Los Angeles Modernism Revisited: Houses by Neutra, Schindler, Ain, and Contemporaries by David Schreyer and Andreas Nierhaus
There’s
poetic parallelism in two Austrians (architectural historian Nierhaus and photographer
Schreyer) tracing the work of primarily two Austrian architects. The book’s
essay chronicles their 2017 journey to Los Angeles “to have an unobstructed as
possible view of California modernism,” which focused initially on Neutra (they
packed SAH/SCC Member Barbara Lamprecht’s definitive tome on the architect). Schreyer’s
photography is not slick and vibrant, lending a softer feeling in line with the
stated purpose “to establish a new gaze that can be described as
anti-monumental.” After describing each house’s design and original patrons, Nierhaus
relays conversations he’s had with the current inhabitants and the design
professionals they worked with (many of whom are owners themselves). Only two
homes maintain original owners at the time the book was prepared: Ray (now
diseased) and Shelly Kappe and Noel Oliver Osheroff, who returned after her
childhood home “had been rented out for decades.” Melding the past with the
present—thereby showing “traces that decades of use had left on [the buildings]”—emphasizes
the timelessness of modernist ideals. Park
Books, 2019, hardcover, 256 pages, $49
