompass the total environment, from landscapes to buildings to furnishings and decorative objects. Equally influential on Eero s later efforts to enrich modern design were his sculpture classes in Paris ( ), his architectural education at Yale University ( ), and his subsequent travels in Europe, Egypt, and Mexico to see some of the great monuments of architectural history. During the 1930s and 1940s helped introduce modern architecture to the mainstream of American practice through his buildings and competition schemes, many of them done in partnership with his father and his Cranbrook colleagues. This collaboration between father and son proved highly fruitful, offering the younger Saarinen opportunities to explore his ideas and gain renown as a modern architect. The Saarinens most prominent success was the 1939 winning, but unbuilt, submission for the prestigious Smithsonian Gallery of Art to be built on the Mall in Washington, D.C. s output in the 1940s included wartime housing projects in collaboration with his father and brother-in-law, J. Robert F. Swanson ( ). At the same time, working independently in America and Finland or with partners such as Charles Eames ( ) and Ralph Rapson ( ), Saarinen created winning designs for furniture and housing competitions. EERO SAARINEN: SHAPING THE FUTURE NO. 72 2

3 After his father s death in 1950, officially launched his career as an independent architect, heading the office of and Associates throughout the decade. Although his career was cut short by his death in 1961, leaving nine major structures uncompleted, no clients severed their ties with the firm, and many of Saarinen s greatest achievements were realized posthumously. Deere and Company Administrative Center, Moline, Illinois, circa 1963 Photographer Harold Corsini Courtesy Collection. Manuscripts and Saarinen s designs for airport terminals, embassies, and national memorials helped create potent expressions of American identity through his use of dynamic forms and structural innovations. He made the earliest architectural use of self-rusting Cor-ten steel and designed the first mirror glass curtain wall and the world s thinnest exterior wall panel. Saarinen also pioneered, and ultimately mastered, the development of a new office typology: the corporate campus. Occupying pristine rural settings, these business complexes reinvented the traditional country estate and the American college campus in terms of modern corporate programs, similarly evoking power and authority. The 25-building, $100-million General Motors Technical Center in suburban Detroit, completed in 1956, was Saarinen s first realized example of this new type. It earned him much acclaim, including the cover of Time magazine, and established the design and public relations strategies for future corporate commissions, from IBM to Bell Laboratories and John Deere and Company. sought to forge a sense of community and common identity in his designs for college campuses, churches, and theaters. His influential religious and cultural buildings adopted open or centralized plans and iconic forms that unified clergy and congregation, performer and audience. In his master plans and buildings for such colleges and universities as Vassar, Concordia, and Yale, his alma mater, Saarinen aimed to balance student comfort and privacy with amenities that encouraged social interaction. Miller House, Columbus, Indiana, circa 1957 Photographer Ezra Stoller Ezra Stoller/ESTO Although not well known for his domestic architecture, Saarinen produced important residential designs that underscored his ability to advance the modernist ideals of the free plan, continuity between inside and out, and the use of industrial building materials and methods. In 1937 he designed A Combined Living-Dining Room-Study project for Architectural Forum and during World War II participated in competitions and initiatives that sought to develop housing prototypes for returning veterans and their families. Saarinen s explorations of modern domestic architecture culminated in 1957 with the completion of the Miller House in which he achieved, along with interior designer Alexander Girard, what House and Garden magazine described as a visual richness to delight the eye. designed furniture throughout his entire career, applying the same keen interest in exploring new materials, innovative construction techniques, and sculptural forms that he demonstrated in his buildings. While still in his teens, he designed furnishings for buildings at Cranbrook. His breakthrough, however, came in 1940, when he and Charles Eames EERO SAARINEN: SHAPING THE FUTURE NO. 72 3

4 won first prizes in the Museum of Modern Art s Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition. Although their molded plywood chairs for the competition were not mass-produced, their designs laid the groundwork for Saarinen s postwar furniture for Knoll Associates. His designs, from the Womb chair to the Pedestal series of sculptural chairs and tables, have become icons of postwar design, representing what Playboy magazine in 1961 called the exuberance, finesse, and high imagination of American furniture design at mid-century. and Associates achieved international acclaim, attracting and nurturing the best young talents from around the world, many of whom went on to have significant practices of their own. Patent drawing for pedestal chairs, June 7, 1960 Courtesy Collection. Manuscripts and Documentary Film Screened at both venues, : Shaping the Future, an 18-minute documentary film by KDN Films produced by Bill Ferehawk, Bill Kubota, and Ed Moore, chronicles the life and work of the architect, focusing not only on his buildings in their cultural context but also the collaborative, 24- hour-a-day process that produced them. Interviews with more than a dozen people tell the Saarinen story in a search to understand his genius and his little-understood, yet influential, design process. Included are personal anecdotes and commentary by key figures in Saarinen s life: intimate family friend Florence Knoll Bassett; critic Vincent Scully; and architects such as Kevin Roche, Cesar Pelli, and Ralph Rapson. Publication : Shaping the Future is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue that addresses the themes and framework of the exhibition, with sections devoted to building types and the architect s milieu. An opening essay written by co-editors Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen and Donald Albrecht introduces the themes of the book, which is composed of two main sections, an annotated chronology, selected Saarinen writings, and appreciations by former collaborators. Included are essays by a team of researchers and scholars that situate Saarinen and his work in his social, intellectual, and artistic milieu, as well as the most complete portfolio of Saarinen projects to date presenting a chronological survey of more than 100 projects. The catalogue, published by Yale University Press, is available at the Walker Art Center Shop and the Museum Shop at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. $65. Web Site eerosaarinen.net Symposium A major symposium examining Eero s work and legacy will be held October 11 12, 2008, at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Walker Art Center, and Christ Church Lutheran in Minneapolis (designed in 1949 by Eliel and with an addition by of 1962). Talks given by curators and historians will focus on Saarinen s innovation in the areas of corporate architecture, media and branding, building materials, EERO SAARINEN: SHAPING THE FUTURE NO. 72 4

5 and interdisciplinary partnerships with landscape architects and interior and furniture designers. Organization : Shaping the Future is organized by The Finnish Cultural Institute in New York, The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., and The Museum of Finnish Architecture with the support of Yale University School of Architecture. The exhibition is curated by Donald Albrecht, independent curator and Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of the City of New York. TWA Terminal, New York International (now John F. Kennedy International) Airport, New York, circa 1962 Photographer Balthazar Korab Balthazar Korab Ltd. Funding ASSA ABLOY is the global sponsor of : Shaping the Future. Additional support is provided by Florence Knoll Bassett, Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown, Jeffrey Klein, Earle I. Mack, Marvin Suomi, anonymous donors, and the Ministry of Education, Finland. : Shaping the Future is co-presented in Minneapolis by the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Major support for the Minneapolis presentation is provided by Judy Dayton. Walker Art Center programming is made possible by its Premier Partners: Best Buy, General Mills, Piper Jaffray, Target, Star Tribune, and WCCO-TV. The Walker Art Center is located at 1750 Hennepin Avenue where Hennepin meets Lyndale one block off Highways I-94 and I-394, in Minneapolis. For public information, call , or visit walkerart.org. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is located at 2400 Third Avenue South in Minneapolis. Museum hours: Sunday, 11 am 5 pm; Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 am 5 pm; Thursday, 10 am 9 pm; Monday closed. For more information, call or visit artsmia.org. EERO SAARINEN: SHAPING THE FUTURE NO. 72 5