INDIANAPOLIS MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
COME HERE ARCHITEKT Curated by Vess Ruhtenberg and Jeremy Efroymson Made possible by The Tracy L Haddad Foundation and the Efroymson Family Fund, a CICF Fund Assistance in procuring information not already in the Ruhtenberg family collection: Miroslav Ambrose, Thorsten Critzmann, Elaine Freed, David Hanks, Mark Lamster and Connie Zeigler Design of the catalog: Emily Watkins Photography of the exhibition: Jeffrey Bond
INDIANAPOLIS MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART (IMOCA)
Jean Easter Easter Conservation Services
Executive Director: Shauta Marsh
Wayne Zink Endangered Species Chocolates
Board of Directors: Brandon Judkins: President Director of Programs, Indiana Humanities Council Jennifer Boehm: Vice President IUPUI Director of Community and Government Relations Deb Borchelt: Treasurer Co-owner Bazbeaux Pizza and B’s Po Boy Tom Vriesma: Secretary Owner/Principal of Design Studio Vriesman
Special advice and extraordinary effort: Brandon Judkins, Donna Wahlfleur, and Jennifer Briggs
Tracy Haddad Indianapolis Public Library Foundation Board/ Haddad Foundation Board/Arizona 5 Arts Circle Board
Installation and fabrication: Brose Partington and Brad Dilger
Michael Halstead Halstead Architects
Special thanks to the Graham Foundation for their support, and also the J.P. Getty Research Library, L.A., and the department of Architecture and Design at MoMA, N.Y.C., for generously allowing access to Philip Johnson’s correspondence.
Mark Ruschman Chief Curator of Fine Art, Indiana State Museum
01 | JAN RUHTENBERG
Gloria Mallah Logistics Manager, Publicis
Tom Battista Owner of Fletcher Place Investments, LLC and East End Property LLC All our programs and exhibitions are supported by The Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (Wynn Kramarsky Freedom of Artistic Expression Grant), The Efroymson Family Fund, Halstead Architects, KEJ Foundation, the Indianapolis Foundation, The Tracy L. Haddad Foundation, The Netherleigh Fund, the Arts Council of Indianapolis, the Murphy Arts L.L.C., Penrod Foundation, and Big Car Art + Design. Copyright © 2013 Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher.
CONTENTS 04 | JAN RUHTENBERG’S AUTO-BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 10 | CURATORIAL NOTES Jeremy Efroymson Vess Ruhtenberg 12 | PHILP JOHNSON & JAN RUHTENBERG Miroslav Ambroz 25 | 1929-1930 Writing Desk Barcelona Chair Variant Moderne Bauformen Berlin Interior Prototype Cantilevered Chair 35 | 1930-1933 Prototype Floor Lamp Swedish Beach House Chapin House 41 | 1934-1945 Ruhtenberg Residence, NYC Carriage House Museum Ruhtenberg Residence, Colorado Springs 47 | 1947-1952 Oliver Le Compte Residence Penrose House 51 | 1956-1958 Donahue Residence Opera House Cooperative Office Building COME HERE ARCHITEKT | 02
03 | JAN RUHTENBERG
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05 | JAN RUHTENBERG
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07 | JAN RUHTENBERG
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C U R ATO R I A L N OT E S : J E R E M Y E F R OY M S O N & V E S S R U H T E N B E R G
I
think that the story behind Jan was so fascinating. This man who starts out in Berlin fleeing the Nazis and ends
up in Indy via Stockholm, New York, and Colorado Springs. The amazing houses
T
he preceding pages of
New York apartment and became a pivotal
autobiographical notes, though
part of the inner workings of Mies’ office,
an accurate list of a man’s life’s
not least of which was furniture design.
work, lack many of the nuances of this lost figure’s achievements.
Joseph Hudnut, who later brought Gropius to Harvard, first hired Jan in
and buildings and furniture he designed,
It may not have seemed important
working with Philip Johnson and Mies van
to Jan at the time to mention his close
der Rohe, getting outed, getting sent to
friendship with Philip Johnson. The two
During the early 1930’s Jan designed
architectural purgatory - his life had these
met sometime in 1929 and often took
with assistant William T. Priestly and worked
tremendous ups and downs.
pilgrimages to see modern masterpieces,
for Walter K. Harrison on a Penthouse and
including a drive to the Bauhaus with
a meeting room for Nelson Rockefeller. He
Mies van der Rohe in tow. It was here
remodeled the Greenwich home of Helen
that Mr. Johnson “made his first serious
Resor. Four years later it was the Resor’s
art acquisition” , a painting by Paul Klee.
and their acquired taste for Modernism that
Eventually the two were designing together
gave Mies van der Rohe the commission
including a full remodel of the Johnson
that brought him to America.
– JEREMY EFROYMSON
1
09 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1934 to teach the “new architecture” at Columbia University.
family home in Pinehurst. Jan assisted in
Similarly Jan’s Modern “World’s Fair”
the Mies-designed remodeling of Philip’s
line of furniture for Herman Miller in 1939
was the first of its kind for the company,
Long abandoned by his old friend Philip
trailblazing a new direction for this still
Johnson and many in his own family, Jan
successful company.
watched as the Minton Capehart Federal
These are things that an old black
building rose up next to his apartment
and white list of commissions and jobs
window. Designed by Evans Woollen, an
can’t convey.
understudy of Mr. Johnson, the Federal
At the height of Jan’s career in the late
Building took shape as Jan succumbed to
1950’s he was outed as a homosexual.
the afterlife, eclipsed by the very movement
His second wife, socialite Polly King-
he helped start.
Ruhtenberg divorced him, taking most
In recent years as research has become
of her rich clientele with her. Jan’s career
an online endeavor and interest in the
floundered, peppered with occasional
Modern movement has gained worldwide
commissions and teaching jobs (including
attention, so has Mr. Ruhtenberg’s legacy.
