Charles and Ray Eames: London

Author(s): TANYA HARROD

Source: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 158, No. 1355, Northern European art (February
2016), pp. 138-140
Published by: Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.
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EXHIBITIONS

see Alphonse Legros's interpretation express the dynamism (no. 82;

of creative thought by luministic effects. Both demonstrated the
c.i 88 5-90; Scottish National means Gallery,
of more rapid Edin-
and flexible techniques profound interrelationship between techni-
burgh) of Raphael's Heads (it of the to
is enough Virgin and
think of Leonardo's use of pencal experimentation in the fields of drawing
Child (no. 5 5; British Museum). and ink) in aEven today
new vision of the artist's work and printmaking. It is worth adding that in
past models continue to inspire that combined the intellect,
artists, as the
inidea, the hand telling the history of metalpoint one cannot
the case of Carol Prusa, who took up
and experience, metal-
all under the aegis of disegno leave
, out the parallel technical innovations
point after studying Leonardo's defined byStudy for
Vasari as the the
father of the three artsin printmaking.
setting of the ' Adoration of (painting,
the sculpture
Magi' in and the
architecture). The One of the many merits of this exhibition
Uffizi and which led to her make Limina of fact that silverpoint appears on two rare pages was the opportunity it provided to study the
201 1 (p.235, fig. 7). development of a drawing medium and the
ofVasari's Libro de} Disegni (nos. 43- 44; Fig. 6 5)
Hugo Chapman writes that 'Metalpoint, which also includes lead point, shows that as various a challenges it set the artists to overcome
more than any other graphic technique, collector he still appreciated techniques that its limitations, ranging, as it did, over a wide
honed the mental and practical skills required were virtually obsolete. cultural and geographic area and different
in disegno as it demanded careful calculation In discussing the Master of the Housebook epochs. One can but hope that such an exhi-
how to realize an artistic conception within its (fl. c.i 470- 1500), Giulia Bartrum writes: 'It bition will encourage a revival of metalpoint,
structures' (p. 105). It is interesting to ask whyseems very probable that the artist developed producing genuinely original art quite inde-
this, the most linear of techniques, did not his lightly scratched drypoint technique as pendenta of the medium's traditional use.
have a revival in Florence in the 1560s, when means of replicating images of the type por-
the theory of disegno as lineamentum was devel- trayed in his silverpoint drawings' (p. 69). The 1 Catalogue: Drawing in Silver and Gold. Leonardo to
oped, above all in Alessandro Allori's Ē pńmo relationship of metalpoint with engraving Jasper Johns. Edited by Stacey Sell and Hugo Chapman,
with contributions by Kimberly Schenck, John Oliver
libro de ' ragionamenti delle regole del disegno , aswould seem to have been close for other
artists too. Hand, Giulia Bartrum, An van Camp, Bruce Weber,
well as in Vasari (book I, chapter 15 of the
Joanna Russell, Judith Rayner and Jenny Bescoby. 313
Giuntina edition of the Lives). When discussing Mantegna did not use silverpoint, as
pp. incl. 181 col. ills. (National Gallery of Art, Washing-
drawing techniques in the following chapter,Chapman remarks (p. 106). Instead, working ton; British Museum, London; Princeton University
Vasari does not mention metalpoint. By this in pen, the artist achieved an amazing refine-
Press, Princeton and Oxford, 2015), XÌ34-95- ISBN
date, both in Florence and elsewhere in Italy,ment in indicating light and shade by using
978-0-691-16612-4.
the technique had been virtually abandonedparallel lines characteristic of late-quattro-
2 Interest in metalpoint was stimulated in the United
(after 1 5 1 5 even Raphael seems to have cento Florentine prints in the so-called States by B. Weber, ed.: exh. cat. The Fine Line: Drawing
stopped using it), and Chapman suggests thatManiera Fine and Maniera Larga , also found within
Silver in America, Florida (Norton Gallery and
Michelangelo's use of black and red chalk and School of Art) 1985, and more recently in England by
certain German engravings. In his drawing
the publication of T. Burns: The Luminous Trace: Drawing
pen led to their widespread use by Florentinetechnique, Parmigianino was Mantegna' s
and Writing in Metalpoint, London 2012.
true heir, also capable of creating subtle
artists (p. 1 14). It is true that it was easier to
3 H. Chapman and M. Faietti, eds.: exh. cat. Fra Angelico
to Leonardo. Italian Renaissance Drawings, London (British

65. Risen Christ and studies

Museum) 2010; reviewed by Carmen Bambach in this
of hands, by Raffaellino del
Magazine, 153 (201 1), pp.417- 19.
Garbo, c. 1495- 97, album
sheet by Giorgio Vasari,
from his Libro di Disegni.
Silverpoint heightened
with white over blind
stylus on paper, 37.8 Charles and Ray Eames
by 25.5 cm. (British
London
Museum, London).

