Charles and Ray Eames: Designers of the Twentieth Century

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Pat Kirkham

The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1995, English

Nonfiction, Architecture; Nonfiction, Product/Industrial Design

10 x 7.6 inches, hardcover, 486 pages

ISBN: 9780262111997

From the Publisher. Charles and Ray Eames, perhaps the most famous partnership of 20th-century America, did pioneering work in furniture, film, architecture and exhibition design. Out of respect for Charles's wishes, no book on them was published during their lifetime. In Charles and Ray Eames Pat Kirkham interprets their work in depth, probing the lives behind the designs and the nature of the collaboration. In researching this work, Kirkham had full access to the Eames archive and co-operation from the Eame's clients and associates. The result is a study of the designers and of their work from 1941 to 1978, including a re-evaluation of Ray's role. After discussing the early careers of both Charles and Ray, Kirkham considers their joint work against the background of contemporary socio-economic and design developments. There is a recounting of their early careers and an examination of their multimedia presentations, exhibitions and films. Kirkham looks at the films in the context of an avant-garde tradition and in an industrial film-making tradition and takes up their role in popularizing the computer.

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Wim Crouwel

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In this 1995 book, the author offers an in-depth interpretation of the careers of the two members of this most famous design partnership. Although I have been primarily inspired by European developments in modernism, one cannot think of design without this very important American couple. My house is full of their furniture.

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