MOMOWO WOMEN DESIGNERS, CRAFTSWOMEN, ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS BETWEEN 1918 AND 1945 Series Women’s Creativity, 1 ISSN 2591-0639 Editor https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea Helena Seražin International Editorial Board of the Series Emilia Garda and Caterina Franchini (POLITO, Turin, Italy), Maria Helena Souto (IADE-U, Lisbon, Portugal), Ana Fernandez Garcia (UNIOVI, Oviedo, Spain), Marjan Groot (VU, Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Helena Seražin (ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana, Slovenija), Alain Bonnet (UGA, Grenoble, France), Sara Levi Sacerdotti (SiTI, Turin, Italy) MOMOWO ISBN 978-961-05-0033-9 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Edited by Marjan Groot, Helena Seražin, Caterina Franchini, Emilia Garda WOMEN DESIGNERS, CRAFTSWOMEN, with assistance of Alenka Di Battista ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS Reviewers: Ellena Dellapiana, Caterina Franchini, Mario Grosso, Roberta Spallone and Marco Vitali, Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy; Maria Teresa Feraboli, Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy; Ana María Fernández García, University of Oviedo, Spain; Marjan Groot, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Paolo Nicoloso, BETWEEN 1918 AND 1945 University of Trieste, Italy; Helena Seražin, ZRC SAZU, Slovenia English language proof-reading Salmah Eva-Lina Lawrence Design and layout by Andrea Furlan, ZRC SAZU Issued by France Stele Institute of Art History ZRC SAZU https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1 Represented by Barbara Murovec https://omp.zrc-sazu.si/zalozba-zrc/catalog/book/2 Published by Založba ZRC 3 Represented by Oto Luthar All papers were submitted to blind peer review. The authors are responsible for obtaining copyrights for published illustrations. Ljubljana 2017 © 2017, MoMoWo © 2017, Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana Cover design after a book cover by Jo Daemen for J. M. van den Houten, Cactussen (Rotterdam: W. J. en L. Brusse, 1927). Publication of the project MoMoWo – Women’s Creativity since the Modern Movement. This project has been co-funded 50% by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information. MoMoWo Partnership: Series Women's Creativity, 1 WOMEN’S CREATIVITY SINCE THE MODERN MOVEMENT http://www.momowo.eu WOMEN’S CREATIVITY SINCE THE MODERN MOVEMENT Content 8 Preface Helena Seražin PIONEERS AND ORGANIZATIONS Foreword to Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers 10 Introduction 80 between 1918 and 1945 Alain Bonnet Caterina Franchini 14 Making Visible Women’s Invisibility: The MoMoWo Project and Its Activities Women Pioneers in Civil Engineering and Architecture in Italy: Emma Strada and Ada Bursi 82 Caterina Franchini and Emilia Garda Caterina Franchini 22 Women as Patrons and Intermediaries: A Footnote Introducing the Articles 102 Lost in the History of Modernism: Magnificent Embroiderers of the First MoMoWo E-book Sandra Heffernan Marjan Groot 118 Women and Their Professional Activities in Architecture: France, 1918–1945 Stéphanie Mesnage CROSSING GEOGRAPHIES 28 Introduction Women and Power in the History of Modern Architecture: The Case of the CIAM Congresses, 132 Alenka Di Battista 1928–1937 Rixt Hoekstra 30 How a Young Girl Went to Wales during the Great War, to Become the Leading Lady at ‘La Cambre’ Institut Supérieur des Arts décoratifs in Planning Education by Post: Jaqueline Tyrwhitt’s War Correspondence Course 146 Brussels Paola Zanotto Caterina Verdickt 46 Dahl Collings (1909–1988) and Her Itinerary: Australia, England, and Back THE HOME Veronica Bremer Introduction 156 Helena Seražin ‘ Creating Order amid Chaos’: Architect Lotte Beese in the Soviet Union, 64 1932–1935 160 De Werkende Vrouw: In Huis en Maatschappij - Dutch Feminism, Fashion and Design 1930–1931 Hanneke Oosterhof Naomi Verbeek Slovenian Women’s Magazines and the Development of the Modern Home Concept in the 1930s The Case of Corona Krause: Textiles as a Spatial Apparatus 176 320 Alenka Di Battista Stamatina Kousidi The Role of Spanish Women in the Household and Craftwork in the First Years of the Regime of The Pliable Plane: Textiles, Space, and the Work of Anni Albers 196 336 General Franco: The Womenś Section Jennifer Burgess Ana María Fernández García INTERPRETING ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNS VIA GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS AND DIGITAL MODELING VISUAL SOURCES AND WOMEN’S HISTORY Introduction 350 A Documentary about the Life and Work of Dutch Graphic Designer and Teacher Tine Baanders Roberta Spallone and Marco Vitali 210 (1890–1971) Marjan Groot Eileen Gray’s Architecture of Relationships: Materiality and Spatial Layering 354 Serafina Amoroso REPRESENTATION Helena Niemirowska Syrkus: Graphic Analysis of the ‘House of Dr Nelken in Warsaw’ 374 Introduction Starlight Vattano 212 Maria Helena Souto Charlotte Perriand: Graphic Analysis of the ‘Maison du week-end’ 396 Modern Women in (Modern) Architecture: Some Cases (Genesis of a Modern Lifestyle) Giorgia Gaeta 214 Lucia Krasovec Lucas Redrawing as Key to the Spatial Thought of Hana Kučerová Zaveská 406 230 How Wide is the Gap? Evaluating Current Documentation of Women Architects in Modern Vincenza Garofalo Architecture History Books (2004–2014) Florencia Fernandez Cardoso Lina Bo Bardi: Unbuilt in Sicily 422 Francesco Maggio Anni Albers and Lilly Reich in Barcelona 1929: Weavings and Exhibition Spaces 250 Laura MartÍnez de Guereñu DOCUMENTA Women behind Swedish Grace – Success and Neglect Interventions at the 1st MoMoWo Conference at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands: 266 436 Maria Perers Four Practices, Four Women: Interviews with a Textile Designer, a Scholar of City Planning, an Industrial Designer-Engineer, and an Architect Marjan Groot CASES FROM IRELAND TO FINLAND Introduction 276 Ilja S. Meijer Architecture as Method of Self-Realisation: The Belfast Architect Florence Fulton Hobson 278 Tanja Poppelreuter Mary Crowley: Beginnings of the Career of a Pioneering Modern Movement Architect in Britain 290 before 1945 Yasmin Shariff Women Architects in the Shadow: Aino Marsio-Aalto 304 Myriam López-Rodero Helena Seražin Preface The Women’s Creativity book series brings together scientific contributions on the cultural and socio- economic importance of women’s’ achievements in the field of architecture, interior and industrial design, landscape architecture and urban planning as well as other artistic fields such as painting, sculpture and crafts from various historical periods until the present-day. Its purpose is to present this significant part of the ‘anonymous’ and undisclosed European cultural heritage to the broad general and professional public. The idea behind the Women’s Creativity book series emerged within the Creative Europe project Women’s Creativity since the Modern Movement –MoMoWo (Modern Movement Women)– which intends to present women’s creativity particularly in the field of European architecture and design. The professional public’s lack of interest for research on women artists stems largely from the insufficient awareness of their work, which is based mostly on the scarcity of preserved relevant documents and the still present stereotypes. These regard women’s past ‘incapability’ to create on their own and on a high level to be a result of numerous social restrictions imposed on them, viewing their contribution to the development of artistic creation and to European culture as less (or un-) important. The book series is therefore, aimed particularly at encouraging scientific research and publications, which will address this incomplete image of European creativity. The volumes will focus on selected topics. The first three will consist of scientific articles based on presentations at three international MoMoWo conferences. These consider women’s creativity in the fields of architecture and design in three periods of the 20th Century (1918–1945, 1946–1968 and 1969–1989) and present a more complex image of the significant architectural and artistic movements, which shaped the culture of modernist Europe. To ensure accessibility to the international professional and general public the Women’s Creativity book series –bringing together peer-reviewed scientific articles– will be published exclusively on-line and in the English language. MoMoWo 9 Caterina Franchini Foreword to Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects This open-access publication is the first in an e-book series titled Women’s Creativity since the Modern Movement. It is devoted to the dissemination and enhancement of gender knowledge, arising from the activities of MoMoWo project, through the scientific community and beyond. and Engineers between The MoMoWo partnership is grateful to the authors of this issue, who include scholars at every stage 1918 and 1945 of their careers, and who represent an inspiring diversity of interests and accomplishments that testifies to the vitality of our project. The topic of this e-book originated from the 1st MoMoWo International Conference-Workshop, “Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945” held at the University of Leiden - Centre for the Arts in Society from 23 to 25 September 2015. This topic has generated widespread interest that engaged a wide community of scholars –including academics, PhD students and professionals– in proposing studies and referring experiences to be discussed and shared in the MoMoWo framework. One of the main MoMoWo priorities is the mobility of participants and internationalisation of studies. This has encouraged international cultural cooperation among architects, designers, art historians, architectural historians, academics and professionals belonging to public and private institutions and has supported a research process for a common challenge on the gender gap in knowledge. From the panels presented, MoMoWo’s Scientific Committee invited presenters to step up the exploration of the boundaries of history and theory of architecture, engineering and design in order to publish the scientific articles you will encounter in the following pages. The articles have been assembled by the curators in six sub-topics, namely: “Crossing Geographies”, “Pioneers and Organisations”, “The Home”, “Representation”, “Cases from Ireland to Finland”, and “Examining Drawings as Practices of Architectural Design”. You will be introduced to each sub-topic through a short text written by MoMoWo’s team members. The accomplishment of this publication is the successful result of MoMoWo’s challenge to scholars and researchers throughout Europe and beyond to acquire an adequate knowledge of female achievements in the fields of architecture, civil engineering and design. MoMoWo 11 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 This challenge is not only a matter of research results, but also a way of conveying gender equality in the perception and reception of professions that have been and are still somewhat perceived as masculine. In fact, the inclusion of a gender analysis increases the social relevance of the knowledge produced in the fields of theory and history of architecture, engineering and design and their specialist professions. Many people have worked enthusiastically and tirelessly to create this first issue that we hope will be an inspiring publication: the trustees of the MoMoWo project and of this book series, MoMoWo’s local teams, and peer-reviewers who generously served the cause. Special thanks are due to Marjan Groot who has advised and assisted the authors in the early stage of this activity and to Helena Seražin for having coordinated the double blind peer reviewing, the editing and layout process. MoMoWo 12 Caterina Franchini Emila Garda What is MoMoWo? MoMoWo - Women’s Creativity Since the Modern Movement is the first project to Making Women’s Works Visible: win a grant from the European Union’s Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) to highlight women’s achievements between 1918 and 2018 in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, The MoMoWo Project urban planning, landscape architecture, conservation and restoration, and interior and furniture design. MoMoWo’s challenge is to make visible women’s hidden achievements in design fields that have his- torically been considered almost exclusively a man’s prerogative. Even today, some fields are still perceived as predominantly male. Technically, MoMoWo is a large-scale cultural cooperative project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme (2014−2020). It is a four-year non-profit project that began on October 20, 2014. The MoMoWo partnership is transnational and multidisciplinary. Besides the International Coordina- tor, Politecnico di Torino (Project Leader), the partnership consists of six co-organisers, all of which are universities and research centres in Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Slovenia and Italy.1 Why the MoMoWo Project? The project originated from empirical evidence about gender invisibility, gained during the partners’ research and teaching experiences. The contemporary history of women in design professions and the tangible cultural heritage or legacy produced by their works are still mostly unknown today, not only to the general public but also to students, scholars and professionals. Women’s works are not featured in textbooks on the history of architecture, the history of building technologies and engineering, urban history or design history. Furthermore, buildings and neighbour- hoods designed by women, except for those by a few ‘archistars’, are rarely included in mainstream histories and or architectural guidebooks of major European cities. What are the main goals of the project? MoMoWo aims to reveal and promote the contributions of women design professionals to the European tangible cultural heritage and legacy, contributions that have been significantly ‘hidden from history’. At the same time, considering history as a living matter, 1 MoMoWo’s partners are: Creative University, Lisbon (ENSILIS/IADE); Universidad de Oviedo (UNIOVI); Universiteit Leiden (LU) –from 20 October 2014 to 30 June 2016; Znanstvenoraziskovalni Center Slovenske Akademije Znanosti in Umetnosti, Ljubljana (ZRC-SAZU); Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA); Istituto Superiore sui Sistemi Territoriale per l’Innovazione, Turin (SiTI); Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) from 1 July 2016 to present. MoMoWo 15 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Franchini, Emila Garda: Making Women’s Works Visible: The MoMoWo Project the project aims to promote and increase the value of the works and professional achievements of First World War to the end of the Second World War, witnessed the official entry of women into the the past and present generations of women in order to give strength to future generations of creators. building and design fields. The second period, from the end of the Second World War to the student The MoMoWo goal is ambitious and societal. It aims to step up support for gender equality and revolt of May 1968, was a time of expanded opportunities for female design professionals. The third increase recognition for women’s creativity without bias through the construction of a virtual bridge period, from the student revolt of May 1968 to the fall of the Berlin Wall, was characterised by signifi- across generations, starting from the experience of the Modern Movement pioneers. In fact, the Modern cant production, both qualitatively and quantitatively, due to the 1968 youth uprisings in Europe and Movement represents the first step in female emancipation in the architecture and design professions. the ensuing contribution of the new feminist movements. How to increase women’s visibility? All MoMoWo activities are planned to foster knowledge, raise The MoMoWo workshops have been an opportunity to stimulate critical debate, to foster new studies awareness and build consensus about women professionals. as well as to collect materials for the database implementation. These activities are divided into fifty work packages that are to be undertaken in close cooperation This e-book is the first issue of open-access publication series devoted to the studies that originated between the partners. Each activity involves downstream or upstream cultural operators, scholars, from each workshop. professionals, photographers, graphic designers, etc. Activities centre around research, creation, com- Communicating and fostering networking, active citizenship and know-how transfer: Open Days. A key munication and dissemination. communication and networking activity is the annual open day in partners’ countries held in professional Mapping to know: Database with GIS. The major research activity consists of creating a database that women’s studios to celebrate Women’s Day on March 8. Via the professional orders which are patrons maps women active in Europe and European women active abroad, from 1918 up to the present time. of the project, women professionals are invited to open their studios to visitors (students, young It has been conceived and implemented to underpin the contents of the MoMoWo cultural activities professionals, citizens, municipal administrators, building companies, potential commissioners) and and their products. present their works and projects, thus fostering active citizenship and creating a sense of community. The database includes biographical data and works of both prominent and lesser-known profession- This activity has provided new professional contacts and opportunities for transferring know-how als. The biographical data covers education and training, professional histories, and networks women through generations. More than sixty architecture, engineering and design studios run by women have operated in. The networks include informal societies and memberships in trade bodies and as- opened to visitors in the 2016 and 2017 editions of this successful activity. sociations. The data concerning the past was collected into three chronological spans that relate to Self-promotion and active involvement of creators: Agenda web page and Cultural-tourist Itineraries. significant periods of cultural, social and political change in Europe: 1918−45, 1946−68 and 1969−89. Since its inception, the MoMoWo website has an Agenda Web page where architects, engineers, The database also includes the most recent period from 1989 to 2018. This last period is marked designers and other users can advertise creations, publications, and activities related to MoMoWo’s by significant historical events, namely the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Socialist regimes in mission. Eastern Europe and the opportunities that globalization created for women working in the design and MoMoWo teams worked on the design of cultural-tourist itineraries of works created by women. The building fields. main result has been a guidebook. Available on the MoMoWo website, the database increases the accessibility to building and sites In order to design this editorial product, an innovative and interactive approach has been applied through the application of the Geographic Information System (GIS). downstream. This approach consisted of the active involvement of women architects and designers Sharing knowledge and experience: Workshops. Three International Historical Conferences/Work- to suggest works to be included into the MoMoWo itineraries. This approach was tested during the shops with interviews with women’s professionals were conceived as peer-to-peer learning activities, Turin preparation of the first MoMoWo public presentation at the Festival Architettura in Città 2015. in order to share knowledge and experience. On that occasion, a call was launched, via the architects and engineers’ associations, to receive works The topics of the three workshops –held in Leiden 20152, Ljubljana 20163, Oviedo 2017– have re- from women professionals to be presented to the public. The call asked for the creator’s favourite flected the three 20th century historical periods of the database. The first period, from the end of the work and not necessarily the most popular one. The works selected by MoMoWo have since become part of the Turin walking tours, “Women and the City: Fragments of an architectural talk,” and of the open-air installation, “W = Women”. 2 http://www.momowo.eu/1st-international-conference-workshop-booklet/ The MoMoWo installation was formed from the QR codes of the single works and provided the festival 3 http://www.momowo.eu/2nd-historical-workshop-booklet/ participants and tourists a virtual journey across buildings and interiors designed by women in Turin. MoMoWo 16 MoMoWo 17 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Franchini, Emila Garda: Making Women’s Works Visible: The MoMoWo Project The professionals who participated in these events have become MoMoWo’s first ambassadors and All submitted logos have been exhibited under the title “MoMoWo thread” at the Festival Architettu- we offered to publish their works in the MoMoMo guidebook published in 2016, Women: Architecture ra in Città 2015, in Turin. The logos were printed on objects of daily use such as pillowcases, dish & Design Itineraries across Europe. towels, aprons, tablecloths, and placemats silent witnesses to time divided between a building site, a design project, a washing machine and an iron. The idea for the exhibition set-up originated from Disseminating through cultural tourism: Guidebook. The MoMoWo guidebook resulted from Mo- a quite playful observation about the role of women that is still perhaps not entirely free from the MoWo’s cultural tourist itineraries. It is the first architectural guide devoted specifically to women’s ‘sweet tyranny’ of housework. works in Europe. It is a 236-page book presenting 18 itineraries and 125 works. The itineraries focus on four cities (Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris and Turin) and two countries (the Netherlands and Slovenia) The second competition, Photography reportage on a woman designer’s own home, was devoted that are representative of the MoMoWo partnership and evocative of cultural, geographic and land- to self-perception and representation. It focused on existing mediation between domestic activities scape varieties across Europe. A biographical article about one or more women pioneers completes and professional work. These reportages portray women professionals inside the home designed, the geographical sections. not for a commissioner, but for themselves and their families. In 2017, the selected reportages have been exhibited in Turin at the Festival Architettura in Città and The MoMoWo guidebook is a pilot product since its format can be extended to other cities and coun- in Seoul at the 26th World Architects Congress of the UIA - Union Internationale des Architectes. tries, as well as to others fields of interest. These photographic projects are also part of the MoMoWo International Travelling Exhibition and The purpose of this publication is to encourage visitors to have a personal dialogue with European its catalogue, which are the main means of project dissemination. cities and countries along the most varied and even unusual itineraries showcasing different types of urban and non-urban works, sites, and buildings. Showing women’s achievements: International Travelling Exhibition and its Catalogue. The Mo- MoWo exhibition opened in Oviedo in July 2016 then moved to Lisbon, Grenoble, Delft, Eindhoven, To include a large number of women professionals, we decided to restrict the number of works from and Ljubljana. After its Turin stop in 2018, the exhibition is expected to move to other cities in Eu- the same creator, thus favouring the visibility of many different creators and lesser known architects rope and beyond. and interior designers worthy of attention for the quality of their work. The selection of works was The exhibition is organised into two sections, indoor and outdoor, and addresses not only specialists undertaken to offer a wide variety of building types and to include ex novo buildings or reuse of exist- but also the general public and non-audiences. The outdoor section, showing the results of the ing buildings, refurbishments and restoration works, extensions of buildings, urban designs, garden photo competition, is designed to be viewed in urban public spaces, such as streets, courtyards, designs, landscape architecture as well as interior designs. squares, and train stations. The indoor section consists mainly of an interactive digital exhibition The MoMoWo guidebook has been printed in 3000 copies –freely distributed– and the digital version entitled “MoMoWo. 100 Works | 100 Years | 100 Women” that shows the first results from the is available open-access.4 MoMoWo database. Raising awareness and building consensus: International Competitions. To raise awareness and build The Catalogue describes how women in Europe have reacted with inventiveness to the architectur consensus about MoMoWo’s mission, two international competitions were organised during the first- and design profession’s restrictive and sometimes discriminatory practices, engendering innova- year project. The challenge was to transform potential audiences and non-audiences from passive tions in their professional fields. receivers into active creators. The number of published works is symbolic, as ‘one hundred’ could also mean ‘countless’ as in the The first competition for the design of the MoMoWo visual identity, logo and a promotional object was Latin word centum. The number of women designers –each work has a different designer– de- launched at the inception of the project. This competition was open to graphic designers under the rives from MoMoWo’s choice to represent many different creators, consequently also popularising age of 35, while women prisoners in the Lisbon penitentiary manufactured the promotional objects. lesser-known figures. This catalogue is a 360-page book with more than 550 images, 100 entries, 13 thematic essays, and covers 28 countries in Europe and beyond. More than 300 women architects and designers are listed in the index of names. The 45 authors of texts are not just members of MoMoWo’s teams but 4 http://www.momowo.eu/cultural-touristic-itineraries-guide-book/ also European experts invited to contribute to the project. MoMoWo 18 MoMoWo 19 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 The first section of the catalogue presents the 100 works exhibited and the biography of their 100 authors. Alongside the 100 selected works goes “ChronoMoMoWo” , the timeline of women’s achievements in winning greater civil rights, higher education, and public recognition of their work or career. Hopefully, this book will suggest new historical visions that include the greatest works by women architects and designers in the mainstream history of architecture and design, thus enriching the discipline. Like all other collections, the meaning of MoMoWo’s collection cannot be completely defined by the intrinsic values of its collected works. It derives meaning by its ability to provoke a conscious process of attributing meaning by its public. To support this dialectical process and to avoid the risk of treating History as a series of sequentia fixa or even closed ‘totalities’, a series of essays provides the reader with arguments that cross and break the linear sequence, sometimes bypassing the geographical confines of Europe and offering examples and comparisons from elsewhere in the world. The Catalogue maps a fascinating and evocative history of tangible European cultural heritage cre- ated by women. Being a ‘sampling’, the MoMoWo collection is a slice of history, telling us something that transcends specific values of the presented works, becoming not only a bridge between creator and user but also between the authors and future creators. The Catalogue was published in a run of 3000 copies and freely distributed. An open-access digital version is available at www.momowo.eu.5 Seeking new research pats. The MoMoWo 2018 International Symposium at the Politecnico di Torino seeks new research paths and activities that highlight and disseminate knowledge that eliminates gender bias against women in the present and in future societies. 5  http://www.momowo.eu/travellingexhibitioncatalogue/ MoMoWo 20 Marjan Groot The first MoMoWo conference-workshop, held from 23 to 25 September 2015 at the University of Women as Patrons Leiden in the Netherlands, focused on women designers, craftswomen, and architects and engineers between 1918 and 1945 in relation to the breakthrough of modernism. This was, however, a less and Intermediaries: homogeneous modernist period than it might seem. Between 1918 and 1925, principled functionalist modernism was not yet established, and in those years avant-garde developments culminated in A Footnote Introducing the the Dutch movement called De Stijl. Besides this, the majority of women worked in a modernist idiom that was derived from Art Deco or local traditional or vernacular design. Their work was of Articles of the First MoMoWo considerable interest, and examples were included in the MoMoWo project’s publication MoMoWo 100 works in 100 years. European women in architecture and design 1918– 2018 (Ljubljana/Turin: France Stele Institute of Art History ZRC SAZU, 2016). E-book International modernism with its focus on functionalism became visible only after 1925. The Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM), founded in June 1928 in Switzerland and ac- tive until 1959, stimulated the international dissemination of this particular form of modernist architecture. The congress was or- ganised by Le Corbusier in collaboration with Hélène de Mandrot (1867–1948, Fig. 1). Hélène de Mandrot was a patron of Le Cor- busier and owned the Swiss Château de la Sarraz where the first meeting was held. Architectural critic and historian Sigfried Gie- Fig. 1. Hélène de Mandrot, Le Corbusier, dion –who, with his wife, the art historian Carola Giedion-Welcker and Paul Otlet in Geneva, autumn 1929. turned his own house in Zurich into a meeting place for artists– Web, accessed 20 September 2017. was the secretary-general. Hélène had attended the famous pri- vate art school, Académie Julian in Paris and had been active as a decorative designer and artist in Paris as well. From 1922, she organised various meetings with a focus on modern art and culture at her Château, in which she had created a Maison des Artists; in 1929, a year after CIAM, there was a meeting on international independent cinema.1 1  A. Baudin, Hélène de Mandrot et la Maison des Artistes de La Sarraz (Lausanne: Payot, 1998). MoMoWo 23 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Marjan Groot, Women as Patrons and Intermediaries: A Footnote Introducing the Articles of the First MoMoWo E-book In modernist architecture and CIAM, Hélène’s role was equally significant. In his book Space, Time, and Architecture. The Growth of a New Tradition, Giedion recalled: In February 1928, I received a letter from Madame Hélène de Mandrot, telling me she was about to visit Zurich. The purpose of this visit was to arrange for a meeting of architects connected with this new movement at her château of La Sarraz, a few kilometers north of the lake of Geneva in the canton of Vaud. Madame de Mandrot had already spoken of this possibility with Le Corbusier and other friends (P. Chareau, G. Guevrekian, and others) in Paris. The term “congress” was to be employed in its original sense of “working together.” … Three circumstances favored an international union of young architects. One was the initiative of Hélène de Mandrot, who had founded the Maison des Artistes and had already held a meeting of young painters. She now invited young architects from Belgium, Germany, France, Holland, Italy, Austria, Spain, and Switzerland to meet at this neutral spot in the center of Europe.2 Interestingly, Giedion’s canon-forming overview Space, Time, and Architecture, narrating the historical development of architecture towards modernism, was translated in 1954 Fig. 2. Til Brugman. Figs. 3 and 4. Til Brugman’s refurbished living cum music room; left, original appearance; right, refurbishment with to Dutch by a female patron of the Dutch avant-garde of De Web, accessed 30 September 2017. wall composition and lamp designed by Vilmos Huszár and chair and side table by Gerrit Rietveld, Ligusterstraat 20, Stijl, Mathilda Brugman (1888–1958, Fig. 2). The Hague, 1923. Photographs Collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. 