Papers by Jose Parra-Martinez
Feminismo/s, 2018
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EGA Revista de Expresión Gráfica Arquitectónica, 2021
En 1927, Edward Weston, uno de los fotógrafos más innovadores e influyentes del siglo xx, realizó... more En 1927, Edward Weston, uno de los fotógrafos más innovadores e influyentes del siglo xx, realizó una serie muy personal de seis imágenes de la Lovell House de Rudolph M. Schindler en Newport Beach. Partiendo de documentación hallada en el archivo del arquitecto, este artículo pretende completar los primeros estudios que han contribuido a acreditar la autoría de estas fotografías tras décadas de silencio editorial y desinterés historiográfico. Asimismo, con el objetivo de interpretar las intenciones de Weston ante esta icónica vivienda californiana, su única incursión en el ámbito de la fotografía de arquitectura, este trabajo analiza comparativamente los elementos, técnicas y condiciones ambientales comunes a todas ellas.
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VLC arquitectura. Research Journal, 2019
This paper addresses the under-recognized implications of SFMA’s early architectural exhibition p... more This paper addresses the under-recognized implications of SFMA’s early architectural exhibition program. Conceived under founding director Grace Morley, a series of pioneering events first presented Bay Area architects’ work as interdependent with the region’s rich geographical and cultural context, offering new lens through which Eastern critics prompted to re-evaluate California modernism. Among these shows, the 1949 landmark exhibition Domestic Architecture of the San Francisco Bay Region would epitomize the postwar discussions upon the autonomy of American modern architecture. Correspondingly, by exploring SFMA-MoMA exchanges during Elizabeth Mock’s curatorship, this essay aims to examine the conflict of perceptions and intentions between the country’s two Coasts that brought about the 1949 show as part of a well-orchestrated campaign that had begun years before Lewis Mumford’s 1947 New Yorker piece triggered a controversy over the existence of a “Bay Region Style.” Contrary to ...
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Arte, Individuo y Sociedad, 2022
The relocation of Galka Scheyer, the renowned art dealer and American representative of the Blue ... more The relocation of Galka Scheyer, the renowned art dealer and American representative of the Blue Four, to California in 1925 had a significant, yet unrecognized, impact on the development of the region's early modern architecture. After multiple efforts to land commissions for Rudolph Schindler, her residence, designed by Richard Neutra and Gregory Ain, became a meeting place for artists and members of Hollywood's collecting community. Around 1935, Scheyer's unconventional house and gallery was both her trademark and a reflection of her own character as an art educator and facilitator. This paper explores the role Scheyer and some personalities of her closest art circles, particularly women, played in promoting modernist architecture. Influenced by Scheyer's enthusiasm for the emancipatory nature of avant-garde culture, figures like Marjorie Eaton became intertwined in numerous episodes of architectural matronage. Although their stories are of paramount importance for achieving a more inclusive understanding of California modernism, these women's contributions are frequently neglected in the canonical histories of modern architecture, in which Scheyer appears as an inopportune presence. Along with a critique of such inaccurate historiographical accounts, this essay focuses on Scheyer's agency in linking artistic concepts and contexts as part of her project to advance Californian architecture.
