rudofsky_brochure

t  1905 BornApril19,Zauchtl,Moravia(nowthe CzechRepublic) | 1922–28 AttendsTechnischeHochschule,Vienna | 1925–27  TravelstoBulgaria,Turkey,Switzerland,France,andItaly | 1929 Two-month stay on Santorini | 1931 Submitshisdissertationonanearly concreteconstructionmethodintheCyclades,Greece | 1932 MovestoCapri;collaborateswithLuigiCosenza | 1934 MeetsBertaDoctorinIschia,Italy | 1935 MovestoProcida;designsCasaonProcidaandCasa Oro,Naples | 1935–36 TravelstotheUnited Statesorthersttime;marriesBerta Doctor | 1936 Birth o son Peter, who dies in 1938 | 1937–38 MovestoMilan;becomeseditorat Domus magazine| 1938 ImmigratestoSouthAmerica(BuenosAires,Riode Janeiro,SãoPaulo) | 1939–41 CompletesCasasHollenstein(Itapetirica),Frontini,andArnstein(SãoPaulo) | 1941 Prize-winnero  h  e

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lessons from

march 11–June 8, 2008

Bernard

BernardRudosky(Austrian-American,1905–1988)was anarchitect,curator,critic,exhibitiondesigner,and ashiondesignerwhoseentireoeuvrewas infuenced by his lielong interest in conceptsaboutthebodyand the use o our senses. He is bestknownorhiscontroversial exhibitions and accompanyingcatalogs,including Are Clothes Modern? (MoMA, 1944),Architecture without

osketches,architecturalmodels,travelnotebooks, photographs,sculptures,abrics,and ootwear. Rudosky’srstdesigneortswereinthe eldo  architecture.Trainedasanarchitectatthe Technische HochschuleinVienna,helet orsouthernItaly immediatelyaterhisgraduation.There,incollaborationwiththeNeapolitanarchitectLuigiCosenza (1905–1984),hebuiltthestunninglybeautiulCasaOro (1935–1937;g.1.)onaclioverlookingthe Bayo  Naples.Situatedonanarrowlot betweentwo retainingwalls,thelong andslenderstructure ollows the topography o  theland,allowingthe house to open up completelytothebayand capture as much sun and windaspossible.The

toeachroomencourageree interactionbetween thedomesticchambersandtheirnaturalsurroundings.LackinganAmericanarchitecturelicense, Rudosky built very little ater his move to the UnitedStatesin1941.Instead,he channeledhis creative energies into the development and design oaseries opioneeringexhibitionsandbooks that challenged the eld o architecture’s traditionalboundaries. The interests expressed in Rudosky’s books andexhibitionsresultedromhisdirectexperience with the Mediterranean liestyle on the Greek islandsandhisreadingsaboutJapaneseculture. Rudoskyconcludedearlyonthatpeople inWestern societyhadlosttheirspontaneityandinnate ability to design houses, clothing, and shoes that liberated,ratherthanrestricted,thebody.He believed thisculturalinertiahadprooundlynegative

pursuitobeauty.His booksacquaintedlargeinternationalaudienceswith theconceptsoneckrings, cranial deormationboards,andootbinding. Someohis nestillustratedcomparisons documenthowEuropeansocietyunknowinglyimitatedthephysical alterationso  oreignculturesbyusingcorsets,bustles, heels,andcodpieces.Onewondershow Rudoskywouldhaverespondedtotheease with which we can now sculpt and carve our bodies into nearly any desired shape orproportion. Using an image o leg tattoos rom the Marquesas Islands (g. 2) as a comparison to anillustrationopatternedstockingsrom 1902 (g. 3), Rudosky observed inAre Clothes Modern? (1947)that“civilizedpeopleare

personal torture devices masked by colorul leatherpatternsandalluringlyshaped heels. In his book ProdigiousBuilders (1977), Rudoskyremarked:“Withtoday’sknowhow we are no doubt able to cultivate peanuts on Mars, but nobody knows, or cares to know, how to make shoes or human eet” (p. 113). His Bernardo sandals reintroduced designs that hadbeentestedand approved overthousandsoyearsby civilizationsmoreconcernedwith comort andsurvivalthanashionrunways. Rudosky’ssandalsbecameextremely popular during the 1950s and 60s. Thanks tothecurrentemphasison stylishcomort inwalkingandathleticshoes,they have becomecovetedaccessoriesonceagain.

ourheads”(Lecture,Tokyo,1958,p.3). Manyarchitectsbelievedthatthe exhibition Architecture without Architects (1964)—an installationattheMuseumoModernArt (MoMA)inNewYorko photographso  anonymousarchitecturearoundtheworld— promotedthenotionthattheirproessionwas superfuoustothebuildingtrade.The presidento  theNewYorkchaptero theAmericanInstituteo  Architectsprotestedagainsttheexhibitionbeoreit even opened. A proessor at the University o  Michigancondemneditinprintas “subversive.”The deanoYaleUniversity’sSchooloArchitecturevetoed Rudosky’sinvitationtolecture oncampusbecausehe eltnon-pedigreedarchitecturewastoo“controversial” (Lecture, Provincetown, p. 7). Despite the uproar, theshowtraveledorelevenyears tonearlyeighty venues, an unheard-o accomplishment.

assemblageowhimsicalandunexpecteditems representing each state in the Union. New York was represented with a display o all 500 pages o the SundayNew York Times .Alaskawashighlightedbythe exhibition’s smallest object: a acsimile o the cancelled$7,200checkusedto purchasetheterritory. Themostcaptivatingcomponentotheshowor oreignerswasadisplayotumbleweed.While EuropeanaudiencesdeclaredRudosky’spaviliona greatsuccess,Americanvisitorsumedatitslack o  patrioticbravado. Whilepiquedbythese responses,Rudoskydid not alter his radical approach. As he declared in a lecture in Tokyo later that year: “The principles underlying the design o such an exhibition are . . . to distractandintriguethevisitorwith opticalillusions andtodisplaytheobjectsout ocontext;topamper his eye with shapes and colors. In the child, the

bertarudofsky

related events

Berta Doctor was born on May 9, 1910, in Vienna. Infuenced by her parents,shestudiedmusicologyatUniversitätWien.In1934, Bertamet Bernard Rudosky on Ischia during a trip to Italy, and in 1935 they movedintoanapartmenttogetheronthe islandoProcida.They married in November o the same year at New York City Hall. The couple’s only child, Peter, was born in 1936 and died in Como two years later.Morethanwie andeyewitness,Berta participatedanonymously in the work o her husband in a wide variety o ways: as coworker, travelingcompanion,manager,driver, translator, sandal-producer, er, teacher,editor,model,muse,andadministratorohisestate.Ater Bernard Rudosky died in 1988, Berta lived alternately in Vienna, New York, and Frigiliana. She died on June 22, 2006, in Vienna. Learning from Bernard Rudofsky Saturday, April 5, 2008 4:00–6:30 p.m. Museum Lecture Hall, The Getty Center

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exhibition catalog

Lessons from Bernard Rudofsky, Life as a Voyage (Basel, 2006) is on sale in the Museum bookstore.

Stand the brochure to create brochure Fold and andStand the gallery space. Fold lines are on opposite side.

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O r  g a n i   c  D e s i   g n C  o m p e t  i   t  i   o n (   M o M A )   ;  m o v e s t  o N e w Y  o r  k  |   1  9

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