Oklahoma University and Rhode Island
This exhibit is a response to many
School of Design) and an increasing
inquiries from all over the world and an
taste for alcohol. By the 1970’s he was
attempt to restore one of architecture’s
living alone in an apartment in downtown
finest proponents and talented designers.
Indianapolis, an all but forgotten figure.
– VESS RUHTENBERG Jan Ruhtenberg, 1896-1975
1
Franz Schulz, “Philip Johnson, Life and Work”, p.54-55
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PHILIP JOHNSON & JAN RUHTENBERG BY MIROSLAV AMBROZ
P
hilip Johnson played a key role
John McAndrew, and Jan Ruhtenberg2.
According to Johnson himself, his
in introducing modern European
Johnson curated the first architecture
New York apartment at 424 E. 52nd
architecture to America. In late
exhibition organized by MoMA, later known
Street was in 1931 the “first modern kind
1920’s Philip Johnson’s wealth enabled
as “International Style,”
which would
of apartment in New York,”4 and it was
him to travel to Europe and discover what
introduce America to the great European
undoubtedly the “first space in the United
would became his passion: architecture.
Modernists—namely Mies van der Rohe,
States to accommodate the famous chairs
As a Harvard undergraduate he had been
Le Corbusier, and Walter Gropius. In the
and smaller pieces originally designed for
subject to conflicts over his homosexuality
course of his 1930 European trip, Johnson
the Weissenhofsiedlung, the Barcelona
and his unsuccessful philosophy studies.
first met Mies van der Rohe, who was not
Pavilion, and the Tugendhat House” by
He had no clear sense of what he wanted
yet tremendously well known. Nonetheless,
Mies van der Rohe.5 Mies furniture designs
from life. During a trip to Greece, however,
Johnson felt he instantly recognized in Mies
are widely recognized as icons of twentieth-
he turned his interest to architecture. His
a personality who would set the course for
century design. The story of their first
newfound devotion soon led him to admire
modern architecture. Johnson asked Mies
introduction to America, however, is less
modern
This
to design his New York apartment. The
fully elucidated than their subsequent fate.
inclination materialized in the course of two
project came together very quickly, with
The many letters Johnson wrote from
trips to Germany in 1929 and 1930 and
Jan Ruhtenberg, a young architect with
Europe give a vivid picture not only of the
was strongly influenced by friendships with
whom Johnson had become friendly in
circumstances of his New York apartment,
Alfred Barr Jr. , Henry-Russell Hitchcock,
Berlin, also contributing.
but also of the role played in his life and
architecture
1
above
all.
3
About Miroslav Ambroz Independent researcher and art historian, expert and appraiser of art; 1994 Municipality of the City of Brno, Department of Historical Monuments; 2001 Fine Arts Conservation Consulting Expert for several architectural companies and government institutions, including the Department of Historical Monuments Protection; 1995 Department of Historical Monuments Protection, Brno Art Historian expert for reconstructions of historical buildings and monuments; 2001 – 2005 Moravian Gallery, Brno, Fine and Applied Arts Expert, Exhibition Curator, appraising and authenticating documentation, Head Curator of the exhibition project ‘Vienna Secession’; 2010 research on furnishings of Villa Tugendhat; 2013 exhibition curator MOCA, Chengdu, China.
Johnson met Barr in June of 1929 Johnson met Ruhtenberg for the first time in November of 1929 see: Franz Schulze: Philip Johnson, Life and work, New York, Alfred A Knopf, 1994, p.50-69 4 Philip Johnson in an interview with Sharon Zane, MoMA Archives Oral History: December 18, 1990, p.66 5 Franz Schulze, Philip Johnson: Life and Work, p.70 1 2 3
work by the now largely forgotten architect
school. McAndrew6 was on a sightseeing
the architecture of Oud, Gropius and design
Jan Ruhtenberg.
tour and, Johnson found, was as “crazy
of Bauhaus. He could, as noted biographer
about modern architecture” as he was.
Franz Schultze claims, “enjoy equally the
1929: INTRODUCTION TO MODERN ARCHITECTURE
McAndrew was in the process of finishing
reductivist forms of the Weissenhofsiedlung
his thesis and had several popular articles
and the opulent sounds of the Ring of the
In July of 1929 Johnson loaded up his
on modern architecture to write, so the two
Nibelungs. Moreover, since his upbringing
car on the ocean liner the S.S. Bremen
planned to combine their journeys and visit
had confined him so narrowly to the study of
and started his 6 month trip in Europe—
the most interesting buildings together. This
beauty, he found it easy to make beauty the
partly as an escape from Harvard, partly
time with McAndrew intensified Johnson’s
standard of goodness, to equate aesthetics
to learn German and admire the beauty
desire to build his own understanding
with morality.”9
of the arts. He spent most of his time in
of modern architecture: “I am going to
Johnson was also receiving advice and
Germany (with the exception of short
plunge into architectural books and, by
tasks to undertake from newly-named
journeys to Holland and Prague) visiting
gosh, learn to read them easily. Really this
MOMA director Alfred Barr, and one of the
galleries,
trip I am taking now, I take rather against
places he was to visit was the Weisenhof
my will. (...) Having John with me has
Settlement near Stuttgart: a “little suburb
been gorgeous, because it keeps the focus
made by all the famous modern architects.
on art all the time.”
