THE ARCHITECTURAL FORUM: December 1938
PLUS 1: ORIENTATIONS OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE
Herbert Matter [Typography and Layout]
George Nelson [Associate editor]: THE ARCHITECTURAL FORUM. Philadelphia: Time, Inc. [Volume 69, number 6, December 1938]. Slim quarto. Thick printed wrappers. Wire spiral binding. 72 [xliv] pp. Illustrated articles and advertisments. Wrappers worn and soiled. Lower corner gently bumped. Mild edgewear. Spiral binding is in good condition and does not bind any pages when opened. Interior unmarked and very clean. A very good copy.
8.75 x 11.75 spiral-bound magazine with 116 pages of editorial content showcasing the Architectural and Industrial Design of the American Streamline Moderne Machine Age aesthetic. There are also an excellent assortment of vintage trade advertisements that espouse the depression moderne streamline aesthetic quite nicely. You have been warned.
Bound-in [as issued]: Wallace K. Harrison, William Lescaze, William Muschenheim, Stamo Papadaki, James Johnson Sweeney [Editors], Herbert Matter [Typography and Layout]: PLUS 1: ORIENTATIONS OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE. Photomontage cover by Herbert Matter. 16 pp. bound-in profusely illustrated with two-color printing throughout.
PLUS 1 Contents
Toward a Unity of the Constructive Arts by Naum Gabo
Can Expositions Survive? By Dr. S. Giedion
HABITATION
House by H. Elte
Mobile House by Alfred Clauss
House by William Muschenheim
Hotel Gooiland by J. Duiker
Apartment House by Jean Ginsberg
Check out this list of collaborators credited in the first issue: Max Abramovitz, Josef Albers, Leopold Arnaud, Harris Armstrong, Beatty and Strang, Walter Curt Behrendt, Walter Blucher, Marcel Breuer, Morrison Brounn, John Porter Clark, Alfred Clauss, Robert L. Davison, Howard T. Fisher, Albert Frey, R. Buckminster Fuller, Philip L. Goodwin, Bertrand Goldberg, Harwell Hamilton Harris, Alfred Kastner, George Fred Keck, Albert Kahn, Lyndon and Smith, L. Moholy-Nagy, Marsh, Smith, and Powell, Richard J. Neutra, Peter Pfisterer, Antonin Raymond, Walter Sanders, R. M. Schindler, Paul Schweikher, Edward D. Stone, Philip N. Youtz, Le Corbusier, Alberto Sartoris, and P. Morton Shand. Truly amazing.
The PLUS series was conceived as a modernist adjunct to Time Inc.'s ARCHITECTURAL FORUM. With six editors (!) and a list of collaborators that reads like a Rosetta Stone of the Modern Movement (see below), this slim journal attempted to bring the rapidly-emigrating sensibilities of the European Avant-Garde to mainstream America. Seventy years of hindsight clearly shows that giving Herbert Matter free reign to interpret the editorial content was a brilliant choice by the decision-makers at the Forum.
This edition of PLUS utilized the visual vocabulary of the European Avant-Garde (PhotoMontage, Avant-Garde typography, etc.) to showcase the Modern movement in America. An exceptional document presenting a forceful integration of American Editorial Design with a truly European Avant-Garde sensibility by a true master of the form.
Additional Forum Contents:
CRANBROOK INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE BUILDING - A distinguished architect demonstrates that the academic building can dispense with the traditional approach, Eliel Saarinen, Architect.
FLORIDA ARCHITECTURE - An outstanding U.S. resort center turns to modern for its new residences and commercial buildings: Lincoln Center Building, Miami Beach, Igor B. Polevitzky, T. Trip Russell, Architects; The Tides Hotel, Miami Beach, L. Murray Dixon, Architect; Office for Robert Law Weed, Architect, Miami Beach; The Goldwasser Shop, Miami Beach, L. Murray Dixon, Architect; Coral Club, Miami Beach, Russell T. Pancoast, Architect; A. F. Bickelhaupt Apartments, Fort Lauderdale, Robert G. Jahelka, Architect; House for Robert F. Smith, Architect, Coconut Grove; House for I. R. Edwands, Miami Beach, Robert Law Weed, Architect; house for Alvin Greif, Rivo Alta Island, Igor B. Polevitzky, T.Trip Russell, Architects.
DETROIT EDISON BUILDING - Scientific control of light, noise, and air in a utility company's new headquarters.
APARTMENT HOUSE - Air conditioning brings new problems and new solutions to the apartment house field, Frederick L. Ackerman, Architect.
