WINDSHIELD: RICHARD NEUTRA'S HOUSE FOR THE JOHN NICHOLAS BROWN FAMILY TO OPEN NOVEMBER 10 AT HARVARD'S ARTHUR M. SACKLER MUSEUM AND TRAVEL TO PROVIDENCE, WASHINGTON, DC, AND PITTSBURGH
Exhibition Explores Little-Known Milestone in Neutra's Career and Landmark in the History of Modern American Architecture
More than 130 Objects including Correspondence, Models, Photographs, Furnishings, Film, and Original Drawings of One of Neutra's Most Significant Houses
Cambridge, MA, July 6, 2001 - The first exhibition exploring the design, construction process, and role of a deeply involved client in the creation of Richard Neutra's first building on the east coast of the United States, Windshield: Richard Neutra's House for the John Nicholas Brown Family will premiere on November 10 at Harvard's Arthur M. Sackler Museum. Commissioned by John Nicholas Brown and Anne Kinsolving Brown in the mid-1930s as their summer house on Fishers Island, New York, Windshield played a significant role in the development of modern architecture in the United States and in shaping Neutra's design philosophy. Completed in 1938, the house was severely damaged by a hurricane a few months later, rebuilt, and subsequently destroyed by fire in 1973. It has therefore remained largely overlooked. However, two years of almost daily correspondence between the architect and his client make Windshield one of the best-documented houses in 20th-century architectural history.
Organized by the Harvard University Art Museums in collaboration with the Harvard Design School and the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Windshield will be on view at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum through January 27, 2002, before traveling to The RISD Museum, Providence; the National Building Museum, Washington, DC; and the Carnegie Museum of Art, Heinz Architectural Center, Pittsburgh.
The exhibition will bring together more than 130 objects, many of which have never been exhibited before, including original renderings, sketches, working drawings, and blueprints by Neutra; examples of the intense correspondence between Neutra and John Nicholas Brown; exterior and interior photographs of the finished house; computer-generated renderings of the lively interior color scheme and exterior views; and examples of art work, furnishings, furniture, and light fixtures the Browns chose for the house. Two architectural models will be featured, as well as excerpts from home movies shot by John Nicholas Brown, documenting his and Anne's encounter with modern architecture and their life at Windshield.
Named for the extensive use of glass on its exterior, Windshield represented a radical break with conventional American notions of residential design, especially within the conservative environment of Fishers Island. Anne and John Nicholas Brown of Providence, RI were among the very first to bring furniture by the Scandinavian designer Alvar Aalto to the United States and to have two of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion bathrooms installed in their house. As activist patrons of contemporary art and architecture, the Browns were among those enlightened philanthropists whose engagement was crucial to the development of modernism in the United States.
"Because it was destroyed by fire in 1973, one of the most intriguing residences of the 20th-century has not received the scholarly and public attention it deserves," notes James Cuno, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. "This exhibition traces the history of a landmark in modern American architecture, shaped by the symbiotic relationship between a visionary architect and his avant-garde, perspicacious, and highly knowledgeable client who introduced Neutra to the east coast."
"The exceptional range of original material included in this exhibition makes Windshield a rich case study in the development of modern architecture and its patronage in this country," says Jorge Silvetti, chairman of the Department of Architecture at the Harvard Design School.
"Windshield is a remarkable building for many different reasons," adds Dietrich Neumann, professor of architectural history at Brown University and chief curator of the exhibition. "Neutra's first building in the United States outside of the warm climates of California or Texas, Windshield was the result of what was probably the most collaborative design process in the architect's career and put his evolving theory of architecture to the test. Windshield reflects a deliberate search for a modern architectural style succinctly based on American accomplishments and characteristics."
EXHIBITION OVERVIEW
Highlights of the exhibition include rarely seen, original interior and exterior color perspective renderings by Neutra, sketches, working drawings, and blueprints. Some of the working drawings bear the traces of the collaboration between Neutra and John Nicholas Brown and show notes from both of them. Regretting the loss of continuous open space for reasons of practicality, Neutra published an altered, idealized version of the floor plan when the house was finished. The accurate floor plan as built is shown for the first time in the exhibition and accompanying catalogue.
The construction process and finished house are documented in a series of exterior and interior photographs showing Windshield's many innovations, including two prefabricated Buckminster Fuller Dymaxion bathroom units. Windshield was one of the first houses in the United States that employed aluminum casement windows, and the Browns embraced such technical novelties as a film screening room, a Capehart radio, and a meteorological station.
Two architectural models will be placed at the center of the exhibition. One is the original model that was produced in 1938 for the Museum of Modern Art's exhibition on American art in Paris and later acquired by The RISD Museum. The other is a larger-scale, highly detailed model commissioned by RISD especially for this exhibition.
The exhibition provides insight into the collaboration between Neutra and his client. Most of their correspondence-which consists of about 150 letters, memorandums, and telegrams, and is an unparalleled foundation for any research on Neutra, the Browns as patrons, and the development of Windshield-has been preserved in the Brown family archive at the John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization at Brown University in Providence and the Neutra archive at UCLA. Excerpts from the correspondence discussing details of design and illustrating John Nicholas Brown's deep involvement in questions of siting, layout, function, structure, materials, and lighting are displayed for the first time in this exhibition.
