Eliel Saarinen
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (May 2013) |
Eliel Saarinen | |
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Born | Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen August 20, 1873 |
Died | July 1, 1950 | (aged 76)
Nationality | Finnish |
Occupation | Architect |
Spouse | Loja Saarinen |
Children | |
Awards | AIA Gold Medal |
Buildings |
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Projects |
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Design |
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Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (
Life and work in Finland
Saarinen was educated in Helsinki at the
From 1910 to 1915 he worked on the extensive city-planning project of Munksnäs-Haga and later published a book on the subject. In January 1911 he became a consultant in city planning for
After the divorce from his first wife, Mathilde (who then married Herman Gesellius), on March 6, 1904, Saarinen married his second wife,
Move to the United States
Eliel Saarinen moved to the United States in 1923 after his competition entry for the Tribune Tower in Chicago, Illinois, won second place. While it was not built, the streamlined design inspired the architecture of many other skyscrapers.[3] Saarinen first settled in Evanston, Illinois, where he worked on his scheme for the development of the Chicago lake front. In 1924 he became a visiting professor at the University of Michigan.[1]
In 1925 George Gough Booth asked him to design the campus of Cranbrook Educational Community, intended to be an American equivalent to the Bauhaus. Saarinen taught there and became president of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1932. Among his student-collaborators were Ray Eames (then Ray Kaiser) and Charles Eames; Saarinen influenced their subsequent furniture design.[1]
During 1929–34, Saarinen contributed product designs for the Wilcox Silver Plate Co. / International Silver Company in Meriden, Connecticut.[4] His iconic tea urn (c. 1934) was first exhibited in 1934–35 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[5] Over the years, the tea urn has been widely exhibited, including in St. Louis Modern (2015–16) at the St Louis Art Museum,[6] Cranbrook Goes to the Movies: Films and Their Objects, 1925–1975 at the Cranbrook Art Museum (2014–15).,[7] and in 2005–07, in the touring exhibition Modernism in American Silver: 20th-Century Design, organized by the Dallas Museum of Art, which also traveled to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.[8] In 1951–52, the tea urn was featured in the Eliel Saarinen Memorial Exhibition which traveled to multiple venues across the United States. In addition to Cranbrook, the Dallas Museum and the St Louis Museum, The British Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art also hold tea urn-related Eliel Saarinen designs.[9]
Eliel Saarinen became a professor in the University of Michigan's Architecture Department.
His son,
Eliel received the AIA Gold Medal in 1947.
Significant works
Work | Location | Finished | Picture |
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Finnish Pavilion at the Exposition Universelle (designed with Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren) |
Paris | 1900 | |
Hvitträsk | Kirkkonummi | 1902 | |
National Museum of Finland | Helsinki | 1904 | |
Luther Factory Workers' Canteen and People's House (designed with Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren) |
Tallinn | 1905 | |
Helsinki Central railway station |
Helsinki | 1909 | |
Lahti Town Hall | Lahti | 1911 | |
Former Credit Bank Headquarters ("Saarinen House") | Tallinn | 1912 | |
Vyborg railway station | Vyborg | 1913 | |
Joensuu Town Hall |
Joensuu | 1914 | |
Saint Paul's Church | Tartu | 1917 | |
Marble Palace | Helsinki | 1918 | |
Munkkiniemi Pension house | Helsinki | 1920 | |
Koussevitzky Music Shed |
Lenox | 1938 | |
Kleinhans Music Hall | Buffalo | 1940 | |
Crow Island School | Winnetka | 1940–41 | |
First Christian Church |
Columbus, IN |
1942 | |
Cranbrook Educational Community | Bloomfield Hills | 1940s | |
Des Moines Art Center | Des Moines |
1948 | |
Christ Church Lutheran | Minneapolis | 1949 |
See also
- Eliel Square
- Saarinen Tower
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wäre, Ritva (August 14, 2015). "Saarinen, Eliel (1873–1950)". Kansallisbiografia. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ "Eliel Saarinen". Museum of Finnish Architecture. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ "Tribune Tower" (PDF). Commission on Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks. June 1986. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
- ^ (April 3, 2016). International Silver Company design catalogues and historical information. artdesigncafe. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ (January–February 1935). "At Metropolitan Museum: Silverware executed by International Silver Co. in Contemporary American Industrial Art Exhibit". artdesigncafe.com / International Silver Standard, International Silver Co. newsletter, 3(4), pp. 6–7. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
- ^ (September 8, 2015)."Press release: Saint Louis Art Museum marks Gateway Arch anniversary with St. Louis Modern". St. Louis Art Museum. Retrieved January 1, 2017).
- ^ (Undated). "Exhibition detail: Cranbrook Goes to the Movies Films and Their Objects, 1925–1975". Cranbrook Art Museum website. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
- ^ Stern, Jewel. (2005). "Modernism in American Silver: 20th-Century Design". Dallas Museum of Art and Yale University Press. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
- ^ (March 16, 2016). "Wilcox Silver Plate Co. designs in collections, at auction, and in exhibitions". Design Meriden / artdesigncafe.com. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
Further reading
- Saarinen, Eliel (1985). The search for form in art and architecture. New York: Dover.
- Saarinen, Eliel (1943). The City: Its Growth, its decay, its future. New York: Reinhold publishing corporation.
- Hausen, Marika, ed. (1984). Eliel Saarinen: 1873–1950 – Works in Finland. Helsinki: Museum of Finnish Architecture.
- A&E with Richard Guy Wilson, Ph.D.,(2000). America's Castles: Newspaper Moguls, Pittock Mansion, Cranbrook House & Gardens, The American Swedish Institute. A&E Television Network.
- ISBN 0-8143-3120-3.
- Pelkonen, Eeva-Liisa (2006). Eero Saarinen. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-11282-3.