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ACE: Architecture, City and Environment, 2020
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Proyecto, Progreso, Arquitectura, 2021
Este artículo entrelaza algunas reflexiones sobre las plazas de juego infantiles (también conocid... more Este artículo entrelaza algunas reflexiones sobre las plazas de juego infantiles (también conocidas como playgrounds) y el rol que hoy asumen estas en la esfera pública. Tanto su cancelación durante varios meses por la pandemia de COVID-19 como su posterior suspensión por circunstancias climáticas han evidenciado la oportunidad de revisar los lugares de juego en la ciudad (el análisis de sus condiciones de diseño), y el juego mismo (el diseño de sus condiciones), como objeto y herramienta de proyecto. La investigación de aspectos particulares de estas infraestructuras lúdicas, como la seriación, la seguridad o su ubicuidad, permiten visibilizar el alcance de unas arquitecturas habitualmente desatendidas. Esta indagación parte de la realidad genérica de tales arquitecturas con el propósito de contribuir al debate disciplinar sobre cómo el redescubrimiento de la infancia y de la ciudad, vinculados a la ansiada restauración de la sociabilidad, harían emerger nuevas formas de espacio común. A través de una revisión historiográfica, de la presentación de casos de estudio de parques de juego, modernos y contemporáneos, y de material fotográfico de archivo, contingente e inédito, se busca poner en valor el potencial no alcanzado por estos pequeños espacios, aunque en absoluto menores y, así, tratar de entender cómo su uso puede abrir lo urbano a un horizonte verdaderamente colectivo.
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Architectural Histories, 2020
This paper examines three houses built for gay patrons on the California coast shortly before Wor... more This paper examines three houses built for gay patrons on the California coast shortly before World War II. The first is the small structure that Harwell H. Harris designed for the future Arts & Architecture editor John Entenza in Santa Monica, completed in 1938; the second is this same architect's masterpiece in Berkeley, of 1941, which he created for his lifelong friend, Weston Havens; the third, by William Alexander, is in Laguna Beach, built in 1937 to accommodate the love triangle involving author-adventurer Richard Halliburton, Paul Mooney and Alexander himself. Notwithstanding their different requirements and scales, these dwellings can be understood as dramatic observatories which, protected from inquisitive gazes, strove to see without being seen. Although the care that went into ensuring their inhabitants' privacy might appear to conflict with the concern for making them objects of public seduction and media attention, both these strategies were inextricably intertwined. Yet, beyond the visual primacy in the organization of their interiors and the striking formal solutions to their exteriors, a comparative analysis of these houses and their physical and metaphorical modes of simulation, dissimulation and stimulation reveals the emergence of other spatial proposals, sensory invitations and symbolic registers which, as lines of flight of modernism, challenge normative ways of codifying identity, sexuality and queer affections.
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EGA. Revista de Expresión Gráfica Arquitectónica, 2021
The summer of 1927 was a time of great upheaval in the unconventional Schindler household in West... more The summer of 1927 was a time of great upheaval in the unconventional Schindler household in West Hollywood. The separation of the architect from his wife, cultural activist Pauline Gibling, who, one night in August, abandoned Kings Road in secret and, closely linked to this episode, Schindler’s loss of the project to build a new town residence for doctor Philip Lovell – a commission which, after some persuasion from Galka Scheyer, Richard Neutra would end up accepting that same month – set a new course for modern architecture in California.
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VLC Arquitectura Research Journal , 2019
Resumen: Este artículo investiga el desconocido programa de exposiciones de arquitectura del SFMA... more Resumen: Este artículo investiga el desconocido programa de exposiciones de arquitectura del SFMA durante la etapa fundacional de su primera directora, Grace Morley. Su pionera difusión de la arquitectura de la Bahía como respuesta al contexto geográfico y cultural de la región ofreció a los críticos del Este una nueva perspectiva de la modernidad californiana. Análogamente, el estudio de la colaboración SFMA-MoMA durante el comisariado de Elizabeth Mock examina el conflicto de percepciones e intereses entre ambas costas conducente a la histórica exposición de 1949 Domestic Architecture of the San Francisco Bay Region. Epítome de los debates de posguerra, esta culminaba un infatigable esfuerzo promocional iniciado años antes de que el conocido artículo de Lewis Mumford en The New Yorker desencadenara, en 1947, una encendida controversia acerca del "Bay Region Style." Contrariamente a la creencia de que el SFMA reaccionó tardíamente al simposio del MoMA de 1948 organizado por Philip Johnson para rebatir a Mumford, aquella exposición fue la consecuencia de una efectiva agenda regionalista que logró exponer, educar y/o seducir a algunos de los más influyentes actores del panorama norteamericano con la idea de una Escuela de la Región de la Bahía profundamente preocupada por cuestiones sociales, políticas y ecológicas.