The exhibition also presents a selection of furniture and artwork that the Browns added to the house, including two Alvar Aalto bent plywood armchairs, a selection of table and floor lamps by the New York-based designer Kurt Versen, a bronze sculpture by Georg Kolbe, and several watercolors by Lyonel Feininger.
Windshield's interior was a color symphony dominated by harmonies of gray, silver, white, and black accentuated by reds, yellows, and blues of different hues and intensities. The interior color selection, which was Mrs. Brown's domain, is shown through digital color renderings of the house, which are displayed in a special screening area in the exhibition. Also featured are excerpts from home movies shot by John Nicholas Brown on a trip to California visiting Neutra and then on Fishers Island in the 1930s and 1940s.
Objects displayed in the exhibition are drawn from the collections of The RISD Museum, the John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization at Brown University, the Special Collections of the Young Library at UCLA, and private lenders.
To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, J. Carter Brown, the second of the Browns' three children and director emeritus of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, will give a special lecture about Windshield at the Harvard Design School on Friday, November 16, at 6:30 p.m. The lecture will take place in Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium, 48 Quincy Street and it is open to the public. For general information on this event, call 617-495-4784.
ABOUT WINDSHIELD
Windshield marks a seminal moment in the development of modern architecture in the United States. A contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in Mill Run, PA, and Walter Gropius' house in Lincoln, MA, it illustrated the search for a new American architecture based on massproduction, prefabrication, modern materials, and functionality. By the mid-1930s, Neutra had established a reputation as one of America's most independently modern architects, and his formal language was progressing beyond that of his European colleagues presented in the 1932 International Style exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Windshield was most significant in the development of Neutra's design philosophy as it was both inspiration and testing ground for his evolving theory of architecture. Neutra's first house in a climate different from that of California and Texas, Windshield was severely damaged by a powerful hurricane that swept the east coast in 1938. This experience caused Neutra to shift his philosophy from a strong interest in prefabrication and mass production to a greater concern with regional differences in the conditions of architectural production. At Windshield, Neutra also pursued a more genuine understanding of functionalism as it related to the needs and expectations of his clients and the conditions set by materials and structure.
Given the strong presence of colonial-style architecture in New England and the conservative tastes prevailing on Fishers Island, the Browns' choice of west coast architect Richard Neutra for their house was controversial. Since the turn of the century, well-established and wealthy families had chosen the Island as the destination for their summer vacation, and their luxurious dwellings reflected an emphasis on continuity and tradition. Characterized by a remarkable intellectual curiosity, the Browns were receptive to innovative ideas in art and architecture and determined to defend these against established conventions.
John Nicholas Brown (1900-1979), a member of one of America's oldest and most influential families closely linked to the history and economic development of Rhode Island, graduated from Harvard in 1922. He maintained a keen interest in medieval architecture and sculpture, collected Old Master drawings, and soon became involved in the excitement about modernism. He was a founding trustee of the Harvard Society for Contemporary Art, an organization founded in 1928 by three Harvard students, John Walker III, Lincoln Kirstein, and Edward M. Warburg, to introduce the American public to contemporary art. The program included exhibitions devoted to German expressionism, Mexican realism, the Bauhaus, and Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxian House. In 1929, John Nicholas Brown joined the junior advisory committee of the newly founded Museum of Modern Art in New York. One of his pocket diaries reveals that he attended the opening of the landmark 1932 International Style exhibition, which featured the work of such seminal figures as Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright, and included Neutra's Health House of 1929 in a section devoted to emerging architecture in California.
Anne Kinsolving Brown (1906-1985) was from Baltimore and shared John Nicholas Brown's passion for music. She played the violin and was a music critic for the Baltimore News. Imbued with an avant-garde spirit, the Browns were looking to translate their interest in modernism into a custom-designed house. Neutra (1892-1970) was known as a leading modern architect who explored industrial materials such as steel, glass, and concrete to create new habitats for modern life. When the Browns commissioned Neutra in October 1936, they knew his work only from photographs but had confidence in his imagination and aesthetic ability and thought he would take a pragmatic approach to the project.
From the early planning stages, Anne and John Nicholas Brown remained deeply involved in the planning and design of Windshield. When Neutra asked them at the outset for a description of their habits, lifestyle, and ideas for the house, they composed a seven-page memorandum providing insights into their everyday lives and a precise list of functions that the house should fulfill. It marked the beginning of one of the most enthralling architectural dialogues of the 20th century, during which John Nicholas Brown claimed the role of a technically adept collaborator more than any other client in Neutra's career.
The Browns were looking for a house that was convenient and comfortable to live in with their children and staff, but they wanted to avoid any ostentatious luxury. Windshield emerged as a two-story, flat-roofed building of 138 feet in length, supported by a standardized timber frame and separated into a southern and a northern part on each floor. On the first floor, the southern wing contained the entrance hall, providing access to a guestroom, music room, den, and dining room. The music room, flanked to the south by a screened porch, offered spectacular views of the harbor and Long Island sound. The northern part of the rectangular plan contained kitchen, pantry, children's dining room, and servants' rooms. The children's and additional guest bedrooms, as well as the Browns' private quarters, were located on the second floor.