Just perfect for me to begin on. My first view
7
gothic
cathedrals,
baroque
palaces, or attending operas. On a visit to a Mannheim gallery, Johnson met John McAndrew, then a student
at
the
Harvard
Architectural
8
Johnson fell in love with a new aesthetics -
of things by Le Corbusier, Gropius, and
6 John McAndrew (1904-1978), in 1937 he was appointed as the curator of Department of Architecture and Industrial Art at MoMA 7 Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, 10.8.1929; Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29 8 Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, 3.10.1929, Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29 9 Franz Schulze, Philip Johnson: Life and Work, p.56
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Oud, the three greatest living architects.”10
This trip also crystallized Johnson’s ideas
His periodic reports to his mother give a
and plans for an extension to his mother’s
yellow than blue, and much more blue
clear picture of his views on architecture
house in Pinehurst, North Carolina. He
than red, since that is their inverse
from that period: “Le Corbusier has of
recommended John McAndrews as a
proportion of intensity. The walls
course thrown over all attempt at a purely
“quite capable” architect. But also - as
would be shiny white Duco, the carpet
formal beauty. He constructs the most
Schulze explains, it was during this time
and stuffed chairs, grey or a mixture
practical thing that can be made most
that “encouraged by both McAndrew and
of gray and black with no brownish
comfortable, cheapest, and thick walls
Ruhtenberg Philip Johnson tried his hand
quality, rather a silvery. The lighting
for coolness and warmth etc. The beauty
for the first time at designing”.
lies purely in proportion. The only trouble
the Pinehurst interior, Johnson had “some
of chromium plate and ground glass.
it seems to me is that they are not quite
peculiar ideas”:
The curtains of a pure yellow, leaning
11
I mean there would be much more
As for
fixtures and door knobs and things
beautiful. Oud on the other hand, I feel
The idea is the use of nothing but
rather to the lemon, canary, than to
is a kindred spirit. If you know what the
the purest possible primary colors.
the ochre. Where the red and blue
feeling is, I feel that if I were an architect
But there would be so much white,
go is rather secondary, since they
I should build that way.” Interestingly,
(with gray of course for rugs etc.) that
must be quite small in area though
Mies’ name never appears on those
the colors would only be bits. And
powerful in intensity. The window sills
pages, as at the time he was not well-
they would be in extent as much as
and jambs may be yellow vitrolite
known as an architect.
their relative importance to the eye.
and the curtains blue, blue without
Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, 18.8. 1929, Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29 11 Shulze, Philip Johnson: Life and Work, p.55 10
13 | JAN RUHTENBERG
magenta and yet dark, a flashing
a painter, and I have bought some, I
interesting set of plans. Ours naturally
blue. The front door I regret to say
think you will like. She really has great
being by two amateurs are a bit too
must be red, and no grayed one at
talent. Jan, that is Mr. Ruhtenberg,
simple and severe, outside of the
that. A bright light red.
and I have made you a beautiful room
colors. Still that is the right side to
for the Pinehurst house. I recalled as
err on. But to get back to my favorite
explains his vision primarily in terms of
best I could the dimensions and we
Ruhtenbergs. I adore the children, and
color, approaching interior design as if it
have the neatest plans drawn up. Any
we play together by the hour. I have
were a Mondrian painting.
cabinet maker can make the room
bought them a railroad train and we
from the plans. We have tastes that
have collisions and things between
and Johnson grew closer to Ruhtenberg.
are very very similar and together
two trains all the time. I shall always
Almost immediately, they created some
we have what we think is a rather
be just so old. Mother, when will I
new designs for Pinehurst:
beautiful room. (...) The draughtsman
grow up? The relation between the
The Ruhtenberg family (...) has
at Jan’s office does all the work, and I
two is ideal, the mother and father I
practically adopted me. I eat over
have the fun of seeing the way things
mean. They very seldom go anywhere
there almost once a day, and I am
come out on paper. When we get the
together or see each other, each
always in and out. (...) I am Uncle
color sketches and everything, I am
having his own friends and circle, but
Philip to the little kids, aged 4 and
going to Breuer, and ask him what he
at the same time they are the best
6. The wife I am devoted to. She is
thinks and to make perhaps a more
of friends. They have separate parts
12
Of interest here is the way Johnson
In mid-october, McAndrew left for Paris,
Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, 3.10.1929, Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29
12
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of the apartments and live happily
metal work and the brilliance of the
make for the same room. (...) But the
separately. I am one of the very few
golds are somewhat dimmed on the
biggest excitement of the recent week
mutual friends, so through me they
sketch, but the imagination can soon
was my visit to Dessau. Jan and I went
hove gone out a lot, en trois which
restore it in the flesh. We have made
together on Friday night. He was once
they seldom do. And the children
a nice stuffed chair for you that is
invited to be the assistant head of the
meanwhile, get very well brought up
shallow and has a straight back, and
Bauhaus but refused so naturally he
because they both are intelligent. And
a most glorious one for the rest of the
knows people down there. Through
Jan knows everyone of importance in
family that goes way back and is very
him I met the most charming people,
Berlin it seems.13
low. The whole thing, blue prints and
people I shall always know and like.
sketch, even down to the dimensions
But especially I met my favorite Klee. I
Jan and I have finished your room in
of the lamp, together cost fifty dollars
bought a picture of his…”14
Pinehurst, and if you don’t use it, I
which I don’t think is bad. Jan did not
During this visit, Johnson also met with
shall adapt it for the living room of the
count his work in because he is getting
Marcel Breuer and consulted with him
Barrett house. I can assure you it will
experience and fun at the same time.
on the Pinehurst designs, as well. Breuer
not be cheap, but it will be very very
Today or tomorrow we are going to
“had several interesting suggestions (...)
beautiful. We have a color sketch all
see one of the most brilliant younger
so when I get back I will talk the whole
made of it, and how I wish you were
interior decoration men to see what
matter over with you and see what you
here, to thrill over it. Of course the
he thinks and what plans he would
think of letting him do the room.” In
A week later, he had more to report:
Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, 18.11.1929, Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29 14 Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, 24.11.1929, Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29 13
15 | JAN RUHTENBERG
closing, he attempts to persuade his
was Russel Hitchcock who would guide
on now of painting. And that is something
mother to join him Paris in December: “we
him on most of the three months travels
for Alfred. Well, excuse the ego and the art
could visit Barcelona together for a day or
through
in this, but I am full of it.”16
so, to see the things, that you will never
Germany, Sweden and Denmark. After
This “Section Allemande” – the German
see again because they are hidden away.”