Abstract: This paper addresses the under-recognized implications of SFMA's early architectural exhibition program. Conceived under founding director Grace Morley, a series of pioneering events first presented Bay Area architects' work as interdependent with the region's rich geographical and cultural context, offering new lens through which Eastern critics prompted to re-evaluate California modernism. Among these shows, the 1949 landmark exhibition Domestic Architecture of the San Francisco Bay Region would epitomize the postwar discussions upon the autonomy of American modern architecture. Correspondingly, by exploring SFMA-MoMA exchanges during Elizabeth Mock's curatorship, this essay aims to examine the conflict of perceptions and intentions between the country's two Coasts that brought about the 1949 show as part of a well-orchestrated campaign that had begun years before Lewis Mumford's 1947 New Yorker piece triggered a controversy over the existence of a "Bay Region Style." Contrary to prevailing assumptions that this exhibition was a delayed reaction to the 1948 MoMA symposium organized by Philip Johnson to refute Mumford's arguments, it was the consequence of an effective regionalist agenda whose success was, precisely, that many influential actors in the United States were exposed, indoctrinated and/or seduced by the so-called Bay Region School's emphasis on social, political and ecological concerns.
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(ES): El desarrollo de las tecnologías del siglo XX permitió explorar, hasta sus últimas consecue... more (ES): El desarrollo de las tecnologías del siglo XX permitió explorar, hasta sus últimas consecuencias, el simbolismo arquitectónico del cristal refulgente. Vinculada a la confesión protestante del reverendo Schuller, e imbuida del “si lo puedes soñar, lo puedes hacer” del célebre telepredicador, la Crystal Cathedral (1977-80) de Philip Johnson despertaba la mística de las arquitecturas alpinas de Bruno Taut bajo el sol perfecto del condado de Disney. Concebido como una estrella alongada, el edificio escondía tras su piel espejada un paisaje rebosante de luz mediterránea, un auténtico Traum aus Glas aeroespacial donde el Angst expresionista dejaba paso al fun californiano. Como supremos sacerdotes mediáticos, cliente y arquitecto trasmutaron la casa de Dios en un gigantesco plató televisivo que sedujo el alma postmoderna de Norteamérica. Recientemente adquirido por la Diócesis de Orange, este insólito espacio será pronto transformado de escenario televangelista a templo católico, de ‘Catedral de Cristal’ a ‘Catedral de Cristo’. (EN): The development of twentieth-century technologies provided numerous opportunities to further explore the architectural possibilities of the shinning glass-crystal symbolism. Associated with Dr. Schuller’s Protestant confession, Philip Johnson’s Crystal Cathedral (1975/80) embraced the renowned televangelist’s «If you can dream it, you can do it!» motto to relaunch the mystique of Bruno Taut’s Alpine Architecture under the perfect sun of Disney’s County. Under its mirrored skin, the elongated star-shaped building concealed an interior landscape plenty of Mediterranean light. It was also a true aerospace Traum aus Glas where the Expressionist Angst became a Californian fun. As supreme mass-media priests, client and architect transmuted the house of God into a magnificent television production studio from which they seduced the postmodernist soul of America. The Diocese of Orange has recently acquired this unique space and soon a makeover will transform the televangelist set into a Catholic temple, the Crystal Cathedral into Christ Cathedral.
