ItalianHow much important are the meetings, incidental, searched, sudden, passionate on architecture? Santiago de Molina ask this question in this beautiful post I tried to translate. Since my Spanish is nonexistent, I sought the help of Santiago, which has proved very willing to help me in the translation. Thanks to him for his infinite patience.
Seeing a photo of Le Corbusier and Einstein no longer surprise us. Among other reasons becouse Le Corbusier made himself portrayed with anything that might advertise him or make him eternal. (In fact, among all modern architects who had established a genuine friendship with Einstein was Erich Mendelsohn, who had even dedicated his famous tower to him).
Duchamp and Coderch had established an extraordinary friendship result of contacts in which each ones recognized the greatness of the other one. In the film “Some Like It Hot” were shot in the same frame, Billy Wilder, the Eames, who were friends of the director, Alison and Peter Smithson, who were friends of the Eames, and Marilyn Monroe, who was not friend with anyone of them. Mies had a long friendship with the crazy Kurt Schwitters. Freud treated Mahler, jealous of the relationship between his wife and Gropius. Adolf Loos shared a story of encounters and clashes with Ludwig Wittgenstein, who became his patron after their first appointment at the Cafe Imperial in Vienna, July 27, 1914.
The list should not surprise us.
Over time, these plots of meetings have led to speculation of all kinds. The students love them because they see it as a possibility for intellectual exchange that can justify almost works by itself. These meetings are fascinating because it is easy to imagine the exchange of knowledge and talent in its purest form. Although in reality, given the difficulty of real influence, are regarded with the same curiosity that one feels for eclipses and cosmic coincidences.
The most generous explanation about the attractiveness of these meetings is to find the synthesis of an era in a place and a specific space. The more subtle explanation is to find a slight change in this curiosity about the value of the artwork: when teachers and experts do not face pictures, or books, or buildings, but those who created them, identify roots in the author’s biography. Then their shopping lists, their illnesses, their hobbies and their wonderful encounters become a source of creation.
What then will be of Le Corbusier or Mies and Gropius, Loos?
“Of us will remain only what is devoid of any interest?” asks Louis Aragon in relation to one of those magical, compelling, solemn meetings. But this did not stop the charms of a “sudden density of life.”
Duchamp and Coderch had established an extraordinary friendship result of contacts in which each ones recognized the greatness of the other one. In the film “Some Like It Hot” were shot in the same frame, Billy Wilder, the Eames, who were friends of the director, Alison and Peter Smithson, who were friends of the Eames, and Marilyn Monroe, who was not friend with anyone of them. Mies had a long friendship with the crazy Kurt Schwitters. Freud treated Mahler, jealous of the relationship between his wife and Gropius. Adolf Loos shared a story of encounters and clashes with Ludwig Wittgenstein, who became his patron after their first appointment at the Cafe Imperial in Vienna, July 27, 1914.
The list should not surprise us.
Over time, these plots of meetings have led to speculation of all kinds. The students love them because they see it as a possibility for intellectual exchange that can justify almost works by itself. These meetings are fascinating because it is easy to imagine the exchange of knowledge and talent in its purest form. Although in reality, given the difficulty of real influence, are regarded with the same curiosity that one feels for eclipses and cosmic coincidences.
The most generous explanation about the attractiveness of these meetings is to find the synthesis of an era in a place and a specific space. The more subtle explanation is to find a slight change in this curiosity about the value of the artwork: when teachers and experts do not face pictures, or books, or buildings, but those who created them, identify roots in the author’s biography. Then their shopping lists, their illnesses, their hobbies and their wonderful encounters become a source of creation.
What then will be of Le Corbusier or Mies and Gropius, Loos?
“Of us will remain only what is devoid of any interest?” asks Louis Aragon in relation to one of those magical, compelling, solemn meetings. But this did not stop the charms of a “sudden density of life.”
Santiago de Molina, ENCUENTROS, published on 26 marzo 2012 in Multiples estrategias de arquitectura