Hitchcock left via England to return home,
contribution to the exhibition of Société
Unfortunately, he was not, after all, sent
Johnson traveled with Jan Ruhtenberg to
des artistes décorateurs français17 - caused
to Barcelona and instead in December
Switzerland, Austria and Czechoslovakia.
considerable
returned to New York.
France,
Belgium,
Holland,
consternation
in
France.
Philip Johnson and Alfred Barr visited
The exhibition was conceived by Gropius
the German furniture exhibition at the
and was divided into five rooms, of which
1 9 3 0 : PA R I S
Grand Palais in Paris, and both found it
the most often reproduced part was the
In June of 1930, Philip Johnson returned
very exciting. Johnson wrote his mother:
communal area for the ten-story apartment
to Europe, where he met with Russell
“The German show of furniture here is so
block, designed as a series of lightweight
Hitchcock and with the newly married
wonderful that I am importing a whole set
high tech structures in steel and glass.
Alfred and Margo Barr.
He diligently
of it. If you can ‘t use it I can, and if you
“Consistent in programme, brilliant
wrote his mother on his portable typewriter,
do I think I shall order some more...” and
in installation, it stood like an island
going over his travel plans and discussing
returns to the topic later in the letter: “Alfred
of integrity, in a mélange of chaotic
which routes he’d need to take to gather
said today, the furniture was really more
modernistic caprice, demonstrating (what
materials for the MOMA exhibition. It
exciting than the modern exhibit, which is
was not generally recognized at the time)
15
Margaret Scolari-Fitzmaurice and Alfred Barr got married in Paris at the end of May, 1930. The whole intellectual & artistic ex-pat group completed poet Cary Ross, composer and critic Virgil Thomson, conductor George Cates, Eunice Stoddard Smith and Rose Nichols 16 Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, June 1930, Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29 17 exhibition was held from 14. 5. to 13. 7. 1930 15
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that German industrial design, thanks
remarks, it is apparent that his affair with
barbarians, almost, from across
largely to the Bauhaus, was years ahead
poet and fellow MoMA staffer Cary Ross
the ocean. He was a very delicate,
of the rest of the world.”
Many of the
was (again) in crisis: “Cary still wallowing
Catholic, semi-recluse, and he just
French reviews revealed a fear not only
in all the problems of finding life or rather
was appalled of this invasion of alien
of German cultural mastery but also of
Life not worth so much, and nothing really
forces that said they liked his work
political and economic domination.
an end in itself, gives me mixed feelings of
but couldn’t possibly understand the
pity and remoteness...my relation with him
finer points. From then on, since I
definitely became less close.”
could talk a little German by then, I
18
19
MEETING MIES
20
From Paris, Hitchcock and Johnson traveled
Some time towards the end of June,
did the interpreting. Also in the work,
to Holland, and on June 20, Johnson wrote
Johnson met Mies for the first time. He
because Russell was such a Corbusier
to his mother from The Hague, detailing his
remembered the meeting as follows
man that he just wasn’t as interested
further travel plans with Russel Hitchcock
some years later:
in the Germanic or the design
and describing a route which this time would
I first went to see Mies (...) with
approach that Mies represented. I
also include Prague and Brno: “Cary and
Alfred and Marga and Russell.
was much more interested in Mies
Alfred will meet us in Berlin, where we shall
So, there were four of us... and
than I was in Corbu.21
have a furniture buying orgy, and then we
ever since Mies always called that
On July 8, 1930, Johnson moved in with Jan
will motor through southern Germany and
“the American invasion”; to him it
Ruhtenberg in Berlin and writes on stationery
maybe Switzerland back to Paris.” From his
was just an overwhelming force of
Jan had designed for him in the style of Mies:
Alfred H. Barr Jr, Bauhaus, 1919-1928, Exh. Cat., MoMA, 1938, p.5 Paul Overy, Visions of the Future and the & immediate Past: The Werkbund Exhibition, Paris 1930, Journal of Design History Vol 17, No 4, p.345 20 Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, 7.7.1930 ,Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29 21 MoMA Archives Oral History: P. Johnson p.61 of 122 18 19
17 | JAN RUHTENBERG
I have been living with Jan and we
and hence disappear in a few years
and then through Tyrol, to Salzburg
have become better friends than ever.
anyhow, and it is much too small a
and Vienna, where we shall stay a very
I must tell you how it is with him. This
sum to invest in starting anything in
short time, and then to work again at
money you know that he got some
Germany today. He considers his
Brno and Prague where a great deal
ten thousand dollars, he is going to
degree with three years study the best
of modern architecture is to be found.
use to get a degree in architecture, so
investment of it, and I agree with him.
Russell meanwhile will have gone
he can be a practising architect. Of
He is not the kind of man to remain a
home, for which I thank God.
course here you don’t need the degree
clerk and we are all convinced he will
In the conclusion of this letter, Johnson
to build things, but with a degree you
do well as an architect. Much to my
mentions the plan to ask Mies van der Rohe
are always sure of job and of course
delight, Cary and Russell and Alfred,
to design the interior of his apartment in
every architect who later amounts
like Jan and he them, so we all got
New York. Even as he asks his mother’s
to anything, has one. A prominent
along very well.
opinion, though, it is clear from the context
22
architect here told him he had talent
Judging by the superlatives that often
that he has already commissioned him.
and that he ought to study, and Russell
appear on these pages in connection with
... and then there is one other matter
and I after seeing his recent plans
Ruhtenberg, their relationship became
which I must talk over with you. There
agree. He says if he kept the money,
very close:
is this very great architect here who
it would gradually disappear in filling
Jan will join me and we shall go a few
does the best interiors in the world.
in the cracks in his insufficient salary,
days to Davos nearby to visit Raphael
Do you think it would be too much
Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, 8. 7. 1930, Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29
22
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expense to let him do my apartment
With the shipment of my furniture I
agreed to take my friend Jan as the
furniture plus duty would not cost as
shall send also a few straight chairs
first voluntary assistant that he has ever
much as Deskey , anywhere near, I
and a metal bed for Pinehurst.
