Survival Through Design (Galaxy Books)

Richard Neutra

Oxford University Press

Demy folio, [27.75cm./11in.], Full Cambridge blue cloth sans dust jacket, pp. 224 Fully illustrated with b-w halftones. Ex-University of Texas Permian Basin. Small U of T stamp on rear free endpaper and and improvised library slip holder from Library index card. with note: "Withdrawn '87."

Building With Nature

Universe Books

Since he followed it all of his life, Richard Neutra (1892-1970) must have relished the maxim of the Greek philosopher Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living." In his books, articles, lectures, correspondence, and even casual conversations, Neutra constantly examined, not only his own life, but the lives of others - present and past - and the human and natural world they inhabited. Nowhere was this truer than in his autobiography "Life and Shape", first published in 1962, which now, after years of being out of print, has again happily come back to life. 
 As opposed to "Survival Through Design" (1954), his superb collection of densely philosophical essays, Neutra took a different tack in "Life and Shape", following a lighter and more deliberately relaxed approach. It was as if the usually serious and intense Neutra was giving himself permission to reveal his richly ironic sense of humor and to probe areas in his personal experience which he had not examined as closely before. These included hitherto unrecorded memories of his parents, siblings, and his childhood and education in imperial Vienna, his numbing experiences as an Austrian artillery officer in World War I, and the beginnings of his architectural consciousness in his response to the work of Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, Erich Mendelsohn, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright. 
 As in the autobiographies of Sullivan and Wright, "Life and Shape" concentrates on Neutra's earlier years, both in Europe and America. While he naturally recounts his memories of such well-known commissions as the Lovell Health House (1929), his own Van der Leeuw Research House (1933) and the von Sternberg House (1935), he also muses on such less famous buildings as the small, and now virtually forgotten, Mosk House (1933). "Life and Shape" also confirms Neutra's obsession with the passage of time and his firm resolution never to waste it. 
 Like Sullivan and Wright, Neutra eschewed writing a factual chronicle, and - at the age of 70 - composed instead a meditation on the aspects of his life and work that seemed, in retrospect, to be the most interesting and significant. He felt no need to try to "include everything" but rather to present an honest recounting of his memory of his life. In writing my own "Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture" [Oxford University Press, 1982; Rizzoli Press, 2006], I relied on "Life and Shape" when I wanted an account of Neutra's experiences told in his own authentic voice. For future generations of architects, historians, and readers, it is good to have it back. 
 - Thomas S. Hines, UCLA Professor Emeritus of History and Architecture

Life and Shape: The Autobiography of Richard Neutra

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Atara Press

Puesto que la siguió durante toda su vida, Richard Neutra (1892-1970) debía apreciar la máxima de Sócrates, el gran filósofo griego: "una vida sin examen no tiene objeto de vivirla para el hombre". En sus libros, en sus conferencias, incluso en sus conversaciones informales, Neutra reexaminaba constantemente no solo su propia vida, sino también la vida de los demás - presente y pasada - y el mundo, natural y humano, en que habitaban. En ningún otro lugar se hace esto más patente que en "Vida y forma", su autobiografía publicada por primera vez en 1962, y que ahora, tras años de estar descatalogada, ha vuelto felizmente a la vida. A diferencia de "Diseñar para sobrevivir" (1954), su magnífica colección de ensayos, profunda y filosófica, Neutra opta por otro enfoque en "Vida y forma", y adopta un acercamiento más ligero y desenfadado. Parece como si Neutra, normalmente tan serio y vehemente, se diera aquí permiso para mostrar su irónico sentido del humor y para sondear determinadas áreas de su experiencia personal que nunca antes había examinado tan de cerca. Esto incluye recuerdos hasta ese momento no contados de sus padres y hermanos, de su infancia, y de su educación en la Viena imperial, así como de sus duras experiencias como oficial de la artillería austríaca en la Primera Guerra Mundial y de los inicios de su conciencia arquitectónica en respuesta a las obras de Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, Erich Mendelsohn, Louis Sullivan y Frank Lloyd Wright. Al igual que las autobiografías de Sullivan y Wright, "Vida y forma" se concentra en los primeros años de Neutra, tanto en Europa como en América. Como es natural relata en sus memorias los encargos más conocidos como la Lovell Health House (1929), su propia Van der Leeuw Research House (1933) y la casa Von Sternberg, pero también se detiene en algunas construcciones mucho menos famosas como la pequeña y casi ignorada casa Mosk (1933). "Vida y forma" también confirma la obsesión de Neutra con el paso del tiempo y su firme resolución de no perderlo nunca. Como Sullivan y Wright, Neutra evita escribir una crónica de los hechos, para proponer más bien, a sus setenta años, una meditación sobre los aspectos de su vida y su trabajo que retrospectivamente le parecen más interesantes y significantes. En vez de "incluirlo todo", prefiere presentar un relato honesto de la memoria de su vida. Al escribir mi propio libro "Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture" (Oxford University Press, 1982; Rizzoli Press, 2006), me basé en "Vida y forma" siempre que necesité presentar las experiencias de Neutra con su auténtica voz. Para las generaciones futuras de arquitectos, historiadores y lectores, es una gran noticia tener este libro disponible de nuevo. - Thomas S. Hines, Profesor emérito de Histora y arquitectura, Universidad de California Los Ángeles

Vida y Forma: Autobiografia de Richard Neutra (Spanish Edition)

Humor & Entertainment

The Library of Mr. & Mrs. Neutra

Dione Neutra

New Documents & Marta

Richard Neutra in Europa: Bauten und Projekte 1960 - 1970

History

Americas

DuMont Buchverlag GmbH

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Books by Richard Neutra