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Books by Jose Parra-Martinez
Graphic Imprints, 2018
This paper aims to explore the early history of (California) Arts & Architecture’s visual constru... more This paper aims to explore the early history of (California) Arts & Architecture’s visual construction, whose understanding of the unfairly neglected 1935–1945 period is long overdue. Firstly, from the perspective of graphic expression, the evolution of the magazine’s image according to its changing policies can be illustrated by contrasting pre-Entenza California Arts & Architecture covers with other leading architectural periodicals and local magazines. Their diversity of techniques, formats and graphic tools reveal a wide range of sensibilities and creative responses to the economic, social and political forces that were shaping the physical environment and cultural landscape of Southern California. Secondly, the study of Entenza’s experimental first years speaks volumes about his interest in recruiting some of the rightest talents of the time to pioneer a primarily visual coalescence
between design and advertising culture. The subtle convergence of updated European avantgarde graphical traditions with the seamless flow of information pertaining to the impending consumer society ultimately produced the distinguished style of the magazine everyone came to admire. Yet, the achievement of this successful synthesis between art, architecture and publicity has to be understood as a gradual transformation process which can be exemplified through some graphically outstanding milestones.
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Papers by Jose Parra-Martinez
Abstract: This paper addresses the under-recognized implications of SFMA's early architectural exhibition program. Conceived under founding director Grace Morley, a series of pioneering events first presented Bay Area architects' work as interdependent with the region's rich geographical and cultural context, offering new lens through which Eastern critics prompted to re-evaluate California modernism. Among these shows, the 1949 landmark exhibition Domestic Architecture of the San Francisco Bay Region would epitomize the postwar discussions upon the autonomy of American modern architecture. Correspondingly, by exploring SFMA-MoMA exchanges during Elizabeth Mock's curatorship, this essay aims to examine the conflict of perceptions and intentions between the country's two Coasts that brought about the 1949 show as part of a well-orchestrated campaign that had begun years before Lewis Mumford's 1947 New Yorker piece triggered a controversy over the existence of a "Bay Region Style." Contrary to prevailing assumptions that this exhibition was a delayed reaction to the 1948 MoMA symposium organized by Philip Johnson to refute Mumford's arguments, it was the consequence of an effective regionalist agenda whose success was, precisely, that many influential actors in the United States were exposed, indoctrinated and/or seduced by the so-called Bay Region School's emphasis on social, political and ecological concerns.
Books by Jose Parra-Martinez
between design and advertising culture. The subtle convergence of updated European avantgarde graphical traditions with the seamless flow of information pertaining to the impending consumer society ultimately produced the distinguished style of the magazine everyone came to admire. Yet, the achievement of this successful synthesis between art, architecture and publicity has to be understood as a gradual transformation process which can be exemplified through some graphically outstanding milestones.
Abstract: This paper addresses the under-recognized implications of SFMA's early architectural exhibition program. Conceived under founding director Grace Morley, a series of pioneering events first presented Bay Area architects' work as interdependent with the region's rich geographical and cultural context, offering new lens through which Eastern critics prompted to re-evaluate California modernism. Among these shows, the 1949 landmark exhibition Domestic Architecture of the San Francisco Bay Region would epitomize the postwar discussions upon the autonomy of American modern architecture. Correspondingly, by exploring SFMA-MoMA exchanges during Elizabeth Mock's curatorship, this essay aims to examine the conflict of perceptions and intentions between the country's two Coasts that brought about the 1949 show as part of a well-orchestrated campaign that had begun years before Lewis Mumford's 1947 New Yorker piece triggered a controversy over the existence of a "Bay Region Style." Contrary to prevailing assumptions that this exhibition was a delayed reaction to the 1948 MoMA symposium organized by Philip Johnson to refute Mumford's arguments, it was the consequence of an effective regionalist agenda whose success was, precisely, that many influential actors in the United States were exposed, indoctrinated and/or seduced by the so-called Bay Region School's emphasis on social, political and ecological concerns.
between design and advertising culture. The subtle convergence of updated European avantgarde graphical traditions with the seamless flow of information pertaining to the impending consumer society ultimately produced the distinguished style of the magazine everyone came to admire. Yet, the achievement of this successful synthesis between art, architecture and publicity has to be understood as a gradual transformation process which can be exemplified through some graphically outstanding milestones.