Philip Johnson  (1906 - )

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Philip Johnson : The Architect in His Own Words by Philip Johnson, Hilary Lewis, John T. O'Connor

Philip Johnson is one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, not so much because of his chameleon-like design approach, but because of his intelligence and articulateness. As the Museum of Modern Art's founding architecture curator in the early 1930s, he helped establish modernism in this country, and as the architect of New York's AT&T building--the notorious "Chippendale skyscraper"--he gave postmodernism commercial viability on a large scale during the 1980s.

In between, he built his famous glass house in 1949--the first in America--and designed several of Houston's best office towers, including Pennzoil Place, in the 1970s. Witty, wealthy, and well-connected, he was also the most powerful figure in the profession's cultural politics--a colleague once dubbed Johnson "the Godfather of architecture."

When this book was first published, Johnson was still practicing at age 88, and his intellect was undimmed. The text is an extended interview conducted by the authors, rather than the subject's thoughts written out for the ages. It's a good read, for Johnson is candid, unpretentious, astute, and entertaining in his stories about clients and how the projects unfolded. Think of this as oral history dispensed by a great raconteur who was at the center of the architectural universe for two-thirds of a century. Physically, this 200-page book is large-format and well laid out. The photos are numerous and first-rate, but oddly the plans are usually too big, and thus not as sharp as expected. --John Pastier

Philip Johnson:  Up and Running at 90

By Evelyn Jablow

Excerpt:

At 90, his list of current projects is awe-inspiring: A sculpture on the campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, with overtones of Stonehenge; a clock for the plaza at Lincoln Center, in a sculptural form; a church in Dallas, Texas known as the "Gay Cathedral", to be one of the largest churches in the country, as big as his glass church in Los Angeles.

He's also been refurbishing The Four Seasons restaurant and working with Donald Trump on the Trump International Hotel and Tower facing Columbus Circle in Manhattan.

Philip Johnson was the first director of the Museum of Modern Art's Department of Architecture, serving from 1932 to 1934 and again from 1946 to 1954, and designed the 1964 additions to the building. For his 90th birthday, the museum honored him with an exhibition: From Bauhaus To Pop; Masterworks Given By Philip Johnson. In conjunction with the exhibition, he organized a special installation of the works in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, the celebrated space he designed in 1953.

Philip Johnson:  Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, 1979 

Site includes a photo gallery, essays, citations from the the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury, and a short biography.

Excerpt:

Philip Johnson was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1906, and in the years since has become one of architecture's most potent forces. Before designing his first building at the age of 36, Johnson had been client, critic, author, historian, museum director, but not an architect. 

In 1949, after a number of years as the Museum of Modern Art's first director of the Architecture Department, Johnson designed a residence for himself in New Canaan, Connecticut for his master degree thesis, the now famous Glass House. 

He literally coined the term "International School of Architecture" for an exhibition at MOMA. ..

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