EXHIBITIONS - Two exhibitions in California and Massachusetts; one designed for an both designed by architects. EHIBIT OF ARCHITECTURE, San Francisco, Ernest Born, Architect; INDUSTRIAL EXHIBIT, Boston, Mass., Marc Peter Jr., Hugh Stubbins, Architects.
TWO HOUSES - Continuing the series of small house case studies. House for Fred C. Stiles, Evanston, Ill., White & Weber, Architects; House for J. W. Outerbridge, Huntington, Long Island, NY., Bernard J. Harrison, Jr., Architect.
PRODUCTS & PRACTICE - Welding: a new way to do a better job at lower cost.
THE INTEGRATED HOUSE - Pre-cut Framing: Los Angeles lumbermen and builders cooperate in plan which saves money for both.
BUILDING MONEY - Engineering puts low cost housing on a conveyor belt, builds 300 houses in 50 working days ... Mortgage costs under a microscope ... Houston's triplet modern apartments ... NARES and the building and loaners convene ... Small house cost trend ... The Lambert Plan for in-between housing ... Remodeling of an apartment with a past ... Seattle's secondhand home markets.
THE ARCHITECT'S WORLD - Thought, contention, discussion, reminiscence from architectural minds that are also vocal.
MONTH IN BUILDING
THE DIARY - Comment, news, personalities from an architectural obsever.
FORUM OF EVENTS - Bureau of Standards research ... A pictorial record of news- significant, informative or merellly entertaining.
BOOKS - An outstanding reference book on schools from England.
LETTERS - Home Floor Show ... Plus ... What This Country Needs.
Herbert Matter (1907-1983) was born in Engelberg, a Swiss mountain village, where exposure to the treasure of one of the two finest medieval graphic art collections in Europe was unavoidable. In 1925, he attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Genf, but after two years, the allure of modernism beckoned him to Paris. There, the artist attended the Academie Moderne under the tutelage of Fernand Leger and Amedee Ozenfant. While the former became a close lifelong friend, both encouraged Matter to expand his artistic horizons.
In Europe during the late Twenties and early Thirties, the creative scope of graphic design was boundless. Journalistic, imaginative and manipulative photography were revolutionary influences, and Matter, long-enamored with the camera, began to experiment with the Rollei as both a design tool and an expressive form -- a relationship that never ended. Inspired by the work of El Lissitzky and Man Ray, Matter was intrigued by photograms, as well as the magic of collage and montage --both were favored modes. In 1929, his entry into graphic design was completed when he was hired as a designer and photographer for the legendary Deberny and Piegnot concern. There he learned the nuances of fine typography, while he assisted A.M. Cassandre and Le Corbusier. In 1932, abruptly expelled from France for not having the proper papers, he returned from Switzerland to follow his own destiny.
"Herbert's background is fascinating and enviable," said Paul Rand. "He was surrounded by good graphics and learned from the best." Therefore, it is no wonder that the famed posters designed for the Swiss Tourist Office soon after his return had the beauty and intensity of Cassandre and the geometric perfection of Corbu, wed to a very distinctive personal vision.
In 1936, Matter was offered roundtrip passage to the United States as payment for his work with a Swiss ballet troupe. He spoke no English, yet traveled across the United States. When the tour was over, he decided to remain in New York. At the urging of a friend who worked at the Museum of Modern Art, Matter went to see Alexey Brodovitch, who had been collecting the Swiss travel posters (two of which were hanging on Brodovitch's studio wall). Matter soon began taking photographs for Harper's Bazaar and Saks Fifth Avenue. Later, he affiliated himself with a photographic studio, "Studio Associates," located near the Conde Nast offices, where he produced covers and inside spreads for Vogue.
During World War II, Matter made striking posters for Container Corporation of America. In 1944, he became the design consultant at Knoll, molding its graphic identity for over 12 years. As Alvin Eisenman, head of the Design Department at Yale and long-time friend, points out: "Herbert had a strong feeling for minute details, and this was exemplified by the distinguished typography he did for the Knoll catalogues."
In 1952, he was asked by Eisenman to join the Yale faculty as professor of photography and graphic design. "He was a marvelous teacher," says Eisenman. "His roster of students included some of the most important names in the field today." At Yale, he tried his hand at architecture, designing studio space in buildings designed by Louis Kahn and Paul Rudolf. "He was good at everything he tried to do," continues Eisenman. In 1954, he was commissioned to create the corporate identity for the New Haven Railroad. The ubiquitous "NH" logo, with its elongated serifs, was one of the most identifiable symbols in America.