Among Windshield's many innovative features were its horizontal aluminum casement windows, which had just been introduced to the market. Every detail had to be custom designed, and the need for movable mosquito screens that would not obstruct the opening wings posed enormous challenges. The Browns also opted for two of the prefabricated bathroom units that had been developed by Buckminster Fuller for the Phelps Dodge Corporation. The exterior of the house was clad in horizontal wooden clapboard covered in layers of shiny, silver-gray aluminum paint. This gave the house a "machine identity," presented a stark contrast to the surrounding landscape, and exemplified Neutra's growing interest in using modern American materials.
The Browns moved into Windshield in August 1938 and were enthusiastic about its overall appearance. Only a few weeks later, the most powerful hurricane since 1815 hit the east coast, and Windshield suffered severe damage. Windows were blown out, and a section of the roof was lifted off. John Nicholas Brown hired engineers from MIT to consult on the reconstruction of the house, and the Browns moved in for a second time in July 1939. In 1963, when the children were grown and Mr. and Mrs. Brown decided to spend their summers again at the family's residence in Newport, RI, they sold the house to the Fishers Island Development Corporation. On New Year's Eve in 1973, the house was destroyed by fire.
ABOUT THE CATALOGUE
The exhibition is accompanied by Richard Neutra's Windshield House, co-published by Yale University Press and the Harvard Design School. The scholarly book includes essays by Joyce M. Botelho, director of the John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization at Brown University; J. Carter Brown, the second of the Browns' three children and director emeritus of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; Sarah Williams Goldhagen, lecturer in architectural history at the Harvard Design School; Neutra scholar and UCLA professor Thomas S. Hines; Thomas Michie, curator of decorative arts at The RISD Museum; and Dietrich Neumann, professor of architectural history at Brown University and chief curator of the exhibition.
TOUR ITINERARY
Windshield: Richard Neutra's House for the John Nicholas Brown Family will be on view at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum through January 27, 2002, before traveling to The RISD Museum, Providence, RI (February 15-April 14, 2002); the National Building Museum, Washington, DC (May 25 -August 18, 2002); and the Carnegie Museum of Art, Heinz Architectural Center, Pittsburgh, PA (March 1-May 25, 2003).
HARVARD UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUMS
The Harvard University Art Museums is one of the world's leading arts institutions. It is distinguished by the range and depth of its collections, its groundbreaking exhibitions, and the original research of its staff. For more than a century, it has been the nation's premier training ground for museum professionals and scholars and is renowned for its seminal and ongoing role in the development of the discipline of art history in this country.
The three art museums at Harvard-the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Fogg Art Museum-are all outstanding institutions in their respective fields. The Fogg also houses the Straus Center for Conservation, long a leader in the research and development of scientific and technology-based analysis of art, as well as the U.S. headquarters for the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, an ongoing excavation project in western Turkey. The 150,000 objects in the art museums' collections range in date from ancient times to the present and come from Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Each museum also has an active program of special exhibitions that promotes new scholarship in its areas of focus.
As an integral component of the Harvard University community, the three art museums serve as a resource for all students, adding a special dimension to their areas of study. The public is welcome to experience the collections and special exhibitions as well as to enjoy lectures, symposia, and other programs in the various museums.
The collections are divided among ten curatorial areas: Ancient Art; Architecture and Design; Asian Art; Busch-Reisinger Museum; Drawings; Islamic and Later Indian Art; Modern and Contemporary Art; Paintings, Sculpture and Decorative Arts; Prints; and Photographs. Developed with an emphasis on their value for teaching and research, these holdings are a uniquely broad and rich resource that is continually enhanced through gifts and acquisitions. Together, the holdings of the three museums comprise one of the finest university art collections in the world, with resources rivaling those of many major public museums.
The Straus Center for Conservation is the oldest fine arts conservation treatment, research, and training facility in the United States. The Center specializes in the conservation of paintings, sculpture, decorative objects, historic and archaeological artifacts, and works of art on paper. Its team members are pioneers in developing new applications of digital imaging in conservation. The Center's state-of-the-art facilities support a broad range of analytical services.
HARVARD DESIGN SCHOOL
The Harvard Design School is the nation's leading center for education, information, research, and technical expertise on architecture and the built environment. Its flagship graduate programs provide masters and doctoral degree programs in three integrated departments: Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Design. Established in 1936, the School educates a broad range of design professionals, policy makers, government officials, business leaders, and the public about design and its impact on our lives through a rich array of conferences, exhibitions, professional development and executive education programs, and research activities.
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For more information on this appointment or the Harvard University Art Museums, please contact:
Matthew Barone
Harvard University Art Museums
tel 617-495-2397; fax 617-496-9762
mbarone@fas.harvard.edu
or
Kim Gilbert/Allison Derusha
Resnicow Schroeder Associates
tel 212-671-5157; fax 212-595-8354
kgilbert@resnicowschroeder.com
aderusha@resnicowschroeder.com