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Mies van der Rohe's life has been turned into a graphic novel

2019-09-10T14:15:00-04:00

Agustín Ferrer Casas, a Spanish illustrator and writer began working on the graphic novel in 2015, in an endeavor to tell the story of Mies' life and career. Now in 2019, the book is ready for release.

Image by Agustín Ferrer Casas

Casas did his homework for the 4-year project, working from a robust body of material. "It is a fictional biography of his life, based on numerous writings by many other authors and Mies himself," he says in a blog post. "And I say fiction because in this book, I try to show not only part of his work but life, the personality of the architect. What made him a great architect and what he left behind in his ambition to build."

Image by Agustín Ferrer Casas

Norman Foster has also written the prologue for the artistic work, in which he reflects on his appreciation for Mies' projects. The book can be previewed on Issuu and purchased here.

Mies as Muse

2019-07-10T19:48:00-04:00

While the work of modern masters will always lurk in the shadows of contemporary design, few have been imitated or referenced as frequently as the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. His material palette and deceptively simple methods of spatial organization indirectly inspired subsequent generations of artists and architects to treat the architect's body of work as a blank canvas onto which they can individually project their own creative identities.

Almost Nothing, by Christian Bjone. Published by Park Books.

"Out of all the architects to use as a focus and collector of artist interests," author and architect Christian Bjone writes in his newest book, "Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is a lightning rod. His work, writings, teaching, students, and personal mythology lay waiting for a response from the worshipful, visually curious, obsessive and angry."

The title of Bjone's book, Almost Nothing, is a phrase often used to describe the products of Mies' labor: the nearly complete red...

Three famous modernist houses set the stage in this video art exhibition

2018-06-29T17:57:00-04:00

At Pioneer Works, in Brooklyn, the show “Gerard & Kelly: Clockwork” — photographs, text, installations, and live and filmed dance — references the three small structures and the intertwined careers of their architects: the Schindler House in West Hollywood, Calif., by R. M. Schindler; Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, Conn.; and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House in Plano, Ill.

Artists Brennan Gerard and Ryan Kelly's film Schindler/Glass uses three iconic modernist houses as the backdrop in which issues of gendered space and domestic intimacy are explored. The video piece is part of an ongoing series by the artists called “Modern Living". Shot on site at the Schindler House, the Glass House, and the Farnsworth House, performers interact with the complicated architectural histories in each structure.

Mies' McCormick House gets an update so that people can actually find it

2017-06-28T20:20:00-04:00

"Almost every day, a visitor will be standing in the house and will ask where the house is," said Jenny Gibbs, executive director of the Elmhurst Art Museum.

The McCormick House, located in the Chicago suburbs, was built by Mies van der Rohe in 1952 and is one of only three residences designed by the pioneering modernist architect. In 1994, the steel frame row house was moved to a nearby park where it was restored and opened to public as part of the Elmhurst Art Museum. While public access to the house has been an important success, an ongoing issue has come about from the new building that the museum added in 1997 along with the new corridors that linked the quarters to the Mies house. Basically, it masked the main facade of the house, camouflaging the prized architectural home and making many a visitor wonder where the McCormick House even was. The museum now plans to tear down the corridor, restore a carport at the house's entrance, and install trees and grass to more closely resemble the landscaping around the original house.

Iconic furniture, art, tableware and even a sausage grinder: hundreds of lots from Philip Johnson's Four Seasons head to auction

2016-07-13T13:33:00-04:00

If you've got a few thousand dollars lying around and want to grab a piece of lunchroom history, now's your chance.

Perfectly summed up by Vanity Fair as “Absolute ground zero for power lunching”, Philip Johnson and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's iconic Four Seasons restaurant will end its lease in Mies' Seagram building this summer. While the designation from the The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission protects the interior of the restaurant from any structural changes, the Four Seasons still has to unload an awful lot of bespoke furniture and tableware—everything from salt cellars to wine glasses to barstools and serving carts.

Over 800 pieces and sets from the Four Seasons kitchen and dining areas will be auctioned off on July 26 in New York. Rifling off just a few of the items and estimated values, there are: Garth and Ada Louise Huxtable flatware and serving carts ($1,000-1,500 for a set for 12, same estimate for 1 cart), Hans J. Wegner chairs ($2,000-3,000 for a set of t...