3 In 1922 or 1923, Til Brugman had commissioned Hungarian-born artist Vilmos Huszár to devise a new colour scheme for the living cum music room of her old city-house in The Hague where she a visual artist or designer, but a poet of dada-inspired ‘sound poems’ and an essayist. She earned an lived with her friend, the singer, Sienna Masthoff. Huszár’s Spatial-Colour-Composition in Gray of income by teaching languages and translated texts from various languages. A friend and supporter white, black and gray planes of rectangles and squares was furnished with a lamp by himself and a of many architects and artists who formed the international avant-garde networks, she corresponded white-painted chair and a red-blue-yellow side table by the designer Gerrit Rietveld (Figs. 3 and 4).4 with figures such as Russian artist El Lissitzky and German artist Kurt Schwitters.5 Their letters give a This white-painted chair is as remarkable as though much less famous than Rietveld’s Red-Blue lively impression of the contacts between Til and the artists. In July 1923, for example, Lissitzky wrote version of the chair, which today can be admired in museums all over the world. Til Brugman was not –addressing her as Tisi− that Rietveld had made a chair for him: Liebe Tisi, von den Tag wie ich bin weck aus Holland, wollte ich jeden Tag Ihnen Lange Briefe schreiben … Heute ist angekommen ein Brief von Rietfeld. Schreibt das er hat für mich ein Stuhl 2  Space, Time, and Architecture. The Growth of a New Tradition was first published in 1941; this quote is from the fifth revised and gemacht ….6 enlarged edition (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1969), 696. French architect and furniture designer Pierre Chareau, together with Dutch architect Bernard Bijvoet, designed the early modernist glass and metal Maison de Verre in Paris in 1928–32. Armenian architect Gabriel Guevrekian was most known for the design of a Cubist garden at Villa Noailles in Hyères in southeast France. 5  The 25 letters, written between 1923 and 1926, were discussed in 1997 by Carel Blotkamp, “Liebe Tiltil, brieven van El Lissitizky 3  The Dutch version is Siegfried Gideon, Tijd, Ruimte, Bouwkunst. Vertaald door Til Brugman en inleiding door C. Van Eesteren en Kurt Schwitters aan Til Brugman, 1923-1926”, Jong Holland 13 (1997) 1, 32–46, and Jong Holland 13 (1997) 4, 27–47, 62. The (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek, 1954). This does not include the later texts by Gideon about CIAM. letters are preserved in Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD) in The Hague. 4  In Dutch, the room was called a ‘Ruimte-Kleur-Compositie in Grijs’. See also Nancy J. Troy, The De Stijl Environment (Cambridge 6  ‘Dear Tisi, from the day I left Holland, I want to write you long letters every day…. Today has arrived a letter from Rietfeld. Writes Mass/London: MIT, 1983), 46–49; Marijke Kuper, Lex Reitsma, De stoel van Rietveld/ Rietveld’s Chair (Rotterdam: nai010 that he has for me made a chair … .’ Blotkamp 13 (1997) 1, 39. [Translation MG; El Lissitzky’s writing is a mixture of German and uitgevers/publishers, 2012), 99 and plate 19. Dutch words.] MoMoWo 24 MoMoWo 25 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 From 1926 Til lived in the house together with German dada artist, Hannah Höch from Berlin. The room remained as avant-garde as it was: a photograph from 1929 shows another chair by Rietveld, a painting by Höch and, on Rietveld’s side table, an abstract sculpture by Schwitters called Vertikal. 7 In the same year Hannah Höch had a solo exhibition at the De Bron gallery for design and decorative art in The Hague. This gallery was managed by Ditte van der Vies-Heyting, the lover of the designer Chris Lebeau, who was the founder of the gallery and, from 1904, active as one of the most outstanding designers and craftsmen of the Netherlands.8 Both Til Brugman and Hélène de Mandrot, as well as Ditte van der Vies-Heyting, deserve attention in this footnote introduction because the first MoMoWo conference-workshop devoted relatively little attention to women as patrons, gallery leaders, or journalists. Rather, it favoured women as architects and designers who actively designed the international modernist canon, including some less modernist case studies compensating for this one-sided perspective as well. Many of those women architects and designers from different countries feature in this sumptuous e-book by authors from as many different countries. However, as other scholars have also argued, the role of women as intermediaries–be they collectors, patrons, or journalists–is of vital importance for a more inclusive history of architecture, design, art, and culture in general. 7  Reproduced in Blotkamp 13 (1997) 4, 31 fig. 7. 8  De Bron means The Source. Report of the opening of Gallery for Art and Decorative Art De Bron in ‘Kunstkroniek’, De Residentiebode, 20 June 1925. For Lebeau: Mechteld de Bois e.a., Chris Lebeau 1878–1945 (Assen/Drents Museum, Haarlem/ Frans Halsmuseum, 1987), 122, 189, 192–193, 253. For Til Brugman: Marleen Slob, ‘De mensen willen niet rijpen, vandaar’. Leven en werk van Til Burgman (Amsterdam: VITA, 1994). For Höchs stay in the Netherlands: Chris Rehorst, ‘Hannah Höch und die Niederlande’, in: Hannah Höch 1889– 1978: Ihr Werk, Ihr Leben, Ihre Freunde (Berlin: Berlinische Galerie and Argon, 1989), 41–52; and Maud Lavin, Cut with the kitchen knife. The Weimar photomontages of Hannah Höch (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 1993), 65–67. MoMoWo 26 Alenka Di Battista Crossing Geographies Migrants and migrations played an integral role in the global diffusion of Modernism between World Introduction War I and World War II. They were crucial for the emergence of diverse contemporary modernist tendencies in architecture, urban planning and design alike, in the transfer of knowledge and ideas, as well as in the creation of international professional networks. This was also the case of pioneer women architects whose lives and practices are discussed in this sub-topic “Crossing Geographies”. Caterina Verdickt, in “How a Young Girl Went to Wales during the Great War, to Become the Leading Lady at ‘La Cambre’ Institut Supérieur des Arts décoratifs in Brussels”, presents the case of Marie and Elisabeth De Saedeleer, the elder daughters of Belgian artist Valerius De Saedeleer, who became accomplished and successful at weaving, binding and tapestry while they were living and working in Wales. She examines the causes of emigration of Belgian artists’ to Wales shortly after the outbreak of WWI and sheds insights into Elisabeth’s professional activity after her return to Belgium. Veronica Bremer, in “Dahl Collings (1909–1988) and Her Itinerary: Australia, England, and Back”, traces Australian artist and designer Dahl Collings’, overseas experiences in London. Bremer focuses on Collings’ collaboration with Laszlo Moholy-Nagy on the interior design and presentation of the Simpson’s Department Store in Piccadilly, as well as on her contribution to the development of Australian Modernism. In “‘Creating order amid chaos’: Architect Lotte Beese in the Soviet Union, 1932−35”, Hanneke Oosterhof reconstructs the working experience of German urban planner and architect Lotte Stam- Beese’s in the Soviet Union between 1932 and 1935. Oosterhof takes into account Stam-Beese’s recollections of the period and compares it with architectural historians’ understanding of the work of western architects, who were active in the Soviet Union. This selection of case studies demonstrates how living abroad provided women architects with new professional opportunities for developing their skills and expanding horizons. Their contacts with internationally famous architects played an important role in their training and also influenced the diffusion of modernist ideas about architecture, urban planning and design in their home countries. MoMoWo 29 Caterina Verdickt https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.01 1 At the beginning of the Great War in August 1914 Belgium was a neutral country. The German How a Young Girl Went to Wales during invasion came as a shock and the German atrocities were so extreme, that vast masses of the the Great War, to Become the Leading Belgian population left their homes and fled to France, the Netherlands and Great Britain. Hundreds of thousands of Belgians passed the ports of Antwerp and Ostend and tried to board a boat to cross Lady at ‘La Cambre’ Institut supérieur the channel (Fig. 1). In total over 150 000 Belgians, of whom approximately 300 were artists of all sorts, would stay for a shorter or a longer period in Britain during the War. des arts décoratifs in Brussels1 The many refugees caused chaos, especially in the first months of the war, due to the surprise attack of the Germans, but, however chaotic it might have been, the British press spoke of a peaceful invasion. The Belgians were in general not seen as a threat. At that time it was clear that their stay would be temporary.2 Once the refugees arrived in Folkestone, for instance, they were transported to London by train (Fig. 2). There they were registered at the offices of the War Refugee Committee in the General Building of Aldwych in London. This committee sought to house, clothe and provide for the Belgians. After This article will elaborate on the case of Elisabeth De Saedeleer who by invitation a few months many Belgians found their own place to stay, and started to organize their temporary of the Davies sisters of Aberystwyth made Wales her home during the Great lives in the United Kingdom (UK). The War Refugee Committee was set up, under the presidency of War. Elisabeth worked in Aberystwyth untill 1922, commissioned to do so by the statesman Herbert John Gladstone (1854–1930), and in many smaller cities and in the country local Davies sisters, who were keen on injecting Aberystwyth’s cultural life with the subcommittees were also set up. The subcommittees also took care of the refugees and sought expertise of refugee-artists. Elisabeth trained in tapestry weaving in the William to house, clothe and provide for them.3 The local committees were expected to inform the central Morris tradition, and when back in Belgium her tapestry firm would grow out to be an important one in the Interwar period. WRC of the number of refugees they were receiving, the number of women and children, how much money they’d collected, how many refugees found work, and whether this was a temporary or a The exile in Wales clearly influenced the De Saedeleer’s oeuvre and her further development and allows one to study the interaction of the artist with the political- long term engagement.4 The board for employment of the Belgians in Great Britain was also located cultural life in Wales, and also how the Welsh art-life in its turn gave impulses. On her return to Belgium Elisabeth would become out to be a sought-after artist, who cooperated with modernist designers and architects for over more than a decade. 1  This article was first published as Caterina Verdickt, “The Case of Elisabeth De Saedeleer: The Influence of Welsh She was invited to teach at La Cambre by founding director Henry Vande Velde Hospitality in the Great War on Belgian Modernist Interior Design,” British Art Journal 15, no. 3 (2015), 93–98. in 1925. Both Welsh and Belgian archives, sources and designs are now being 2  Peter Cahalan, Belgian Refugee Relief in England during the Great War, (New York; London: Garland, 1982), 2–4 and 9. researched and analyzed in order to portray this aspects of Belgian interior design 3  Cahalan, Belgian Refugee, 50; Pierre Purseigle, “A Wave on to Our Shores’: The Exile and Resettlement of which hes never before been researched. Refugees from the Western Front, 1914–1918,” Contemporary European History 16, no. 4 (2007), DOI: 10.1017/ S0960777307004109, 431–432. 4  Report of the Local Committee, Department of Manuscripts, inv. no. ex 1176, National Library of Wales (or NLW), Keywords: war refugee, interior design, tapestry, Belgium, Arts and Crafts Aberystwyth. MoMoWo 31 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Verdickt, How a Young Girl Went to Wales during the Great War, to Become the Leading Lady ... How a Belgian Artistic Family Ended up in Wales Elisabeth De Saedeleer, the second daughter of the prominent Belgian artist Valerius De Saedeleer (1867–1941), left her home shortly after the outbreak of the war. She and her family fled from Sint Martens Latem, a village near Gent, together with two other artists, Gustave van de Woestijne (1881– 1947) and George Minne (1866–1941), and their families to Zeeland. There they were stranded in the small village of Sint Anna ter Muiden. Here they met Raphael L. Petrucci (1872–1917), an Italian with a French mother, who lived in Brussels as he was attached to the Solvay Institute. Before coming to Sint Anna ter Muiden Petrucci had just had a visit from Fabrice Polderman (1885–1948), a Belgian Fig. 1. Belgian Refugees in Antwerp, 1914. Courtesy of Flanders Fields Museum. professor working in Cardiff. Polderman told Petrucci that Belgian artists were welcome in Wales. Fabrice Polderman himself was sent by David Davies (1880–1944) of Aberystwyth with a specific message: ‘invite Belgian artists into Wales, where they would not only be able to continue their work but also bring a specific talent to the Welsh people’.6 Confusion or a misunderstanding arose here, though, because the painters and their families believed they would go to Cardiff. They expected to meet up with friends such as painter Emile Claus (1849–1924) and writer Emile Verhaeren (1855–1916), but that never happened. This particularity is confirmed by writer Jozef Muls (1882–1961) and Emile Claus. Emile Claus a well-known Belgian painter, and also a refugee, ended up in London. He recollects fleeing the London noise and travelling to Cardiff in search of his friends, Minne, De Saedeleer and Van de Woestijne. But ‘I did not find my Fig. 2. Fredo Franzoni, friends’ testified Claus to Jozef Muls, a Belgian professor who lived in Oxford during the war.7 The Landing of the Belgian Refugees, 1915, Now in order to get this company of Belgian artists to Aberystwyth, another friend of the Davies oil on canvas, 212 x 284 cm. Courtesy of Folkestone Library, family, Professor Herbert John Fleure (1877–1969) –a professor in Geography, Anthropology Folkestone Town Council. and Zoology at the University of Aberystwyth– was sent to London to await the three families at Euston station then accompany them to make sure they arrived safely. So to their great surprise the families ended up in Aberystwyth and not in Cardiff, as Gustave van de Woestijne wrote to his in London, having its offices at Hotel Cecil, the Strand. In 1915, for instance, a large number of friend Jozef Muls.8 Belgians did not find employment and problems concerning their maintenance emerged.5 Owing to the scattered events of the War, one cannot speak of a general logical and well conducted cultural Nevertheless, the arrival of the Belgian artists was mentioned enthusiastically in the local policy. These artist-refugees went ashore in the UK and were then dispatched all over the country. newspapers of 7 October 1914: They ended up in London, Glasgow, Devonshire… However in Wales, the situation was completely different and one can affirmatively state that indeed a deliberate policy was pursued. To illustrate this we turn to the case of Elisabeth De Saedeleer (1902–1972). 6  Moira Vincentelli, “The Davies Family and Belgian Refugee Artists and Musicians in Wales,” The National Library of Wales Journal 22, no. 2 (1981), 228–230. 7  Jozef Muls, Het rijk der stilte: De kunst en de oorlog, (Antwerpen: Maatschappij voor goede en goedkoope lectuur, 1920), 91–92; Cyriel Buysse, Emile Claus, mijn broeder in Vlaanderen, (Gent-Bussum, s.d.), 31. 8  Gustave Van de Woestyne, Letter by Gustave Van de Woestyne to Jozef Muls, June 2,1915, Box Gustave van de 5  Emile Van der Velde, Letter by Emile Van der Velde to Rev. E. Aman Jones, in name of ‘Bureau pour la protection du Woestijne, inv. no. 16 284 Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten Brussel (or KMSKB), Brussels, Archief voor travail Belge à l’étranger’, November 9, 1915, Department of Manuscripts, inv. no. ex 1176, NLW, Aberystwyth. Hedendaagse Kunst in België (or AHK). MoMoWo 32 MoMoWo 33 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Verdickt, How a Young Girl Went to Wales during the Great War, to Become the Leading Lady ... This tension caused by the differences between Catholics and Protestants, between the hosts and the guests was significant. John Vyrnwy Morgan (1860–1925) wrote about the Belgian Refugees in his chapter “Belgians in Wales” in The War and Wales (1916). He elaborates on the noble nature of the Welsh, on the racial inferiority of the Belgians, espe- cially concerning the religious differences between the Belgians and the Welsh. He states explicitly that the Belgians are indeed inferior to the Welsh.12 Fig. 3. Exhibition of Belgian Art 1915. Courtesy of NMGW Cardiff. The Davies’ tried to overcome these religious and social differences and as stated before, aimed at inserting into Welsh art the influence of the invited A contingent of Belgian refugees reached Aberystwyth on Saturday by the express train Belgian artists, so that a much desired Welsh from Euston and received a hearty welcome by inhabitants… It is stated that the adults are artistic revival could be initiated. They had socio- distinguished professional teachers, musicians and painters of a high station in life.9 cultural and politic motives for promoting Welsh Why were these Belgian artists so desired in Aberystwyth? The answer to this question has to be Fig. 4. Samuel Fildes, Sir William Goscombe John, 1924, art, as a nationalistic art, in order to revive it. The oil on canvas, 67,6 x 55,2 cm. Courtesy of NMGW Cardiff. sought with the Davies family of Aberystwyth: David, Gwendolyn (1882–1951) and Margaret Davies sisters had already organized an exhibition in 1913 (1884–1963) were the grand-children of David Davies (1818–1890), a Victorian industrialist. The at the National Museum and Galleries in Cardiff. sisters became philanthropists who used their fortune derived from mining to support Welsh social With this Loan Exhibition, where their art collection was presented to the public, they wanted to and cultural life. They were interested in the arts, music, literature and education. At the beginning show high quality art to the public in the hope of inspiring that public. In the same spirit they sought of the war, the Davies family decided to invite Belgian artists in Wales to stay there. They saw to attract the Belgian artists. Gwendoline wrote to Thomas Jones (1870–1955) that she was very an opportunity in the War events and hoped to inject local cultural life with the expertise of the hopeful and that she anticipated that great things would happen in Wales.13 Belgians.10 In 1915 an Exhibition of Belgian art, which travelled through the UK and was shown in Cardiff, According to Vincentelli, Gwendolyn wrote to J H Davies in October 1914: can also be seen in the same philosophy (Fig. 3). This exhibition was held in cooperation with Sir My sister and I together with Professor Tom Jones went to Alexandra Palace the week before William Goscombe John (1860–1952) (Fig. 4). John was a member of the board of directors of the last in search for refugees. Our original intention was to get people of the artisan or trades National Museum and saw to it that the mentioned exhibition came to Wales.14 From October 1914 people class but we found that Roman Catholics are most vigilant and are preventing these many exhibitions with Belgian art were being held throughout the country. These exhibitions were people as far as possible from being taken into protestant homes [sic.].11 held in order to raise awareness of the Belgian cultural heritage and to show at the same time what kind of culture the Germans were destroying on the continent. For instance, an Artists War Fund exhibition was held at Dicksees in London, 7 Duke Street. The aim of this expo was to rais funds for the Prince of Wales National Relief fund. Frank Brangwyn (1867–1956) and George Clausen 9  Vincentelli, “The Davies Family,” 226, where she quotes Aberystwyth Dispatch, Cardigan Bay Visitor and Directory, 7 October 1914, 1, col. 8. 10 Carolyn Stewart, “Een experiment in cultuurbeleid: Het mecenaat van Gwendoline en Margaret Davies en de Belgische kunstenaars in Wales 1914–1918,” in Robert Hoozee, Caterina Verdickt and Eric Rowan, Kunst in Ballingschap: 12 John Vyrnwy Morgan, The War and Wales (London: Chapman & Hall ltd., 1916), 160. Vlaanderen, Wales en de Eerste Wereldoorlog (Gent: Pandora, 2002), 40–45. 13 Oliver Fairclough (ed.), Things of Beauty: What Two Sisters Did for Wales (Cardiff: National Museum of Wales, 2007), 11 Vincentelli, “The Davies Family,” 226, where she quotes Gwendoline Davies, Letter by Gwendoline Davies to J.H. 62–63. Davies, October 4, 1914, Department of Manuscripts, J. H Davies MSS, M 1991, 30, National Library of Wales, 14 Eric Rowan, “Kunst in Wales rond 1900,” in Hoozee, Verdickt and Stewart, Kunst in Ballingschap, 26–27; Stewart, Aberystwyth. “Een experiment,” 48. MoMoWo 34 MoMoWo 35 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Verdickt, How a Young Girl Went to Wales during the Great War, to Become the Leading Lady ... (1852–1944) contributed to this show.15 In November 1914 a first collective exhibition of “Belgian staying at Llynarthan. A few miles away at Barry is Emile Claus, Belgium’s best known painter. At Masterpieces” in London was held. This time the show was set up in specific aid of Belgian artists Aberystwyth we have another able sculptor M. Minne… with him at Aberystwyth De Saedeleer, in need. Over 100 works of art made by well-known artists were on show at Mac Lean Gallery at 7 Van der Woostyne (sic) and L. Petrucci – all well-known names in art circles on the continent.18 Haymarket. These works of art were smuggled in to Britain and passed through German lines, the As stated before, the presence of these artists was seen as a good opportunity to enhance Welsh article in the newspaper mentioned.16 cultural life. Vincentelli identified the author as Fabrice Polderman, a Belgian professor who had In Aberystwyth at the beginning of the War a special committee secured a position at the university college in Cardiff. Gustave van de Woestijne would later paint was organized for the Belgian war refugees. This illustrates that his portrait during the War while Polderman lives in Birmingham. The editor Thomas Jones, who the ideas of the Davies’ were being supported by the town’s was a good friend of the Davies family, spent a few days in Belgium in September 1914 together inhabitants. The first meeting of this committee was held on with Fabrice Poldermans and W. J. Burdon Evans.19 28 October 1914, in the city hall. They agreed to meet on a Yet, and this was also mentioned by Vincentelli, Polderman wrote in the Welsh Outlook: weekly basis on Mondays, hence showing their engagement. The study of painting and sculpture is in a deplorably backward condition in Wales. Shall we The committee housed 130 Belgian refugees in Aberystwyth, take full and immediate advantage of the unexpected presence in our midst of this brilliant among them some renowned Belgian musicians, who gave 22 group: take counsel with them: give them facilities to exercise their genius: give our young concerts during the first year of their exile period, thus realizing art students the chance of seeing them at work? What will the three colleges do? And the Art another cultural dream of the Davies sisters.17 Academies? And the Art Schools? The opportunity is unique but we may be too parochial to Fig. 5. Valerius De Saedeleer and family in front of Tynlon. Courtesy of Archives The Davies sisters generously housed their artist-refugees- seize it.20 Businarias Maarkedal. guests, who were warmly welcomed. The Minne family and van de Woestijne family were housed in Llanidloes. The De Saedeleer family was happy to stay in a house called Tynlon in Rhydyfelin (Fig. 5). The father How Did the Family Maintain Itself? Valerius started working immediately after his arrival and quickly established himself in the art circles of Aberystwyth. Of course the family needed to adjust to their new environment, but from the beginning of 1915 Valerius De Saedeleer wrote positively to his friend about his Welsh situation: ‘I am working quite well here. I have my family with me in a beautiful country and a nice home, I am as happy as I can be, far away from Flanders and the horrible war.’21 The addressed friend is Jozef Muls who Reaction of the Public on the Arrival of the Belgians in Aberystwyth was at that time living in Oxford, where he in turn maintained himself in the best of ways. He too The Welsh Outlook, a magazine founded and financed by David Davies in order to focus on Welsh organised an exhibition of modern Belgian arts, and for this he invited Valerius De Saedeleer to send cultural life, published an article on the arrival of the Belgian artists: some new Welsh works. The Vale of the Reidol, Tancastell Farm, Sweet solitude of Cardigan and Probably no part of the Kingdom outside London, has so many distinguished Belgians among its guests as are now to be found in Wales. At their head stand [sic.] Emile Verhaeren, who is 15  Standard, October 28, 1914. 16  Daily Telegraph, November 24, 1914; Paul Buschmann, “Belgian Artists in England, second article,” The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art 67, no. 263 (February 1915), 46. 18 F.B., “Notes of the Month,” in The Welsh Outlook 1, no. 11 (November 1914), 457, quote has been published by 17 Members of the committee were Miss Palchett, Gwendoline Davies, Mrs. Mendham, Mrs. Morgan, Mrs. Parr, Mrs. Vincentelli, “The Davies Family,” 227. Morris, Mrs. Denton, and Mr. E D Jones as the secretary, Reverend Falker Wilcock, Mr. Rhys Jones, Mr. Williams, Reverend PH Lewis and Chairman Rees Jones. This committee received a letter from the Belgian born Mr. Laoureux, 19 Vincentelli, “The Davies Family,” 228. who stayed in Aberystwyth asking the committee whether they could shelter the family of the Belgian composer 20 F.B., “Notes of the Month,” 457. Dupuy. Minutes of the meetings of the Belgian Refugee Committee, Department of Manuscripts, M, MS 2639c, NLW, 21 Valerius de Saedeleer, Letter from Valerius de Saedeleer to Jozef Muls, April 15, 1915, Archief en Museum Vlaamse Aberystwyth. Cultuurleven - Letterenhuis, Antwerp dossier S 1155. MoMoWo 36 MoMoWo 37 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Verdickt, How a Young Girl Went to Wales during the Great War, to Become the Leading Lady ... Recollection of Beautiful Flanders were first shown to the public After a while the girls work became successful, so much so that Valerius de Saedeleer thought at this exhibition. He sold the first three of the four works.22 about starting a training centre for tapestry weaving. Thus professor Fleure wrote to Thomas Jones In Aberystwyth itself Valerius De Saedeleer became somewhat of a in October 1918: ‘The De Saedeleer family could really organize weaving a winter work for a village local celebrity (Fig. 6). Valerius De Saedeleer payed many bills with and would like to do so.’27 his paintings. He had personal exhibitions from 1916 onwards. In this period Valerius De Saedeleer and his family met Jacob de Graaff (1873–1947), a wealthy In February 1916 he exhibited his work in Alexandra Hall at the Dutch entrepreneur who resided in London during the War and who collected many works of art university college. He also worked as assistant to the drawing by Belgian artists. De Graaff previously met Gustave van de Woestijne at an exhibition in London Fig. 6. Valerius De Saedeleer, Marie master of the university Daniel Rowland Jones (1875–1924). in 1916. Before De Graaff met the Belgian artists, he was keen on nineteenth century French art. Joseph, their friend Louise and Monica on Aberystwyth beach. Courtesy of Archives In 1918 Valerius was also appointed as the future head of the However, after meeting Hippolyte Daeye (1873–1952), Léon De Smet (1881–1966) and Gustave Businarias Maarkedal. arts and crafts centre, which was another project of the Davies van de Woestijne in London, he learned about modern art and specifically modern Belgian art. sisters. The founding of the centre had been an idea of Professor Because of this acquaintance De Graaff bought work from Constant Permeke (1886–1952), Van de Fleure and the Davies sisters, who donated 5000 pounds towards it. Their main goal was to establish Woestijne and De Saedeleer during the war. He in return introduced the Belgian artists to London a centre for the arts and crafts in the heart of Wales. Their project was supported by Thomas Jones, Society, bought them tickets to the theatre and took them out. He took Gustave Van de Woestijne, who would be assistant secretary of the new coalition cabinet in 1916, and by David Davies, who for instance, to see the show ‘Baby’s in the Wood’.28 It is Gustave van de Woestijne who introduced became private secretary to Premier Lloyd George (1863–1945) in 1916.23 Valerius De Saedeleer to Jacob De Graaff late 1918. He wrote in a letter to De Graaff that De Saedeleers work was on show at the Grosvenor Gallery in New Bond Street and in the same letter Initially the Davies sisters put a lot of effort and energy into the Belgians but after a while they he asked if De Graaff would mind viewing his friend’s work and if possible buying one.29 redirected their war interests towards more political and social activities. They volunteered as nurses and worked for several years in a canteen in Troyes.24 However, their efforts did have their merits and From the beginning of 1919, De Saedeleer started a written correspondence with De Graaff himself. did affect cultural life indirectly. This was especially true of the daughters of Valerius De Saedeleer. He invited De Graaff to an exhibition in Aberywtsyth of his work and that of his daughters, who made tapestries after the design of their father.30 Whether De Graaff made the journey to Aberystwyth Marie and Elisabeth De Saedeleer learned their techniques in Wales. They met a former employee to see the exhibition is unclear but he did invite the girls to London not much later. In February of William Morris (1834–1896), who suggested that the girls should take up weaving.25 The second 1919, Jacob De Graaff invited the De Saedeleer sisters to visit him at his London house. Gustave daughter, Elisabeth, would get acquainted with Mary ‘May’ Morris (1862–1938), who also trained van de Woestijne, who was Elisabeth’s godfather, agreed to accompany them on their trip which her in tapestry weaving. It is unclear whether she met with Mary Morris in London or in Wales. But was planned for March 1919.31 De Graaff helped them out on several occasions by investing in several sources mention their acquaintance.26 their art and craft, so that they could buy supplies, thus responding to De Saedeleer’s plea for 22 Valerius de Saedeleer, Letter from Valerius de Saedeleer to Jozef Muls, April 23, 1915, Archief en Museum Vlaamse Cultuurleven - Letterenhuis, Antwerp, S 1155; Exhibition of Belgian Art (Oxford, 1915), 5. 23 Stewart, “Een experiment,” 50; Herbert John Fleure, Letter by Professor to Thomas Jones, October 10, 1918, DM, Thomas Jones Papers, CLASS W 7, no. 26, NLW, Aberystwyth, quoted by Vincentelli, “The Davies Family,” 233. 27 Herbert John Fleure, Letter from professor to Thomas Jones, October 10, 1918, DM, Thomas Jones Papers, Class W, 24 Stewart, “Een experiment,” 51. vol. 7 letter 26, NLW, Aberystwyth, quoted by Vincentelli, “The Davies Family,” 231 and 233. 25 Luc Haesaerts, “De Tapijtkunst van de gezusters De Saedeleer,” Onze Kunst: Geïllustreerd maandschrift voor 28 André Kraaeyenga, De collectie De Graaff- Bachiene: Schilderijen, beeldhouwwerken, tekeningen en grafiek (Heino: beeldende en decoratieve kunsten 22, no. 9–10 (1925), 45; Vincentelli, “The Davies Family,” 231. Hannema-de Stuersfundatie, 1992), 11. 