had. He had talked of the best way to
have found that out, and it would be
After seeing some of the rooms that he
study architecture and he advised my
the first room entirely in my latest style
had decorated here in Berlin, I got the
friend against going to the Technische
in America. Wire me if you think it out
idea of getting him to do my room in
Hochschule, and told him that he ought
of the question. I think it would be the
New York for me. I went to call on him
to work with various architects for the
cheapest possible kind of publicity for
with my best friend, a German, Jan
same amount of time and thus learn
my style, The whole will be elegant but
Ruhtenberg who is beginning to study
more. The first architect he suggested
so simple. It would take me all night
architecture. Mies was most polite
was you, and I hope sometime that I
to describe just what it would be like
and distant, but we were lucky to be
can bring Jan to see you in Rotterdam,
and then it would not do it justice.
going to Dessau the same day he was
he has always waited to know you and
And while I think of it, those German
going, so we took him with us in the
now that I do know you he is more
fixtures work very well in American
car and then he opened up and talked
wild about it than ever. Finally Mies
sockets only they have to be rewired
all the way, always impersonally, but
agreed to let him work in his office
by an electrician. (...) And what do you
very openly, about his plans or the
and since it is the first time that Mies
think of my new paper? Jan designed
Bauhaus and the other architects. By
has ever taken anyone to work this
it and I consider it a masterpiece.(...)
the time we were back in Berlin he had
way, we felt quite honored.25
23
24
Donald Deskey (1894 – 1989) Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, 6.8.1930, Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29 25 Philip Johnson, letter to J. P. Oud, 17 September 1930 An bord der Bremen, Philip Johnson Papers, VI-1. MoMA Archives, New York 23 24
19 | JAN RUHTENBERG
Johnson and Ruhtenberg traveled for about
all of glass from in the ceiling to the
riding in. A motorcyclist coming from the
three weeks through Switzerland to Vienna
very floor. Great sheets of plate glass
opposite direction was also involved and
and arrived around August 20 in Brno:
that go into the floor electrically. The
ended up under his bike, lightly wounded.
We got in touch with a wonderful
side of the room is at least thirty feet
Fortunately an ambulance was passing
young architect German Bohemian
and is glass to the east. This room is
and was able to take the motorcyclist
which means not so quite so
divided into dining room library and
to the hospital, and the girl was unhurt
disgusting as the genuine article.
living room by partial walls which
except for the shock. They arrived in
He was a dear and helped us see
do not in the least destroy its size,
Prague on August 22, but it was a holiday
everything of which there was a very
but rather magnify it. One wall is of
and they weren’t able to meet with any of
great deal to see. We were there only
onyx. It has cost already a million
the architects. They wandered about the
twenty four hours but we are now
marks, which in Europe is a frightful
city and Johnson described his view to his
fast friends of young Eisler
sum. A beautiful house.”
mother: “Besides this awful language and
26
who
invited us to stay with him next time
On the trip from Brno to Prague they were
these awful people, and the awful roads
we came down. We saw a wonderful
involved in an unpleasant accident, which
and the awful rain, for weeks and weeks
house by Mies van der Rohe, who
Johnson later dubbed “The Miracle of
without stopping are very annoying in
is doing my apartment. He has
the Flying Girl”: the car collided with a
themselves. I was up for a few hours today
one room very low ceilinged, one
young cyclist, who didn’t give right of way
and saw lots of my old favorites with Jan in
hundred feet long, toward the south
and rode straight into the car they were
the only sun I have seen for weeks and then
26
Otto Eisler (1893 – 1968)
COME HERE ARCHITEKT | 20
it started to rain so I went to bed again. In a
am afraid it is going to be rather
much (...) taught today in that a man
few days we will be back in Berlin and glad
expensive fitting it up, but then the
with limited time and money like
I will be to be there once more.”
apartment itself is not so frightfully
Jan, cannot afford to go. And Mies
expensive and I think it is terribly
in his twenty years of architectural
Dresden, “where Jan has done one shop
important that I have a show
experience has never had an unpaid
front and I was surprised to see what a
apartment to counteract this terrible
learning assistant of this fashion. For
magnificent architect he is and is going
way of modernistic apartments
some reason he was much taken with
to be.”28 After arriving in Berlin, Johnson
that we now have. It is to gasp my
Jan and Jan is now walking around
was annoyed to find that Mies had not
apartment. It is so different from
on clouds naturally. Jan and I had
even begun his interior designs. He
what I would have had last year or
worked out the apartment together
sent home some light fixtures, glasses,
even this, without the influence of
before going to Mies, and Mies has
goblets, and a few extra Mies chairs. On
Mies van der Rohe. He is a very great
really changed nothing essential in
1 September, he sent his mother some
man, and Jan and I feel just about
Jan’s plan, so we think that he was
details about the designs:
two inches high when we talk to
impressed by the latent talent shown
I shall have to stay at least a day
him. For Jan he has done everything.
in the plan. I have no doubt at all
getting things in my apartment
He has taken him into his office to
that Jan talented and now that he
straightened out and it would be
work instead sending him to the
has a little leisure to study I am sure
great if you were to be there. I
Technische Hochschule. There is so
he will come through. It is good to
27
On the way to Berlin, they stopped in
Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, 22.8.1930 ,Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29 28 Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, 22.8.1930 ,Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29 27
21 | JAN RUHTENBERG
have friends who get ahead. Most
drawings, for example, are a few sheets of
wall by full-length draperies. The room was
people just lean back and expect to
unelaborated details.”
furnished by pieces of Mies’s and Reich’s
31
be pushed or pulled. Strange that I
furniture in an asymmetrically formal arrangement of two Barcelona chairs and
who even speaks a foreign language
FURNIS HINGS OF THE 424 E . 52ND S T APARTME NT
than to most of my friends in America.
