Arts & Architecture 1945-49

From the end of World War II until the mid-1960s, American architecture flourished: emerging talents were focusing on innovative projects that integrated low-cost materials and modern design. This trend was most notably embodied in the famous Case Study House Program, which was championed by the era’s leading American journal, Arts & Architecture. Focusing also on design, art, music, politics, and social issues, A&A was an ambitious and groundbreaking publication, largely thanks to the inspiration of its founder John Entenza. The era’s greatest architects were featured in A&A, including Neutra, Schindler, Saarinen, Ellwood, Lautner, Eames, and Koenig; and two of today’s most wildly successful architects, Frank Gehry and Richard Meier, had their debuts in its pages. A&A was instrumental in putting American architecture—and in particular California Modernism—on the map. Other key contributors include photographers Julius Shulman and Ezra Stoller, writers Esther McCoy and Peter Yates, and cover designers Herbert Matter and Alvin Lustig. The complete facsimile of Arts & Architecture was published by TASCHEN in 2008 as a limited edition. This selection—directed and produced by Benedikt Taschen—brings together all the covers and the highlights from the first five years of the legendary magazine and is a comprehensive record of mid-century American architecture.