26 Susan Day, Art Déco and Modernist Carpets (London: Thames and Hudson, 2002), 63; Elisabeth De Saedeleer, 29 Jacob de Graaff was a close friend of David Van Buuren, they met on a regular base at the Le Centaure and Giroux De Handweefkunst: Het Kunstatelier Elisabeth De Saedeleer (Brussel: Het Kunstatelier, 1974), 6; Jean Teugels, Galleries in Brussels, see Françoise Lechien Durant, Museum David en Alice van Buuren: Huis van herinneringen “Le Studio De Saedeleer,” Sélection: Chronique de la vie artistique et littéraire 5, no. 4 (1926), 276; Elsje Janssen, (Tielt: Lannoo, 1995), 101; Gustave van de Woestijne, Letter from Gustave van de Woestijne to Jacob De Graaff, “Creating Textiles in Belgium during the 20th Century: A Large Weaving Manufacturer, a Small Textile Studio and November 19, 1918, Dossier Gustave van de Woestijne, inv. no. 50 716, KMSKB, Brussels, AHK. a Contemporary Textile Designer,” in Creating Textiles: Makers, Methods, Market: Proceedings of the Sixth Biennial 30 Valerius de Saedeleer, Letters from Valerius de Saedeleer to Jacob De Graaff, January 28, 1919, Dossier Valerius de Symposium of the Textile Society of America, Inc. New York, NY, September 23–26, 1998 (Earleville, MD: Textile Saedeleer, inv. no 50 599, KMSKB, Brussels, AHK. Society of America, Inc., 1999), 267; Ingrid De Meuter, Kleur voor wand en vloer: Het weefatelier Elisabeth de 31 Gustave Van de Woestijne, Letter from Gustave Van de Woestijne to Jacob De Graaff, February 20, 1919, Dossier Saedeleer (1902–1972) (Oudenaarde: Stad Oudenaarde , 1993), 11. Gustave van de Woestijne, inv. no. 50 722, KMSKB, Brussels, AHK. MoMoWo 38 MoMoWo 39 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Verdickt, How a Young Girl Went to Wales during the Great War, to Become the Leading Lady ... Centre lost one of its principal advocates. The plans for establishing the centre of arts and crafts in Aberystwyth were delayed yet again and so Valerius De Saedeleer decided to move back to Belgium. Professor Fleure also stated that it was for this reason that Valerius De Saedeleer left Aberystwyth. A year later the Davies sisters went to live in Gregynog Hall (Fig. 7), in Montgomeryshire, with the original intention of turning it into a rural centre for arts and crafts. By funding the establishment of both a Department of Art and an Arts and Crafts Collection at The University of Wales, Aberystwyth, the sisters envisaged that the two ventures would lead to an arts and crafts revival for Wales.35 Fig. 7. Gregynog, home of Gwendoline and Margaret Davies. Courtesy of Collection Rhian Davies. Back in Belgium When the De Saedeleer family moved back to Belgium in 1921, they established themselves in Etikhove and named their new home Tynlon after their Welsh one. The first project they undertook help. De Saedeleer had been writing that Marie had already been working under commissions for a was the founding of an arts and crafts centre in Etikhove, which would became a centre of weaving couple of months, yet in unbearable circumstances.32 techniques in the Modernist Belgian era, thus building on what they had learned in Wales. In April 1919 the University of Aberystwyth held festivities, during which Valerius De Saedeleer The tapestry studio was set up next to their father’s atelier and initially Marie and Elisabeth took exhibited his work. This event was successful; in addition the daughters’ work was sold. Later on charge of the workplace together, but Marie De Saedeleer stopped her weaving activities due to Valerius De Saedeleer reported that his daughters’ had almost enough orders to work completely personal circumstances Luc Haesaerts wrote, although he did not specify what those were.36 independently. At that time they all were quite enthusiastic and positive about the weaving activities and the new arts and crafts centre in Aberystwyth. Later on, in 1920, Valerius De Saedeleer decided The studio was organised along the lines directly derived from the Arts and Crafts movement wrote to ask Jacob De Graaff for a loan, since at this point the family still wanted to stay in Wales and Susan Day.37 Elisabeth would transfer the designs to the actual size required and painted the sample invest in their lives and work there.33 cards herself. At this atelier she started working with the designs of artists such as Edgar Tijtgat (1879–1957) and Gustave van de Woestijne - Zon (Fig. 8) and Schaal (Fig. 9) for instance-, and of Professor Fleure wrote to Miss Davies on 16th March 1920: ‘If the De Saedeleer family wants to stay architects such as Albert van Huffel (1877–1935), who had been commissioned to contribute to I am only too glad to agree. They are valuable to the country. On the other hand I cannot urge them the reconstruction of Belgium. In the tapestry made in this period many flora and fauna motifs were to stay under the circumstances created by Thomas Jones [sic.] non-election.’34 used, as were vivid colours and butterflies - for example Spring by Albert Van Huffel.38 Progress in the establishment of the centre for weaving techniques was difficult: Valerius De Elsje Janssen judged that her use of central lockets and arabesques can be compared with textiles Saedeleer wanted to wait and initially did not want to return to Belgium. Yet the Centre never designed by, and show the influences of the traditions of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts achieved its full promise: Valerius De Saedeleer had been promised the position of head, but that weaving techniques.39 In 1925 Belgian art critic Luc Haesaerts commented in Onze Kunst on the did not happen because one of the initial founders, Thomas Jones was not re-elected and so the De Saedeleer tapestry on show in Gallery Renis in Antwerp from 27 December 1924 to 15 January 32 Valerius de Saedeleer, Letters from Valerius de Saedeleer to Jacob De Graaff, February 25,1919 and March 29, 1919, 35 Stewart, “Een experiment,” 52; Fairclough, Things of Beauty, 82–89. Dossier Valerius de Saedeleer, inv. no. 50 600 and 50 602, KMSKB, Brussels, AHK. 36 Luc Haesaerts, “De Tapijtkunst van de gezusters De Saedeleer,” Onze Kunst 42, no. 9–10 (1925), 46. 33 Valerius de Saedeleer, Letters from Valerius de Saedeleer to Jacob De Graaff, March 4 1919 and January 29 1920, 37 Day, Art Decò, 63. Dossier Valerius de Saedeleer, inv. no. 50 601 and 50 614, KMSKB, Brussels AHK. 38 N.N., “Vlaamse Tapijtweefkunst van de gezusters De Saedeleer,” Elseviermaandschrift, no. 1 (1926), 149 –150; Nairy 34 Herbert John Fleure, Letter from Professor Fleure to Miss Davies, March 16, 1920, T Jones Papers, Class W Vol. 7, Vrouyr, Art Déco (Antwerp: Vrouyr, 2010), 17. 68, NLW, Aberystwyth, quoted by Vincentelli, “The Davies Family,” 233. 39 Janssen, “Creating Textiles,” 267. MoMoWo 40 MoMoWo 41 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Verdickt, How a Young Girl Went to Wales during the Great War, to Become the Leading Lady ... Karel Van de Woestijne, a contemporary renowned art critic had also visited the studio and wrote in positive words about the art of the daughters of Valerius de Saedeleer.45 ‘A good carpet is not a personal victory: it is in essence a designated enrichment of a beautiful interior, equally to a piece of furniture, a platter or a well cut mirror.’46 Haesaerts reflected on the novelty of these tapestry and judged imported tapestry from the east to be the remains of the past, from a time that had lost all sense for architecture and decorative arts. Architecture had become an art of adjusting style upon style, he wrote and when decorating a house one would apply every one of those styles. Tapestry also suffered from this crisis of logical and constructive impotence. But after the war things changed wrote Haesaerts. ‘Our Time will have its own style; midst searching and errors/failing we’ll see her grow and first and foremost she Fig. 8. Gustave van de Woestijne, ex. by Elisabeth Fig. 9. Gustave van de Woestijne, ex. by Elisabeth De Saedeleer, seems to be logical.’47 De Saedeleer, Zon, 1925, cellulose and wool, Schaal, 1925, cellulose and wool, 103 x 169 cm. 172 x 212 cm. Courtesy of Collection Vrouyr Antwerp. Courtesy of Collection Vrouyr Antwerp. The De Saedeleer carpets used to be very highly esteemed. They made six pieces of every design. Each carpet had its own number and the signature of the designer and of the maker/ the sisters.48 Elisabeth’s work was installed in the famous National Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Koekelberg 1925.40 In the next edition of Onze Kunst, Haesaerts devotes a complete article to the art of the designed by Albert Van Huffel, one of Belgium’s most famous art deco monuments. In her career sisters. He explains their origins, techniques, design and innovations. In the same article, Haesaerts Elisabeth made tapestry after the designs of artists such as Ossip Zadkine, Michel Seuphor, Marc elaborates on the techniques the sisters employed and of their novelty compared to the old weaving Chagall and André Llote.49 ‘Quelle est en Europe la firme qui puisse se targuer d’avoir mis sur pied techniques.41 un catalogue si brilliant?’ wrote Georges Marlier in Art et Décoration in 1928.50 ‘A l’heure où la jeune During the 1920s and 1930s –the Modernist years par excellence– the studio of Elisabeth De peinture belge suscite partout une légitime admiration, l’activité du Studio De Saedeleer vient Saedeleer and her sisters’ became well known for their vivid and colourful knotted floor coverings, enrichir d’un apport précieux le tableau de la vie artistique en Belgique.’51 mural carpets and fabrics for scarfs and table cloths.42 Studio de Saedeleer searched for the ideal In 1927 Elisabeth De Saedeleer was asked by founding director Henri Van de Velde to teach at La formula for the design of tapestry: a floor carpet is, according to them, a component of the entire Cambre, one of the major art and designs schools in Belgium. Here she found herself in the core interior design and has to fit in as such. They did not see a tapestry as a separate independent work of art. The bases for the composition of design are the measurements and the tightness of the knots. Elisabeth worked in a pictorial manner creating depth by using colour.43 45 ‘Er zijn ontwerpen van Elisabeth de Saedeleer, die mooie schilderijen maakt; er zijn aanminnige ontwerpen van haar The demure carpets were knotted and not inlaid as was customary in Flemish traditions. The jongste zuster, de pas veertienjarige Godelieve; er zijn aristokratische van Gustaaf van de Woestijne en Assyrische, sisters used by preference vertical weaving looms because they offered more control. Haesaerts maar toch zoo leuk-Vlaamsche van den jongen beeldhouwer Leplae; er zijn geestig-fantastische van Edgard Tytgat en forsch-decoratieve van Jules Boulez; er zijn ontwerpen van den rechtstreeksche medewerker van de juffrouwen describes the used techniques exhaustively in his article.44 De Saedeleer, den kunstcriticus Paul Haesaerts, die bewijst, dat hij de techniek van het tapijtweven meester is; er is er een - en dat zal u genoegen doen - van Jan Sluyters, dat eerlang wordt uitgevoerd,’ in Karel Van de Woestijne, Verzameld journalistiek werk: Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant september 1925 – november 1926, edited by Ada Deprez (Gent: Cultureel Documentatiecentrum, 1994), vol.14, 151–152. 46 ‘Een goed tapijt is niet eene persoonlijke overwinning: het is hoofdzakelijk de aangewezen verrijking van een schoon intérieur, net als een meubel, een schotel, een goed-geslepen spiegel,’ in Van de Woestijne, Verzameld journalistiek werk, 150. 47 ‘Onze tijd zal zijn eigen stijl hebben; temidden van het gezoek en de vergissing zien we hem stilaan opgroeien, en hij 40 Luc Haesaerts, “Tapijten der juffrouwen De Saedeleer,” Onze Kunst 41, no. 1–2 (1925), 70–80. schijnt in de eerste plaats logisch te willen zijn,’ in Haesaerts, ‘De Tapijtkunst van de gezusters,’ 53. 41 Haesearts, “De Tapijtkunst van de gezusters,” 45–58. 48 Haesaerts, ‘De Tapijtkunst van de gezusters,’ 57. 42 Janssen, “Creating Textiles,” 267. 49 De Meuter, Kleur voor wand, 22 and 81. 43 De Meuter, Kleur voor wand, 12. 50 Georges Marlier, “Les tapis De Saedeleer,” Art et Décoration: Revue mensuelle d’Art Moderne (September, 1928), 84. 44 Haesaerts, “De Tapijtkunst van de gezusters,” 47–51. 51 Marlier, “Les tapis De Saedeleer,” 88. MoMoWo 42 MoMoWo 43 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Verdickt, How a Young Girl Went to Wales during the Great War, to Become the Leading Lady ... Fig. 10. Elisabeth De Saedeleer at La Cambre, second lady from the right, 1927. Courtesy of Collection A. AM. Brussels. of the Belgian artistic modernist life of the 1920s and 1930s (Fig. 10). She became colleagues with her godfather Gustave van de Woestijne and with Albert Van Huffel who were also teaching at La Cambre. She was in charge of the textile program: where she taught cloth, floor and mural tapestry thus taking up what she had learned in Wales and transferring it to her students. Caterina Verdickt Antwerp University – Faculty of Design Sciences Caterina Verdickt is an art historian and conducting a Phd, The Realm of Silence. Consequences of the Belgian artistic migration towards Great Britain during the Great War on post war Belgian interior design, at the University of Antwerp. She was co-curator of the W. H. Berger Prize nominated exhibition “Art in Exile. Flanders, Wales and the First World War”, when she worked at the Museum of Fine Arts in Gent for Robert Hoozee. She has been liason officer for the Vlaamsekunstcollectie in Belgium. At the moment she teaches History of Interior Design 1850–1950 at the Faculty of Design Sciences, Antwerp University. E-mail: caterina.verdickt@uantwerpen.be MoMoWo 44 MoMoWo 45 Veronica Bremer https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.02 Dahl Collings’s cross-disciplinary devotion to artistic production situates her in the modernist Dahl Collings (1909 – 1988) and realms of painting, commercial art, illustration, fashion, textile design, costume design, exhibition design, photography, and film. The aim of this paper is to trace Dahl Collings’ overseas experience Her Itinerary: Australia, England, in London to demonstrate how she was transformed from active participant to active exponent of and Back Modernism during the 1930s, an extremely challenging time to be both female and an advocate of a modernity that Australia viewed as a ‘foreign disease’.1 While existing scholarship surrounding Dahl Collings is due to the impressive work and effort of scholars such as Geoffrey Caban, Michael Bogle, and Anne Marie Van de Ven, my paper aims to assert Dahl Collings as a symbol of modernity by providing an analysis of her identity as a modern female artist, of her involvement in London with London serving as a crucial site of Modernity in itself, and of her contribution to Australia’s Modernism as a result of her adoption of a Bauhaus aesthetic. Dahl Collings, born as Dulcie Wilmott in Adelaide in 1909, began her art studies at East Sydney Technical College from around 1926–32 and took various painting courses at the J.S. Watkins Art School, earning a scholarship from the Society of Artists while focusing on portraiture.2 At the time of her enrolment, East Sydney Technical College was modelled around the nineteenth century British concentration of tradition,3 and like the rest of Australia, faced modernism with much hesitance. After Dahl Collings (1909–1988) actively contributed to the arts in Australia in the finishing her art education, at the age of eighteen Collings was granted her first job at Anthony Horderns, twentieth century through her engagement in a variety of fields and projects a big department store.4 Illustrative as an early example of her ambition, she had ‘walked from store to worldwide; surpassing cultural, geographical, social, artistic, and cultural borders. An active traveler, she often visited and worked in Europe, eventually store with her portfolio of drawings’,5 until she impressed Hordens as well as other department stores working with Bauhaus Masters László Moholy-Nagy and György Kepes in like Farmers and David Jones, for which Collings completed freelance work. Shortly after, in 1933, she London. At Simpson’s Department store, the trio innovatively used window met and married fellow Australian Geoffrey Collings (1905–2000), also an advocate of modernism displays and retail virtual merchandising as a platform to evoke the Bauhaus and with whom she would collaborate throughout her entire artistic career. spirit. Also an evocation of the Bauhaus was Collings’ interest in the unity of all arts with her artistic range and interest in painting, commercial art, illustration, costume design, textile design, exhibition design, photography, and film. Through an analysis of various works, I aim to demonstrate Collings’ cosmopolitan 1  Helen Topliss, Modernism and Feminism: Australian Women Artists, 1900–1940 (Roseville East: Craftsman House, 1996), 110. approach to art and her subsequent achievements that have unfortunately been 2  Anne-Marie Van De Ven, “Dahl Collings b. 1909,” Design and Art Australia Online, https://www.daao.org.au/bio/dahl- marginalized or largely neglected. collings/biography/ (accessed August 12, 2015). 3  Topliss, Modernism and Feminism, 29. Keywords: Australia, Dahl Collings, London, Simpson’s Department Store, László 4  Geoffrey Caban, A Fine Line: A History of Australian Commercial Art (Sydney, NSW: Hale & Iremonger, 1983), 70. Moholy-Nagy 5  Ibid. MoMoWo 47 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Veronica Bremer, Dahl Collings (1909 – 1988) and her Itinerary: Australia, England, and Back Geoffrey Collings was not a well-known figure in the Australian art scene when he and Dahl met, and magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s it has been only recently that there has been more revived interest in his work.6 Educated in Brisbane, Bazaar. 12 It allowed her to reach a significant before he met Dahl and while they both lived in Sydney, he worked odd jobs such as sweeping female audience due to the popularity of these floors, running messages, delivering blocks, matrixes, and stereos.7 Nevertheless, Geoffrey Collings publications, as wells as inspire Australian used the job experiences to get close to newspaper equipment and he was able to gain experience women back home with her fashion sense. in linotype and production procedures while performing his menial tasks.8 Eventually, he was able Collings’ interest in fashion was obvious with to get hands-on experience, and finally acquire, the technical knowledge necessary to understand her designs as well as in her own personal the process of printing plates. Together, these various professional experiences would later intrigue taste in clothing that demonstrated her his London employers and serve as a ground for his employment. preference for sophisticated pieces reflective of her cosmopolitan lifestyle (Fig. 1). She often designed her own wardrobe.13 London as a Site of Modernity And it was perhaps this interest in fashion that In 1935, Dahl and Geoffrey Collings would embark for London,9 a city which Australians considered resulted in Dahl Collings’ involvement with as being full of opportunity. Described as the ‘strongest magnet to all the peoples of the earth’ Simpson Piccadilly, a circumstance that would London itself as a city, as a physical site of modernity and possibilities was, furthermore, perceived later prove critical for her artistic development Fig. 1. Geoffrey Collings, Dahl Collings, ca. 1935 – 37. by Australians as ‘as a metropolis representing the arts and urban opportunity,’ that seemed to be Courtesy of Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney, and contribution to the arts in Australia. lacking in Australia and as a ‘central locus, the destination before, after, or in between any other 2007/30/1-69/2/60 (00236773). travels.’10 Simpson Department Store as a site of Modernity The voyage to London alone is worthy of remark – it was an exemplary of the modern through the association with mobility, channels of transmission and transfer, and industrialisation of travel. A Simpson Piccadilly, which opened its doors on April 29 1936,14 shortly after the Collings’ arrival in travel distance of over 10,000 miles, London was a significantly impressive trip amongst Australians. London, was and is considered as one of architect Joseph Emberton’s greatest works.15 Physically, As stated by Angela Woollacott, ‘reports of those in London regularly appeared in Australian the architectural structure and appearance of Simpson was and is exemplary of modernity with its newspapers and magazines, imbuing a London sojourn with celebrity status.’11 This certainly can achievement of simplicity, functionality, and spaciousness. And while its sheer size immediately be seen in the newspaper articles that featured Dahl Collings and her husband that helped promote received the attention it merited, it was also its interior and excruciatingly thought-out details that a stronger presence back at home in Australia. made an even more astonishing impact. Upon arrival in London, through determination and hardwork, Geoffrey Collings was able to get work Simpson offered the most modern of the modern; fulfilling whatever a customer could want with as art director of the American advertising agency, Erwin Wasey & Co. Dahl Collings was able to do added convenience and luxury. The grand department store functioned as a modern icon that a variety of freelance jobs consisting of murals, fashion illustrations, and exhibitions for top fashion offered visitors one of the best views of London, the opportunity to purchase theatre tickets and travel tickets, a sports shop, a golf range, a gift shop, a flower shop, an air conditioned cigar shop, a barber’s shop complete with a shoe shine boy, both a formal restaurant and a snack bar, grand tailoring departments that covered 40,000 square feet, a dog shop, and a tape machine that provided 6  Isobel Crombie, “A Documentary Impulse: Australian Photographer Geoffrey Collings,” Art Bulletin of Victoria 29 (1991),http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/a-documentary-impulse-australian-photographer-geoffrey-collings/ (accessed September 10, 2015). 7  Caban, A Fine Line, 70. 8  Ibid. 12 Caban, A Fine Line, 71. 9  Van De Ven, “Dahl Collings b. 1909.” 13 “Making her Way in London,” The Australian Woman’s Mirror, October 7, 1936, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences 10 Angela Woollacott, To Try Her Fortune in London: Australian Women, Colonialism, and Modernity (Oxford: Oxford (or MAAS), Dahl and Geoffrey Collings Collection, 2007/30/1–14/1/2. University Press, 2001), quotes on 4 and 9. 14 David Wainwright, The British Tradition: Simpson-a World of Style (London: Quiller Press, 1996), 25. 11 Woollacott, To Try Her Fortune, 4. 15 Rosemary Ind, Emberton (London: Scolar Press, 1983), 30. MoMoWo 48 MoMoWo 49 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Veronica Bremer, Dahl Collings (1909 – 1988) and her Itinerary: Australia, England, and Back the latest news and sports results.16 Everything that could possibly be desired, most definitely was his later involvement with the New Bauhaus in Chicago. Both had arrived in London with Bauhaus possible of being fulfilled in just this one elegant building. founder and prominent architectural figure Walter Gropius (1883–1969) seeking exile due to the And while it was grandiose and glamorous, every physical detail was designed to suit the specific turbulent political atmosphere surrounding Germany. Moholy-Nagy and Kepes were offered jobs needs of practicality; the white horizontal Portland strips in the makeup of the front of the building, at Simpson by Alexander Simpson himself, where they were responsible for display and product for example, were specifically structured angularly to prevent less dirt and debris from reaching design.21 Moholy-Nagy completely oversaw every detail and component related to the store’s visual the building reducing the building’s maintenance; the windows were designed to allow for a appearance ‘from window displays to the weaving of cloths for the restaurant’.22 Additionally, vastness of light and space; and the neon lighting functioned to properly illuminate the building Hungarian-born Bauhaus artist Marcel Breuer (1902–1981) was also in contact with Alexander and increase its presence at night. The building’s inner components operated based on the same Simpson about producing furniture for the store, aspiring to one day complement Simpson with a principle of functionality. Light fittings were hung in a manner that eliminated shadows on items Furniture Department23 thanks in part to his connection with Moholy-Nagy who introduced him to within the store; the innovative vacuum system assisted with accounting and financial matters; Alexander Simpson.24 and the computerized check out systems were designed with the convenience of the workers and It was at Simpson that Dahl Collings was hired by Moholy-Nagy himself after he became impressed the customers in mind. Children would stand at the check-out flabbergasted by the ‘beep’ noises with the versatility in her work in which she incorporated watercolour, fabrics, and other materials that would follow each merchandise scan.17 Moreover, the furnishings within the building were in an innovative manner he hadn’t seen before in any of his students’ work at the Bauhaus.25 She incredibly modern in themselves –from the ninety-foot chromium light fixture that was suspended became the only female member of the international team that Moholy-Nagy put together26 and down the entire main staircase of the store to the chromed metal chairs18– designs whose form she even managed to later convince Moholy-Nagy to allow fellow Australian, Alistair Morrison, to and function can be seen as an influence of the Bauhaus aesthetic. join the team. This resulted in Morrison immediately becoming interested in the Bauhaus attitude The actual merchandise that was being sold at Simpson, not surprisingly, was also representative towards design after working with Moholy-Nagy as well27 and later applying those principles once of the most current fashion innovations that benefited the customer in terms of comfort, function, back in Australia. and overall appearance. The clothing pieces had an intricate modernity about them as they existed According to Dahl Collings’ personal reflections of her time at Simpson, for Moholy-Nagy, no detail in an abundance of colours and fabrics during a period when men’s wardrobes consisted of dull, was too small to overlook. ‘Ok,’ Moholy-Nagy would say, ‘we’re not just going to have the tablecloths dark clothing that oftentimes was not the most suitable or practical. Just as revolutionary was yellow and order yellow tablecloths. We’re going to think about it.’28 Dahl Collings learned to apply the electric shaver available –the first to be sold in Britain– and men’s cotton underwear with the this deep thinking and exploration of design possibilities within her own personal work, which comfort of elastic that was a better alternative to the fussy and hot underwear made of wool that according to Geoffrey Caban, involved the design of every item housed within Simpson, from required linen tapes to be secured around the waist.19 Most certainly, as stated David Wainwright, the most mundane to the most intricate. She worked with ‘furnishings, store graphics, fabrics, Simpson ‘was in truth a revolution; and as […] distinguished guests and colleagues in the trade glassware, silverware, [and] even menus.’29 According to Dahl Collings, because she had utilised toured the new store, they were breath taken by the audacity of it. Perhaps the lower ground floor caused the most comment, for the sheer variety of items on offer, many of them never before seen in men’s outfitters.’20 21 Sibyl Nagy, Moholy-Nagy: Experiment in Totality (Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1969), 119. The staff at Simpson was just as pivotal for its success and characterisation of modernity. Some 22 Caban, A Fine Line, 72. of the most instrumental figures present were Bauhaus foundation instructor László Moholy-Nagy 23 Alexander Simpson, Letter from Alexander Simpson to Marcel Breuer, February 2, 1936, 01825–001, 1936–02– 03, Marcel Breuer Digital Archive, Syracuse University, http://breuer.syr.edu/xtf/view?docId=mets/4889.mets. (1895–1946) and Hungarian artist György Kepes (1906–2001), also linked to the Bauhaus due to xml;query=alexander%20simpson;brand=breuer (accessed September 12, 2015). 24 László Moholy-Nagy, Letter from Moholy-Nagy to Alexander Simpson, February 3, 1936, 00461–002, 1936–02– 03, Marcel Breuer Digital Archive, Syracuse University, http://breuer.syr.edu/xtf/view?docId=mets/2586.mets. xml;query=moholy-nagy%20simpson;brand=breuer (accessed September 12, 2015). 16 Wainwright, The British Tradition, 29–30. 25 Caban, A Fine Line, 71. 17 Wainwright, The British Tradition, 29–33. 26 “Making her Way in London,” MAAS, Dahl and Geoffrey Collings Collection, 2007/30/1-14/1/2. 18 Wainwright, The British Tradition, 33. 27 Caban, A Fine Line, 73. 19 Wainwright, The British Tradition, 28. 28 Caban, A Fine Line, 72. 20 Wainwright, The British Tradition, 29. 29 Caban, A Fine Line, 70. MoMoWo 50 MoMoWo 51 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Veronica Bremer, Dahl Collings (1909 – 1988) and her Itinerary: Australia, England, and Back watercolours to layer one colour over another, the overlapping of new colours led her to explore the visual intricacy of weaving. Consequently, she designed ‘tablecloths to be woven for the restaurant,’ as well as ‘clothes for the clothing department that were accepted and manufactured, window displays and many other things such as labels for tobacco tins.’30 Collings was also largely responsible for the interior design work that went into preparing Simpson for its grand opening. Collings was completely mesmerized by the Simpson staff and mostly by Moholy-Nagy. She confessed that the work environment was ‘absolutely stunning,’ in that it allowed her to break free from the peripheral art education she had received in Australia. Further describing her experience at Simpson, she stated that ‘the attitudes of Moholy and his team, their training, their knowledge, Fig. 2. Simpson display window. Published in ‘Display Fig. 3. Display stand for lounge suits found. Published was so far away that it took [her] all day, every day, just to follow their thinking, let alone do the job Lessons from a New Store,’ in Commerical Art/ Art and in ‘Display Lessons from a New Store,’ in Commerical [she] was expected to do. And yet they were easy to work with - they were wonderful teachers.’ This Industry, July 1, 1936, 24, http://magazines.iaddb.org/ Art/ Art and Industry, July 1, 1936, 25, http:// intimate reflection reveals the constant challenge in working at Simpson, learning at Simpson, as issue/CAI/1936-07-01/edition/null/page/24 (accessed magazines.iaddb.org/issue/CAI/1936-07-01/edition/ well as producing at Simpson under the wing of one of the most established Bauhaus Masters. January 15, 2016). null/page/25 (accessed January 15, 2016). Moholy-Nagy, with his wealth of experience teaching a talented international audience of students at the Bauhaus wouldn’t tell Dahl what to do, but rather, Dahl held the responsibility of telling him of no-show windows and display cases for men’s stores in Britain.35 Moholy-Nagy jumped at the what could be done.’31 opportunity of using window displays as a means to address the larger whole of society rather It was the creative atmosphere at Simpson and the attention to every detail that proved instrumental than just the usual museum or gallery visitor. The intricacy and complexity of elements surrounding in shaping Dahl Collings’ relationship to colour. At the huge modern department store, for example, window displays such as the versatility of a window that so easily was modified throughout the day colour was used selectively and strategically. Colour was often used as contrast, with ‘…red on depending on the time of day (morning, afternoon, and night) and other possible factors such as some floors, and as background to the sports clothes and equipment on the third floor, sky blue weather attracted Moholy-Nagy who enjoyed the aesthetic challenges intrinsic in this new medium. and emerald green.’32 Additionally, the spirit of experimentation was an intricate component of For Moholy-Nagy, what was being displayed was of no importance to him; he was preoccupied with modernity that Dahl Collings was able to gain while there. She was able to witness Moholy-Nagy’s the visualisation that was created by factors such as colour and arrangement and the emotional enthusiastic and fervent interest in experimentation, such as his innovative display of clothing on effect it would have on onlookers.36 Moreover, Moholy-Nagy’s work with Simpson window displays heat-formed body shapes made out of transparent plastic he himself formed.33 Simpson provided demonstrate his passionate Bauhaus sensibilities that he introduced to the English general public a nurturing environment in which Dahl Collings gained confidence in her own experimentation, by applying his vision of colour and originality to the frequently visited streets and shop window largely as a result of Moholy-Nagy’s full support and devotion to instructing her. She shares that as displays in London. As Krisztina Passuth asserts: ‘The shop windows of Simpson’s took over the role she commenced experimenting without limit, she felt like she was capable of doing anything.34 This of the earlier avant-garde exhibitions and theatres. The shop-windows dressed by the artist come self-expressed freedom can be seen in Dahl’s engagement with all fields of art and design. alive, they are no longer mere shop- windows, but a late evocation of the Bauhaus spirit. Asymmetric One of the most important facets that Moholy-Nagy and his team dealt with was managing the advertising is like a mild electric shock to the eye.’37 Moholy-Nagy explained, adding the finishing modern window display (Figs. 2 and 3), which refuted and transformed the century-old custom touches of his work directly before the opening of the department store. For a short time, the shop- window became a Bauhaus platform and absorbed the artist’s attention entirely and exclusively. 30 Ibid. 31 “Making her Way in London,” MAAS, Dahl and Geoffrey Collings Collection, 2007/30/1–14/1/2. 32 Wainwright, The British Tradition, 28. 35 Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, Moholy-Nagy: Experiment in Totality (Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1969), 119–120. 