On September 16, 1930 Philip Johnson
as the daybed)32 around a square table. A
But we have so much in common not
boarded a steamer in Bremen, arriving
grand piano stood against the wall opposite
to mention architecture, and then his
in New York on the 22nd. Before his
the fireplace, with a floor lamp and MR-stool.
family is so nice.
29
departure, he had ordered furnishings and
Other furnishings were created according to
Johnson in a later interview spoke about
supplies from Mies van der Rohe’s studio
new designs by Lily Reich using tubular steel
how long and in what great detail Mies
on the basis of the submitted drawings.
as vertical supports: two bookshelves33 and
worked
Johnson’s
At this time, Johnson also designated Jan
writing desk.
apartment, and declared that in a sense,
Ruhtenberg as his agent, depositing the
it had been—despite the small scale—
sum of 10,000 marks into his account.
really should feel closer to someone
on
his
plans
for
ottomans, and a low lounge (later known
Alfred Clauss34 was recommended to Johnson by Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe
as important to Mies “as six skyscrapers.
Johnson’s 550-square-foot apartment
to supervise his apartment on site in
Schulze explains, however, that “The
consisted of a foyer, a living room with a
America. Willy Kaiser from the studio of
talk about “six skyscrapers”
was typical
fireplace, a bedroom, and a kitchen. The
Mies asked him to take some additional
Johnson hyperbole; the surviving working
living room windows were screened wall to
measurements and “as many photos of
Philip Johnson, letter to Mrs. H. Johnson, 1.9.1930 ,Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060, Box 29 30 “in 1930 he had only my apartment to do... He did it as if it were six skyscrapers—the amount of work he put into that apartment was incredible” in: Franz Schulze, Edward Windhors, Mies van der Rohe: A Critical Biography, New and Revised Edition, p. 141 31 Franz Schulze,Edward Windhors, Mies van der Rohe: A Critical Biography, New and Revised Edition, p. 439
32
the daybed was also used for the Crous apartment in Berlin, See: Christiane Lange, Ludwig Mies von der Rohe and Lilly Reich: furniture and Interiors (Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz. 2006), pp.106108; Helmut Reuter and Birgit Schulte, eds., Mies and Modern Living (Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz. 2008), p.198. 33 drawing for the bookcases at MoMA, MvdR Archive; 36.8. 34 German-born architect Alfred Clauss (1906-1998) had worked with Karl Schneider and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Germany prior his immigration to the United States in 1930. He is reported to have
worked on the famous German Pavilion at the Barcelona Exposition of 1929. After his arrival in the United States in 1930, Clauss became a designer with Howe & Lescaze and later he helped design the Chicago World’s Fair of 1933. His American wife Jane, had worked in the office of Le Corbusier.
29
30
COME HERE ARCHITEKT | 22
fireplace, windows, doors, etc.”35
Lilly Reich asked Johnson’s approval for
the following year, Johnson ordered one
On September 23 1930, the following
several minor changes to the work table.
more chair via Ruhtenberg.
were on order for Mies studio at the firm
The tabletop would now be 40 cm and
Berliner Metallgewerbe Jos. Müller, Berlin
covered in a dark brown leather, and the
EPILOGUE
Neuköln,
legs were chrome.
Johnson’s New York apartment was the
Lichtenraderstrasse
32:
Two
36
chrome Barcelona chairs, two MR tables
Production of the furniture began
culmination of a short happy period during
with dark wood tabletops, diameter 60 cm;
immediately. In an interesting coincidence,
which Philip Johnson and Jan Ruthenberg
1 tubular steel chair with armrests (later
Berliner Metallgewerbe Josef Müller was
shared a close relationship and common
called “Brno” chair) for a writing desk, 4
at the same time busy with the production
path. The furnished interior was Mies’ first
matching chairs of flat steel, 1 MR chair
of chairs for the Villa Tugendhat in Brno—
step into the country that would become
and 2 MR stools with dark-blue cane, 1
thus crucial construction details were
his new home just seven years later. The
kitchen table without glass plate (diameter
executed identically.
turn of 1930-31 was also the culmination
95 cm, height 75 cm). Upholstery for the
In spite of a metalworker’s strike and
of Mies van der Rohe’s career in Europe,
Barcelona and Brno (pigskin and calf
delayed production, everything from the
which concluded with the completion of
parchment) chairs was ordered at Günther
curtain rods to the straw floor covering
the magnificent villa of Fritz and Greta
& Co. Berlin. After Alfred Clauss submitted
(Fussbodentwist) was shipped together with
Tugendhat in Brno and several smaller
plans and detailed measurements showing
the Mies furniture on the S.S. Deutschland
contracts were realized at the same time
elevation, chimneys, and electrical outlets,
on December 23, 1930. On January of
(the golf club study in Krefeld, interiors for
Willy Kaiser letter to Alfred Clauss, 12. 9.1930, Department of Architecture, MoMA Archives, New York Lilly Reich letter to Philip Johnson, 24. 10.1930, Department of Architecture, MoMA Archives, New York 37 opened in Berlin 9.5.1931 and closed on 8.2.1931 38 Philp Johnson, letter to J. P. Oud, August 2nd, 1931, J.P. Oud Papers, Nederlands Architectuurinstituut | Netherlands Architecture Institute Rotterdam 35
36
23 | JAN RUHTENBERG
Carl Wilhelm and Mildred Crous, the Hess
presented at the Berlin exhibition fell out of
Mies MR, Barcelona and Brno chairs
apartment). Mies was also named director
favor. Jan Ruhtenberg had to leave Berlin
are today considered icons of twentieth-
of the Bauhaus in early August of 1930.
soon after his great success, never to return.
