EAMES, Ray [Cover Artist]: ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE [April 1942 – December 1947]: 24 Issues from Julius Shulman.

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Arts and Architecture
April 1942 – December 1947

Ray Eames Cover Designs: 24 Issues

Proveneance: Julius Shulman

Ray Eames designed 26 covers for Arts and Architecture between April 1942 and December 1947. Offered here is a nearly complete set of 24 of these Ray Eames covers, collected by the original subscriber, legendary Southern Californian architectural photographer Julius Shulman.

American photographer Julius Shulman's (1910 – 2009) images of Californian architecture have achieved iconic status via endless reproductions since their original publications in John Entenza’s Arts and Architecture magazine. The brilliance of buildings like those by Charles Eames, as well as those of his close friends, Richard Neutra and Raphael Soriano, was first brought to light by Shulman's sensitive photography. The clarity of his work demanded that architectural photography be considered as an independent art form. Each Shulman image unites perception and understanding for the buildings and their place in the landscape. His precise compositions reveal not just the architectural ideas behind a building's surface, but also the visions and hopes of an entire age. “A sense of humanity is always present in his work, even when the human figure is absent from the actual photographs.”

This collection represents exceptional form and content; the Shulman provenance adds a further curatorial enhancement.

  1. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: Western States Publishing Co., Vol. 59, no. 4, April 1942. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 38 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with partial cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Wrappers worn: a very good copy.
  2. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: Western States Publishing Co., Vol. 59, no. 5, May 1942. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 54 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with stamp ghost to rear panel. Wrappers worn and rubbed: a very good copy.
  3. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: Western States Publishing Co., Vol. 59, no. 8, September 1942. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 48 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Wrappers worn: a very good copy.
  4. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: Western States Publishing Co., Vol. 59, no. 10, November 1942. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 68 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Trivial wear overall: a nearly fine copy.
  5. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: Western States Publishing Co., Vol. 59, no. 11, December 1942. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 64 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to front panel. Wrappers worn with parallel crease from mailing: a very good copy.
  6. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 60, no. 1, January 1943. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 48 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to front panel. Wrappers thumbed and soiled: a good or better copy.
  7. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 60, no. 2, February 1943. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 44 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Wrappers lightly worn and convex spine from improper storage: a very good copy.
  8. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 60, no. 4, March - April 1943 [double issue "due to unavoidable current conditions"]. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 46 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to front panel. Light wear overall: a very good copy.
  9. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 60, no. 5, May 1943. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 64 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Wrappers lightly worn: a very good or better copy.
  10. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 60, no. 6, June 1943. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 56 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Wrappers worn and soiled: a nearly very good copy.
  11. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 60, no. 7, July 1943. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 52 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Textblock dampstained, wrappers wavy: a good copy.
  12. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 60, no. 8, August 1943. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 68 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Light wear overall: a very good or better copy.
  13. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 60, no. 9, September 1943. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 48 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address to front panel. Wrappers rubbed and lightly worn: a very good copy.
  14. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 60, no. 12, December 1943. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 42 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Wrappers worn and soiled: a very good copy.
  15. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 61, no. 1, January 1944. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 46 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Sunset magazine cover paper clipped to corresponding page of textblock. Wrappers soiled, nicked and creased from mailing: a good copy.
  16. ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 61, no. 2, February 1944. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 44 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address label with cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Neatly cut rectangle from the lower corner of rear wrapper, otherwise wrappers lightly worn and soiled: a very good copy.
  17. ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 61, no. 3, March 1944. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 48 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Wrappers lightly worn: a very good copy.
  18. ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 61, no. 4, April 1944. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 52 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Wrappers lightly rubbed: a very good or better copy.
  19. ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 61, no. 7, July 1944. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 54 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Wrappers lightly rubbed and worn: a very good copy.
  20. CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 61, no. 8, August 1944. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 42 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Wrappers lightly worn: a very good copy.
  21. ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 61, no. 10, October 1944. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 42 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Wrappers well thumbed and nicked to edges: a very good copy.
  22. ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 61, no. 11, November 1944. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 42 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address with cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Wrappers well rubbed and lightly worn: a nearly very good copy.
  23. ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 64, no. 3, March 1947. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 46 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Julius Shulman’s typed address label with cancelled postage stamp to rear panel. Wrappers lightly worn: a very good or better copy.
  24. ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: John D. Entenza, Vol. 64, no. 11, December 1947. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 50 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Wrappers neatly split and separated at spine with rear panel lacking. Front wrapper edges lightly etched and creased: a good copy.

From the Eames Office via Daniel Ostroff: “Ray Kaiser Eames (California, 1912 – 1988)  was born in Sacramento, California. She studied painting with Hans Hofmann in New York before moving on to Cranbrook Academy where she met and assisted Charles and Eero Saarinen in preparing designs for the Museum of Modern Art’s Organic Furniture Competition. Charles and Eero’s designs, created by molding plywood into complex curves, won them the two first prizes.

Charles and Ray married in 1941 and moved to California where they continued their furniture design work with molding plywood. During World War II they were commissioned by the United States Navy to produce molded plywood splints, stretchers, and experimental glider shells. [At this time] Charles and Ray established a strong connection to the influential design magazine, Arts & Architecture and its Editor/Publisher John Entenza. Charles wrote numerous articles for the publication, and Ray wrote two articles and designed 27 covers for the magazine over the span of six years. In many respects, the covers are as eloquent as the texts.

“Ray’s designs for Arts & Architecture are more than creative graphic expressions. They are unique works of art that reflect the times in which they were produced. In the May and November 1942 issues made during America’s first year in the war, Ray incorporated military design elements and emphasized the color khaki, reflecting the uniforms of U.S. Armed Forces personnel. There were notes inside both issues that provide insights on the covers.

“At the time Ray was creating these covers, she and Charles were working on military applications of molded plywood, including experiments in airplane seating and airplane bodies. Of all their contributions to the war effort, their most successful one was the design and production of the Eames Leg Splint.”

“In 1946, Evans Products began producing the Eameses’ molded plywood furniture. Their molded plywood chair was called “the chair of the century” by the influential architectural critic Esther McCoy. Soon production was taken over by Herman Miller, Inc., who continues to produce the furniture in the United States today.

“In 1949, Charles and Ray designed and built their own home in Pacific Palisades, California, as part of the Case Study House Program sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine. Their design and innovative use of materials made the House a mecca for architects and designers from both near and far. Today, it is considered one of the most important post-war residences anywhere in the world.”

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