33 Wainwright, The British Tradition. 36 Moholy-Nagy, Moholy-Nagy, 120. 34 Caban, A Fine Line, 72. 37 Krisztina Passuth, Moholy-Nagy (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1985), 65. MoMoWo 52 MoMoWo 53 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Veronica Bremer, Dahl Collings (1909 – 1988) and her Itinerary: Australia, England, and Back Furthermore, at Simpson, a spirit of collaboration will succeed, or whether women will invade this store in much the same way as they have existed amongst the designers who cooperated monopolized all others.39 on a variety of tasks. This is reflective of the More than just overcoming the obstacles and impediments of working in a male-environment, Dahl Bauhaus principle of collectivity in production. Collings was able to thrive in the male-driven public sphere whose sole focus was men’s fashion According to Dahl Collings, and accessories during the first year that she worked there. Furthermore, Simpson and the men Dahl Collings worked with while at Simpson can be interpreted as her modern network that provided …you learnt to work with other people—if you didn’t have the time or the experience, her and her husband with encouragement and support with the common goal of disseminating someone else would carry on from your the modern. By working with Moholy-Nagy, Breuer, and Kepes, she was also introduced to Walter idea and thus, as a unit, we were able to do Gropius and maintained contact with the everything. And the whole store was done four individuals after leaving London and in this way, with us working together as a returning to her home back in Australia. unit. It was my first experience of that.38 In the decades that followed, they Because of Collings’ embracement of the were sending and receiving personal teamwork environment that Simpson encom- items such as a wedding invitation to passed, however, it makes it difficult to find piec- Kepes’ daughter’s ceremony and more es that were accredited in Dahl Collings’ name professional items such as brochures and Fig. 4. Dahl Collings, Sydney/London/New York, during her time at Simpson and later in her life catalogues demonstrating the work the 1930 – 60 Simpson Piccadilly, Spring Fashions catalogue once back in Australia. One work that has been Bauhauslers completed once stateside at cover designed by Dahl Collings. Courtesy of Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney. 92/191-19. attributed to Dahl Collings uses a bright yellow their respective institutions. Among the colour that is both pleasing to the eye with its letters exchanged between the Collings happy tones of warmth (Fig. 4). The alluring fe- and the Bauhauslers, László Moholy- Fig. 5. Christmas card from Dahl and Geoffrey Collings to Marcel Breuer, male eyes seem to produce an effect in which they follow the viewer, and the simplicity in the use of Nagy, while at the School of Design in 1938, in Marcel Breuer Papers, Special Collections Research Center. facial features make the subdued female presence even more intriguing. The advertisement served Chicago in 1943, warmly congratulated Courtesy of Syracuse University Libraries. 37854-002. to address the collection of female clothing that was later added to Simpson’s fourth floor, breaking the Collings on an exhibition, sent warm the strictly-male merchandise and masculine atmosphere that Simpson had once proudly boasted. regards to the two Collings children, updated the couple with his then current project, and ended the letter with, ‘please keep in contact Because Dahl Collings reflections on her experiences at Simpson are so positive, it might be easy with us at it is always a pleasure to hear from ones [sic.] friends.’40 Even long after Moholy-Nagy’s to overlook the challenges she overcame in securing a job that was staffed by men and catered to death the couple remained in contact with Lucia. Furthermore, the Collings’ exchanged postcards men. The Manchester Guardian explains Simpson’s aim was to with Moholy-Nagy, Kepes, and Breuer (Fig. 5). …create an atmosphere where men shall feel at home, where they may buy not only their own It might come as no surprise from Dahl Collings’ reflections on her experiences while at Simpson shirts and socks, but purchase silk stockings for their womenfolk and presents for the family that she credits meeting and interacting with Moholy-Nagy as the greatest influence on her career.41 in a setting which is congenial and heartily male. Only the future can tell whether the attempt The similar modernist-point-of-view from which both Collings and Moholy-Nagy departed meant that design was indivisible. For Moholy-Nagy, ‘the problem posed by Simpson’s window display 39 Wainwright, The British Tradition, 32. 40 László Moholy-Nagy, Letter from Moholy-Nagy to the Collings, May 11, 1943, MAAS, Dahl and Geoffrey Collings Collection, 2007/30/1–24/35. 38 Caban, A Fine Line, 72. 41 Caban, A Fine Line, 71. MoMoWo 54 MoMoWo 55 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Veronica Bremer, Dahl Collings (1909 – 1988) and her Itinerary: Australia, England, and Back Fig. 8. Dahl Collings, Advertisement, artwork: Selfridge’s Christmas Fare list 1937. Courtesy of Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney. 92/191-2/9. Fig. 6. Dahl Collings, Fashion illustration. Fig. 7. Dahl Collings, Design for a catalogue for the published in Richard Haughton James department store Harvey Nichols. Published in Arts et “Dahl and Geoffrey Collings,” Commercial Metiers Graphiques fr, November 15, 1938, 13. International Art/ Art and Industry, August 1, 1938, Advertising & Design DataBase, http://magazines.iaddb. Dahl Collings - Modernist Artist 39. International Advertising & Design org/issue/AMG/1938-11-15/edition/null/page/81 (accessed DataBase, http://magazines.iaddb.org/ September 5, 2015). Utilizing the skills learned at Simpson, Dahl Collings went on to produce catalogue work for several issue/CAI/1938-08-01/edition/null/page/9 British brands (Fig. 6) and for British department stores, Harvey Nichols (Fig. 7) and Selfridge (Fig. 8). (accessed September 5, 2015). Collings’ work for these department stores is exemplary of the simplistic yet effective advertising skills Collings mastered while at Simpson with delicate and sweeping lines that characterize her was basically no different from a setting for Madame Butterfly’.42 Likewise for Dahl Collings, whose work. The work for department store, Harvey Nichols consists of natural elements such as a rope lack of interest in narrow specialization led to her seeing ‘no difference between planning a poster, strand, minimalistic clouds, and centrally-positioned plant individually provide lively touches while an electric iron, and exhibition stand or the scenario for a documentary film’.43 In other words, both at the same time, working together to form a discrete face; the strand acting as the enclosing head, Collings and Moholy-Nagy had the sensibility to join all arts and crafts for the common goal of the clouds as eyes, and the plant as nose and lips. The dual nature of all of these forms further creating something visually striking, a core principle clearly expressed in the Bauhaus manifesto. strengthen Dahl’s whimsical touch to the work. Similarly, Collings’ work for Selfridge’s Christmas Fare List, whose bold green background shows illuminated Christmas tree branches, appears as a direct influence of Moholy-Nagy’s experimentation with photograms, a technique that Collings would later exhibit in Australia as ‘photographs without a camera’.44 42 Moholy-Nagy, Moholy-Nagy, 125. 43 Richard Haughton James, in “Exhibition of Modern Industrial Art and Documentary Photos at the David Jones Gallery,” 44 Dahl and Geoffrey Collings “Modern Industrial Art and Documentary Photos,” 1939, exhibition catalogue, MAAS, Dahl (1939), 3, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS), Dahl and Geoffrey Collings Collection 92/191-22-7. and Geoffrey Collings Collection 92/191-22-7. MoMoWo 56 MoMoWo 57 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Veronica Bremer, Dahl Collings (1909 – 1988) and her Itinerary: Australia, England, and Back Before leaving London, Dahl Collings, Geoffrey Collings, and Alistair Morrison held the “Three Australians” exhibition consisting of commercial art and photography at the Lund Humphries gallery in London (Figs. 9 and 10). One variation for the invitation for the Lund Humphries Gallery (Fig. 10), demonstrates yet again the Collings’ experimentation with photograms –a photographic technique Moholy-Nagy is extensively known for– while the other variant (Fig. 9) perhaps served as inspiration for Kepes’ Advance Guard of Advertising Artists which he would produce a couple of years later in 1942. On the brochure of the exhibition, established English poster artist, E. McKnight Kauffer, famous for his London Underground posters, wrote on the brochure for the exhibition: We must get rid of the idea from our minds that Australia only stands for Sheep Farming, the Life of the Open Air, and Sports- especially cricket. Slowly and surely there are influences at work introducing other aspects of what might be called a more intellectual life. These Three Australian Artists are symptomatic of this gradual change: their approach to designing and photography is the same as in this country but it has the added attraction of simple directness, which seems to come from their affinity with the open air life of their own country. Their work is so interesting I am glad it is to be shown to the English public. I believe it is the first occasion upon which an exhibition of this kind has been devoted entirely to Australians.45 Fig. 9. Dahl and Geoffrey Collings and Alistair Morrison, Invitation, to exhibition “Three Australians”, commercial art Thus, Dahl Collings, along with her husband and Alistair Morrison, were able to leave London while and photography, at Lund Humphries Gallery, London, 1938. at the same time leaving a part of themselves, their legacy, back in London. As promoters of not Courtesy of Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney. 92/191/22-1. just modern art, but of a refined Australian aesthetic and elevation of artistic standards, the trio was not just able to benefit from Britain, but most significantly, add to it. Dahl Collings can be viewed as a powerful icon of modernity and as a ‘woman of the world’46 through her cosmopolitan nature and travels to countries such as Tahiti, Spain, and America. As seen in an intimate capture by Geoffrey Collings (Fig. 1), Dahl stands assertively looking forward with a camera, a mechanical symbol of modernity, as if it were a natural extension of her physical human body. This photograph demonstrates a woman who is strong, fashionable, ambitious, and passionate - the very definition of who Dahl Collings is. Dahl’s pivotal engagement with the public sphere through her various active artistic roles in the 1930s, as well as the additional roles of both a mother and a wife during a time when a woman’s traditional association with the fine arts kept her within the private sphere,47 certainly demands recognition. Dahl Collings went against and denounced the mutually exclusive option of either having a marriage or a career. She had a marriage, two children, career aspirations, as well as a balanced partnership with her husband Geoffrey Collings. According to British modernist Fig. 10. Dahl and Geoffrey Collings and Alistair Morrison, Invitation, to exhibition “Three Australians”, 45 Caban, A Fine Line, 73. commercial art and photography, at Lund Humphries Gallery, London, 1938. 46 Woollacott, To Try Her Fortune, 23. Courtesy of Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney. 92/191/22-1. 47 Brian Head, Intellectual Movements and Australian Society (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1988), 146. MoMoWo 58 MoMoWo 59 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Veronica Bremer, Dahl Collings (1909 – 1988) and her Itinerary: Australia, England, and Back Richard Haughton James, with whom the Collings worked, Dahl and Geoffrey exemplify a model industry and provided art direction, graphics partnership of collaboration and support. The following is an excerpt by Haughton James: and exhibition work’ while at the same time, As much as can be learned from the rough and tumble of technical training in art schools and collaborating with other Australian artists.49 studios, engraving plants and advertising agencies, big retail stores and display firms, they The two would go on to produce exhibitions have between them. As much as can be learned by study, travel, and wide circle of contacts, for the 1939 Australia World Fair in New they have too. They have made illustrations, posters and folders, designed window displays York and producing the Exhibition of Modern and made photographs without number for concerns whose name is legion. They have worked industrial Art and Documentary Photography under the competitive stimulus of some of the best designers in Europe, and have ploughed at the David Jones’ Gallery (Fig. 12), lonely furrows in the hard, resisting clay of business depression. They have worked with the ‘considered as one of the first of its kind in founders of the documentary film movement in London and made films themselves in Spain Sydney,’50 just within a few short years since and Tahiti; they have had their work published as examples by ‘Photographic’ and ‘Arts et their time in London. With decades of artistic Métiers Graphiques’ in Paris, had their own public exhibition early this year in London, shown ventures ensuing well until the 1960’s, Dahl in Rotterdam in 1937, been written-up and reviewed in many publications… As plain producers and Geoffrey continued developing and of ‘useful art’ these people are the designers of our world.48 applying a modern eye that they adopted Thus while Dahl and Geoffrey’s marriage was a rare one, it certainly was a modern one in which from the Bauhaus masters in London. marriage and artistic collaboration meant equal support for each other’s artistic and intellectual In conclusion, Dahl Collings was an artist who endeavours so much so that they often co-signed works together, making it often impossible to did not allow circumstances during her time accredit just one of them with a specific work. Geoffrey Collings and Dahl Collings were partners in to keep her from engaging in the arts from both of the possible definitions a partnership can represent; one tied to professional teamwork, and the late 1920s onwards. She had to pursue simultaneously, one tied to the marital relationship. her career through Australia’s hesitance Fig. 12. Dahl Collings, gouache on paper. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, / New York, USA, 1950-53. Courtesy of It was not a direct flight back to Australia as against modernism, the world wars and the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney. 92/191-16/5. the Collings made a few stops in Tahiti and many ensuing conflicts, as well as through Spain to pursue further artistic endeavours. the Depression. This posed the greatest Nonetheless, upon their return back to Sydney challenge for her as a woman artist because of the resistance to women assuming positions that in 1939, along with British artist Richard were intended to be filled by male counterparts51 and the general belief that women should instead Haughton James who had also worked in take on the role of ‘home-maker’ as a solution to the aftermath of the Depression. In every way London and had succeeded Geoffrey Collings modern, Dahl Collings rose above these challenges and throughout her life continued to exemplify as art director of Erwin Wasey, the trio turned the Modernity she had brought back to Australian soil in her suitcase contributing to Australian their attention to creating something that cultural and artistic production. would complement their shared interest in Fig. 11. Dahl and Geoffrey Collings, Invitation, to exhibition industrial design by evoking the Bauhaus spirit of industrial art and documentary photos, at the David Jones of collaboration. The Design Centre was born in Gallery, 1939 . Courtesy of Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, an attempt to introduce better industrial design Sydney. 92/191-22/4. standards in Australia. While at the Design Centre, the trio completed ‘design models for 49 Caban, A Fine Line, 77. 48  Modern Industrial Art and Documentary Photos, 1939, exhibition catalogue, MAAS, Dahl and Geoffrey Collings 50 Bogle, Design in Australia, 113. Collection 92/191-22-7. 51 Topliss, Modernism and Feminism, 38. MoMoWo 60 MoMoWo 61 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Veronica Bremer Jacobs University Bremen Veronica Bremer is a Ph.D. candidate in the Art History and Theory Program at Jacobs University Bremen under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Isabel Wünsche. She is involved with the DAAD-ATN Exchange Program between Germany and Australia whose primary focus is on the reception of German Modernism and the Bauhaus in Australian art, architecture, and art education between 1920 and 1960. E-mail: v.bremer@jacobs-university.de MoMoWo 62 Hanneke Oosterhof https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.03 ‘Creating Order amid Chaos’: You could say we were composing something – which starts with where you place your buildings. For instance, as in Orsk, you can choose whether to build the district up against the Architect Lotte Beese in the Soviet Union, hillside, or on top of the hill. We certainly didn’t know everything; but there was something we all had inside us. Creating order amid chaos – that was the reason we were there, and what we 1932–1935 were all trying to do.1 These words by Rotterdam’s then retired urban planner and architect Lotte Stam-Beese (1903−1988)2 tell us something about her experience of working as a foreign architect in the Soviet Union during the 1930s. This paper takes her recollections of that period, recorded in interviews from the 1970s and 1980s, as the starting point for a number of questions. What work was she doing there, and in what Lotte Beese (Reisicht, Silesia 1903 - Krimpen aan den IJssel, the Netherlands context? Do later conclusions by architectural historians about the work of western architects in 1988) cooperated for some years as an architect in building the Sotsgorods the Soviet Union tally with what she claimed to have seen and felt while she was there? And how (socialist cities) in the Soviet Union. In interviews in the seventies and eighties, she looked back on her work and the living conditions in this country. These are her recollections to be assessed in the light of all this? memories are being examined against the results of research carried out in archives and by means of literature studyreview. Consideration will be given to where she worked, with whom, and which designs she made. This paper discusses whether there are similarities between her working The Lure of the Sotsgorods experiences and the conclusions drawn by architectural historians on the work of western architects involved in the Soviet Union. How can these personal Lotte Beese was one of more than 20,000 architects, urban planners and engineers who travelled memories be evaluated within the perspective of a later approach to this issue from Europe and America to the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s to help build up the country. 3 by architectural historians? The engineers worked in the rapidly expanding Soviet industry, and the architects and urban planners From the seventies, architectural historians have written critically about the participation of western architects in the urban development of the communist state. In their research, these authors focus mainly on the Russian growing 1  Interview by Cor de Wit with Lotte Stam-Beese (Krimpen aan den IJssel, January 15, 1977), Het Nieuwe Instituut suppressive and hostile attitude towards the architects by the Russian (HNI) archives, Rotterdam, WITC CD-R 5. The interview quotations are translated from the original Dutch. authorities. Beese’s ego documents will be compared with the views of these 2  After her marriage to Mart Stam in 1935, Lotte Beese was officially known as Lotte Stam-Beese (in the Netherlands, historians. married women often retain their maiden names in this hyphenated form). She kept the full name after her divorce in 1943. For simplicity’s sake, the name ‘Stam’ will be omitted in the remainder of this paper. 3  Michael David-Fox, Showcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union Keywords: ego documents, history of architecture, socialist cities, city planning 1921–1941 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 184. MoMoWo 65 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Hanneke Oosterhof, ‘Creating Order amid Chaos’: Architect Lotte Beese in the Soviet Union, 1932–1935 mainly developed plans for the construction of sotsgorods, Fig. 2. G. Shegal, Poster Down with kitchen slavery. A new life, 1931. the ‘socialist cities’ built near projected new industrial areas. Source: www.plakat.ru. The number of architects and urban planners grew swiftly during the period of the First Five-Year Plan initiated by Stalin (1928–33), but then drastically declined. The great majority son– she left Brno for Kharkov6 in Ukraine. She did this entirely on her own, of them left the country – sometimes, but not always, of their without a partner and not as part of a team – a bold undertaking for a woman own volition. in those days. The involvement of these professionals was not an isolated There were economic, political and cultural reasons to go and work in the phenomenon. A like-minded group were the ‘fellow travellers’: Soviet state and Lotte Beese had all three. She could no longer find work in writers, artists and scientists who sympathised with the Czechoslovakia, not only because jobs were in short supply but also because ideology of ‘the red utopia’ and went to the Soviet Union for she was an unmarried mother. In the Soviet Union, on the other hand, there a temporary stay or an incidental visit. This ‘travellers’ hype’ was plenty of work for architects, and women were greatly encouraged to continued up to the mid-1930s, and attracted about 80,000 Fig 1. Lotte Beese, photographer unknown, c. 1928. work outside the home (Fig. 2). Beese was an active member of the pro-Soviet enthusiasts.4 Courtesy of A.R. Stam. Czechoslovakian communist party, and after several arrests because of her political activities it was A key stimulus to work in or visit the Soviet Union was cultural no longer safe for her to remain in the country. There was also a cultural affinity. At the Bauhaus, exchange between countries through exhibitions and distribution of art magazines and technical where her teachers had included Wassily Kandinsky, and in Brno, where she attended meetings of journals.5 the Levá fronta (Left Front) cultural association, she became fascinated by the work of progressive Russian artists and architects. In short, helping to build the sotsgorods was a very attractive prospect. Going to the Soviet Union, of course, had a far greater impact on the lives of these early labour migrants than on those of their fellow travellers – for the former were leaving their homes and families to settle and work in a foreign country for long periods of time. Most of the architects came from Germany. Important contacts had developed between the Weimar Recollections of Moscow, Kharkov, Orsk and Lake Balkhash Republic (1918–33) and the Soviet Union, and Germany now had experience with the construction In 1976, 1977 and 1986, from eight to 18 years after she retired, Lotte Beese was interviewed at of modern housing districts ( Siedlungen) in long slabs. Russia lacked such expertise in the field of length by two former architects whom she knew well, on their initiative.7 The interviews revealed modernist architecture, and was keen to take advantage of it. that her recollections of the Soviet Union were very much associated with places, friends and key Lotte Beese was also German (Fig. 1). She was trained at the Bauhaus in Dessau, where she was the events. In 1930, having been dismissed from the Bauhaus, her first love Hannes Meyer left for first female student to take the neue Baulehre (‘new theory of building’) architectural course. She had Moscow to become a professor at the State College of Building and Architecture and chief architect an affair with the initiator of the course, the Swiss architect Hannes Meyer, who was also director at the Institute for the Construction of Higher and Technical Schools. He asked her to move in with of the Bauhaus, and because of this, she was forced to break off her training. She then worked for him and work for him. Although she said yes, they stayed together for only a few months. Out of architectural firms in Berlin and Brno. In spring 1932 –when she was by then the mother of Meyer’s solidarity with the Russian workers, Hannes refused to accept the food coupons that were issued to foreign employees. Lotte disagreed, and soon left him. Just over a year after this brief stay in Moscow, she set off for Kharkov. She never explained exactly how this was arranged, but she did 4  David-Fox, Showcasing, 184. 5  The first exhibition of Russian art in Western Europe was organised at the Van Diemen gallery in Berlin by the artist El Lissitzky in October 1922. Twenty exhibitions of work by famous western architects, including Walter Gropius, 6  This city is now known in English by its Ukrainian name Kharkiv, but in the days before Ukrainian independence Mies van der Rohe, Erich Mendelsohn, Max and Bruno Taut, Ludwig Hilberseimer and Hugo Häring, were held in its Russian name Kharkov (sometimes transliterated as Charkov) was more common. For ease of reference in Moscow in the early 1920s. Among the western journals distributed in Russia were Germany’s Städtebau and historical contexts, the Russian place names will be used throughout this paper. Der Industriebau, Britain’s Architectural Review and The Architect, France’s La Construction moderne and the USA’s 7  Lotte Beese was interviewed by Cor de Wit and Arno Nicolaï. De Wit produced a publication based on these American Architect and Architectural Forum. interviews, see note 8. MoMoWo 66 MoMoWo 67 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Hanneke Oosterhof, ‘Creating Order amid Chaos’: Architect Lotte Beese in the Soviet Union, 1932–1935 mention that she left her little son, Peter, with a married couple in Prague for six months. As soon flying in a small plane from Orsk to Alma-Ata and from there across the desert, with Lake Balkhash as circumstances permitted, she took him back with her to Kharkov, where a homeless girl called spread out beneath them. Manya looked after him. We could see a toxic-looking expanse of water whose blue-green colour turned out to be due Lotte Beese said she was shocked by the state of the city. The forced collectivisation of agriculture to copper mining ... We landed in an area with no trace of life, no flora or fauna of any kind. We had caused a terrible famine. Resistance by farmers had led to large areas of land remaining were overwhelmed by the utter silence – an almost unimaginable silence ... Not the slightest uncultivated, and millions of people in Ukraine starved to death. She saw people dying in the street sound. Since the soil was thoroughly polluted by salt and copper, animals and plants couldn’t and the corpses being collected in the evening by the health services. An ensuing typhus epidemic live there – and nor, in fact, could people.10 had an immediate impact on her working conditions: ‘Our trust included some 160 architects, but They discovered that thousands of prisoners and forced labourers had been brought to the by the spring there were only 30 left – the rest had died of typhus.’8 inhospitable area to mine copper. Back in Moscow they reported that it was impossible to build a She did not say much about her work in Kharkov. It seems she mainly drew up standards for future town in such a polluted region; it would be better to build new housing in the nearby city of Alma- housing for, among others, the many homeless people. This involved making calculations and Ata and create encampments in the new town where rotating teams from Alma-Ata could come standard ground plans for the requisite amount of living space, play areas and so on. and work for a month at a time. But their proposal was not accepted, and furthermore was seen as refusal to work. It was a frightening moment for them both: ‘The fellow could have put us straight Besides the shocking confrontation with the fate of the local population, something good also up against a wall, for in the Soviet Union refusing work was the ultimate crime’. Stam, who had happened to her. She ran into her former Bauhaus teacher the Dutch designer and architect Mart taken on the assignment, felt he had no option but to leave the country. But Beese had her doubts: Stam, who was also working in the Soviet Union. Lotte and Mart, whose marriage had broken down, fell in love and decided to spend their lives together. She felt it was very important for male foreign At first I hesitated. Should I stay there, or go with him? I hated the idea of leaving Russia. If architects to live with a woman. we hadn’t left, what would have happened? And God help us if Hitler had got his hands on this country. At the time I had more faith in the Russians and in politics than Stam did. He wanted Even though you were working with Russian and non-Russian colleagues, you were still living to take me to Holland, but I didn’t like the idea at all. It was all very difficult for me.11 in an alien environment. The great majority of the foreigners were men. The married men often had their wives and even children with them. But if you didn’t have a wife and children, things The fact that Ukraine and Byelorussia (now Belarus) would in fact be occupied by the Nazis is not were difficult. Some men started drinking, and some simply disappeared. So a man couldn’t mentioned in the interview. just remain alone. He had to have someone with him.9 We would now see this as a confirmation of traditional gender roles. At the same time, it makes clear why she wanted to live with Stam. The need to find a new father for her young son must also From Recollection to Reality have been a factor. What can we find in the literature and archives that confirms – or conflicts with – Lotte Beese’s They worked together on the redevelopment of Orskaya in the southern Urals into the industrial personal recollections as recorded in her interviews? What we do know about her brief period of sotsgorod Orsk. She was supposedly involved in discussions there about the construction of the work in Moscow in autumn 1930, when she was living with Hannes Meyer, is that initially he was sotsgorod, making drawings and designing children’s homes for the city. working there with seven former Bauhaus architecture students, all of them men, who had followed She was more candid in her interviews about a project that was never carried out and would lead him to Moscow. Meyer had formed them into the Red Front Brigade which was working to build to the couple quitting the Soviet Union permanently. Their assignment was to build a town on Lake up the Soviet state in accordance with ‘Marxist philosophical’ principles. At first the team worked Balkhash, in what is now Kazakhstan. They both found their journey there a memorable experience, on the construction of technical schools and later the sotsgorods. Lotte Beese must have been involved in the initial project. 8  Cor de Wit, Lotte Stam-Beese (1903–1988), “Je moest kiezen, zwart of wit…”: Op weg naar helderheid, Ontmoetingen en herinneringen van een architect (Apeldoorn, self-published publication, 2005), 42. 9  Interview by Cor de Wit with Lotte Stam-Beese, (Krimpen aan den IJssel, February 15, 1976), HNI archives, 10 De Wit, Lotte Stam-Beese, 44. Rotterdam, WITC CD-R 4. 