century design. What remains of the
By mid-1931, however, he was almost
In the summer of 1931 Johnson writes to
original New York apartment is now found
without work. The Berlin Building Exposition
Oud from Berlin: “Things are not going
in the collections of MOMA in New York
- Deutsche Bauausstellung
- was truly his
very smoothly here and I find a great deal
and the Glass House at New Canaan,
swan song. As the artistic director of the
of work to be done. Ruthenberg has gone
Connecticut, a building which Johnson
exhibition Dwellings of our Time, he gave
to Sweden to try to get work there; it is, of
designed under the influence of Mies’
space to the young talented architect Jan
course, absolutely impossible in Berlin to
Farnsworth House project. Original pieces
Ruhtenberg. Ruhtenberg made good use
support a wife and three children by being
are now rare artifacts that help us to
of his chance—not only did he receive the
an architect.” A month later he concludes:
understand the genesis and production of
gold medal from the City of Berlin, but
“Poor man is starving to death in Sweden.
metal furniture and the changes that have
his interior, which included prototypes of
I shall help him till he gets on his feet and
occurred during its 80-year journey.41
the steel tube Tugendhat chairs, appeared
I am sure he will do that.”39 And later from
on the cover of the magazine Moderne
NYC: Jan Ruhtenberg has a job designing
Bauform. Nevertheless the economic and
furniture in Stockholm, though not enough
political situation led to Hitler’s rise to
money yet to support his family. But he is
power, and the modern architecture Mies
lucky this year.40
Philp Johnson, letter to J. P. Oud, September 2nd, 1931, J.P. Oud Papers, Nederlands Architectuurinstituut | Netherlands Architecture Institute Rotterdam 40 Philp Johnson, letter to J. P. Oud, November 11, 1931, J.P. Oud Papers, Nederlands Architectuurinstituut | Netherlands Architecture Institute Rotterdam 41 In 1957 Johnson gave part of his furniture collection to Robert Melik Finkle, an apprentice. In 1997 five pieces made for his apartment, on East 52nd Street, were auctioned at Christie’s in New York. Three were nickel-plated tubular steel furniture, called the MR series: a
coffee table with a new glass top and a cantilever chair and stool, with caned seats designed by Mies van der Rohe’s colleague Lilly Reich. There were also two rosewood tables with legs flush to the corners the Mies design that probably inspired the Parsons table. Tubular Brno chair from the study is now in the collection of MOMA; the core of the furnishing arrangement: 2 Barcelona chairs, 4 flat steel Brno chairs, Wagenfeld lamp were authenticated by the author of this text as originals (except the upholstery) at the Glass House in New Canaan, CN.
37
39
38
COME HERE ARCHITEKT | 24
1 9 2 9 ( E S T. ) GERMANY WRITING DESK This is Mr. Ruhtenberg’s personal desk. Almost every edifice and furnishing in Jan’s canon was drawn on this table top. It is of very similar design and construction to the writing desk for haus Tugendhat credited to Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich. Designed while Jan was in Mies’ office, the original Tugendhat desk was lost during WWII and presumably destroyed by the invading Nazis. This desk survives as a testament to the subtle and sturdy solutions arrived at more than 80 years ago in a small office in Berlin. Image: Jeffrey Bond, photographer
25 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1 9 2 9 ( E S T. ) GERMANY B A R C E LO N A C H A I R VA R I A N T Little is known about Ruhtenberg’s mysterious versions of the most famous of all modern chairs. Striking differences to the final design are the rounded corners and delicate crossbar. Large leather belts manufactured to secure early automobile hoods were used for the cushion straps. Flat and thin leather cushions were originally employed for these chairs and are reproduced here. Mr. Ruhtenberg shipped many Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier furnishings (in addition to many of his own pieces) from Europe when he emigrated to America in the early 1930’s. Image: Jeffrey Bond, photographer
27 | JAN RUHTENBERG
COME HERE ARCHITEKT | 28
1929-1930 MODERNE BAUFORMEN Living in Berlin, Ruhtenberg befriended Philip Johnson. They designed rooms for Johnson family homes, toured significant modernist sites throughout Europe, and met their architectural idols. Ruhtenberg’s first published work, executed with Jo Neubacher, appeared in the September 1930 issue of Moderne Bauformen with the caption “Wohnraum im Landhaus J. in Ohio.” The drawing was likely intended for the Johnson family.
29 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1930 BERLIN INTERIOR Ruhtenberg worked in Mies van der Rohe’s office, maintained his own practice in Berlin, and remodeled his own apartment using Mies’ furniture along with cabinets, tables, and chairs of his own design. This apartment at 22 Achenbachstrasse was a home away from home for Philip Johnson and actual home to Ruhtenberg, his wife Hanna von Helmsing and their three children. This photo was featured on p.205 in the catalogue for the Museum of Modern Art’s 1932 landmark exhibit, The International Style: Architecture Since 1922. Image: photographer unknown
31 | JAN RUHTENBERG
L A T E 1 9 3 0 ’ S ( E S T. ) UNITED STATES PROTOTYPE CANTILEVERED CHAIR A chair of Ruhtenberg’s design imbued with the modern spirit: the long, elegant bent-wood design recalls the furniture of Alvar Aalto and the gentle arc reveals Mies van der Rohe’s influence. The hairy hide suggests the influence of Southwest American style on Ruhtenberg’s design sensibility. Image: Jeffrey Bond, photographer
33 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1931 SWEDEN PROTOTYPE FLOOR LAMP This is the prototype of a floor lamp designed by Jan Ruhtenberg for Swedish furniture company Svenskt Tenn. These lamps appear in many of Jan’s designs and originally had a thin silk veil around the shade. The production model had a larger base and shade and a more elaborate height adjustment mechanism. Mr. Ruhtenberg and Svenskt Tenn founder Estrid Ericson were early proponents of the Swedish Modern style. Image: Jeffrey Bond, photographer
