Mid-century Sign Language
Los Angeles art director and photographer Marc Shur has posted a stunning set of outdoor advertising signs that date from about the Forties through the Sixties on his Flckr set. The photo here shows a sign that incorporates a clock, located on Ventura Boulevard in Encino, California, and is just one of a collection of dozens of photos of outstanding retro signs you can spend the better part of a hour or so enjoying.
Marc Shur, Time to Buy (2012). Copyright: Marc Shur.
Darwin D. Martin House’s Top 11 Events of 2011
As a new year begins, Eric Jackson-Forsberg, curator of the Darwin D. Martin House Complex remembers the institution’s top news and events of the past year. One highlight was a visit from legendary Taliesin photographer Pedro Guerrero and his wife, pictured below.
Pedro Guerrero and his wife, Dixie (2011). Photographer unknown.
Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fu_WUKI-RGQ/TvNzrWvpVLI/AAAAAAAABDA/N61h1s8Vsvc/s1600/IMGP3400.JPG
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Beth Sholom Synagogue
Prairie Mod has recently posted a photographic virtual tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Beth Sholom Synagogue in the FEATURES section of their site. See the tour »
Frank Lloyd Wright, Beth Sholom Synagogue (1954), Elkins Park, PA.
Want to know more about this masterpiece from late in the architect’s career? Outta The Way has posted an informative article on the Beth Sholom Synagogue.
Vote for Pedro!
Last month Frank Lloyd Wright’s personal photographer, Pedro E. Guerrero, visited the Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, New York. According to Mark Sommer’s article in the Buffalo News, Guerrero was impressed with the complex’s restoration: ” ‘Marvelous, absolutely spellbinding. It’s breathtaking it’s so beautiful,’ Guerrero said.”
Pedro E. Guerrero at the Darwin D. Martin House, Buffalo, NY, August 30, 2011. Credit: Harry Scull, Jr., Buffalo News
Source: http://www.buffalonews.com/incoming/article538652.ece/BINARY/w620/flwrightphotog.jpg
Read the entire article. Thank you to The Weekly Wright-up for sharing this news.
Read more on the Darwin D. Martin House, and Mr. Wright’s relationship with Darwin D. Martin.
Pedro E. Guerrero, David Wright House, Phoenix, AZ (1952).
Source: http://www.guerrerophoto.com/Wright-Architecture-II-Gallery/images/11dWexterior1-1952.jpg
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson Wax Research Tower
Life photographer, Eliot Elisofon’s photographs of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson Wax Research Tower from November 1950 for Life Magazine are the subject of a recent blog post from our friends at Aqua Velvet. See more outstanding photographs and read more about the structure on the blog. Also a thank you goes out to Douglas Anders at the Frank Lloyd Wright Newsblog for bringing this article to our attention.
Frank Lloyd Wright. Johnson Wax Research Tower (1944-50). Racine, Wisconsin
Photographer: Eliot Elisofon, November 1950
Source: http://aqua-velvet.com/blog/images/2011/07_july/29_flw2.jpg
Graffiti Archaeology
Thanks to Scott Beale of laughingsquid.com for sharing a link to Daniel Feral’s diagram below and the link to a very interesting resource related to the street art of Graffiti. Graffiti Archaeology takes an evolutive look at Graffiti, specifically how art on particular urban exterior walls changes over time. The Graffiti Archaeology website describes itself as “a project devoted to the study of graffiti-covered walls as they change over time. The core of the project is a timelapse collage, made of photos of graffiti taken at the same location by many different photographers over a span of several years. The photos were taken in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and other cities, over a time span from the late 1990’s to the present.”
The Graffiti Archaeology project showcases the work of over sixty artists and photographers. Caution: The Graffiti Archaeology website can be addictive, and once you start looking, you might find it hard to stop.
Daniel Feral, GRAFFITI & STREET ART (2010). In celebration of the 75th Anniversary Alfred H. Barr’s CUBISM & ABSTRACT ART diagram.
Source: http://www.fadwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/photo_1.jpg
Delano Hotel, Miami Beach
This photo taken by Australian photographer David Thompson shows the Ritz Plaza Hotel (1940) L Murray Dixon, architect on the left, with Robert Swartburg’s Delano Hotel (1947) at Miami’s South Beach.
Photo: David Thompson. Ritz Plaza Hotel (1940) at left and Delano Hotel (1947) on right, South Beach, Miami, FL.
Source: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3614/5823314939_5109aac784.jpg
Visit David Thompson’s Art Deco Buildings blog for more on the Delano Hotel.
Ararat Hotel, Victoria, Austrailia
Photographs of another stunning art deco building from our Austrailian friend, David Thompson. This time it’s the Ararat Hotel in Victoria, Austrailia circa 1939.
Visit David’s blog Art Deco Buildings to read more about and view additional photos of the Ararat Hotel.
Ararat Hotel (circa 1939). Photo by David Thompson
Source: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5136/5496082890_5ea7401342_m.jpg
“Visual Acoustics” Backstory
This is our last in a series of posts related to “Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman.” Architect Leo Marmol, FAIA and film maker Eric Bricker discuss the genius of Julius Shulman and the photographer’s impact on modernism. The interview was recorded in Austin, Texas in 2010 and produced by Design Within Reach.
Shulman Speaks
You’ve read the post, now hear Julius Shulman in his own words as he tells the story behind his iconic “Case Study House #22 - Two Girls.” The interview, one of Shulman’s last at age 98, was part of a series created for the Annenberg Space for Photography inaugural exhibit in 2009.