by TANYA HARROD

the last major show devoted to the design

work of Charles and Ray Eames was jointly
hosted by the Library of Congress, Washing-
ton, and the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am
Rhein, some seventeen years ago, in 1997-98.
This was an exciting time for Eames studies.
Pat Kirkham's double biography Charles and
Ray Eames: Designers of the Twentieth Century
(1995) had appeared two years previously,
offering a brilliant analysis of the creative
dynamics of the husband-and-wife team and a
substantial re-evaluation of the role of Ray
Eames, whose career, until then, had largely
been subsumed under her husband's name
and that of the Eames Office. The catalogue
of the 1997-98 exhibition, The Work of
Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention ,
edited by Donald Albrecht, contained a
provocative essay by Joseph Giovannini
which went further than Pat Kirkham in
adjusting Charles Eames's achievements, not
only in favour of contributions made by his
wife, but also those of Eero Saarinen (in the
context of the first furniture designs) and such
figures as Harry Bertoia, who worked in the

I38 FEBRUARY 20IÓ • CLVIII • THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE

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 EXHIBITIONS

in 1 95 6. 5 Although Charles in particular wrote

consistently about the horrors of unrestrained
and unplanned development in Los Angeles,6
the proximity of the film industry shaped
them both. All available images of the pair
picture them joyfully inhabiting a world of
their own design.
While nothing can detract from the elegance
(and initial affordability) of the chairs and case
furniture designed by Charles and Ray Eames
- with important, often unacknowledged,
input from others - this exhibition highlights
the central role of communication design in
their practice. As well as products, the Eames
Office offered their clients filmic presentations
characterised by sensory overload, moving and
still images, insistent musical scores, hypnotic
voice-overs and, in the case of their early
multimedia lecture A rough sketch for a sample
lesson for a hypothetical course (1952), olfactory
sensations. The clunky but poetic billing of
A rough sketch , as with the short film Banana
66. Installation view of The World of Charles and Ray Eames at the Barbican Art
leaf: something aboutGallery, London,
transformations 2015, showin
and discovery
recreation of the Eames Office room display for the exhibition Modem Living at the Detroit Institute of Arts,
(1972), was typical. As Catherine Ince points out
in the accompanying book, the Eameses liked
Eames Office in the crucial display
early days. of photographs
Other of the Ray
'workingand Charles
tides' used in the film industry.
essays included Beatriz Colomina's
surrounded penetrating
by members of their A rough studio
sketch alsomakes
brings out a darker side
study of the Eames Houseanother and Helène point Lip- (Fig.67). Charles may practice.
to their all-embracing have Made for the
stadt's analysis of the Eamesbeen a latecomerinteraction
Office's to Modernism and less sen- Department of Fine Arts at the University of
with government agencies sitive and
than Ray corporate
to organic and curvilinear Georgia, it eerily anticipates the current and
America against the backdrop design, butof he the Cold confidence and
had sufficient controversial Massive Open Online Courses,
War. Both the show and the charisma to create and
catalogue project an extraordi-
were known as MOOCs. A rough sketch was an
widely acclaimed.1 narily versatile and professional design office. early attempt to 'retool' the one-to-one
Part of this and
So what can The World of Charles projection
Ray centred on Charlesstudent-teacher relationship that is still central
and Ray's
Eames , on view at the Barbican Artcarefully
Gallery,calibrated dress and to an art school education. And the Eameses'
London (to 14th February), demeanour.4
and curated An amusing by contrast can bevision of 'the best of the most for the least'
Catharine Ince, add to its distinguished pred-
drawn with other twentieth-century images was,
of as Sam Jacobs points out in his contribu-
ecessor? The answer must architects
be: a and greatdesigners:
deal. Mies van de Rohe tion to the book, translated into service for
There is, of course, the sheerpictured
visualgazing grumpily atof
pleasure his Farnsworthwhat Eisenhower, in his famously melancholy
engaging with such a varied Housedesign
in 195 1 , and Peter and Alison Smithson
practice, 1961 retirement speech, saw as America's
encompassing furniture, toys,
(great fans of a thepair
Eameses), ofNigel Henderson'military-industrial complex'.7 The Eameses
remarkable houses and exhibition-making
and Eduardo Paolozzi posing grimly with saw a working for bodies like the United States
pair of Eames
(Fig. 66), as well as a substantial body chairs
ofin film Information Agency (USIA) to be a public
a foggy Chelsea street
and multimedia work that forms an especially
important part of this show. The World of
Charles and Ray Eames is accompanied by a 67. Eames Office
staff posing in a
magnificent book (although not, sadly, a cat-
model for Glimpses
alogue), which has been designed by the John of the U.S.A. for
Morgan Studio.2 An Eames Anthology , edited the American
by Daniel Ostroff,3 is a useful companion National Exhibi-

publication in which the Eameses emerge as tion, Moscow,

persuasive writers on public issues. By con- 1959. (Eames
Office LLC; exh.
trast, their more personal communications, Barbican Art
some of which are on display at the Barbican, Gallery, London).
appear artless in the extreme.
The Barbican exhibition opens with
Charles's wartime experiments with moulded
plywood and Ray's employment of them to
make curvilinear organic sculptural forms.
These playful moves between function and art
are further explored in a wall of moulded leg
splints, successfully used by the military, and a
ply stretcher. Further examples of Ray's
sculpture are accompanied by a generous
selection of her 1942-47 cover designs for the
West Coast magazine Art & Architecture and a
set of jewel-like ink, collaged and painted
abstract works, which make clear Ray's
painterly and sculptural sophistication and
her vital contribution to the partnership. A

THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE • CLVIII • FEBRUARY 20IÓ 139

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EXHIBITIONS

2008 exhibition Cold War Modern: Design

1Q45-1Ç70.8 At the Barbican we are mostly
prompted to admire their particular brand of
Modernism, which offered the public so
much, and so generously. For instance, the
Eameses' appreciation of objects from around
the world was transmitted to all of us through
delightful films like Toccata for toy trains (1957)
and Tops (1969). The interior of their house at
Pacific Palisades (Fig. 69) showed how the
humblest things can interact and produce
beauty. 'Less is more' was not an option.
The Eameses combined Modernism with
a positively Victorian love of taxonomies.
Their libraries of images and objects recalled
John Ruskin's educational collections and
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzis even earlier
'Object Lessons'. Charles aligned himself
with W.R. Lethaby and Eric Gill in his fond-
ness for darned socks and belief that effective
design meant that 'Beauty will look after
itself. In addition, the ways in which both
Eameses worked to provide a blueprint for
design education in post-independence India
68. Installation view of Glimpses of the U.S.A., American National Exhibition,
is retrospectively Moscow,
moving 1959. (Eames
and poignant, a Off
demonstration of neo-colonialism at its least
held in works,
duty, while some of their finest 1959 (Fig.68). Soviet offensive. Sometimes, however, the soft
Moscow inPowers
Russians
of ten and Think , were made saw 2,200
to hone images
the pub-in twelve minutes,power exerted through the Eames Office
lic image of corporations like from cornfields
IBM. to steel mills, from Marilyn appears disturbing. For example, Think was
Yet when Eisenhower spoke Monroe
in to baseball
his games, from
speech of lawn-mowing a multi-screen presentation made for the IBM
the demise of 'the solitary to children's bedtimes.
inventor, pavilion at the 1964-65 New York World's
With an urgent, jazzy
tinkering
in his shop', now Overshadowed score bybyElmer Bernstein,
task forcesAmerica was pre-Fair. It is shown in slighdy abbreviated form
of scientists in laboratories and sented as productive
testing and inclusive,
fields', he rich in
at the Barbican. Its purpose was to naturalise
was overlooking the unusual consumer goods and in intellectual,
contribution of pastoral
computing by demonstrating the similarities
the Eameses. They were tinkerers, completely
and sporting pleasures. between the electronic brain and our own.
hands-on designer-makers who
Coercion brought
is not an aspect of the Eameses'Not even Charles's soothing voice-over and
humanity to Cold War propaganda work that immediately
- perhaps comes across in this
Elmer Bernstein's crackegack soundtrack can
most brilliandy in the seven-screen exhibition. The ambivalence
presenta- of the Eames disguise the fact that this particular 'blast on
tion Glimpses of Amerìca Office's made role for was inevitably
the USIA the senses'9 was, quite simply, beguiling
more powerfully
to show at the America National Exhibition conveyed in the Victoria & Albert Museum's brainwashing, the simplifications of which
were intended to subtly mislead its audience.
69. Eames House But allowing us both to admire and to ques-
living room, tion Charles and Ray Eames's rich and
Pacific Palisades, complex practice is one of the strengths of this
1958. (Eames fine exhibition.
Office LLC; exh.
Barbican Art
Gallery, 1 See the review| by Charlotte Skene-Catling in this
London). Magazine, 140 (1998), pp. 841-42.
2 The World of Charles and Ray Eames. Edited by
Catherine Ince and Lotte Johnson. 320 pp. incl. numer-
ous col. + b. & w. ills. (Thames & Hudson, London,
2015), £45. ISBN 978-0-500-51830-4.
3 An Eames Anthology: Articles, Film Scripts, Interviews,
Letters, Notes, and Speeches. Edited by Daniel Ostroff.
420 pp. incl. 94 col. + 129 b. & w. ills. (Y ale University
Press, New Haven and London, 2015), $50. ISBN 978-
0-300-20345-5.
4 A. Moloney: 'The Dress of Charles and Ray Eames',
in Ince and Johnson, op. cit. (note 2), pp.148- 51.
5 Steve Parnell's essay 'Charles and Ray Eames, the
Proto-Brutalists', claiming the couple for Brutalism, is
one of the less convincing essays in ibid., pp.98- 103.
6 See Ostroff, op. cit. (note 3), passim but particularly
pp.226 and 244.
7 S.Jacob: 'Context as Destiny: The Eamses from Cal-
ifornia Dreams to the Californiafication of Everything',
in Ince and Johnson, op. cit. (note 2), pp.164- 67.
8 Reviewed by Henry Meyric-Hughes in this Maga-
zine, 151 (2009), pp.113- 14.
9 Charles Eames, quoted in D. Crowley and J. Pavitt
eds.: exh. cat. Cold War Modem: Design 1Ç45-1Ç70,
London (Victoria and Albert Museum) 2008, p. 184.

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