11 See note 9. MoMoWo 68 MoMoWo 69 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Hanneke Oosterhof, ‘Creating Order amid Chaos’: Architect Lotte Beese in the Soviet Union, 1932–1935 the home were enshrined in the sotsgorods, including this one. The flats had no kitchens, and children were placed in crèches with permanent sleeping areas so that their mothers did not have to look after them. As of 2015, two kvartals in the now dilapidated KhTZ district are still inhabited or otherwise in use (Fig. 4). For her work from autumn 1933 onwards, Beese had to move to Moscow with Peter and Manya. It was from Fig. 3. Drawing for KhTZ here that the work she did with Stam for the sotsgorod signed by Lotte Beese, 1932. Orsk (where they also stayed from time to time) was Courtesy of Het Nieuwe Instituut, organised. The project was carried out with members Rotterdam, STAB ph174. Fig. 4. Dwellings KhTZ, Kharkov, 2015. of the May Brigade. Comprising some 40 architects Photo by Hanneke Oosterhof. and headed by the famous and politically uncommitted The archives shed new light on her work in Kharkov from spring 1932 to autumn 1933. Some Frankfurt architect Ernst May, this brigade had been photographs of drawings of Russian housing districts ( kvartals) bearing her signature have invited to the Soviet Union by the Russian authorities in 1930. Stam, who had worked on the survived in her personal files at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam. They are made for Giprograd, Hellerhof Siedlung in Frankfurt, was also a member of the group. In late 1933 the Russians stopped the Ukrainian section of the State Institute of Town Planning. Research in Kyiv and Kharkov shows working with May, who than had to leave the country because of an internal power struggle in the that the drawings resemble designs for sotsgorod KhTZ, a large, linear district on a railway line ten Soviet leadership, in which the NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) had seized full kilometres from the city centre of Kharkov. It was built from the end of the 1920s and was officially control and no longer wanted foreigners in positions of authority.14 The brigade became part of the intended for employees of the newly-built nearby Kharkov Tractor Factory. The factory was funded new Standartgorproekt state trust, in which some 150 foreign professionals now worked. with capital provided by the American industrialist Henry Ford and designed by the architect Albert Kahn. Kahn was the leading American architect working in the Soviet Union, where he and his staff While living in Amsterdam in 1935, Beese edited an article on crèches and children’s homes in the had built over 500 factories.12 In the years when Beese was living in Kharkov, the sotsgorod was the Soviet Union for the architects’ association journal De 8 en Opbouw.15 She included sketches of biggest construction project in the city, supervised by the Ukrainian architect and urban planner P. two pavilion-style children’s homes designed for Orsk; she may have been the designer, but this F. Alyoshin. The forecast number of people that would come to live in the sotsgorod was 36,000. was not specified. Curiously, she wrote nothing about her personal experiences in Orsk. The May The files that Alyoshin left after his death indicate that old-age pensioners, young graduates and Brigade is known to have produced designs for one kvartal in this sotsgorod. The fact that Lotte unemployed people would also be housed there.13 This accounts for Beese’s recollection that many Beese was involved in designs for flats is apparent from notes by the architect and former Bauhaus people, including homeless people, were to be accommodated in the new dwellings. student Philipp Tolziner, who stated that the staircases she had designed for the flats had to be altered because they did not fit.16 Beese’s archives contain some photographs of designs for flats In each kvartal her designs placed the central kitchen and collective dining room on the south in Orsk that she may have helped produce. There is also a photograph of a ground plan for a school side, and in the middle were parallel rows of four-storey blocks of flats interspersed with crèches, with 640 pupils (Fig. 5). This design, which in all likelihood was hers, was eventually built in the schools and green areas (Fig. 3). Socialist ideas about the importance of women working outside sotsgorod in an adapted form.17 12 See Anatole Kopp, “Foreign architects in the Soviet Union during the first two Five-Year Plans,” in William C. Brumfield (ed.), Reshaping Russian architecture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 176–214. 14 See Thomas Flierl, “Vielleicht die grösste Aufgabe, die je einem Architekten gestellt wurde,” in Claudia Quiring et al., 13 Christina E. Crawford, “The long-term effects of settlement isolationism: Armenikend/Baku, KhTZ/Kharkiv, Ernst May 1886–1940 (Munich: Prestel, 2011), 157–95. Sotsgorod/Magnitogorsk” (paper presented at the Ekaterinburg Academy of Contemporary Art, Ekaterinburg, Russia, May 2014), 3. P. F. Alyoshin’s archives can be found in the Central State Archives Museum of Literature and 15 Lotte Beese (ed.), “Over bewaarplaatsen en kindertehuizen in U.S.S.R.,” De 8 en Opbouw 6 (1935), 7–23. Arts of Ukraine in Kyiv. Drawings of KhTZ in the Zabolotnov State Science Library of Architecture and Constructions 16 Note by Philipp Tolziner, Mappe Tolziner 58, Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin. in Kyiv. 17 Written communication to the author by Astrid Volpert (Berlin, August 19, 2015). MoMoWo 70 MoMoWo 71 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Hanneke Oosterhof, ‘Creating Order amid Chaos’: Architect Lotte Beese in the Soviet Union, 1932–1935 accounts of the pair tally.19 The sotsgorod Balkhash was eventually built in 1937, after almost all the foreign specialists had left the country. The project was carried out by the Russian construction company Pribalkhashstroy in partnership with the copper factory BGMC.20 Utopian or Idealist? When reviewing western architects’ help in building up the Soviet Union, architectural historians refer to these pioneers as utopians.21 They wanted their architecture to create a new reality; but this goal remained utopian, for their avant-garde architecture could not be built according to plan, among other things because of lack of proper materials and – a more fundamental consideration – the Russian authorities’ subsequent switch to a neo-classicist style, also known as socialist realism. The use of the terms ‘utopia’ and ‘utopians’ recalls the imagery Fig. 5. Ground plan for a school in Orsk, 1933. Attributed to Lotte Beese. Courtesy of Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, used by Russian thinkers and writers when talking about the STAB ph126. realisation of a ‘communist utopia’. The terms thus seem to Another female foreign architect who worked in the Soviet Union was Austrian, Grete Schütte- reflect a single notion – but there is a clear difference. The Lihotzky. She was the only female architect to join the May Brigade, together with her husband western architects were unwilling or unable to create a utopia. the architect Wilhelm Schütte. She had first made a name for herself with her rationally designed Their ‘utopia’ was to build a better – in this case, socialist – ‘Frankfurt kitchen’, but she now also had experience as an urban architect. Her job in the Soviet society through their work and its products. Union was to design crèches and nursery schools. Among the places she worked on was the There was a good deal of philosophising about a Russian utopia sotsgorod Magnitogorsk in Siberia.18 She must have met Lotte Beese when Lotte started working well before the revolution, particularly in popular books. The with architects from her brigade; but neither of them made any mention of the other in their favourite volume in the genre was Красная Звезда (Red Star), Fig. 6. Cover Red Star by Aleksandr Bogdanov, 1908. correspondence, personal notes or interviews. published in 1908 by the Bolshevik physician and science- As far as we know today, Beese and Schütte-Lihotzky were the only female foreign architects fiction writer Aleksandr Bogdanov (Fig. 6). The book is about a working in the USSR at the time. Russian scientist who travels to Mars to study the socialist system there. On returning to Earth he tells of what he has learned. The constructivist architecture that flourished in Russia in the 1920s Beese’s recollections of the assignment for the town on Lake Balkhash cannot be verified from archival material, but they do appear in publications about both her and Stam. The independent 19 See, for instance, Simone Rümmele, Mart Stam (Zurich: Verlag für Architektur, 1991), 111; Jeroen Schilt and Herman Selier, “Van de oevers van de Oder tot Krimpen aan den IJssel,” in Hélène Damen and Anne-Mie Devolder (eds.), Lotte Stam-Beese 1903–1988 (Rotterdam: De Hef, 1993), 18–19. 20 See “Balkhashtsvetmet,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkhashtsvetmet (accessed August 3, 2015). 18 See Peter Noever (ed.), Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Soziale Architektur: Zeitzeugin eines Jahrhunderts (Vienna: 21 See, for instance, Manfredo Tafuri and Francesco Dal Co, Architektur der Gegenwart (Stuttgart: Belser Verlag; Milan: MAK, 1993). Electa Editrice, 1977), 214–220; Kopp, “Foreign architects,” 210. MoMoWo 72 MoMoWo 73 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 was prophetically propagated here.22 An explosive outpouring of utopian books and experimental designs was to follow in the course of the century. Personal notes, interviews and memoirs by foreign architects who worked in the Soviet Union make clear that the term ‘utopia’ was not part of their vocabulary – they were far too practically- minded for that. An exception was Hannes Meyer, who did use the term, only to dismiss it as ‘bourgeois’. He spoke instead of ‘Leninist architecture’, which would serve as a weapon in the class struggle – aesthetics was not a factor here.23 To the best of my knowledge, Lotte Beese did not use the term ‘Leninist architecture’, nor did she call herself a utopian. Had you asked her if she had been a utopian living in the Netherlands, looking back on her time in the Soviet Union with some detachment, and aware that ‘utopian architecture’ was a much-used post-war term she would have said no. Her pragmatic attitude was not compatible with belief in utopias, or thinking in terms of them. Like many of her fellow architects she considered herself an idealist, although she did have her reservations. I wasn’t a thoroughgoing idealist. Of course, I did have my ideals; but I was also a realist and a materialist, in the good sense … I went to Russia out of conviction, a basic belief in socialism, Fig. 7. Dwellings sotsgorod Magnitogorsk with at the left crèche designed by Grete Schütte-Lihotzky, 1932-35. if you like. But I did realise things wouldn’t always go the way you’d expected ... Many people, Courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montr é al. myself included, did look forward to a better society. She was also aware of the potential friction here. Beese had her own direct experience of this change while living in Moscow. The funny thing is that the Russian authorities were none too keen on idealists. They preferred people who were down to earth. They had no problems with people who’d gone there with Kaganovich, the then Minister of Construction, gave a speech in which he said: ‘We’re on down-to-earth motives – they were there to work, and that was that!24 the way to prosperity, and we have to show it.’ And what happened? It seems hard to believe nowadays, but they actually did it. We were living in a five-storey building. They stuck columns in front of it, one of which obscured about a third of our window, and they put a cornice and a tympanum on the roof. After the first heavy snowfall the snow was a metre thick. When it ‘Inhuman Cities’ melted, the water would normally have drained off – but the tympanum got in the way, so it leaked right through the roof and floors instead.25 In the years when Beese lived and worked in the Soviet Union, there was a shift in ideas about what Pressure was also put on the foreign architects. The long slabs of housing in the sotsgorods were architecture should mean. The 1932 worldwide design competition for the Palace of the Soviets, supposedly bleak and monotonous. Such criticism came not only from the government, but also with proposals submitted by such figures as Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Auguste Perret, as from Russian architects’ associations. The western architects were told that their ‘formalism’ well as the less famous Dutch architect Han van Loghem, is generally seen as a major turning was associated with capitalism, and that they had lost their way in their abstract pursuit of a new point in Russian architecture. The avant-garde architects’ designs were rejected in favour of one architectural form.26 submitted by the Russian Boris Iofan –a megalomaniac neo-classicist palace. Buildings– including to some extent those in the sotsgorods would henceforth have to have historical, classical features. In their analysis of the work and position of western architects in the Soviet Union, the neo-Marxist Italian architectural historians Manfredo Tafuri and Francesco Dal Co concluded that the architects 22 See M. Bliznakov, “The realization of Utopia,” in Brumfield, Russian architecture, 145–75. 23 Hannes Meyer, Welche ist die Rolle des Architekten im sozialistischen Aufbau? (typescript, June 28, 1931), Deutsches 25 Interview by Arno Nicolaï with Lotte Stam Beese (Emmen, August 20, 1986), manuscript, HNI, NICO d641. Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, Hannes Meyer archives 164–902–003. 26 Otto Das, Gerrit Oorthuys and Max Risselada, Russische architectuur en stedebouw 1917–1933 (Delft: Technische 24 De Wit, Interview. See note 1. Hogeschool, 1969), 25. MoMoWo 74 MoMoWo 75 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Hanneke Oosterhof, ‘Creating Order amid Chaos’: Architect Lotte Beese in the Soviet Union, 1932–1935 had been accused of producing ‘inhuman cities’.27 Unfortunately, the authors cite no sources for She travelled from Brno to Kharkov at a time when her fellow architects were still euphoric about this accusation but they do make clear that it had an ideological basis. In the architects’ urban the Soviet ideal. It is not known whether she was then aware of how her predecessors had fared. models the Soviet state saw the ideology of the ‘working city’, which it wanted to replace with an But even if she had been, her enthusiasm for the communist ideal and her abhorrence of national ideology of ‘the city for socialist man’. In other words, what ‘inhuman’ really meant was ‘unsuitable socialism were so great that she had no reason to take a critical view of things. for socialist man’, who would be alienated by functionalist, objective architecture. When reviewing her years in Russia she made no mention of specific results. She did acknowledge We do not know whether Lotte discussed with her colleagues what it was that made the sotsgorods the difficulties and imperfections of the project, and had to concede that the Stalinist regime had ‘human’ or ‘inhuman’, but she did have her own ideas about what had gone wrong with their designs. become a dictatorship. This was hard for her, which is not surprising given her firm belief at the In a way it’s understandable that our architecture failed in Russia, for New Objectivity calls for time that a socialist society was feasible. She said conflicting things about life under the Stalinist structural perfection – the perfection of the machine. In Russia you were forced to build with regime. She supposedly felt free, and was never afraid, except on that one occasion when she and unskilled workers and materials of extremely variable quality, assuming they were available Stam ‘refused work’. Yet she couldn’t help wondering. at all – so you simply couldn’t achieve such perfection. You had to use axes or pickaxes to Not a day went by without something shocking. This was a world where black was white and make openings in the walls for the windows. Iron was sometimes available, but it soon ran white was black. You saw so many incomprehensible things – things you couldn’t help seeing, out. On the balconies the reinforcing bars were left sticking out of the concrete, and there were but couldn’t find an explanation for. And the explanation only came after so much else had never any railings, because there was nothing to make them with. And the open slabs were happened. Then you could suddenly see the underlying causes.30 completely unsuitable for the windy steppe. They looked quite dreadful out there, without any paving or greenery (Fig. 7). We just couldn’t work the way we wanted to. On the other hand, there was the challenge of ‘creating order amid chaos’ together with her fellow 28 architects. Her recorded recollections make clear that she did not see her work in the Soviet Union as ‘mission impossible’. It had not been an easy project, but she would not have missed the experience for the world. By broadening her horizons, it had given her life meaning.31 However, in acknowledging Mission Impossible? that the sotsgorods had not been built according to plan, or to her own and the Russian authorities’ satisfaction, she also made clear that the mission had not been fully accomplished. She had been Does all this mean that the work of the western architects and urban planners, which came to an end prevented from creating order amid chaos. This must have been a great disappointment to her. during the 1930s, was a fiasco? Architectural historians writing forty to eighty years after the event have generally concluded that it was not a success. The Dutch architectural historian Koos Bosma’s recent article “New socialist cities: foreign architects in the USSR” states that the architects must very Translation from Dutch into English: Kevin Cook. soon have realised this was ‘mission impossible’.29 They had not yet acquired enough experience of building cities in Europe to put it into practice in the Soviet Union and they did not have the slightest idea what was meant by a ‘socialist city’. To make matters worse, they had to build districts rather than whole cities. The failure of architect Han van Loghem’s plans in the late 1920s for the Siberian town of Kemerovo, where lack of materials forced him to build wooden houses rather than avant-garde architecture, was a warning that the foreign architects who followed him would be no more successful. Bosma’s conclusion is surely correct. But could Beese have foreseen all this, and did she too think of her work as ‘mission impossible’? 27 Tafuri and Dal Co, Architektur, 220. 28 See note 1. 29 Koos Bosma, “New Socialist Cities: Foreign Architects in the USSR 1920–1940,” Planning Perspectives 29, no. 3 30 See note 1. (2014), 301–328, DOI: 10.1080/02665433.2013.825994 (accessed June 6, 2014). 31 Lotte Stam Beese, Farewell speech (Rotterdam City Council, February 1968), HNI, STAB d50. MoMoWo 76 MoMoWo 77 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Hanneke Oosterhof PhD candidate at University of Technology Eindhoven Hanneke Oosterhof (MA) is an external PhD Candidate in Architectural History and Theory at University of Technology Eindhoven (NL). Her research focuses on the subject of an interdisciplinary biography (architecture, history, gender) of the urban architect Lotte Stam-Beese (1903–1988). She studied History and Dutch at Teacher Training College in Nijmegen and Culture Sciences at Open University Nederland. She graduated with a thesis on the life and work of the decorative artist Agathe Wegerif-Gravestein (1867–1944). She worked for over thirty years in the museum sector, both as a manager and as a curator, and has published in the field of social history, woman history and culture history. E-mail: hoosterhof@home.nl MoMoWo 78 Introduction Alain Bonnet Pioneers and Organisations Introduction To ask the question of women’s involvement in the professions of architecture or designer raises the much more general question of the place given in professional activities to this part of the population defined from its social position rather than from its physiological reality. In what way would the very nature of the professions of architect or designer really differ from all other activities for which the career of women has been hindered or concealed? And according to what historical modalities has the access of women to these professions gradually been made possible and visible? The following four studies in this chapter relate to the slow emergence and difficult recognition of women in the professions related to the construction of buildings and the organisation of spaces from different points of view. By observing the beginnings of this history at the end of the nineteenth century and during the first decades of the twentieth century, and by analyzing the objective conditions of access to the exercise of these professions, either through educational institutions or through professional associations, these studies retrace a history that is often misunderstood or forgotten. The history of the pioneers of architecture in Italy or France in the early 20th century, the life of a German artist who was active in the Dada movement, the forgotten role of women who participated in the collective adventure of the CIAM – all these stories expose the difficult paths of women in search of professional recognition, and the trace that they have left in the evolution of these professions. MoMoWo 80 MoMoWo 81 Caterina Franchini https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.04 Italian law never explicitly denied women access to university, but in the nineteenth century the Women Pioneers in Civil Engineering presence of women at university was low. From 1867 to 1900 there were 224 women graduates and Architecture in Italy: in Italy. In the same period 49.8% of female degrees were taken in northern Italy and 26.9% of this number were from Turin.1 Emma Strada and Ada Bursi In the first decades of the twentieth century the number of women graduates did not increase much. This is also related to the fact that in 1910–11 there were 791 girls in all high schools of the Kingdom of Italy, while the number of boys was 13,551.2 In Italy, university was free and open to anyone who qualified, until 1923 when Education Minister Giovanni Gentile passed a law limiting access to university to those who had attended the following high schools: liceo classico (classical lyceum) , scientifico (scientific lyceum) or artistico (artistic lyceum). In the same year, secondary schools began to segregate boys and girls.3 Girls’ secondary schools were created and soon became the only choice for women to study, preventing them from entering university which was now reserved for students coming from the above mentioned licei. Since the two major Italian engineering schools, the Politecnico di Torino (Polytechnic of Turin)4 and Politecnico di Milano (Polytechnic of Milan, 1863),5 were founded in the northern industrial area, the first civil engineers came from Turin and Milan. It is known that these cities were not just the most It is well known that Italian culture has discriminated against women in the fields of education and profession. Why is this? Before and immediately after the Second World War, women civil engineers and architects used strategies 1  Cf. Michela De Giorgio, “Donne e professioni,” in Anna Maria Malatesta (ed.), I professionisti (Torino: Einaudi, 1996), to overcome their gender marginality. Did these strategies influence their 455–456, vol. 10 of the collection Storia d’Italia: Annali. experiences within the profession and the recognition they received? What 2  Cf. Marino Raicich, “Liceo, università, professione: un percorso difficile,” in Simonetta Soldani (ed.), L’educazione were the factors that enabled women to enter the patriarchal spheres of delle donne: Scuole e modelli di vita nell’Italia dell’Ottocento (Milano: Franco-Angeli, 1989), 168. the professions? What were the roles of the first female civil engineers and 3  About fascist school policy in Italy see Jürgen Charnitzky, Facismo e scuola: La politica scolastica del regime (1922– architects in Italy and especially in Turin which was the capital of industry? 1943), (Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 1996). What motivated their choice of profession and how were these women received 4  The Regio Politecnico di Torino was founded in 1906 following the merger between the former military school Regia in the male-dominated profesional world? The history of two almost unknown Scuola di Applicazione per ingegneri (established in 1859) and Regio Museo Industriale (established in 1863). Before female pioneers, Emma Strada and Ada Bursi, helps answer these questions starting the three years of the Scuola di Applicazione, students in engineering had to attend two preparatory years and it gives rise to new ones. at the Università di Scienze. See: Giovanni Maria Pugno, Storia del Politecnico di Torino (Torino: Stamperia Artistica Nazionale, 1959), 32–149. 5  On the history of the Politecnico di Milano see: Ferdinando Lori, Storia del R. Politecnico di Milano (Milano: Tip. A. Keywords: architects, Bursi, engineers, pioneers, polytechnics, Strada Cordani, 1941). MoMoWo 83 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Franchini, Women Pioneers in Civil Engineering and Architecture in Italy: Emma Strada and Ada Bursi modernised in Italy, but they would soon become the centres of the post-war economic boom and Milano were the architects: Cini Boeri (1924, graduated in 1951), Raffaella Crespi (1929, graduated the forefront of Italy’s women’s movement. Women would become a significant minority, active in the in 1955) and Franca Helg (1920–1989, graduated in 1945)10. Working at the Politecnico di Torino: vicissitudes of post-war Italian civil engineering, architecture and design, rarely working alone since Mariella de Cristoforo Rovera (1931–2001, graduated in 1955), Vera Comoli (1935–2006, graduated they were usually collaborating with male professionals. in 1961), Giovanna Maria Zuccotti (1926–2004, graduated in 1950).11 Most of them became The region of Piedmont was among the first to welcome women into universities which could give assistant professors or full professors in the eighties. them access to professional orders. Piedmont’s standards of excellence were also helped by the presence of religious minorities, such as Jews and Waldensians, and were characterised by a level of education that gave girls access to higher Access to the Civil Engineering and Architecture Professions education.6 Although the presence of women was accepted in universities, it was not the same at the Immediately before and after the Second Word World, a significant number of women architects and Regio Politecnico di Torino (Royal Polytechic of Turin) which taught practical, applied sciences. engineers were born into an open-minded elite, less bound by gender roles. The issue of class and Reflecting the mentality of the time, technical studies were not at all considered feminine and, consequently the educational advantage, was also relevant for women’s access to the professions.12 because of social pressure, women simply did not apply for them. Furthermore, the Politecnico was Women usually began their professional career working with their fathers, brothers or husbands, conditioned by its military school roots, thus by tradition it was more difficult for women to enter. most of the time without signing their projects or receiving credit for their work. There were women For a woman in Italy in the twenties, civil engineering or architecture were still an unusual choice who chose to remain anonymous, working alongside their husbands or for their mentors and studio of profession and in most cases women benefitted from family tradition. However, from the early owners, or sometime in teams.13 This is one of the reasons there are just a few publications covering thirties, girls’ enrolment in courses of civil engineering and architecture was no longer seen as an Italy, which focus on this specific subject.14 One other reason is that for a long time it was exception. Indeed, from 1944 to 1947 the enrolment of women at the Faculty of Architecture in Turin (established at the Politecnico since 1929) increased at a rate faster than that of men. 10 Among the first generation of women architects and designers who emerged in the post-war period were: Gae In 1945–46, 25% of the school population was female and in the fifties and sixties the number of Aulenti, Cini (Maria Cristina) Boeri, Anna Castelli Ferrieri and Franca Helg, who all born between 1920 and 1927. female graduates continued to grow, while the number of male graduates was static. All graduated from the Politecnico di Milano between 1945 and 1953. Cf. Simona Grasselli and Mirella Valota, 7 As in other “Nel segno di Estia: Istruzione Politecnico e Professione in Architettura delle Donne a Milano” (diss. Politecnico di European countries, the war was one of the factors that may explain this phenomenon. Milano, 1994–1995), 54. 11 For the Politecnico di Torino see: Vittorio Marchis (ed.), Progetto cultura società: La scuola politecnica torinese e i At the Politecnico di Milano, the increase in female students enrolled was disproportionately higher suoi allievi (Torino: Associazione Ingegneri e Architetti ex Allievi del Politecnico di Torino, 2010), 202–203, 216–217, than the general growth of the faculty. The numbers of women graduating was, however, lower and 220–221. less consistent – in 1944 women made up 33% of graduates, but in 1962 they were just 24%.8 12 As noticed by Catherine Rossi: Antonia Astori, Emma Gismonde Schweinberger and Cini Boeri all had brothers who had studied in the field of architecture. Giogina Castiglioni and Maria Luisa Belgiojoso were both daughters of In 1951 just 17 female architecture students were enrolled at the Politecnico di Milano, a number celebrated architects Piergiacomo Castiglioni and Ludovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso of the rationalist group BBPR. that rose to 223 in 1969, anticipating women’s professional emergence in the Italy of the 1960s. Cf. Catherine Rossi, “Furniture, Feminism and the Feminine: Women Designers in Post-war Italy, 1945 to 1970,” 9 Journal of Design History 3 (2009), 248. Very few women undertook an academic career. Among the first professors at the Politecnico di 13 In the post-war Italian context, while architects-designers such as Franco Albini, Tobia Scarpa and Ico Parisi achieved a considerable degree of recognition, their partners, Franca Helg, Afra Scarpa and Luisa Parisi, have been marginalised. Outside Italy, the extensively documented partnership of Charlotte Perriand and le Corbusier; Charles and Ray Eames and Sadie Speight and Leslie Martin illustrate the problems the female partners had during collaboration. To explore the dynamics of creative partnerships, see: Whitney Chadwick and Isabelle De Courtivon 6  In 1881, at the University of Turin, Lidia Poët was the first woman in Italy to graduate in law. She was a Waldesian. (eds..), Significant others: Creativity and intimate partnerships (London: Thames & Hudson, 1993). 7 14 On women architects see: Gisella Bassanini, “Le ‘madri dell’architettura moderna’: Alcuni ritratti nel panorama These data are deduced by the author from: Associazione Ingegneri e Architetti, Annuario ex Allievi Politecnico di Torino 1961 (Torino: Stamperia Artistica Nazionale, 1961), 31–35. italiano e straniero,” Parametro 257 (2005), 20–23; Claudia Mattogno, “Muse, committenti, progettiste: Il lungo percorso delle donne in architettura,” Tria 10 (2013), 71–84; Maria Grazia Eccheli and Mina Tamborrino, donna 8  The disparity is larger than would be expected, despite a greater trend in Italy than elsewhere in Europe for Architettura: Pensieri idee e forme al femminile (Milano: Franco-Angeli, 2014). On women desigers/architects see: abandoning one’s studies. In the 1960s, women entered higher education in ever greater numbers and by 1962 Nicoletta Livi Bacci, Anna Luppi and Milly Mazzei (eds..), Design delle Donne (Milano: Arnoldo Mondadori arte, 1991); made up nearly half the student body. Cf. Politecnico di Milano, Annuario (Milano: Politecnico di Milano, 1970), 466. Tiziana Occleppo and Anty Pansera (eds..), Dal Merletto alla Motocicletta: Artigiane/Artiste e Designers nell’Italia del 9  Cf. Raffaella Crespi, “Donna e Architetto,” in Barbara Mapelli (ed.), Donna e Istruzione Politecnica: Atti del convegno, Novecento (Milano: Silvana Editoriale, 2002), Exhibition catalogue; Anty Pansera and Maria Teresa Chirico De Biasi, Milano 1987 (Milano: Franco Angeli, 1987), 87. Nientedimeno: Nothing Less: The strength of female design (Torino: Allemandi & C., 2011). MoMoWo 84 MoMoWo 85 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Franchini, Women Pioneers in Civil Engineering and Architecture in Italy: Emma Strada and Ada Bursi customary not to write the designer’s full name, therefore scholars could not tell if there was a studies at the Regia Scuola di Architettura di Roma (Royal School of Architecture of Rome, woman or man behind the title of civil engineer or architect. founded in 1919). Valentini was probably the first qualified female architect in Italy. Two years On 3 August 1919, a law abolished marital approval –the requirement that a wife needed her later, Annarella Luzzatto Gabrielli (1873–unknown) also graduated in architecture in Rome.19 husband’s approval to work– and allowed the admission of women to exercise any work or In 1922 Elvira Luigia Morassi (1903–2002) became the first woman to follow architectural courses profession and hold public positions with just a few exceptions.15 At that time, there were more at the Politecnico di Milano, graduating in 1928 with fellow student Carla Maria Bassi (1906– female graduates from the University of Turin than any other university in Italy. 