Exhibition Fact Sheet from the National Building Museum
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For Immediate Release:
March 31, 2008
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Eero Saarinen: Fact Sheet
Shaping the Future Exhibition Fact Sheet
Exhibition
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future
When
May 3, 2008 through August 23, 2008
Where
National Building Museum, first floor galleries
Overview
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future is a comprehensive exhibition of the work of one of the most prolific, unorthodox, and controversial masters of 20th-century architecture. The exhibition will examine the architect's life and wide-ranging career from the 1930s through his death in 1961. Saarinen's international array of buildings will be featured, as well as his path-breaking designs for furniture and his master plans for civic centers and universities.
Artifacts
The exhibition includes never-before-published drawings and documents, along with large-scale models, photographs, a full-scale façade mock-up, original furniture samples, and a specially-commissioned documentary film featuring interviews with some of Saarinen's prominent colleagues and collaborators.
Architectural projects highlighted in the exhibition include:
· 'Gateway Arch'(Jefferson National Expansion Memorial) St. Louis, Missouri, 1961-66
· Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia, 1958-62
· General Motors Technical Center, Warren, Michigan, 1949-56
· J. Irwin Miller House, Columbus, Indiana, 1957
· Ingalls Hockey Rink at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1953-58
· TWA Terminal at New York International (Now JFK) Airport, New York, NY, 1956-62
· John Deere & Company Headquarters, Moline, Illinois, 1961-64
· U.S. Embassy in London, England, 1959-60
· Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. (CBS) Building, New York, NY, 1960-65.
The exhibition also features examples of Saarinen's influential and still-popular furniture designs including the Tulip chair, part of Saarinen's Pedestal design series, and the Womb and Grasshopper chairs.
Publication
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, a 382-page book that accompanies the exhibition was edited by Donald Albrecht and Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, assistant professor at the Yale School of Architecture. The book recently received the Sir Banister Fletcher Award.
Biographical Information
Born in Finland in 1910, Eero Saarinen emigrated with his family to the U.S. in 1923. The young architect's career began in earnest in collaboration with his remarkably gifted family. Although his father, Eliel, was the architect of most of the original buildings comprising Cranbrook Educational Community outside of Detroit, the entire Saarinen family worked on it, and it remained an important touchstone through Eero's career, serving 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. With his father's death in 1950, Eero Saarinen officially launched his career as an independent architect, heading the extraordinarily active office of Eero Saarinen and Associates.
In 1953, Eero Saarinen was divorced from Lilian Swann Saarinen (1913-1995), a sculptor, and, the following year, married Aline B. Louchheim (1914-1972), an associate art critic for The New York Times. It was Louchheim who helped Saarinen meet his goal of becoming not only an architect "who contributes to culture" but also a "person of culture." Eero Saarinen's career was cut short by his death in 1961; at that time, nine major buildings were uncompleted, yet no clients severed their ties with the firm, and many of his greatest achievements were realized posthumously.
Credits
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future is organized by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York, the Museum of Finnish Architecture, and the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., with the support of Yale University School of Architecture. Donald Albrecht is the curator.
G. Martin Moeller, Jr. coordinated the exhibition at the National Building Museum.
Sponsors
Global Sponsor
Additional support for the touring exhibition is provided by Autodesk; Florence Knoll Bassett; Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro; Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown; Jeffrey Klein; Earle I. Mack; Ministry of Education, Finland; Marvin Suomi; Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, among others.
Local Sponsor
Patron Sponsor
Additional support for the presentation of the exhibition and associated educational programs at the National Building Museum is provided by the Dedalus Foundation; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, Carolyn Brody; Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Dr. Tina Alster and The Honorable Paul Frazer; A. Eugene and Barbara Kohn; Deborah Berke & Partners Architects; Nancy B. and Howard K. Cohen; Gensler; Richard Meier Foundation; Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority; Perkins + Will; Deedie and Rusty Rose; Sunrise Foundation; and STUDIOS Architecture, among others.
The exhibition is organized by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York; The Museum of Finnish Architecture, Helsinki; and the National Building Museum with the support of the Yale University School of Architecture. The Patron of the exhibition is Her Excellency Tarja Halonen, President of the Republic of Finland.
The National Building Museum is America’s leading cultural institution dedicated to exploring and celebrating architecture, design, engineering, construction, and planning. Chartered by Congress in 1980 and open to the public since 1985, the Museum has become a vital forum for exchanging ideas and information about the built environment through its exhibitions, education programs, and publications. The Museum is located at 401 F Street NW, Washington, D.C. Museum hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. Admission is free. Museum Shop. Café. Public inquiries: 202.272.2448 or visit www.nbm.org.
