Dual Exhibits Celebrate Career of Architect Mies van der Rohe

Mies van der Rohe once commented, "Less is more." However, this seminal architect, arguably one of the greatest in history, probably wouldn't have objected to the two, not one, concurrently running, in-depth museum exhibitions devoted to his career. "Mies in America" at the Whitney Museum of American Art and "Mies in Berlin" at the Museum of Modern Art, explore the life-long career of Mies, famous for his refined glass-and-steel architecture of the mid-20th century in America and abroad.

The conjunction of these two exhibits, according to Maxwell Anderson, director of the Whitney, "is an intellectual and cultural event of the first magnitude, making it possible to speak of 2001 as the Year of Mies."

"Mies in Berlin" takes an in-depth look at the early career of Mies from 1905, when he moved to Berlin, to 1938, when he emigrated to the United States. It focuses on the lesser-known aspects of Mies's early work, which traditionally have been neglected. "Mies in Berlin" features 47 of Mies's projects in Europe, represented by more than 288 drawings, 14 scale models and the architect's own model of the Tugendhat House in Brno, Czech Republic. Projects include the Riehl House, the Perls House, the German Pavilion in Barcelona and the Resor House Project. New and archival photographs of Mies buildings are presented along with related paintings, sculptures and films.

The exhibition, according to co-curators Terence Riley and Barry Bergdoll, "attempts to offer new insights and new questions about Mies's significance, both historically and in our new century, that might be developed in the ongoing critical appraisal of the legacy of architectural modernism."

"Mies in America" is a comprehensive survey of the architect's work from the time he established himself in Chicago in 1938 until his death in 1969. Transplanted from the Bauhaus (of which he was the last director) to a technical institute in Chicago, from a European avant-garde to Midwestern steel mills, he embarked on an astonishing second career, in which he transformed not only his own building art but the landscape of a continent.

The Whitney's "Mies in America" presents some 220 drawings by Mies and members of his office; 60 photographs of Mies, his colleagues and his projects, and models of four key buildings: Resor House in Jackson Hole, the Convention Hall in Chicago, the Seagram Building in New York and the New National Gallery in Berlin. The exhibit also features a series of contemporary video and still photography.

"By looking closely at the buildings to which he devoted the greatest attention, we may understand that although Mies's work was always grounded in reason, ultimately he was an artist," said curator Phyllis Lambert." He practiced the difficult art of the simple."

Extensive scholarly catalogs accompany each exhibit.

SHOW FACTS

"Mies in America"
Through Sept. 23
Whitney Museum of American Art
Address: 945 Madison Avenue
         New York, N.Y. 10021
Phone: (212) 570-3633
Web site: www.whitney.org
SHOW FACTS

"Mies in Berlin"
Through Sept. 11
The Museum of Modern Art
Address: 11 West 53rd St.
         New York, N.Y. 10021
Phone: (212) 708-9400
Web site: www.moma.org

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