1971), who had enrolled in 1923.20 Stefania Filo Speziale (1905–1988) graduated from Naples in Between 1920 and 1930, both in Europe and in Italy, female architects became more numerous, even 1931 and in 1939 Ada Bursi (1906–1996) graduated from the Politecnico di Torino. though public opinion perceived architecture as a ‘profession for men’. The minority status of women In 1933 a Faculty of Architecture opened at the Politecnico di Milano, although it would take some in architecture and the civil engineering professions has a direct relationship to the fascist regime years for women to become a visible presence. Just nine women enrolled in this faculty that year, and the continuing dominance of conservative Catholicism. Indeed, in fascist Italy, women never 6% of the total.21 exceeded 10% of the 108,000 professionals. Among the total number, 16 women were architects, 60 Luisa Lovarini (1900–unknown) (Fig.1), Attilia Vaglieri Travaglio (1891–1969) (Fig. 2), Maria Bortolotti were lawyers, 30 were dentists, 297 were doctors and 500 were writers and journalists.16 Casoni (1880–1971) (Fig. 3) were women who worked in the thirties signing their names on architec- Despite Benito Mussolini’s disapproval, a small group of women architects, designers and urban plan- tural and urban projects. These women rejected Mussolini’s claim of that women do not build. ners began to grow in Italy. Some of these professionals could even design and carry out their own In the thirties, the lack of women in Italian architecture and civil engineering fields is largely explained works. It was a silent revolution. These women showed extraordinary drive in obtaining cultural and by fascist rules that sought to confine women to their maternal role and exclude them from highly professional emancipation which could be achieved only by acquiring a solid technical education. skilled professions.22 To our knowledge, the first woman civil engineer in Italy was Emma Strada (1884–1970). She graduated Between the wars in Italy, women were hostages in their own home. They were under patriarchal from the Politecnico di Torino in 1908, but after that year the presence of women at the Politecnico authority and deprived of civil rights. They could not inherit assets and were excluded de facto from remained sporadic and almost random.17 This was probably because social pressure was still strong. practising in many professions.23 After Emma Strada, Gaetanina Calvi (1887–1964) graduated in 1913 from the Politecnico di Milano In a widely-read interview, Mussolini offered his own opinion on the absence of women architects (the first woman to do so). Maria Bortolotti Casoni (1880–1971) –who graduated in engineering at this time. He asserted: in 1918– was the first Italian woman to be licensed as civil engineer on 18 July 1919 thanks to the decree that opened all professions to women. The woman must obey […]. She is analytic and not synthetic. Has she ever done architecture in all these centuries? Ask her to build you a mere hut, not even a temple! She cannot do that. She Only in the twenties did a few women graduate in architecture.18 In 1925 Alexandra Biriukova (Vladivostok, 1895 – Toronto, 1967) and Elena Valentini Luzzatto (1900–1983) completed their 19 Cf. Anna Maria Speckel, “Architettura moderna e donne architette,” Almanacco della donna italiana 13 (1935), 120–134. 20 Cf. Annamaria Galbani, “Donne al Politecnico di Milano: Studenti e docenti dalle origini al 1950,” in Annamaria 15 Cf. the law: 17 Luglio 1919 n. 1176 art.7. Women are excluded from judicial appointments and from work concerning Galbani (ed.), Donne politecniche: Atti del Convegno e Catalogo della Mostra - Milano, 22 maggio 2000 (Milano: Libri the military defence of the state. Scheiwiller, 2001), 57, 62. 16 Cf. Sara Sesti, “Donne di Scienza: Un percorso da tracciare,” in Annamaria Galbani (ed.), Donne politecniche: Atti del 21 If we compare this data to Germany, we find that, between 1920 and 1930, in the various Technische Hochschulen Convegno e Catalogo della Mostra - Milano, 22 maggio 2000 (Milano: Libri Scheiwiller, 2001), 13–14. (Technical College) the percentage of women students in architecture varied between 1,5% and 5%. 17 According to Bongiovanni, after Emma Strada, the followings women graduated in civil engineering from the 22 On Fascism’s position on women see: Victoria De Grazia, How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy, 1922–1945 (Berkely: Politecnico di Torino: Teresa Bertino (1914), Laura Lange (1933), Rosita Peverelli (1941) and Anna Maria Demichelis California University Press, 1991), 1st Italian ed. Le donne nel regime fascista (Venezia: Marsilio, 1993); Francesca (1948). Cf. Margherita Bongiovanni, “Le donne al Politecnico di Torino,” in Vittorio Marchis (ed.), Progetto, cultura Delle Vedove, La Donna nel Fascismo tra segregazione e mobilitazione (diss. Venezia: Università ca’ Foscari, Facoltà di e società: La scuola politecnica torinese e i suoi allievi (Torino: Associazione Ingegneri e Architetti ex Allievi del Lettere e Filosofia, 2000–2001). On women architects in Italy under the Fascism see: Luisa Maria Caruso and Cristina Politecnico di Torino, 2010), 77. Giannoccaro, “Architettrici. Le donne progettiste del ventennio fascista” (diss. Politecnico di Milano, 1998–1999). 18 In Europe, the Finnish Signe Ida Katarina Hornborg (1862–1916) was the first female to graduate in architecture in 23 Women voted for the first time in 1946 as full Italian citizens in the referendum on the Italian monarchy and election 1890 in Helsinki and possibly the first female qualified architect in the world. She graduated from the Polytechnic of the Constituent Assembly. By 1950 a bill on working mothers became law, thus provided paid leave before and Institute of Finland as an ‘extra student’, the term given to part-time students, since women were not admitted as after childbirth and prohibited the dismissal of mothers during pregnancy and for a year after the child’s birth. This full-time students at that time. legislation did not, however, cover professional architects and engineers. MoMoWo 86 MoMoWo 87 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Franchini, Women Pioneers in Civil Engineering and Architecture in Italy: Emma Strada and Ada Bursi is foreign to architecture, which is a synthesis of all arts, and this is a symbol of her destiny.24 In 1932, Mussolini declared to the French journalist Hélène Gosset that the real task of women is: ‘[…] above all to be a wife and mother. The real place of woman in modern society, is now like before, in the house’.25 On the pages of the number 14 of the magazine Critica Fascista (1933, 7), we read: ‘[…] the Fascist woman must be a mother, those who have children, a supporter and director of new lives [and it is necessary for her to undergo] an intense spiritual evolution towards sacrifice, self- forgetfulness, versus anti-individualistic hedonism’.26 Ferdinando Loffredo reaffirmed male superiority: female emancipation is as contrary to the interests of the family, as it is contrary to the interests of the race. The woman must return under the complete subjugation of man: the father’s or husband’s subjection; and therefore spiritual, cultural and economic subjugation.27 There was a Fascist strategy against women’s work outside home that began with educational programmes for girls. The Decalogo della piccola italiana (the Italian girl’s handbook) stated: ‘[...] 3. You serve your country also by sweeping your house; 4. Civil discipline begins with the governance Fig. 1. Luisa Lovarini, Worker’s house at the V of the family; [...] 8. The woman is primarily responsible for the destiny of a people; […]’.28 Triennale di Milano, 1933. From: A.R. “La Casa del Mussolini’s statement of the tasks of the housewife, who was considered the generator of the race, Dopolavorista,” Edilizia moderna 10–11 (1933), 72–73 (Copyright free). so alienated women from working in architecture that only a few started working in that field. As elsewhere in Europe, women architects worked mainly on private housing projects, interior design and decorative arts and, as a result of Fascism, it was nearly impossible for women to enter public contracts and competitions. However, in 1935 the Almanacco della donna Italiana (Almanac of Italian Woman) praises the achievements of some professional architects, whose cases remained exceptions.29 Fig. 2. Attilia Travaglio Vaglieri, Project for the 24 From: Emil Ludwig, Talks with Mussolini (Boston: Little Brown, 1933), 168. Music district in Rome, ca.1935. From: Speckel, 25 ‘Il loro vero compito è soprattutto quello di essere spose e madri. Il vero posto della donna nella società moderna, “Architettura moderna e donne architette,” 130 è attualmente come in passato, nella casa.’ Translated by the author from: Piero Meldini, Sposa e madre esemplare: Ideologia e politica della donna e della famiglia durante il fascismo (Firenze: Guaraldi, 1975), 77. (Copyright free). 26 ‘[…] la donna fascista deve essere madre, fattrice di figli, reggitrice e direttrice di vite nuove [per essa occorre] una intensa evoluzione spirituale verso il sacrificio, l’oblio di sé, l’anti-edonismo individualistico’. Translated by the author from a quotation by Katrin Cosseta, Ragione e sentimento dell’abitare: La casa e l’architettura nel pensiero femminile tra le due guerre (Milano: Franco-Angeli, 2000), 28–29. 27 ‘L’emancipazione femminile, come è contraria agli interessi della famiglia è contraria agli interessi della razza. La donna deve tornare sotto la sudditanza assoluta dell’uomo: padre o marito; sudditanza e quindi inferiorità: spirituale, culturale ed economica’. Translated by the author from: Ferdinando Loffredo, Politica della famiglia Fig. 3. Maria Bortolotti Casoni (civil engineer) (Milano: Bompiani, 1938), 369. and Elena Luzzatto (architect), Project for small 28 ‘[…] 3. La patria si serve anche spazzando la propria casa; 4. La disciplina civile comincia dalla disciplina famigliare; modern houses at Ostia Mare, 1932. From: […] 8. La donna è la prima responsabile del destino di un popolo; […]’. Translated by the author from: Meldini, Sposa Speckel, “Architettura moderna e donne architette,” e madre esemplare, 48. 133 (Copyright free). 29 See: Speckel, “Architettura moderna e donne architette,” 121–134. MoMoWo 88 MoMoWo 89 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Franchini, Women Pioneers in Civil Engineering and Architecture in Italy: Emma Strada and Ada Bursi In Turin, the interior designer M. Besso won first prize for the furnishing of new shops on the In 1910, Emma’s father closed his studio in Turin and the main street of the city, via Roma.30 The enlargement of this street was the largest urban renewal archival documents do not show that he opened a new promoted in Italy during Fascism. Many architects were involved in architectural reconstruction, studio in the city under his name, perhaps because he had but there were no women among them. As the case of Besso testifies, women were confined to already moved his professional activities to Calabria.33 interior design tasks. These were the years when professionals and workers The exampled established by these female architects clearly demonstrates the level of excellence from the North led the modernisation in southern Italy. that women had to reach in order to fill traditionally male positions. In Catanzaro, Emma probably helped her father on the construction of the auto-moto-funicular railway, junction Catanzaro-Sala (Fig. 5). After Emma father’s death in 1915, she worked with her Italy’s First Woman Civil Engineer: Emma Strada in Context brother Eugenio. In Liguria and in Piedmont she also Emma Strada (Torino, 1884–1970) finished the Liceo Classico Massimo d’Azeglio” high school in designed some railway sections.34 As a woman civil Turin in 1903 (Fig. 4). Her decision to attend this school showed her intention to go on to university. engineer she succeeded remarkably well in the railway The same year she was enrolled in the preparatory course in Engineering Sciences at the University sector which was traditionally male. of Turin.31 This would later allow her to enroll in the Scuola di Applicazione per Ingegneri (Applience In Turin, she worked on a project for a children’s nursery School for Engineers). On 5 September 1908, she graduated with honours from the Regio Politecnico in the Crocetta district although the drawings preserved di Torino and finished third out of the 62 students enrolled in her course. Emma Strada was Italy’s in the historical city archive do not bear her signature.35 first woman graduate in Civil Engineering.32 Fig. 4. Photographic portrait of Emma Strada, From the pages of the Annuario in Almanacco della Donna the first woman civil engineer in Italy, 1908. She became assistant to Luigi Pagliani, who was the director of the Gabinetto di Igiene Industriale Propriety of the author (Copyright free). Italiana we know that in 1937 Emma had her professional (Cabinet of Industrial Hygiene) at the University of Turin and a lecturer at the Politecnico in the course studio in Turin (via Bove n. 2).36 of Hygiene. As a result of social constraints, there was no chance a woman could have an academic ca- After the First World War, Piedmont was the most industrialised region of Italy. Because of the war, reer and consequently she had to work for her father and brother, who were both engineers. Her father, women took the place of men in factories, offices and public services, thus women demonstrated Ernesto Strada, was a provincial councilor of Turin and directly involved in the city’s building policies. their working ability. This event contributed to the change of mentality and established a different Turin has been a developed industrial city since the early twentieth century and has seen a complete conception of social relationships.37 transformation of its socio-cultural outlook. The city was revitalised and expanded and many At the end of the Second World War, women had gained civil rights like those of men (law decree 2 civil engineers and architects were involved in the urban transformation process, although to our February 1945) and gender equality (Italian Constitution 1948) nevertheless, equality at work would knowledge no women were involved. only be fully legally recognised in 1977 (law 9 December 1977 n. 903). 30 Cf. Speckel, “Architettura moderna e donne architette,” 131. 31 Cf. “Registro di matricola relativo all’allieva Emma Strada,” Archivio Storico Università di Torino (or ASUTo), Registro immatricolazione studenti Facoltà di Scienze Fisico-matematiche, 19. 33 Cf. Annali Paravia, microfilm (1910), ASCTo. 32 On Emma Strada see: Margherita Bongiovanni, “Strada, Emma,” in Béatrice Didier, Antoinette Fouque and Mireille 34 Emma Strada’s projects and works are listed and partially described in: Bongiovanni, “Emma Strada,” 94–95; Novello Calle-Gruber (eds.), Le dictionnaire universel des Créatrices (Paris: Editions des Femmes, 2013), Vol. 3, 4127; and Marchis, “Emma Strada,” 1051. Caterina Franchini, “Emma Strada and Ada Bursi: The First Female Civil Engineer and Architect in the Italian Capital of Industry, Turin,” in Jorge Correia (ed.), Ist International Meeting EAHN: European Architectural History 35 Scuola materna Crocetta, 1868–1980 , ASCTo, Archivi Aggregati. Network, Book of Abstracts, CD of Papers (Guimarães: EAHN, 2010), 216–225; Pina Novello and Elena Marchis, 36 Cf. Silvia Bemporad, “Annuario,” Almanacco Annuario della Donna Italiana 15 (1937), 475. “Emma Strada: Temi, forme e maestri della formazione politecnica, progetti, disegni e opere della professione di 37 During the war, women belonging to the upper classes joined the Red Cross and enrolled in the Consiglio Nazionale progettista,” in Associazione Italiana di Storia dell’Ingegneria, Storia dell’Ingegneria: Atti del 3° Convegno Nazionale, delle Donne Italiane (National Council of Italian Women), that was inspired by patriotic and emancipationist values. Napoli 19–20–21 Aprile 2010 (Napoli: Cuzzolin, 2010), Vol. 2, 1047–1056. Cf. Rosa Rosá, “Le donne cambiano finalmente,” L’Italia Futurista 27 (1917), 2. MoMoWo 90 MoMoWo 91 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Franchini, Women Pioneers in Civil Engineering and Architecture in Italy: Emma Strada and Ada Bursi of the founders and the association’s first national president. Among the founding members, the contribution of the electrical engineer from the Politecnico di Torino (graduated in 1933) Anna Enrichetta Amour (Milano, 1908 – Torino, 1990) was crucial.40 In 1953, while studying for her master’s degree in industrial engineering at Columbia University (New York), Enrichetta Amour was approached by the British-American organization Women’s Engineering Society - WES and through this, upon her return to Italy, she became the initiator of the foundation of AIDIA, of which she was national secretary and editor of the association’s newsletter (since 1956).41 Early issues of the AIDIA newsletter identified the professional advantage of family connections; Fig. 5. Ernesto Strada and Daniele Mercegalia, with the collaboration of male family members could introduce their female relatives into the profession.42 Since its first Emma Strada, “Auto-moto-funicular” issues, the newsletters reveal that women faced real forms of discrimination in the profession: railway junction Catanzaro-Sala, 1910. problems of less pay, hostility from male colleagues and cases of being fired rather than promoted. Ancient picture displayed on the site, piazza Roma Catanzaro (Copyright free).. The incompatibility of professional and family life was a key issue. In the January-February 1956 newsletter we read: ‘the first duty of the young married graduate is towards her family’ and recommended that ‘remaining single was necessary in order to advance in her career’.43 Since women’s aspirations were more ambitious and they were conscious of their own value, the disappointment of being cut off en masse from the working world became a stark reality. Even At AIDIA’s second national conference in Turin, Emma Strada introduced the debate about though Turin could include many engineers in multiple industries, women trained in engineering did professional claims and opportunities for women in the field of technology. In 1970 she agreed not find their future careers there. Only in the eighties would women engineers enter Turin industry to organize the III International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists in Turin supported and then only marginally.38 by WES. The topics included: family duties and professional women. Unfortunately, Emma Strada passed away just a few months before the event. In 1957, 148 professional female engineers and 147 architects were enrolled in the registers of professional orders, but it was very difficult for women to succeed because they were unable to The theme of incompatibility between professional and family life remained, but it was perceived in get work.39 The legacies of a misogynistic regime proved the main obstacle for the majority of a reverse logic: the problem became the family. In 1972 one AIDIA member declared that the family women engineers and architects, preventing their entry into professional practice. This galvanised was ‘the biggest obstacle in women’s liberation’.44 the women to form a professional association. The First Woman Professional Architect in Turin: Ada Bursi First Italian Association of Women Engineers and Architects The first woman to practise as a professional architect in Turin was Ada Bursi (Verona, 1906 – On 26 January 1957, women engineers and architects of Turin and Milan, who had gathered in 1955 at the Exhibition of Mechanics in Turin, legally founded the Associazione Italiana Donne Architetto e Ingegnere - AIDIA (Italian Women Engineer and Architect Association). Emma Strada was one 40 The other founding members were: Vittoria Ilardi, Laura Lange, Ines del Tetto, Lidia Lanzi, Adelina Racheli Domenighetti. 38 Cf. Patrizia Audenino and Paola Corti, “Donne e professioni liberali: studio, carriera e famiglia (1918–2000),” in Patrizia Audenino and Paola Corti (eds.), Donne e libere professioni: Il Piemonte nel Novecento (Milano: Franco- 41 Cf. Bongiovanni, “Le donne al Politecnico di Torino,” 79. Angeli, 2007), 30. 42 Cf. Associazione Italiana Donne Ingegnere e Architetto, Notizie dall’A.I.D.I.A. 5 (1957), 3. 39 Cf. Margherita Bongiovanni and Nicoletta Fiorio Plà, “Emma Strada, ingegnere dal 1908: La vita della prima donna 43 Cf. Associazione Italiana Donne Ingegnere e Architetto, Notizie dall’A.I.D.I.A. 1 (1956), 4. ingegnere attraverso le fonti archivistiche istituzionali e private,” in Associazione Italiana di Storia dell’Ingegneria, 44 Cf. Associazione Italiana Donne Ingegnere e Architetto, Notizie dall’A.I.D.I.A. , 20 (1972), 5. For AIDIA relationships Storia dell’Ingegneria, 1045. with feminism see: Rossi, “Furniture, Feminism and the Feminine,” 249–250. MoMoWo 92 MoMoWo 93 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Franchini, Women Pioneers in Civil Engineering and Architecture in Italy: Emma Strada and Ada Bursi Castiglione Torinese, Torino, 1996).45 introduced in Germany in the late 1920s, come to the fore. At the same time, the status of the When she was a girl, Ada Bursi moved from Verona to Turin with her family and attended the Regia housewife was affirmed because the lady of the house could no longer depend on the help of Scuola femminile Margherita di Savoia (Royal Women School Margherita di Savoia).46 servants. Large homes were replaced by smaller apartments to be rationally designed and needing flexible furniture which was easy to clean.50 In the second half of the 1920s, she attended the school of the painter Felice Casorati (1883– 1963) and, influenced by the friendship of the painter Mino Rosso (1904–1963), she completed The first specialised magazines in architecture and interior design Casabella, Domus, Quadrante, some graphic works in futuristic style.47 In fact the Futurist avant-garde movement, especially in Stile saw the “new woman” working in the field of architectural criticism as well as interior design. its initial period (until 1910), offered women new opportunities of expression in terms of originality, The art of decorating and beautifying the house was made popular by Lidia Morelli, Elisa Ricci, Vanna authenticity and self-confidence.48 Piccini and Amina Polito Fantini. Articles in Domus naturalised woman’s presence in traditionally female realms of creativity and allied their skills to domestic and reproductive duties. In the early 1920s, the many women who wrote, often in a provocative way, in the periodicals L’Italia Futurista or Roma Futurista, progressively changed their artistic activity to social interest. Soon, the In 1939, Domus’ editor Gio Ponti put women back in their traditional place by describing needlework role of woman varied between the reaffirmation of the strength and power gained in time of war and as: ‘[…] the natural work of women, it should be the only work for women, it is work that does not the return to their traditional boundaries. take her away from the home and does not distance her from the cradle and the hearth’.51 In 1929, Ada Bursi published her tempera drawings, in the specialised magazine La Casa bella, of Bursi’s artistic skills led her to find work in advertisement graphics. She worked for Avigdor’s fabric the linoleum flooring (Fig. 6) that she had designed for the architect Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig in 1929, Gancia’s spumante in 1930, and after the Second World War she designed the poster for (1896–1945). 49 the Exhibition in Mechanics (Turin, 1946). For the Municipality of Turin, she continued to work on graphic design for Via Roma up to 1954, as well as for those of Porta Nuova (the Central train As Ada Bursi’s drawings show, the interior materials station). of the Modern Movement were designed to be continuously renewed and replaced. The taste In 1933, Bursi became a member of the Partito Nazionale Fascista52 (National Fascist Party) and in for colour re-enters the home by the use of inlays the same year she exhibited her paintings with the group of Futurists at the 5a Mostra Regionale del in linoleum that underline perfect geometries and Sindacato Fascista di Belle Arti (5th Regional Exhibition of the Fascist Syndicate of Fine Arts). Soon smooth surfaces of modernity. she was well integrated in the artistic milieu of the time, although it was still almost exclusively male. Since the twenties, the home had become the ground In 1936, Bursi participated in the VI Triennale di Milano (6th Milano Triennial) exhibiting some for applying the scientific theories on organization of carpets together with the architect Ettore Sottsass sr. (1892–1953) and earning awards for the domestic work. In the thirties the political, ethical, design of a tapestry and a set of coffee cups.53 aesthetic and social canons were redrawn. The debate on the modern rational housing, already 50 To study the complex relationship women-home between the wars, see: Cosseta, Ragione e sentimento dell’abitare. Between 1915 and 1945 the house became the centre piece of a lively critique by women which emerged in novels, essays, manuals and specialist magazines. The analysis of these sources shows the unstable balance between Fig. 6. Ada Bursi’s drawing for the linoleum flooring of a reason, which requires a functional home, and feeling that refuses mechanistic and impersonal living. On the living room with veranda, 1929. From: Pagano Pogatschnig, same subject see also: Stefania Berrino, “Casa di donna: Analisi dello spazio domestico tra le due guerre” (diss. “Pavimenti moderni,” 44 (Copyright free). Politecnico di Torino, 2006). 45 Cf. Caterina Franchini, “Bursi, Ada,” in Béatrice Didier, Antoinette Fouque and Mireille Calle-Gruber (eds.), Le 51 ‘Il lavoro di ricamo […] è il lavoro naturale della donna, dovrebbe essere il solo lavoro della donna, è il lavoro che dictionnaire universel des Créatrices (Paris: Editions des Femmes, 2013), Vol. 1, 698. non la toglie dalla casa, che non la allontana dalla culla e dal focolare.’ Translated by the author from: Gio Ponti, “Per l’affermazione delle industrie femminili italiane,” Domus 139 (1939), 65–66. Women’s “natural” domestic role 46 From the Historical Archive of the Ordine degli Architetti, pianificatori, paesaggisti e conservatori della provincia di was used to explain - and contain - the increasing number of women architects emerging in the late 1940s. It is Torino (or OAT), folder “Ada Bursi”. interesting to notice that Enrichetta Ritter and Lisa Licitra Ponti were part of Domus’s editorial team and Gae Aulenti 47 Cf. Luisa Perlo, “Bursi Ada,” in Enzo Godoli, Dizionario del Futurismo (Firenze: Vallecchi, 2001), Vol. 1, 176. worked with Ernesto Rogers at Casabella-Continuità on its relaunch in the 1950s. 48 Cf. Rosá, “Le donne cambiano finalmente,” 2. 52 Unione provinciale Fascista dei professionisti e degli Artisti Torino, Historical Archive OAT, folder “Ada Bursi”. 49 Cf. Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig, “Pavimenti moderni,” La Casa bella 8 (1929), 44–46. 53 Cf. Perlo, “Bursi Ada,” 176. MoMoWo 94 MoMoWo 95 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Franchini, Women Pioneers in Civil Engineering and Architecture in Italy: Emma Strada and Ada Bursi Probably, after having attended Biennio speciale in Architettura (two years’ courses in architecture) at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti (Fine Arts Academy) she could enrol at the Faculty of Architecture of the Politecnico di Torino. It is interesting to note that research carried out at the Accademia Albertina archives revealed no evidence of Ada Bursi’s presence. Nevertheless, recently discovered documentation concerning the Fig. 7. Amedeo Albertini, Biennio speciale in Architettura shows that women’s presence on architectural courses in the fine Gino Becker and Ada Bursi, Modular arts academy was not an exception.54 furniture at the exhibition of furniture by architects and craftsmen of In 1927, out of a total of 12 candidates to enter the biennium in architecture, four were women: Piedmont, association Pro Cultura Alidia Besso, Dellia De Benedetti, Severina Olivetti and Laura Tamagno.55 When Giuseppina Agliodo Femminile, Turin 1946. From: Albertini, took the exam the same year, she was the only woman among eight candidates to become a Bursi, Becker, “Mobili da Torino,” 16 professor of architectural design.56 (Copyright free). On 27 October 1938 Ada Bursi graduated in architecture (85/100 points) from Politecnico di Torino where she was the only woman in her class.57 That year there were 13 women architects and 23 Bursi did not share the anti-Semitic ideology of the regime. Her membership to the fascist party women engineers in Italy.58 was determined by her need to find work. The same year of her graduation, Bursi passed the Esame di Stato (a state exam to became a In 1946, with her male colleagues architects Amedeo Albertini (1916–1982) and Gino Becker professional architect), with 239 points out of 280,59 and she became a self-employed architect. On (1913–1971), Bursi worked as a furniture designer making a series of modular furniture (Fig. 7) for 24 October 1940 she became a member of Ordine degli Architetti (Architects Association). the Mostra di arredamento di architetti e artigiani piemontesi (Exhibition of furniture by architects She was a volunteer assistant of the professor Giovanni Muzio at the Politecnico for the courses of and craftsmen of Piedmont) held in Turin at the women association Pro Cultura Femminile and Architectural Composition and Elements of Architecture and Survey of Monuments. promoted by Felice Casorati and Paola Levi Montalcini.61 Among the exhibitors were also Carlo Not having found a future academic career at the university, which was still the domain of men, Mollino (1905–1973), Gio Ponti (1891–1979) and Ettore Sottsass sr. she looked for employment in public administration. In 1941, she was hired in the Ufficio Tecnico The modular furniture was designed to contribute to change living models; architects wanted to Comunale (City Technical Office) where she worked until 1971. express a new freedom of household life. The female role was becoming more standardized and At the end of 1945, Bursi was the only female among the 26 founders of the Gruppo di Architetti based on the efficiency of taylorism. Moderni Torinesi “Giuseppe Pagano” (Modern Architects Group “Giuseppe Pagano”) created in In 1947, Albertini, Becker and Bursi wrote to the Commission Arredamento of the VIII Triennale di memory of the architect who died in a concentration camp.60 This is explained by the fact that Ada Milano to propose the mass production of their modular furniture.62 They also sent the Commission Oggetti per la casa (Object for the house) projects for a desk set, tea sets and faucets.63 It is well known that most architects operating in the country had also practiced as designers. 54 The presence of women at the Fine Art Academy in Italy, especially in architectural sections, needs to be investigated. In fact, the training of architects included furnishings and furniture. Until the early 1950s, this 55  Esami di ammissione ai Corsi Superiori della R. Accademia delle Belle Arti e del R. Biennio Speciale in Architettura, close-knit relationship between architecture and design saw furniture perceived as part of the Versamento della terza parte di tasse, 25 giugno 1927 (anno V°) al regio Uffici del Demanio di Torino, Torino 25 giugno 1927, 1010, 2N, Historical Archive of the Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti (or AABA). 56  Ripartizione delle tasse scolastiche e delle propine degli esami per il conseguimento del Diploma di Professore Architettonico, Torino, 25 aprile 1927, To 118, Historical Archive AABA. 61 On the exhibition see: Amedeo Albertini, Ada Bursi and Gino Becker, “Mobili da Torino,” Domus 216 (1946), 16; 57 Giuseppa Audisio was first to graduate in Architecture in Turin in 1930 but she did not practice the profession. Daniele Regis, Gino Becker Architetto: Architettura e cultura a Torino negli anni Cinquanta (Torino: Gatto Editore, 58 Cf. De Giorgio, “Donne e professioni,” 479. 1989), 49–51, 111–114. 59  Università degli Studi di Roma, Certificato Superamento Esame di Stato (n. posizione 244, n. partenza 2299) Roma 25 62 Amadeo Albertini, Ada Bursi and Gino Becker, Letter to Commission Arredamento of the VIII Triennale di Milano, luglio 1939 – XVIII, folder “Ada Bursi,” Historical Archive OAT. letter n. 201, 16/01/1947, S.DIS/M.9–2°, Archive Amedeo Albertini (or AAA). The author thanks Alberini’s family. 60 Cf. Emilio Pifferi, “Fondazione del Gruppo di Architetti Moderni Torinesi Giuseppe Pagano,” Agorà 3 (1945), 16. 