35 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1932-1934 SWEDISH BEACH HOUSE By 1932, a soon-to-be divorced Ruhtenberg lived in Stockholm with his two sons. He became a designer for Estrid Ericson’s Svensk Tenn Furniture Company, rebuilt the King of Sweden’s castle, remodeled an apartment for the Crown Prince of Sweden, and exhibited his own furniture in the Swedish Pavilion at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Ruhtenberg designed and built houses for the cultural elite in both New York and Sweden. The Gunnar Palme house of Stockholm was rented by Greta Garbo and luxurious modern designs were carried out for a Mr. J.A. Thomas, Dr. Stiller, and Admiral Count Carl Posse. Image: A.G. Jan Ruhtenberg, architect, photographer unknown
37 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1933 LET’S BE MODERN Ruhtenberg designed projects in New York for Nelson Rockefeller, Helen Resor, and the Museum of Modern Art. “Philip (Johnson) had the wild idea that he was going to be a sort of broker ... that he was going to get commissions for architects, and he’d have somebody who did Georgian Houses and Ruhtenberg to do modern houses, and so forth.” ––William Priestly, Ruhtenberg’s assistant at Columbia (interview with Ludwig Glaser, Sept. 3, 1976, MvdR archive, MoMA, Tape 2: Side 1)
The Simeon B. Chapin Youpon Dunes Beach House was a commission that came through Johnson’s social connections. Ruhtenberg objected to the round port windows on the second floor and the life preservers on the railing. He retouched original prints to eliminate them. Image: A.G. Jan Ruhtenberg, architect, photographer unknown
39 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1934-1936 NEW YORK CITY On August 4, 1935 Ruhtenberg married second wife, socialite Mrs. Polly King Carter. Carter’s father, Willard V. King, funded many of Ruhtenberg’s most significant works. “In 1936 Ruhtenberg took a two-year lease on a fourteen-foot-wide brownstone and transformed its interior in the Miesian manner, with curtains and raftlike carpets defining functional areas and establishing appropriate spaces for Mies’s furniture supplemented by some of Ruhtenberg’s own design.” ––New York 1930, Stern, Gilmartin, Mellins Image: Remodeled Brownstone, Dining Room, New York City, 1936, Emelie Danielson, photographer
41 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1939 CARRIAGES AND KINGS “In 1940 I received a commission in Colorado Springs and came out here to build the El Pomar Carriage Museum in Broadmoor. From then on my practice grew so rapidly that I stayed in Colorado Springs with the exception of the war years, when I worked at Chrysler Corporation in Detroit designing structures for the war effort.” ––Jan Ruhtenberg (from his personal bio) Image: El Pomar Carriage House Museum, Colorado Springs, Colorado. A.G. Jan Ruhtenberg, architect, Lloyd Knutson, photographer
43 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1945 “FARMERS ARE MODERN” “When asked whether he thought farmers would like modern furniture, Mr. Ruhtenberg turned quickly and said: ‘Farmers are modern. I know, because I am one myself. A year ago, while touring from coast to coast by car, I visited many farmers. I found the Western and Midwestern farmers much more modern-minded in their building than New Yorkers.’” ––Interview with Virginia Rogers, 1939 Image: Ruhtenberg family home, Colorado Springs, Colorado, A.G. Jan Ruhtenberg, architect, Robert Koons, structural engineer, Guy Burgess, photographer
45 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1947 HOUSE ON THE MESA Ruhtenberg was on the advisory board of the Denver University Architectural School from 1945 to 1952 and taught design for several summers. From 1947 to 1951, he was a member of the board of directors of the Central City Opera Association. In 1946, Ruhtenberg rebuilt the opera house, the residences of singers, and a hotel in Central City. The Oliver Le Compte residence, nicknamed “the house on the mesa,� sat at the foot of Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs. Image: A.G. Jan Ruhtenberg, architect, Guy Burgess, photographer
47 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1952 “THE SHACK” Ruhtenberg built dozens of houses in Colorado from the ‘40s through the ‘60s. More than halfway up Cheyenne Mountain, this home served as a treasure chest for world traveler Mrs. Spencer Penrose and her ephemera. The interior featured sculpted busts, a “walk-in fireplace” and sunken sitting area, and hand-painted chintz draperies. Citing early Minoan design, the blue and magenta columns taper through the slabs and deep into the mountainside. Image: A.G. Jan Ruhtenberg, architect, Pete Baroni, furniture builder, Guy Burgess, photographer
49 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1956 DONAHUE RESIDENCE ROCHESTER, MN The house featured enormous sliding glass doors, natural finish teak wood partitions and hidden closets, floors and walls of Roman travertine, a New York Blue Stone fireplace, spun glass drapes, raw silk rugs from India, cantilevered concrete steps, and Knoll furniture. “We loved Jan, and having him as our architect was a great experience. The three of us shared the delight of building that house.” ––Minnie Donahue, 2001
Ed and Winnie’s house is now Seasons Hospice. Image: A.G. Jan Ruhtenberg, architect, Ralph L. Bloom, consulting engineer, photos by Reynold’s Photography, Minneapolis, MN
51 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1957 OPERA HOUSE Ruhtenberg’s design for an opera house in Colorado Springs won first prize in a Progressive Architecture competition. “If it becomes a reality, it certainly would make Colorado the center of the great entertainments in this entire part of the country.” ––Mrs. Gretchen Hampton, Gazette Telegraph, Colorado Springs, January 19, 1957 Image: A.G. Jan Ruhtenberg, architect, Robert Koons, structural engineer. Photograph of model. Photographer unknown.
53 | JAN RUHTENBERG
1958 COOPERATIVE OFFICE BUILDING The Cooperative Office Building was Ruhtenberg’s own office in Colorado Springs, CO. After renderings were published in the local newspaper, residents expressed concern that the building would fall over. In response, Ruhtenberg built a private (and very heavy) library over his own office on the second floor. Image: Jan Ruhtenberg, architect, Koons, Tyree, and Schlegel, engineers, Guy Burgess, photographer
55 | JAN RUHTENBERG
Download the exhibit video: indymoca.org/2013/09/come-here-architekt