High Czech Modern in Diaspora at the Czech Consulate in Los Angeles

High Czech Modern in Diaspora: Architects and Designers Who Made Their Marks on the World
Saturday Dec 7, 4pm

Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Los Angeles, Clara Vostrovsky Winlow Library at Czech Consulate General,

10990 Wilshire Ave., Suite 1120, Los Angeles, CA 90024

To attend we kindly request your RSVP at: CzechConsulateLA@gmail.com

Presentations by:

Volker Welter on Liane Zimbler: first European woman to earn architecture certification, Czech-born Zimbler emigrated from Vienna in 1938 before the Anschluss, leaving behind the firm she owned. She settled in Los Angeles, contributing to the modern interior design aesthetic of the region by bringing with her from Europe new design sensibilities, textile patterns and innovations in open plan.

Christopher Long on Adolf Loos: One of the most important modern architects and a lifestyle and architecture iconoclast, Loos was a pioneer of spatial arrangements (Raumplan) and building materials. He designed, built or remodeled close to 100 residences, undertook a large number of civic projects as well as shops, banks, and cafés, all primarily in Plzen, Prague, Vienna and France. His books and lectures are still read and studied in addition to a number of unrealized plans.

Ursula Prokop on Jacques and Jacqueline Groag: The Czech architect and designer couple were part of the second wave of Viennese modernism — Jacques collaborated with Engelmann, Wittgenstein, and Loos; Jacqueline studied with Josef Hoffmann. Emigrating to Britain after Nazi invasion in 1939, the Groags designed important postwar exhibitions there as well as textiles (Jacqueline), including for air and public transport.

Ladislav Jackson on Jaroslav Polívka: Czech engineer of steel, concrete and glass, in the late-1930s Polívka engineered groundbreaking pavilions for the Paris Exposition and New York World's Fair and later collaborated with Frank Lloyd Wright on such well-known late projects as the Johnson Wax Research Tower and the Guggenheim Museum. Lesser known is his contribution to Wright’s unrealized Butterfly Bridge plan for the San Francisco Bay. Liane Zimbler Adolf Loos Jacques and Jacqueline Groag Jaroslav Polívka