63 Letter 31/12/1946, S.DIS/M.9–2a, AAA. MoMoWo 96 MoMoWo 97 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Franchini, Women Pioneers in Civil Engineering and Architecture in Italy: Emma Strada and Ada Bursi architectural environment. Ada Bursi typified this approach as other colleagues did later. Margherita Bravi (1921–2006) and Luisa Castiglioni Deichmann (1922) designed a built-in wardrobe, a table and chairs for the IX Triennale di Milano in 1951. Castiglioni and Bravi studied at the Politecnico di Milano, graduating in architecture in 1946 and 1948, respectively.64 While working in the city technical office in 1946, Ada Bursi also participated together with architects Albertini and Becker in tendering for the cemetery to those fallen during the liberation of Turin.65 The project, anti-monumental and metaphysic won the second prize as the first prize went to Carlo Mollino.66 The trend for male-female partnership was one way women Fig. 8. Ada Bursi et al., Social housing in Turin - Istituto Nazionale delle dealt with their minority status. AIDIA’s newsletter also noted Assicurazioni – INA Gestione Casa, the importance of collaboration for improving women’s career Fig. 9. Ada Bursi, School in via Duino, Turin 1969. Photo by Caterina Franchini. ante 1954. From: Melis, “Per una città opportunities, and a partnership was a popular choice amongst migliore,” 317 (Copyright free). architects. Male partnerships promised more commercial success as well as the continuity required to sustain a practice terracotta decoration that surrounds the facades and the mosaic interior decoration of the entrance when the demands of raising children arose.67 hall, thus demonstrating her artistic sensitivity and ability. In the late 1940s, Bursi showed her artistic creativity by creating some furniture reminiscent of At the early 1960’ she worked on the project of two twins primary schools (“Giulio Gianelli”, 1961 abstract painting and sculpture. and “Giacomo Leopardi”, 1961, opening 1962–63) in the new planned Vallette suburb, a worker residential neighbourhood.69 In the city office she designed social housing (Fig. 8) and many school buildings for the City. This experience shows once again how gender also affected the type of commissions women received, It was only at the end of the 1960’ that Bursi was entrusted with the execution of an entire school in fact most of the work was in a domestic context or concerned children. This demarcation of complex (1968–1970) in a worker residential suburb, between Fiat factories of Lingotto and “feminine” realms within architecture, linked to women’s maternal and domestic duties, ensured Mirafiori.70 There, the architect applied her experiences to the building which is distinguished by that the gender hierarchy within the profession remained intact. the relationship between the interior and exterior spaces (Fig. 9). On the access road, there are four main wings which were built parallel to each other, interspersed with large green areas and In 1954, Ada Bursi contributed in designing the Piccolo Torino nursery school68 where she created a a garden, design by Bursi, used for outdoor activities and connected with other buildings at the back with covered walkways. New technologies characterized the design of the brick work facades: 64 In Milan, from 1945 to the early 1970s, 47 architects have emerged as furniture designers. See: Rossi, “Furniture, window frames made out of aluminium.71 Feminism and the Feminine,” 243. On woman presence at the Triennale di Milano see: Alessia Caserio, Alessandra Gulmini and Luca Mariani, “Le signore della Triennale: La presenza femminile italiana nella storia dell’esposizione milanese (1923–2000),” (diss. Politecnico di Milano, 1998–1999). 65 Gino Levi Montalcini, “Memoria di Partigiani,” Agorà 6 (1946), 33–35. 69 See: Fondazione Tancredi di Barolo, “Scuola elementare Giulio Gianelli” and Fondazione Tancredi di Barolo, “Scuola 66 Cf. Regis, Gino Becker, 49–51. elementare Giacomo Leopardi”. 67 Cf. Associazione Italiana Donne Ingegnere e Architetto, Notizie dall’A.I.D.I.A. 5 (1957), 3. 70  Via Duino; 544 0A (Scuola Materna); 544 0A bis (Scuola Elementare); 545 0A (Scuola Media), ACT SES. Signature: 68  Via Giacinto Collegno 65, “Piccolo Torino” - Circoscrizione 3, dis. 101, Archive of the Comune di Torino - Settore Edilizia architetto Ada Bursi. Scolastica (or ACT SES). The signature of Asa Bursi do not appears on the project drawings nevertheless documents 71 See: Diana Lomas, “Complesso scolastico (scuola materna, elementare, media), Torino, via Duino, 1969, Ada Bursi,” contained in Bursi’s folder at the Archivio Storico della Città di Torino (ASTo) demonstrate her authorship. Pratica in Maria Adriana Giusti and Rosa Tamborrino, Guida del Piemonte: Architettura del Novecento (1902–1906) (Torino: individuale di Bursi dott. Arch. Ada, Architetto di I° classe, Registro a matricola, vol. 11, 780, ASTo, Città di Torino. Umberto Allemandi C., 2008), 317. MoMoWo 98 MoMoWo 99 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Caterina Franchini, Women Pioneers in Civil Engineering and Architecture in Italy: Emma Strada and Ada Bursi Bursi worked as a professional architect during the reconstruction of post-war Turin, when the number of architette (women architects) started to rise: there were 43 women architects in 1961 in Turin out of 306.72 She was also involved in the urban growth of the 1970s with some projects of urban design and restoration, until she left the Ordine degli Architetti in 1975 and ended her career.73 Conclusion Emma Strada and Ada Bursi epitomize the complexity of questions related to the choice of a liberal profession and the difficulties that women needed to challenge especially in terms of social- cultural pressure. On one hand, the case of Emma Strada shows us how the family background was determinant for the success in the profession. On the other hand, the biography of Ada Bursi confirms that the boundaries between architecture, interior design, industrial design and graphic design are typical of the Italian case and are indifferent to gender. However, cultural norms confined professional work of women architects in areas related to the home and motherhood. Some questions are still to be investigated and some of these are listed below. Were women civil engineers and architects intended to devote themselves completely to their career? How did their private lives influence their professional choices? Has participation in women’s associations to defend the right to exercise a liberal profession actually helped women in their work? Now we know that thanks to these professionals the status of women in engineering and architecture Caterina Franchini in Italy began to change in the second half of twentieth century. Politecnico di Torino - Interuniversity Department of Regional & Urban Studies and Planning - DIST, Italy Caterina Franchini, Ph.D. in History and criticism of architectural and environmental assets, Master in Conservation of historic towns and buildings. She is Assistant Professor of History of Architecture at the Politecnico di Torino - DIST. She has been lecturing History of Visual communication and Design at the Politecnico di Torino since 2010 and History of Modern Design and History of Interior Design at the University Studies Abroad Consortium since 2006. Her research interests include gender studies in architecture, industrial and interior design. She is Assistant Project Leader of the European project “Women’s creativity since the Modern Movement – MoMoWo”. E-mail: d004200@polito.it 72 Cf. Associazione Ingegneri e Architetti, Annuario, 31–35. 73  Cancellazione dall’Albo degli Architetti delle Province di Torino, Asti e della R.A. Valle D’Aosta, Torino 27 maggio 1975 (Prot. n.° 205), folder “Ada Bursi,” Archive OAT. MoMoWo 100 MoMoWo 101 Sandra Heffernan https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.05 Lost in the History of Modernism: [Embroidery] is an art and ought to be treated like one … you, craftswomen, modern women, who feel that your spirit is in your work, who are determined to lay claim to your rights (economic Magnificent Embroiderers and moral), who believe your feet are firmly planted in reality, at least Y-O-U should know that your embroidery work is a documentation of your own era. Hannah Höch1 Introduction This story seeks to demonstrate how the influence of Höch became beneficial for embroiderers and attempts to illuminate their understanding of the period. While working as an embroidery and dress pattern designer at the Ullstein publishing houses, Höch was able to exert sustained encouragement to embroiderers. The highly regarded embroiderer, Emmy Zweybrück’s relationship The Dada fine artist Hannah Höch’s subversive advice for embroiderers reflected with the publishers is symbolised in an embroidered tulle textile celebrating the Ullstein publisher, her own art that rejected ideals of femininity and domesticity. Embroidery’s Alex Koch’s sixtieth birthday. The paper unfolds the complexity of circumstances surrounding the marginalized position of, and connection to the home allowed women to embroiderers and the ideological pressures they endured as applied arts were used in political develop expressive designs forbidden to painters and sculptors. Complex relationships between embroidery design, industry, socialist, communist and propaganda. An earlier paper ‘Politics and Trade in Emmy Zweybrück – Prochaska’s influential fascist ideologies existed. The identification of the provenance of Austrian, textile designs in the Needlework Development Scheme,’ introduced her works in the context of Italian and German textiles led to the determination of external influences that the scheme and the historical aspects.2 This paper extends the debate, including works by other shaped and enhanced the object meanings. Held in British collections they were designers, for example Elsi Kay Kohler, in the context of modernism. It presents the relationship created by women who taught, ran ateliers and rejected the propaganda they between embroidery design and socialist, communist and fascist ideologies during the periods were exposed to and became part of a larger resistance movement. Taking alternative viewpoints to apply the special accent of modernism to a traditional when the regimes had their greatest peak of influence. In these modern works the artist always art form. These unique works communicate a political and social vision of communicated a message with political or social context, depicting an ideal world, expressing an idealized world and express the impact of various political ideologies on women’s lives. The works’ received significant visibility in their day, but the decorative appearance excluded them from full modernist classification. It is readily apparent that these embroiderers achieved works of excellence during 1  Madeleine Boucher, “Art or Craft?: Hannah Höch’s Collages Embraced the Conflict Between Art and Craft, Dada the inter-war period. and Commercialism,” https://www.artsy.net/article/madeleineb-art-or-craft-hannah-hochs-collages-embraced (ac- cessed 2014). 2  Sandra Heffernan, “Politics and Trade in Design: Emmy Zweybrück-Prochaska’s Influential Textile Designs in Keywords: design, embroidery, politics, industry, modernism Needlework Development Scheme Collections,” Textile 5, no. 1 (2007), 46–61. MoMoWo 103 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Sandra Heffernan, Lost in the History of Modernism: Magnificent Embroiderers the impact of regimes ideologies on their lives through the traditional art form of embroidery. Embroidery and Modernism Exceptional circumstances after the conflict of World War One, the fragmentation of the Austro- Embroidery played a significant role in the development of the modernist image. In the 1890s Empire and the Russian Revolution brought political and socio-economic changes to life as it was the German sculptor Hermann Obrist in collaboration with the manager of his Munich atelier, known, while the modernist schools were forming. During a period of intense political activity and Bertha Ruchet, created embroidery designs stitched by Italian women.5 Exhibited in Munich, the economic deprivation the embroiderers were open to different viewpoints on social and political embroideries were the first modern art designs; later, the works became icons of the then emerging issues. They presented unique responses in the special accent of modernism into their art. More Jugendstil. Contemporary reviewers and artists rejoiced in the creative, subtle variations of colour so than any other medium, embroidery allowed for the blurring of old and new and for impregnating and texture. tradition with innovation and modernism. This article analyses the processes and meanings of embroidery to explain the complex relationship between designers, commerce, politics and society. The situation for embroiderers varied from place to place and became less favourable at the turn of the twentieth century. Educational opportunities During the 1930s, in an unusual relationship with Scotland’s thread industrialists, J & P Coats Ltd., for women were limited and as they received the vote and were given a the designers from Austria, Hungary and Germany produced hand and machine embroideries for voice in political realms, their participation in public and artistic life was education, exhibition and trade purposes contributing to Coats’ Needlework Development Scheme perceived as a threat. The impact of embroidery designs across the 1920s (NDS) collection.3 Coats were a textile thread industry leader wholly owning forty-three mills, and 1930s was limited by male perceptions of artists and critics who wrote including Mez AG in Germany, Cucirini Cantoni Coats in Italy; Harlander in Austria and the Anglo- about art and design, for example, influential critics such as the German Hungarian Thread Co. in Hungary. In collaboration with educators, Coats circulated and re-circulated Karl Scheffler, a future Bauhaus lecturer, swayed opinion as he published the textiles between various education and amateur organisations throughout the United Kingdom anti-feminine art ideas.6 from 1934–62. Coats’ organizational framework for the scheme was immense and communication was taking place on an international level, encouraging an active, creative, cross-fertilisation of In 1914, in defiance of the gender divide in education, Emmy Zweybrück ideas between different cultures. Coats’ role in the encouragement of such designs becomes established her own embroidery atelier and school in Vienna, less mysterious when seen in the light of the demands required to succeed in business in such Kunstgewerbeliche Schule und Werkstätte,7 accepting advanced students difficult times, when ruthlessness and manipulation as a daily occurrence is considered.4 In order to of embroidery from abroad as well as from Vienna (Fig. 1).8 Advertisements succeed, designers had to negotiate market forces to create objects that related to contemporary for the School were regularly placed in the German fine art and applied art Fig. 1. Emmy Zweybrück. life and fashion. Coats’ extensive communication networks connecting many countries in Europe journals.9 Her private school for girls aged six to fourteen and fourteen Published in Deutsche Kunst und with the British Isles ensured modernist textile design made an impact on British design. to eighteen, was recognised by government and commissions were Dekorative 1925, 79. received from wealthy patrons of Vienna and abroad. Zweybrück quickly The present research of embroideries and written material in university and museum collections was developed an international reputation as from 1916 her work frequently led by a forensic process in a material culture framework to identify the provenance and meanings received favourable reviews in The Studio, Die Kunst, Deutsche Kunst und of the textiles. The cross-referencing of information from these sources created typologies, which Dekorative (DKD), Stickereien und Spitzen (Stickereien). Zweybrück was provided answers to the identification and provenance of the textiles and their artist and designers said to use the arts to alleviate children’s depression after World War I. A and the way their works are the embodiment of the times. For the purposes of clarity, ‘designer’ refers to artists who designed for exhibition and industry while being artists. 5  M. Logan, Hermann Obrist’s Embroidered Decorations (London: The Studio, 1896), 9 and 98–100. 6  J. Anger, “Forgotten Ties: The Suppression of the Decorative in German Art and Theory 1900–1915,” in Christopher Reed (ed.), Not at Home the Suppression of Domesticity in Modern Art and Architecture (London: Thames and Hudson, 1996), 132. 7  School of Drawing and Applied Art. 3  Sandra Heffernan, “Design from Artefacts: Issues in Aesthetics: Collecting, Education, Making and Marketing in J & 8  Zweybrück graduated from the Osterreichisches Museum für Kunst and Industrie Kunstgewerb (Academy of P Coats’ Needlework Development Scheme: 1934–62” (PhD diss., Glasgow School of Art, 2004). Applied Arts) in Vienna studying in a curriculum steeped in the Secession. 4  Sandra Heffernan, “Stitch Kings: The Influence of J&P Coats on Textile Design Education,” International Review of 9  A. S. Levetus, “The Zweybrück School of Drawing and Applied Art in Vienna,” The Studio: A Magazine of Fine and Scottish Studies 37 (2012), 97–120. Applied Art 92, no. 402 (1926), 181–3, http://pbc.gda.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=17152 (accessed June 2, 2017). MoMoWo 104 MoMoWo 105 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Sandra Heffernan, Lost in the History of Modernism: Magnificent Embroiderers large student work by Helli Fritz portrays children looking forlorn with downcast heads.10 It survives in an American collection. Despite the difficult circumstances Zweybrück received international acclaim in 1925 when her works were included in the Austrian Pavilion at the 1925 Exposition des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes (Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts )and received more recognition in major design journals.11 Embroidery in a Modernist Style In the late 1920s the Wall Street crash heightened economic chaos and tensions, and political leaders were encouraged to promote their acceptance of modernism. Embroidery was used to enhance the luxurious impression and ambience of modern architecture. The S.S. Bremen, a north German Norddeutscher-Lloyd Liner was a symbol of Germany’s recovery from the War and was used in advertising propaganda to signal the official acceptance of modernism.12 Zweybrück was commissioned to design embroidered tulle cloths for the Bremen (Fig. 2).13 The luxurious impression and ambience was enhanced by her nature inspired designs in a subdued monotone modern effect(Figs. 3 and 4).They were made at the Vereinigte Werkstätten (Cooperative Workshops), Fig. 2. Emmy Zweybrück’s Bremen textile detail. Fig. 3. Emmy Zweybrück’s textile in the Bremen first class in Munich, which drew considerable support from the Third Reich. Dedicated to the production Published in W.P., “Emmy Zweybrück: Tülldecke für saloon. Published in Fritz August Breuhaus de Groot, Der den salon des ozeanexpress Bremen,“ Stickereien Ozean Express Bremen (Munich: Verlag F Bruckman AG, and sale of furnishing and homewares, the Vereinigte Werkstätten was promoted in magazines, und Spitzen (1931), 42. 1930), 138. eliminating the distinction between the fine and applied arts since the late nineteenth century.14 Highlighting close connections between Zweybrück’s atelier and Coats and their promotion of contemporary design is another Bremen tulle work that was promoted as ‘from a set of cloths for the Bremen’ in the Victoria & Albert Museum’s ‘Modern Embroidery Exhibition’ in 1932. Information on the subtle modernist message accompanied the image in Stickerein and Modern Embroidery, a special number of The Studio.15 The result of the exhibition was recognition of the merger in design of the varied characteristics of tradition and modernism by way of techniques and design. 10 Marge Hiller, letter to author, May 20, 2003. 11 “Österreich auf der Pariser Ausstellung,” Deutsche Kunst und Dekorative 57 (1925–26), 78, http://digi.ub.uni- heidelberg.de/diglit/dkd1925_1926/0092?sid=eb07fa64d28f87eaed5373badc959e85 (accessed June 2, 2017). 12 John Heskett, “Design in Inter-War Germany,” in Wendy Kaplan (ed.), Designing Modernity: The Arts of Reform and Persuasion 1885–1945 (London: Thames and Hudson, 1995), 257–86. 13 Hans Schiebelhuth, “Neue Arbeiten von Emmy Zweybruck,” Stickereien und Spitzen no. 31 (1930–31), 40–51. 14 Anja Prößl-Kammerer, “Weaving for the ‘Führer’ Textile Art in National Socialism,” Textile Forum 3, no. 3 (1996), Fig. 4. Emmy Zweybrück’s textile in the Bremen first class bedroom. 40–1. Published in Fritz August Breuhaus de Groot, Der Ozean Express Bremen 15 Mary Hogarth, Modern Embroidery (London: The Studio, 1933). (Munich: Verlag F Bruckman AG, 1930), 140. MoMoWo 106 MoMoWo 107 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Sandra Heffernan, Lost in the History of Modernism: Magnificent Embroiderers Expressive Design with Subtle Messages soil ‘Blut and Boden’ formed the foundation of Zweybrück’s ability to create innovative designs and willingness to allude to politics is evidenced the perspective. They propagated the myth of the in a work held in the Dundee University collection. In the emerging art deco style, the design woman as guardian, child-bearer and protector, and from 1933 references Venice and appears to comment on the luxurious conditions enjoyed by the German home as the centre for both the raising the middleclass tourists travelling on liners (Fig. 5). A symbolic image of the SS Bremen cloth is of children and the welcoming of the returning included on the design’s ship deck, along-with a peasant woman carrying a basket of fresh fruit. warrior.21 A 1935 issue of the monthly Die Dame Perhaps a reference to the bountiful supplies of food enjoyed on-board by the middleclass tourists, perpetuated these ideals. Folk embroidery was compared with the ‘mature fruit dispersed in traces’ as in the text. This could be a reference to the paradoxically acclaimed in Nazi Germany, and pureness of the countryside where honest people worked hard, symbolism used as propaganda applied art evolved in line with the national socialist for power. It could also illustrate the contrast, which existed between the conditions of those in view of the world. Both Hitler’s encouragement for power, and the poverty of the rural poor, who endured hardship and a scarcity of resources. Edwin the traditional and opposition to modern art created Redslob’s aphorism surrounds the image: a design niche for embroiderers, which they could only accept, because of the animosity towards their designs in the modern design realm. May the sun bless over the holy distance, May the sails, glide, over free open spaces, Both the Fascists and Nazis were concerned Fig. 5. Emmy Zweybrück’s Sonnensegun, including Edwin Redslob’s aphorism. May the gliding clouds, believe in the people who follow you, with showing the family as a supportive family Published in W. Michel, “Gesticke Spruche von Mature fruit dispersed in traces.16 unit. Founded in 1919 in Italy, Benito Mussolini’s Emmy Zweybruck,“ Stickereien und Spitzen fascism became a major political force, which used (1933–34), 58. the applied arts to ‘domesticate’ the revolution, It was one of a series of designs including aphorisms by Redslob, who was Reichkunstwart (State promoting fascism in everyday life.22 Three designs Art Officer) in Hitler’s national socialist regime.17 In a different work, Zweybrück hailed Redslob as attributed to Zwëybruck in 1934 show a shift in style to an ecclesiastical and fascist appearance a hero, along-with her graphics teacher, Rudolf von Larisch.18 Redslob was responsible for national and a willingness to incorporate oblique political commentaries.23 The work Madonna and Two art and culture questions and made numerous attempts to evolve a state policy for applied arts Angels, inscribed Unsere liebe Frau (My beloved Lady) portrays the Madonna as a young women and design seeking to introduce a statute to improve recognition for applied artists.19 At the time, surrounded by her two angels in a reflective pose. The Holy Family embroidery simply titled German crafts people were under considerable threat as a result of the expansion of industry. Bildstickerei (Embroidered picture) in Stickereien suggests this work was produced in a commercial During this era Hitler recognized the potential for design to be a ‘great improver’, and national environment, where the anonymity of both the designer and design was the norm (Fig. 6).24 The text values and traditions were emphasized, while modernism was rejected.20 Ideas of the blood and included in the design Es ist ein Reis entsprungen Aus einer Wurzel zart (A rose has sprung from a tender root) is perhaps a biblical reference to the Christmas song. Italian Fascist government’s ‘Battle for Grain’ campaign to increase production of wheat and other cereals. The text subversively adapts a line, Es ist ein Ros’ entsprurgen , from a German Christmas carol, simply substituting the 16 W. Michel, “Gesticke Spruche von Emmy Zweybruck,” Stickereien und Spitzen no. 34 (1933–34), 57–9, Dundee University (DUNUC ARTS), 255; NDS 790. 17 Josef Hoffman, Austrian Applied Arts: Oesterreichisches Kunstgewerbe: Les Arts Decoratifs Autrichiens: Ein Führer durch das Österreichische Kunstgewerbe (Leipzig, Wien, Troppau: Verlag Heinz and Co., 1930), 186–191. 21 S. Weißler, “Imprisoned within a Role: An Assessment of Arts and Crafts Production by Women under National 18 Schiebelhuth, “Neue Arbeiten,” 45. In 1933 Redslob resigned from the National Socialists and was dismissed by the Socialism,” in Angela Odeekoven-Gerischer et. al. (eds.), Frauen im Design: Berufsbilder und Lebenswege seit 1900 Nazis. Later in the 1930s Redslob wrote articles for the American Design journal. He established an university and / Women in Design: Careers and Life Histories since 1900 (Stuttgart: Landesgewerberbeamt Baden-Württemberg, set about finding banished artworks after the Second World War. 1989), 234–243, exhibition catalogue. 19 Brandon Taylor and Wilfried van der Will, The Nazification of Art: Art, Design, Architecture, Music and Film in the 22  Denis Doordan, “Political Things: Design in Fascist Italy,” in Wendy Kaplan (ed.), Designing Modernity: The Arts of Third Reich (Winchester: The Winchester School of Art Press, 1990), vol. of the collection Winchester studies in art Persuasion 1885–1945. (London: Thames and Hudson, 1995), 225–255. and criticism. 23 Glasgow School of Art (GSA) F2; DUNUC ARTS: 996, NDS 733; DUNUC ARTS: 250, NDS 525. 20 Paul Greenhalgh (ed.), Modernism in Design (London: Reakton Books, 1990), 15. 24 W. Spring, “Vom Schenken,” Handarbeiten Aller Art (1935–36), 35–8. MoMoWo 108 MoMoWo 109 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Sandra Heffernan, Lost in the History of Modernism: Magnificent Embroiderers word Reis (rice) for Ros (rose). The simple modification ‘Mussolini’s attempt to revive the spirit of ancient Rome had made Italy a leader in modern art.’ would not be noticed at a glance. Zweybrück denied any knowledge of the state sponsorship of the arts in Italy, but showed her Zweybrück’s lively designs inspired by nature, folk, and approval of designs reflecting fascist ideals and values. ecclesiastical themes include elements unacceptable to The economic crises in Austria and the harassment suffered by artists, made it more and more the restrictive modernist agenda. Figurative, symbolic, difficult to maintain an art school and an art studio under the premises of the aesthetic values, which colourful, and decorative designs reference traditional were held in Vienna. Professor Heller, who organised an exhibition of Emmy Zweybrück’s paper subjects, for example the Madonna, but are presented works in Vienna in 1989, suggests ‘her work for Coats-Mez was in a certain way a contradiction in a style acceptable to the dictates of those in power. against her self-understanding as an independent artist or craftswoman’.27 Advertisements for her Interestingly, the designs are not overtly fascist but school appeared in Handarbeiten Aller Art as late as August 1939. It is likely it closed in the sense subtlety reference themes encouraged by those in of it being a true atelier and school, but remained open for Coats’ commissions.28 power. Portrayals of women emphasised their traditional domestic roles and given Coats had prioritised the collection of ecclesiastical design it seems likely they would have indicated the type of work they preferred. Anonymously Depicting an Idealised World Fig. 6. Emmy Zweybrück’s The Holy Family. Zweybrück’s works were promoted in the German design Elsi Kay Köhler, a qualified architect, created designs that drew on the courtesy of Dundee University, photo by Sandra journal Stickereien und Spitzen, which was approved by changing cultural conflicts existing in the process of modernization of Heffernan. Hitler and Coats’ Mez AG subsidiary company regularly Germany (Fig. 7). The image of the glamorous or threatening ‘new woman’, posted full-page advertisements in this publication. as presented in the media, was a distorted picture of reality.29 The newly modern women had an ambiguous role in German mass culture, as the patriarchal vision for women fused with the growing consumer market where women were encouraged to redefine their bodies as commodities. Complex Connections The Weimar republic encouraged the consumer leisure culture of the neue In November 1934, Zweybrück was appointed to Coats’ Mez AG mill, Coats’ German subsidiary, Frau, using the print media to ‘project’ images of women posing as for and hence the Harlander AG mill, near Vienna. Colin Martin, told of how the Harlander mill beauty advertisements; the bobbed Dietrich hair-style was fashionable commissioned designs from her embroidery atelier in Vienna for promotional purposes in trade after her 1930s movie Blue Angel.30 Coats promoted neue Frau styled exhibitions.25 These designs were used to advance Coats’ commercial interests when negotiating images on the covers of The Needlewoman journal in 1935. From the late with the national socialist regimes. Her design position at Coats offered employment in a difficult 1920s, Köhler’s sophisticated works were promoted in key design and economic and political environment. The interplay of embroidery, design and industry manifested embroidery publications. Köhler resided in Leipzig until 1929, then moved itself particularly clearly in Zweybrück’s atelier work. between Leipzig and Vienna, until 1933 – 4 when she took up residence in Fig. 7. Elsi Köhler’s Madonna. In 1938 Zweybrück visited New York and was interviewed by Emily Genaur, art critic of the World Vienna, following Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor. However, her works Published in Hans Schiebelhuth, Telegram, in a discussion full of contradictions26. Zweybrück’s comments reflect reluctance on her in the NDS were always attributed to Zweybrück. “Bildstickerei,“ Stickereien und Spitzen (1929–30), 72. part to commit to such discussion. At a delicate time, Zweybrück was guarded in her comments regarding the influence of the annexation of Austria by the German Reich. She claimed the Anschluss meant little to Austrian artists. Genaur challenged Zweybrück’s pro-fascist views, arguing that 27 Friedrich Heller, personal communication, February 8, 2002. 28 Following Zweybrück’s death in 1956, the Los Angeles Times honoured her contribution to design education and industrial design. 29  Maud Lavin, Cut with the Kitchen Knife: the Weimar Photo Montages of Hannah Höch (New Haven: Yale University 25  George Martin, (Colin Martin’s son) personal communication, August 2001. Press 1993), 56–7. 26  Emily Genaur, “Italy a Leader?” Art Digest 12, August, 14, 1938. 