New Books & Staff Picks

Does a person’s upbringing, who they know, what they write or say, or their work reveal them best? With this book, you get to begin to decide--a little of everything comes out in this compilation of 10 interviews recorded in the 1980s between friends and colleagues Philip Johnson and Robert A.M. Stern, accompanied by relevant photographs and documents in the footnotes. As editor Kazys Varnelis mentions in an afterword (read it), the discussions contain a large amount of what is of most interest to interviewer and interviewee: history and gossip. This is probably true of reader, too. Who wouldn’t enjoy bits like this concise, scathing review of submissions for MOMA’s 1932 exhibition on modern architecture: “Mies put his money in his model; he sent a beautiful model – I mean, well constructed. Corbusier sent the dump that we have. Frank Lloyd Wright had the kids put up some matchsticks.”? The book offers additional zingers on a variety of topics, but more importantly it provides a tantalizing insider’s review of twentieth century architectural practice and personalities, and illustrates the challenges and rewards of oral histories.

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