when 2 non-musicians make music...

i recently discovered these images in different books.

the top image is film director yasujiro ozu playing a mandolin at age 19, from a japanese book on ozu and his work.

the bottom image is designer george nelson playing the japanese sho, from a japanese trade magazine in english, circa 1955.

since i don't read japanese, i can't tell you much more about the context of the ozu image, but the nelson image is from his first trip to japan, accompanied a somewhat lackluster article he wrote regarding the preparation and serving of tempura (nelson was a fantastic writer, but this was clearly a fluff piece).

when i discovered the nelson image several weeks ago, i was completely obsessed with it for a number of reasons. i've written before about how nelson's design-work and writings inspired me to immerse myself in mid-century industrial design; but i'd never really come across any reference in his writings to japanese music.

the sho is probably my favorite sounding instrument in the world, and the fact that someone captured an image of nelson blowing through one, leaves me wishing there was an audio recording to go along with the visual. it might be my favorite image of sound and architecture colliding...

the image of ozu was also a surprise, as i'd never seen an picture of him playing an instrument either. of course, ozu used a ton of music in his films, most of it relatively straightforward sounding japanese film music, the earlier films infused with a healthy dose of folk songs, children's school chorus, etc.

music was clearly important in ozu's films, and he used it kind of like the way he used trains. both are always present, and both create atmospheric situations and suggestions - the trains tending to always take one away or bring one back home (for what else can trains really do...); the music usually more grounding than emotional, repeated motifs occurring less as transitions and more as reference points - more of a grounding presence than music usually is in films.

of course, more than anything, i wonder what sounds, melodies, musics, were played at the moments these two photographs were taken, and of course, they also lead me to wonder what kind of music these two might have listened to (i'm guessing ozu probably listened to folk music, while nelson most likely listened to jazz).

to tweak this duo into a trio, i would include one of the early photographs of strindberg playing guitar... but perhaps that is best left to another post...

a month or so ago i went on the MAK center's annual architecture tour, and one of the stops was the home of julius shulman (designed by raphael soriano). shulman passed away last year, and it was a bit strange to visit his house under the circumstances. it seemed as if some family still lives there, but the house is for sale, and a lot of the furnishings are gone, and it feels like life has moved out of it... not to mention his studio being entirely empty.

when i walked into the living room, the first thing i did was take a few pictures of the speakers that were embedded within the walls, thinking about shulman sitting in this room and listening to music or radio emanating from certain locations. then i noticed the hi-fi near the couch, and next to it several records... i had my phone camera with me, and so i snapped a pic of shulman's record collection - one more collision of architecture and music...

the strange thing is that i did a post a few years ago related to a photograph of the living room i was standing in. in the old image, featured on the cover of a sunday newspaper magazine, there was an LP visible on shulman's end table containing the sound of famous architect's speaking about the future of architecture. i have the LP in my own collection, and at the time, loved the idea that shulman and myself had both listened to the LP, although of course, in different listening spaces.

when i got home from the tour, i pulled out the image of shulman's living room and compared it with my own experience of being there. it felt incredibly odd to look at an image of a space 50 years before i visited it. the room was emptier now of course, but it still looked the same, even the light in the space was similar, and it was nice to know the room hadn't been remodeled since it was built. while we were walking around, looking at the emptied space, i couldn't help but think about putting one of shulman's records on the turntable, to give back to the space a little more life...

of sound and architecture...

while looking through some old architecture related magazine covers to run at the beginning of october (also known as architecture month), i found a 1957 LA examiner insert with a cover shot by los angeles' most famous architectural photographer - julius shulman - of his own house. i then noticed, in the lower left hand corner, an LP lying on the end table.

shulman was very particular about object placement in photo shoots, so it seemed significant. the nice thing was that i not only recognized the LP, but i also happened to have it in my own collection. this was not the first time i recognized an LP cover in a photo of an architect's home - years ago i noticed some avant garde music LPs in a photo of pierre koenig's house and eventually interviewed him about his record collection...

shulman's LP is called "conversations towards the future of architecture" and was put together by the reynolds metals company in 1956. the intention was to discuss an architectural future that might include the potential of aluminum; which, coincidentally, was one of reynolds' biggest products. the album features the voices of mies van der rohe, eero saarinen, walter gropius, philip johnson, gordon bunshaft, ernest kump, and richard neutra. the interviews were conducted by john peter, and i really wish i knew who designed the cover...

it seems that by the mid 1950's aluminum was in the architectural air. along with the LP, the reynolds company published a series of books titled "aluminum in modern architecture" in 1956, 1958, and 1960. in 1959, the alcoa company, who i believe was the main competitor of reynolds, published two volumes of their own related to aluminum and modern design/architecture called forecast; commissioning such experimental aluminum projects as charles eames' solar toy, better known as the do nothing machine.

since neutra and shulman worked together for so many years, i figured it made the most sense to post some of neutra's interview, and i like how he speaks of the main material of architecture as "the human material"...

click here to listen

because it's still architecture month in los angeles...

more architectural newspaper insert covers, this time from the los angeles examiner in the late 1950's.

the top one is from 1957, and is of course, the monsanto house that was built at disneyland. the second, from 1960, features richard neutra architect as rock star. the third features a great example of the kinds of things these newspaper magazines covered, but not the major progressive architecture mags. it's from 1959, designed by harry gessner. the bottom image is from 1957. it's a shulman photo of the spencer house, designed by richard o. spencer in 1955. this house seems to have collapsed circa 1975.