Richard Joseph Neutra

Thomas S. Hines

"An important contribution to the understanding of 'modernist' culture in the United States and a perceptive analysis of the achievement of a major American architect, with a European background and an international reputation."--William Jordy, Brown University "This study, part biography and part architectural analysis, is a modern masterpiece of architectural history. The prose is lucid and sometimes elegant--very much like the work of Richard Neutra which it so brilliantly examines."--Peter Gay, Yale University "An important contribution to the understanding of 'modernist' culture in the United States and a perceptive analysis of the achievement of a major American architect, with a European background and an international reputation."--William Jordy, Brown University

A Biography and History

Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture

Daniel Burnham was the man who is largely responsible for the appearance of Chicago today, particularly the lakefront parks. With his partner, John W. Root, he designed and built the first skyscrapers and the World's Columbian Exposition.

Architect and Planner

Burnham of Chicago

A comprehensive and fascinating look at the history of the Museum of Modern Art’s Architecture and Design Department under the leadership of the influential curator Arthur Drexler. Arthur Drexler (1921-1987) served as the curator and director of the Architecture and Design Department at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) from 1951 until 1986—the longest curatorship in the museum’s history. Over four decades he conceived and oversaw trailblazing exhibitions that not only reflected but also anticipated major stylistic developments. Although several books cover the roles of MoMA’s founding director, Alfred Barr, and the department’s first curator, Philip Johnson, this is the only in-depth study of Drexler, who gave the department its overall shape and direction. During Drexler’s tenure, MoMA played a pivotal role in examining the work and confirming the reputations of twentieth-century architects, among them Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Richard Neutra, Marcel Breuer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Exploring unexpected subjects—from the design of automobiles and industrial objects to a reconstruction of a Japanese house and garden—Drexler’s boundary-pushing shows promoted new ideas about architecture and design as modern arts in contemporary society. The department’s public and educational programs projected a culture of popular accessibility, offsetting MoMA’s reputation as an elitist institution. Drawing on rigorous archival research as well as author Thomas S. Hines’s firsthand experience working with Drexler, Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art analyzes how MoMA became a touchstone for the practice and study of midcentury architecture.

The Arthur Drexler Years, 1951–1986

Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art

2009 marks the centennial of the influential Plan of Chicago. Designed by Daniel H. Burnham, coauthored by Edward Bennett and produced in collaboration with the Commercial Club of Chicago, the forward-thinking plan proposed many of the city’s most distinctive features, including its lakefront parks and roadways, the Magnificent Mile, and Navy Pier. As a result, by the time he died in 1912, Burnham was one of the most famous architects in America as well as an internationally renowned city planner. Thomas S. Hines’s book is at once both a biography of Burnham and a vivid portrait of the birth and growth of an American city. In commemoration of the historic anniversary of Burnham’s Plan, this edition of Burnham of Chicago includes a new introduction by American history scholar, Neil Harris. “Indeed, the book as a whole is a model of the balanced portrait, sure of Burnham’s importance but always conscious of his failings.”—Paul Goldberger, New York Times Book Review “In every sense this is the definitive biography.”—Harry Weese, Chicago Tribune “Professor Hines has written what may prove to be an epoch-making book in the study of American civilization.”—Reyner Banham, Times Literary Supplement

Thomas S. Hines

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