Modern Design 
28 March 2004
Modern Design 
481

Philip Johnson

floor lamps from the Robert C. Wiley House, New Canaan, Connecticut

USA, 1952
brushed steel, aluminum, linen 67½ h in (171 cm)
estimate: $5,000–7,000
result: $8,260
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The Robert C. Wiley House is a continuation of the glass box first explored by Johnson in his own glass house of 1945. The concept is an open pavilion or "glass crystal" that allowed an synthesis of the architecture with the surrounding landscape. This pair of lamps is from the original decor for the Wiley house. The lamps elicit a minimal aesthetic in keeping with an unobstructed view outside the pavilion. Literature

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Philip Johnson 1906–2005

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Philip Johnson is one of the most prolific and ingenious architects of the modern era. Johnson attended Harvard University in 1923 to study Greek. Upon his graduation in 1927, Johnson toured Europe and explored emerging architectural movements such as the Bauhaus school in Germany. In 1930, Johnson became the director of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and in 1932 he collaborated with the architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock for an exhibition on International Style. In 1942, Johnson returned the Harvard Graduate School of Architecture, where his thesis project and home – the Glass House, New Canaan, Connecticut, 1949 – established Johnson as leader of the modernist style. A clear homage to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the influence of Bauhaus, the Glass House makes use of industrial materials with glass walls and steel beams. In the 1950s, Johnson had the chance to work with his idol, as he joined Mies van der Rohe in designing the Seagram Building, planning its interiors and designing the iconic Four Seasons Restaurant. During the 1960s, Johnson moved away from Modernism and began to create designs in styles ranging from Romanesque to Neo-Classical, as evidenced by his orthodox Amon Center Museum at Dallas Fort Worth. Later, Johnson moved into his Post-Modern period, creating buildings like the Williams Tower in Houston and the 550 Madison Avenue Building in New York. Johnson died in 2005 leaving behind a legacy of notable structures including the Lipstick Building in New York, the David Koch Theater in New York, and the Booth House in New Bedford, among many others.

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