Cleveland Goes Modern

Sep 10-Nov 24, 2007

Opening reception
Mon Sep 10, 6-8 pm

Special Events during Cleveland Goes Modern

"Mid-century modern" architecture, especially homes, has become a hot topic nationwide. The increase in developments of "McMansion" neighborhoods; interest in green technologies and "green" homes; and the impact of contemporary design in housewares products, demonstrated by the success of product lines at chains like Target, have all re-energized thinking about what our homes should look like in the 21st century.

In Cleveland Goes Modern: Design for the Home 1930-1970, the Cleveland Artists Foundation examines relatively unknown examples of the "Modernist" movement in Cleveland as it relates to the home. The exhibition looks at how movements in early 20th-century art, architecture and technology influenced the work of Cleveland architects, artists and craftspeople in the mid-20th century.

With a focus on residential architecture (as opposed to the broader, and more often visible, public architecture), the exhibition focuses on the work of six architects: Don Hisaka, John Terence Kelly, Robert Little, William Morris, Ernst Payer and Fred Toguchi.

Because of the smaller scale, and often more creative clients, homes are opportunities for architects to flex their creative muscle-an opportunity to work with new forms, experiment with new technologies (such as double-paned windows, a technology which became available mid-century), and explore ideas that could later be applied to larger and more visible projects.

At the same time, a client that commissioned a home had the chance to reconsider the idea of what home means to them. Open floor plans, built-in furniture, new lighting technologies, and a home's physical relationship to the property it was built on, all created opportunities for clients to collaborate on a design that was both uniquely theirs, and at the same time made a statement about their relationship to the broader community.

And influences abounded, for both architect and client. The early 20th century was a time of unparalleled change in visual culture. Art movements of the time, including Cubism, Modernism, Abstract Expressionism and the Bauhaus all had architects, designers, painters and craftspeople looking anew at how their work related to its environment and the people that interacted with the work. American architects, most prominently Frank Lloyd Wright and Cleveland's Philip Johnson, and International architects, including LeCorbusier and Gropius, were making significant contributions to the design of architecture, furnishings and art, through lectures, exhibitions, teaching and work, including numerous World's Fairs in the 1920s and 30s.

Cleveland Goes Modern: Design for the Home, 1930-1970 is presented in partnership with the Cleveland Public Library, in conjunction with the Cleveland Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, now celebrating its 150th anniversary. The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Abington Foundation, with additional support provided by Dorsky Hodgson Parrish Yue, Knoll International, Lakeside Blue, and Sandvick Architects. CAF is grateful to the following for additional financial support: XX

The exhibition was organized by Robert Blatchford, William Busta, Jim and Nina Gibans, Tony Hiti, and Richard Sarian.

Cleveland Artists Foundation at the Beck Center for the Arts
17801 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44107-3413
Phone: 216.227.9507
Fax: 216 228 6050