MID-CENTURIA : Art, Design and Decor from the Mid-Century and beyond: October 2011

Eames: The Architect and the Painter Film

“The Eames Era,” began in the optimistic flush of American victory during World War II, and the global impact of the Eames aesthetic continues to grow unabated today. Now, First Run Features is pleased to present the U.S. Theatrical premiere of Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey’s definitive and unprecedented cinematic foray into the private world of the Renaissance-style studio that Charles and Ray Eames conceived in a cavernous warehouse on a gritty street in Venice Beach, California where design history was born. Eames: The Architect and the Painter will open at the IFC Center in New York and the Laemmle Music Hall in Los Angeles on November 18. Click here for more about the film.

If you do not see the video trailer above click here

Ray with a prototype of "The Toy", 1951.

Ray and Charles working on a prototype of the Aluminum Group Lounge Chair, 1957

The Eames House.

Charles and Ray at home, c. 1970.

All images from Eames: The Architect and the Painter, courtesy First Run Films, Eames Office

Evelyn Ackerman Tapestries II

Round 2 of Evelyn Ackerman's tapestries. Again, I apologize for the poor image quality on some of the pieces.

Stained Glass, 1969, hand-hooked. via Ackerman Modern

Stained Glass in red colorway, hand-hooked nylon. via Rose Hill Auctions

Garden, 1963, hand-hooked. via LA Modern

Title unknown- cityscape, hand-hooked wool. via Reform Gallery

Left: Clovers, c. 1963, handwoven wool. Right: Moonscape, c. 1965. via LA Modern

Title unknown- Monkeys in trees, hand-hooked wool. via Treadway Gallery

Title unknown- Peacock, handwoven wool. via Lawson-Fenning

Title unknown, Geometric, 1965, handwoven wool. via Reform Gallery

Titles unknown- King and lady handwoven wool. via flickr

Mermaid, style 33W, hand-hooked nylon. via 20th Obsession

Flower Pot, c. 1959, handwoven wool. via Reform Gallery

Evelyn Ackerman tapestry pictured above in LA Times "Home", 1958

Jerome and Evelyn looking at one of ERA's original tapestry design color keys. via American Craft

UPDATE: I can't believe what just happened. Right after I finished this post, I checked out eBay to see what was new and came across the actual tapestry created from the design pictured in Evelyn's color key illustration in the above photo!!! The eBay seller had no idea who created the piece, though they did say is was "special"; I immediately contacted them to advise them of their good fortune!!! See the piece below.

Evelyn Ackerman Tapestries I

I am a big fan of Jerome and Evelyn Ackerman's work and have previously posted on their mosaics and carved wood panels, so I thought I would round out my coverage of their work with a series of posts featuring Evelyn's tapestries. Due to the number of pieces I want to share, I will spread them out over the next 3-4 posts. I apologize for the poor image quality on some of the pieces, I usually don't like to post low resolution images, but in this case I choose to share them for the sake of posting a larger range of Evelyn's tapestries.

Evelyn first became interested in textiles in 1941 after taking a weaving course at the University of Michigan, however it wasn't until 1958 that ERA produced its first tapestry piece titled Hot Bird (see below). As with most items sold by the Ackermans, production was out-sourced so Evelyn could focus on design; in this case the handwoven tapestries were produced by a family of cottage industry weavers near Mexico City who followed a full-scale color-keyed illustration created by Evelyn. In 1960 they began producing hand-hooked tapestries in Japan, which went on to become their most successful style of wall hanging. One of their first hooked designs was Sun and Lion in 1960 (see below).

Autumn Abstract, hand-hooked tapestry. via flickr

Buildings, 1964, handwoven wool

The first tapestry design offered by ERA- Hot Bird, 1958, handwoven wool. via Ackerman Modern

Titles unknown, c. 1960's, hand-hooked wool. via Bond and Bowery

One of ERA's first hand-hooked tapestries- Sun and Lion, 1960. via Ackerman Modern

Left: Cat and Bird in Tree, c. 1950's, handwoven wool. via LA Modern Auctions
Right: Hot Summer Landscape, c. 1958, handwoven wool. via Reform Gallery

Titles unknown, piece on left is design No. 765, c. 1955, hand-hooked. via Bonhams

Birds of a Feather, 1962, handwoven wool. via LA Modern Auctions

Title unknown, design No. 769, hand-hooked wool

Left: Birds in a Tree, c. 1960's, hand-hooked wool. via Mix Gallery
Right: Birds in a Tree, handwoven wool hanging variation

Byzantia, c. 1950's, handwoven wool. via LA Modern Auctions

Kites, 1958, silkscreened hanging. via flickr

Two colorways of jester lutist, hand-hooked wool. Left via Objects USA, Right via Sandi Vincent

The Art of Otto Treumann

German-born Dutch commercial artist Otto Treumann (1919-2001) fled his home in Fürth, Germany with his Jewish family in 1935 to escape Nazi persecution, settling in Amsterdam. In 1936 he enrolled at the New Art School (Nieuwe Kunstschool) where he studied commercial art until 1940. His work was primarily influenced by Swiss typography and the Bauhaus and he was considered a pioneer in the modernization of graphic design in the Netherlands after WWII. Below is an assortment of his work; you may notice I have removed the type in some of the pieces, as I sometimes do in order to remove the "commercialism" from the piece- sorry purists!