Edgar Kaufmann Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | Edgar Jonas Kaufmann Jr. (1910-04-09)April 9, 1910 |
| Died | July 31, 1989(1989-07-31) (aged 79) |
| Education | School for Arts and Crafts Taliesin East |
| Occupation(s) | Architect, author |
| Partner | Paul Mayén |
| Parent(s) | Edgar J. Kaufmann Lilian S. Kaufmann |
Edgar Kaufmann Jr. (stylized asEdgar Kaufmann jr.; April 9, 1910 – July 31, 1989) was an American architect, lecturer, author, and an adjunct professor of architecture and art history atColumbia University.[1]
He was the son ofEdgar J. Kaufmann, a wealthyPittsburgh businessman and philanthropist who ownedKaufmann's department store, and his wife Liliane. Kaufmann Jr. attended the School for Arts and Crafts at the Austrian Museum of Applied Art inVienna, in the late 1920s. He studiedpainting andtypography for three years withVictor Hammer inFlorence.[1] After readingFrank Lloyd Wright's autobiography, Kaufmann decided to become a resident apprentice in architecture at Wright'sTaliesin East School and Studio in 1933.[2] He was asked to leave in 1935 because of his homosexuality, possibly by Wright himself.[3] Kaufmann preferred to stylize his name as "Edgar Kaufmann jr.", spelling thesuffix using lowercase letters.[4][5]
When he left Wright's Taliesin Fellowship in 1935, he joined the family business and became merchandise manager for home furnishings, and in 1938, was elected secretary of theKaufmann Department Stores, Inc.[6] In 1940, Edgar wrote to Alfred Barr of theMuseum of Modern Art, proposing the Organic Design in Home Furnishings Competition, won byCharles Eames andEero Saarinen. That same year, he left Kaufmann's to join theMuseum of Modern Art.[1]
He served with theArmy Air Forces from 1942 to 1946 duringWorld War II. Afterwards, he was director of theIndustrial Design Department at theMuseum of Modern Art (MOMA) inNew York City.[7] While there, he had a relationship with the architecture curator, John McAndrew.[3] Edgar's greatest accomplishment during his tenure at MOMA was the 'Good Design' program of 1950 to 1955, in which the museum joined with theMerchandise Mart inChicago, promoting good design in household objects and furnishings.[8] His Edgar J. Kaufmann Foundation also hired Finnish architectAlvar Aalto to design theKaufmann Conference Center in New York City, which was completed in 1964.[9]
From 1963 to 1986, Kaufmann was an adjunct professor of Architecture and Art History atColumbia University. He authored several books on Wright architecture and modern design,[10][11] and was a contributor toArts + Architecture journal andEncyclopædia Britannica.[1]
Kaufmann strongly supported his father's decision to commission Frank Lloyd Wright for the famous 1936Fallingwater house overBear Run, inStewart Township, Pennsylvania. After his father's death in 1955, Kaufmann inherited the Fallingwater house, continuing to use and share it as a mountain retreat until 1963.[2] Then, he entrusted the Wright structures and several hundred acres of the surrounding pristineLaurel Highlands lands in theAllegheny Mountains to theWestern Pennsylvania Conservancy as an architectural house museum and conservation open space preserve, in memory of his parents.[1] Kaufmann was also among the public figures at the core of the effort to saveOlana, the home ofFrederic Edwin Church, before it was designated aNational Historic Landmark in 1965 and subsequently became a New York State Historic Site.[12][13]
Kaufmann, who did not marry and had no children, died in 1989.[1] His ashes were scattered around the property at Fallingwater[14] by his partnerPaul Mayén,[1][15] with whom he shared his life since the 1950s.[16] Mayén oversaw the building of the Fallingwater pavilion from 1979 to 1981, which houses the café, gift store, and visitor’s center at Fallingwater. Following his own death in 2000, Mayén's ashes were also scattered at Fallingwater in accordance with his wishes.[16][17][18]
After his death, 21 pieces of his collection of art and sculpture were auctioned off atSotheby's in New York.[19] They includedMondrian'sFacade in Tan and Grey andComposition in a Square,Klee'sFace of a Flower,Picasso'sGuitar and Pink Fruit Dish,Braque'sHarlequin, aMatisse'sNude With Pink Shoes,Léger'sForms in Contrast andAcrobats,de Kooning'sUntitled III,Calder'sLittle Tree,Monet'sWaterlilies,Duchamp'sSmall Horse,Giacometti'sWoman With a Broken Shoulder, andMiró'sBird Flying Toward a Silver Tree.[19]