30 Shearer West, The Visual Arts in Germany (Manchester: Manchester University Press 2000), 175. MoMoWo 110 MoMoWo 111 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Sandra Heffernan, Lost in the History of Modernism: Magnificent Embroiderers Köhler’s 1929 Madonna has a colourful exuberance Catholic areas women refused to relinquish their with both the Madonna and child in a protective pose habits and faith to meet the demands of the Nazi (Fig. 8). The Madonna appears as a ‘pure’ woman order and were often backed by the priest or a with a fixed penetrating gaze, in the style of an icon, parson in their resistance.33 An example of the protected by the arms of the child. Decorative beads, way women interpreted the situation is shown in sequins, silver and gold threads embellish the Käte Luise Rosenstock’s embroidered net panel image, at a time when fine artists shunned such lush St Francis shows a heavily stylised saint figure decoration. Another work. Angel features a black surrounded by animals, birds, fish and flowers.34 angel-like figure and appears to comment on the Rosenstock’s designs received recognition racist views of the ruling political regime.31 Köhler in 1925 and featured regularly in the German worked in Scotland after her survival of the Nazi journals, including her designs of a commercial era, and there she undoubtedly would have feared nature perhaps produced for Coats’ Mez AG. This Fig. 8. Elsi Köhler’s Angel’s head. harassment and have elected to erase her artistic suggests a professional link between Köhler and Published in Elsi Köhler, Embroiderer Designers past. Uncomfortable with the displeasure and cool Rosenstock. Sketchbook (London: Pitman, 1952). reception the Scottish people demonstrated towards A stole by a student from the Stadt Schule für her artwork, while faced with the prospect of having Handwerk und Kunstgewerbe (City School of to encourage their embroidery design, she would Crafts and Arts) in Münster, features naïve figures Fig. 9. Student work from Stadt Schule für Handwerk have happily disowned her ‘too modern’ designs. Later in 1946, Kay Köhler, was employed as ‘expert- with sacred emblems and includes the text “das und Kunstgewerbe, Munster. in-charge’ at Coats NDS in Glasgow and addressed the prestigious Friends of the Royal Society of wort bei Gott und am anfang war das wort” (the Courtesy of Robert Gordon University Archive, photo by Artists, in London. In Embroidery as an Expression of National Characteristics she appears to have Sandra Heffernan. word was God and at the beginning was the word), compromised her own ‘modern’ beliefs while discussing the stylization and use of distorted figures referencing the opening chapter lines of the in the German church embroideries, stating: Gospel of John in the Bible. The young students, Just before the war, German embroiderers were making very modern church embroidery designs living in a chaotic and confusing world, would have been exposed to extensive propaganda in the of distorted figures. The technique and colour were pleasing, but the designs were distasteful to schools. In an inhospitable climate, education for women was opposed by the National Socialists, religious people in that the distorted and top heavy figures were not the result of childhood’s naïveté, who limited them to the study of ‘appropriate’ subjects at universities.35 Another Munster student but of a queer debased mentality which has not been confined to embroidery design only.32 work portrays the Madonna crowned in thorns and crucified several times. Resonant of the misery suffered by Jesus, it alludes to his crucifixion and concludes with an excerpt from the Hail Mary (Fig. 9).36 The student works from Münster are all the more interesting as they show the students’ rebellious intent, when their own personal freedom was suppressed. Oblique Messages in Religious Embroidery The women were creatively designing within contradictory limitations: on the one hand suppressed While considering the intersections of historical layers, we must keep in mind the physical hardships by the paternalistic views of the modernist era, but on the other encouraged in Central Europe by endured as well as the negotiations of political, social and artistic challenges. Religion was at the Fascist, and Nazi regimes to produce religious designs. The German ecclesiastical designs provide periphery of National Socialist ideology and opposition to organised religion existed. In strongly 33 Jean Bethke Elshtain, Women and War (Chicago-London: University of Chicago Press, 1987), 190. 31 DUNUC ARTS: 253; NDS 745. 34 GSA F18. 32 Elsie Kay Köhler, “Embroiderery as an Expression of National Characteristics,” Journal of Royal Society of Arts 35 Jennifer Loehlin, From Rags to Riches: Housework, Consumption and Modernity (Oxford: Berg 1999), 33. (1946), 59–71. 36 Robert Gordon University: NDS 808. MoMoWo 112 MoMoWo 113 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Sandra Heffernan, Lost in the History of Modernism: Magnificent Embroiderers Later, newspaper articles in Scotland in 1948 and again in 1962, suggested the Italian fascist styled works were considered to be of a discomforting nature. These attitudes would have contributed to their exclusion from design history. The designers would have been exposed to fascist propaganda and embroidery training at school. The fascists committed to racial purity, the family, and tradition encouraged embroidery, even though it contradicted their drive for technology. The fascist women’s organisation Massaie Rurali with a membership of over one and a half million women in the 1930s, offered embroidery training.41 According to historians, the decorative design of fascist appearance is outside the confines of modernism. Fig. 10. Embroidery made at Communism, Nationalism and Industry in Hungary Berlin’s Verein für Deutsches Kunsthandwerk. In the 1930s, a different situation existed for embroiderers under Communist rule in Hungary. National Courtesy of Edinburgh College of independence and identity were strong motivating forces. In spite of powerful industrial progress Art Library, negative. folk culture was encouraged within national culture propaganda. Embroidery design was already influenced by migration and colonisation, commerce, travel and publications. However during the examples of the oblique referencing of political and social situations. A fascist presence existed in late 1920s and 1930s, Coats held classes for their mill girls, who learnt to make tablecloths and the familiar patterns of everyday life as design was used to influence people.37 Embroidery threads doyles. The dissemination of colonial design by Coats was seen as a threat, as recorded in 1934 were marketed by Coats throughout Central Europe labelled with emblems of power and production: by Máriska Undi: sickles, guns, and shovels. The fascist support for handicraft ensured a market for Coats’ threads. This dangerous invasion of western decorative forms- with which came the influence of western During the 1920s and 1930s Sir James Henderson, Managing Director of Coats from 1932, was architectural and decorative style-was propelled by western thread trade manufacturers, who resident in Italy, and would have dined with Mussolini’s officials while negotiating deals for Coats.38 wanted a better market for their productions and threatened to swamp the home style of The Fascist regime allowed companies to market a wide range of acceptable politically inspired decoration altogether.42 images.39 Coats would have been aware of this when they displayed the works in trade exhibitions. Undi was recognised as the leading embroidery designer in Hungary. Earlier she was an active During this era classical forms and themes pervaded Italian political designs. Christian symbolism, member of the influential Gödollő colony, a campaigner for dress reform, publisher of Secessionist myths, fables and the power of ancient Rome themes feature in the work of designers, nuns, fascist designs and lecturer at Budapest School of Applied Arts. In 1932, she was commissioned by the supported schools and industry workrooms. A NDS work showing oblique reference to political German Ministerium für Cultus und Unterricht (Ministry of Education) to publish peasant designs events was created at a time when Mussolini proclaimed the birth of a new Roman Empire. It from her ethnography collection. The booklet series was translated into English and published until appears to reference the Italian conquest of Ethiopia in 1936 (also known as Abyssinia). It was 1945. made at Berlin’s Verein für Deutsches Kunsthandwerk (Association for German Arts and Crafts) The influence of the Austrian, German, Italian and Hungarian women is evident in 1930s British (Fig. 10).40 designs, in particular works by leading artists Rebecca Crompton and Kathleen Mann. The interwar years were considered significant period of development in self-expression and spontaneity in 37 Doordan, “Political Things,” 225. 38 Heffernan, “Stitch Kings,” 97–120. Later, Henderson was the only non-Catholic to receive the highest papal honour award. 39 Doordan, “Political Things,” 227. 41 Perry Willson, Peasant Women and Politics in Fascist Italy: The Massaie Rurali (London, New York: Routledge, 40 Edinburgh College of Art, NDS 553. This work appears to be lost. The image is from a remaining photographic 2002), 126 and 129. negative. 42 Maria Undi, Kalotaszegi Irasos Himzes (Budapest: Ministerium für Cultus und Unterricht, 1934), 53. MoMoWo 114 MoMoWo 115 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Sandra Heffernan, Lost in the History of Modernism: Magnificent Embroiderers British embroidery design.43 The influence continued for many decades as the NDS works and publications circulation was extended in Britain and beyond. Conclusion Women such as Zweybrück and Köhler made an important contribution to design education and led successful design careers during a period of political and cultural oppression. They skilfully developed a design relationship between visual style, political and social comment during a period of intense conflict and hardship. Their textiles were the embodiment of turbulent times. Restrictions on women and the applied arts by the Bauhaus helped to create dissenting, marginal, fragmentary design movements, as typified in these NDS embroideries. Abstract, geometric forms, primary coloured, produced by technology, with no figurative or symbolic elements are considered by many historians to characterise much design of the Modern Movement. Abstraction eliminated figurative, decorative and symbolic elements in favour of the manipulation of form, and rejected tradition and historicism as a source of a design. Figurative, decorative embellishment and the intrinsic pattern of textiles were at odds with both the functionalism and simplicity of modernism. Suppressed at the time this style of design was subsequently overlooked by recent constructs of modernism. Paradoxically the spaces between art and industry merged. They challenged a widely held view of embroidery as an applied rather than expressive medium. These modern designs had an immediate and significant impact on British textile design. An uneasy relationship existed between Coats’ collecting and marketing. Coats’ market forces Sandra Heffernan played a role in shaping the production of the designs referencing political and social events or Massey University, New Zealand themes acceptable to the ruling political regimes. Complex and multiple strategies contributed to the creation and dissemination of these designs into British culture. However the skill and artistic talent of the women designers ensured the works were successful both as trade items and works of art. The support of publishers and artists such as Höch ensured the embroideries received Associate Professor Sandra Heffernan lectures and researches in textile design significant visibility in their day, but the decorative appearance of their works excluded them from at Massey University. She enjoys the researching textile collections, finding full modernist classification. It is readily apparent that these embroiderers achieved works of forgotten documents and undertaking oral history interviews to reveal fascinating concealed histories. Innovative textile finishing processes are key to her design excellence in an alternative modernist style during the inter-war period. practice and postgraduate industry, science and enterprise collaborations feature strongly in her supervision portfolio. E-mail: S.L.Heffernan@massey.ac.nz Acknowledgements With gratitude to the archives, museums and universities who willingly allowed me access to their collections. With gratitude to Alison Coleman for providing the German translations in this research. 43 Tanya Harrod, The Crafts in Britain in the Twentieth Century (London: Yale University Press, 1996). MoMoWo 116 MoMoWo 117 Stéphanie Mesnage https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.06 Women and Their Professional Activities Introduction1 Who were the French women designers and architects in the first half of the twentieth century? in Architecture, France 1918–1945 If we were to believe what is commonly known, we would be tempted to think that until very recently French women architects were indeed very few! In fact if the names of some contemporary French women architects are now known, such as those of Françoise-Hélène Jourda (who died quite recently in May, 2015), Odile Decq, Manuelle Gautrand, Anne Demians, Anne Lacaton, in partnership with Jean-Philippe Vassal, the situation is quite different for architects of previous generations: at best only the names of Charlotte Perriand or Adrienne Gorska appear. Thus the common perception is that women architects were indeed very few, and that they never played a major role in architecture. But beyond these preconceptions what was the substance of their lives? What is the history of In France, the feminisation of the profession started at the beginning of the seventies, but women architects started to practice architecture at the very French women architects? And who were these women in the shadows? beginning of the twentieth century. Their story remains to be written. Those pioneers, and especially women who practiced before 1945, were As a matter of fact there exists, at the moment, no specific and comprehensive paper on the history of neither numerous among registered architects (subscribers at the Ordre des Architectes) nor among architects who realised planning permissions and were French women architects. Only a few documents have been real steps forward in our knowledge of the a few in professional societies as the Société Centrale des Architectes (SCA) or subject. the Société des Architectes Diplômés par le Gouvernement (SADG). So it seems The research work initiated by Lydie Mouchel in 20002 has enabled us to get to know better what that women were not practicing project management a lot. Nevertheless, the large number of women who studied in architectural schools in France since positions were occupied by women in such important schools of architecture as the Ecole nationale the end of the nineteenth century, indicates that women wished to fit into this supérieure des beaux-arts (Ensba) and the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture (ESA) in Paris in the 19th architectural environment. century.3 To understand this situation, it is necessary to extend the research scope: women architects were practicing architecture ‘differently’. Their practices were not regulated by the Ordre: town planning, journalism, landscape design… It 1  I will herewith present the results of a research work which I started within the framework of a master Recherche en seems that women participated in the diversification of architectural practices. histoire culturelle et sociale at the University of Versailles in 2009, and regularly kept working at ever since. It is the basis of a thesis I am now starting at the University of Strasbourg (September 24, 2015). This research is an opportunity to take a fresh look at the profession of 2 Lydie Mouchel, “Femmes architectes ‘une histoire à écrire’,” (DEA Histoire socio-culturelle, Ecole Nationale Supérieure architecture. It is an opportunity to discover the real scale of women’s activities. d’Architecture de Versailles/Université Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, 2000). 3  Lydie Mouchel’s research allows one to discover the presence of women at the Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts (Ensba) between 1898–1945 and their presence at the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture (ESA) between Keywords: women pioneer, diversification, France, practices, deed of architecture 1880–1961. MoMoWo 119 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Stéphanie Mesnage, Women and Their Professional Activities in Architecture, France 1918–1945 Finally, the Dictionnaire Universel des Créatrices, released in 2013 by Editions des Femmes,6 is the most important contribution. Its aim is to try and ‘identify creative women, whether known or unknown, who, individually or as a group, stood out in their time and opened new vistas in one of the manifold fields of human activity’.7 Notes concerning architecture, urban planning and landscaping (section supervised by Ms Anne- Marie Châtelet) document the ‘better known’ French women architects, among whom are (for the period under consideration, namely 1918–1945): Jeanne Besson-Surugue, Renée Gailhoustet, Adrienne Gorska, Marion Tournon- Fig. 3. Marion Tournon-Branly. Branly (Fig. 3) and Juliette Tréant-Mathé. But Fig. 1. Miss Bocsanyi, one of the seven women Fig. 2. One of the seven women architects who had architects who graduated from the Ecole des graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Courtesy of Académie d’Architecture/Cité de l’architecture this publication also highlights others, recorded Beaux-Arts de Paris (photographer: Paul Darby). probably Mrs Fratacci (photographer: Walery). et du patrimoine/Archives d’architecture du XXe siècle. as ‘lesser figures’ in history, such as Geneviève Courtesy of CNAM/SIAF/Cité de l’architecture et du Courtesy of CNAM/SIAF/Cité de l’architecture et du Sée, as well as foreign women architects patrimoine/Archives d’architecture du XXe siècle. patrimoine/Archives d’architecture du XXe siècle. who worked in France at one time or another: Apart from Eileen Gray, the dictionary features more modest, lesser known players in the field of The 2009/2010 number 15 issue of the EAV journal, brought out by the Ecole nationale supérieure architecture in France, such as Monica Brügger, Katarzyna Kobro, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel, Beate d’architecture de Versailles, has published documents relating to the history of French women Schnitter, Anastasia Tzakou, Ingrid Wallberg and Myra Warhaftig. Finally, a summary note attempts architects, such as a draft paper dated 1930, authored by a French architect, Emile Maigrot, about a short synthesis of what is known about pioneer French women architects.8 seven women architects who had graduated from the Ensba of Paris: Renée Bocsanyi, Agnès Thus this story is still mostly unrecognized today. Chaussemiche, Yvonne Dupuy, Jeanne-Marie Fratacci, Jeanne Surugue, Marie Sapareva and Lucie Dumbrevano (Figs. 1 and 2).4 The issue also contains a paper by Meredith Clausen about the Ensba in which she explores the reasons behind our ignorance of the history of French women architects, and surveys the first women admitted at the Ensba. The Main Steps in the Feminisation of the Architectural Profession In 2012, the French journal Criticat also dedicated its number 10 issue to women architects, In spite of the fragmentary nature of our knowledge, we can highlight some turning points. underlining and documenting the work of contemporary architects such as Carin Smuts and Paola At the end of the nineteenth century, women were among students who matriculated in architecture Vigano. It also devoted some pages to more historically oriented studies about French pioneer studios at the Ensba, then the preeminent centre of teaching for architecture in France, and in the women5 such as the role played by Paulette Bernège, who worked towards the rationalisation of private spaces between the two World Wars. 6  Béatrice Didier, Antoinette Fouque and Mireille Calle-Gruber (ed.), Le dictionnaire universel des créatrices (Paris: Edition Des femmes, 2013). 7  Didier, Fouque and Calle-Gruber (ed.), Le dictionnaire universel des créatrices. 8  Stéphanie Mesnage, “Architectes [France depuis le début du XXe siècle]: Les pionnières,” in Béatrice Didier, Antoinette 4  Spelling of the name of this woman graduate is uncertain. Fouque and Mireille Calle-Gruber (ed.), Le dictionnaire universel des créatrices (Paris: Edition Des femmes, 2013), 5  Stéphanie Mesnage, “Éloge de l’ombre,” Criticat no.10 (2012), 40–53. 229–230. MoMoWo 120 MoMoWo 121 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Stéphanie Mesnage, Women and Their Professional Activities in Architecture, France 1918–1945 classes of the ESA (Figs. 4 and 5). In 1898, Julia Morgan was the first woman to be admitted to Second Class,9 the first level of study at the Ensba to be accessible after a competitive examination, and a first period of training in so-called ‘external’ or ‘free’ studios. This pioneer was an American, as was Laura White, who in 1883 entered the ESA.10 The very first generation of pioneers (end of nineteenth century – 1918) was thus made up of a majority of foreigners, who, moreover, rapidly gained their diploma as qualified architects. Lydie Issacovitch who was born in Russia was the first woman to graduate in France in 1906 from the ESA.11 But the first woman to graduate from the Ensba was French – Jeanne Besson-Surugue, in 1923.12 With the passing of time the proportion of women in schools of architecture increased: about 50 women were admitted at ESA between 1918 and 1945, and 82 at the Ensba between 1918 and 1929.13 Over the same period, some 70 women graduated from the École Centrale des arts et manufactures de Paris (ECP),14 into which women had been welcomed since 1918 into its four sections, including the construction section. In the following period (1945–1961), admissions were much more numerous: 170 women got into ESA, a number which, however, must be put into perspective, considering the doubling of student enrolment in that school during the same period. Sociologists who work on the issue of the feminisation of the architectural profession, such as Olivier Chadoin, Nathalie Lapeyre, and Nicolas Nogue, select the year 1968 for the identification of Fig. 4. ESA, 1908–09 (the woman is probably Verna Cook). the true beginning of this process, or some thirty years after most other liberal professions.15 This Courtesy of ESA/SADESA. date corresponds to that of the splitting up of the training system at the Ensba, which gave birth to the Unités Pédagogiques d’Architecture (UPA), namely the institutions which opened more widely with the end of the numerus clausus (Admission Limits). This reform would prove to be beneficial for women. Between 1975 and 1985, the proportion of women among graduates increased from 11 % to 29 %; between 1985 and 1995, it soared to 40 %. Thus women entered schools of architecture rather early, and have continued to grow in numbers ever since. 9  Mouchel, “Femmes architectes,” 23. 10 Mouchel, “Femmes architectes,” 24. 11 Archives ESA (registers). In the original presentation, I said that Adrienne Lacourière was the first woman to graduate in France (at the ESA in 1896); in later researche I discovered that was a mistake. 12 Mouchel, “Femmes architectes,” 26. 13 Calculations based on Lydie Mouchel’s surveys (see Mouchel, “Femmes architectes”). 14 Stéphanie Mesnage, “Actrices de l’architecture: Les femmes dans l’exercice professionnel architectural entre 1890 et 1968” (Master 2, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Versailles/Université Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en- Yvelines, 2009), 107. Fig. 5. ESA, 1902–03 (the woman is probably Lydia Issacovitch). 15 Nathalie Lapeyre, Les professions face aux enjeux de la féminisation (Toulouse: Octarès publ., 2006), 89. Courtesy of ESA/SADESA. MoMoWo 122 MoMoWo 123 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Stéphanie Mesnage, Women and Their Professional Activities in Architecture, France 1918–1945 How to Approach the History of Women Architects a) Women Architects, Project Managers There remains a veritable mystery concerning these pioneers who ‘disappear’: Indeed, in spite of their important presence during their studies, very little is known about their careers and their achievements. And with good reason – there were few women project managers, and this being the most newsworthy practice, was also probably the only one to pave the way for public recognition. Probing into the archives which document the history of project managers in Paris –such as directory names for architects as drawn up after building permissions (or construction licenses) in Paris, the official notice board (Paris District) of the General council of the Ordre des Architectes, professional directories like the Sageret, or architectural journals– one can already identify a little less than 10 women who seem to have been active as project managers (whether on their own or in partnership) in Paris between 1880 and 1945, whereas during the same period they had been at least about 160 students at Ensba, at the ESA and at the ECP!16 Who were they? We can mention a few figures who were already active in the 1930s: Adrienne Gorska, Fig 6. Henri and Renée Bodecher, Group of buildings, Fig. 7. Henri and Renée Bodecher, Group of buildings, who worked for a long time with her husband, Pierre de Montaut, and Juliette Tréant-Mathé, who did avenue Montaigne, Paris, on behalf of Lloyd France Vie avenue Montaigne, Paris, on behalf of Lloyd France Vie the same with Gaston Tréant. Other lesser known names appear, such as Renée Bodecher (Bocsanyi), (photographer: Chevojon). Published in La Construction (photographer: Chevojon). Published in La Construction who from the early 1930s, and in partnership with other architects amongst whom her husband Henri Moderne, no. 27 (1936), 541. Moderne, no. 27 (1936), 545. Bodecher, designed many structures, including a group of buildings on the avenue Montaigne, on behalf of Lloyd France Vie (Figs. 6 and 7). 17 She was still active in the 1970s, thus spanning several generations. It must be noted that these three women worked in partnership with their husbands. The architectural profession is a very old one, but the modern notion dates back to the Renaissance. Later, in the 1950s, a more numerous second generation appeared. We may cite Georgette Becker, Until the nineteenth century, the architect was mainly an artist. With proximity to the beaux-arts (the Gilberte Cazes or Solange d’Herbez de la Tour. Georgette Becker worked, alongside Albert Laprade, liberal Arts) he also took on the identity of an intellectual, which differentiated him from manual on the development of Le Mans old town, and on the first part of the administrative centre in Lille. workers who come under mechanical arts.18 One of the imperative definitions was given by the Gilberte Cazes worked with Jean Lecouteur on various projects (offices, school groups or homes) Dictionnaire de l’Académie: ‘The architect is the artist who draws up buildings, determines their and Solange d’Herbez de la Tour worked along Pierre-Edouard Lambert and was mainly active in proportions, their layout, the decorations, has the plans carried into effect, assigns work to the staff the context of reconstruction. and pays the bills‘.19 How can we explain this phenomenon, and what became of all the others – that is to say, of all the In the nineteenth century, the advent of industrial society, the development of new techniques and women who studied architecture, and who, one may suppose, moved in architectural circles? the unprecedented growth of cities resulted in important changes in the architectural profession and its role: the architect was from then on less of an expert than an engineer, with his precise and I propose that this lack of appreciation of women’s work has much to do with how one defines the architectural profession and its practices. I will stop for a moment to consider the historical background of this definition. 18 Annie Jacques, La Carrière de l’architecte au XIXe siècle (Paris: Editions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1986), 4 ; R. Moulin et al., Les architectes, métamorphose d’une profession libérale (Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1973), 14. 16 Personal calculations based on L. Mouchel’s research results (see Mouchel, “Femmes architectes”). 19  Dictionnaire de l’Académie Française (7th edition, Paris: Institut de France,1878), quoted by Annie Jacques, La 17 Mesnage, “Actrices de l’architecture,” 84. Carrière de l’architecte au XIXe siècle (Paris: Editions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1986), 7. MoMoWo 124 MoMoWo 125 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Stéphanie Mesnage, Women and Their Professional Activities in Architecture, France 1918–1945 thorough knowledge he henceforth worked on wider questions of town planning.20 b) Women Architects Elsewhere In this context many debates cropped up about the organisation of a profession to which access We must indeed widen the field of research and reflection in order to discover the trace of women was free, without any need to produce one’s diplomas or to prove one’s ability.21 architects in their careers and to begin to understand how they infiltrated the profession. Indeed anybody could claim to be an ‘architect’ and have access to commissions without doing The exploration of various sources already reveals the presence of women in a plurality of anything illegal. After 1880, in order to bear the professional title of architect, the only requirement architectural practices which exist beside project management such as town planning, landscaping, was to pay a license, just as for commercial activities proper.22 writing, history, journalism, teaching, the protection of architectural heritage, to cite but a few. One of the principal aims of architectural societies, notably of the Société Centrale des Architectes In the period now of interest to us, namely before 1945, the selection as applied by the Ordre was (SCA) and the Société des Architectes Diplômés par le Gouvernement ( SADG),23 was precisely to not yet effective, but the profession was already focused on project management, and this had the allow their members to ‘be distinguished from the many “swindlers”, contractors, surveyor clerks or effect of making other practices less visible. site supervisors who took the title of architect’ and to ‘offer their clients a guarantee for competence Thus the study of the history of women architects becomes an invitation to take a different look at and good repute’.24 The architect’s diploma had been in existence since 1868–1869 but it was at the profession and to take into account all kinds of practices which constitute veritable deeds of first perceived as redundant and few students sought it. In any case, it was not a prerequisite architecture, without limiting oneself to the definitions as given by organisms or institutions. We for practicing the profession and, therefore, did not as such stand for competence in the manner must now ask ourselves how to define a deed of architecture? Here architecture is more a question architects wished for. of practice than of official status. It was only with the advent of the Vichy government that the debates initiated by professional Whatever the reasons, women seem to have been important players in the diversification of the associations on the architectural profession came to fruition, with the creation of the Ordre des architectural professions, thus anachronically designated - the phrase was used much later, in the Architectes (1940). Since then, the title of architect has only been conferred after registration on the 1980s, to speak of the widening of the architect’s field of competence.26 official list of the Ordre, which initially depended upon various criteria, among which the possession of an architect’s diploma.25 The progress of this research does not yet allow us to yield a complete statistical analysis. But some practices and players have already been identified. In the field of town planning we can cite Thus, as recalled by this short historical review, architects never ceased to try and legitimate their many women such as Jeanne Boulfroy, Denise Malette and Antoinette Prieur, who worked between activity in the face of neighboring professions. To that effect, they had long exercised control over the early 1940s and the late 1970s. Jeanne Boulfroy is the author of many urban developments, the composition of their own professional corps. The aim of this control was notably to focus the projects of urban planning and town plans in the French department of Charente Maritime. Denise profession upon its historic mission: architectural project management. Malette has designed various projects for urban development and reconstruction in the departments And this is one of the keys for the understanding of the history of women architects – it appears of the Ardennes or the Doubs. Finally, Antoinette Prieur has carried out similar assignments in the that women architects remained unknown because they were not project managers although they departments of Calvados and Loir-et-Cher. but practiced their profession in other ways. In landscaping we see the name of Jeanne Besson-Surugue: Born in 1896 in Paris, she had studied at the Ensba in the Deglane/Maistrasse studio, and graduated as DPLG from the school in 1923.She was the first Ecole des Beaux-Arts woman graduate. She rapidly joined SADG (1924) and we know that her career was marked by two high points. First, she went to work in Cuba as a fonctionnaire 20 Jacques, La Carrière de l’architecte, 8. contractuel hors de France (contract official for positions abroad), where she was in charge of 21 Catherine Jubelin-Boulmer, Françoise Hamon (ed.) and Dominique Hervier (ed.), Hommes et métiers du bâtiment, plans for public parks, and she also had to supervise the works. It seems that she then worked 1860–1940 (Paris: Monum, éd. Du Patrimoine, 2001), 35. 22 Ibid. 23  Société Centrale des Architectes (SCA) established 1843, and Société des Architectes Diplômés par le Gouvernement (SADG) established 1877. 26 Robert Prost and Monique Minaca, Prospective des métiers de l’architecture: Rapport final, Mission sur le bilan et 24 Marie-Jeanne Dumont, “La SADG. 1, 1877–1939: Histoire d’une société d’architectes ,” Tribune d’histoire de l’archi- la prospective des métiers de l’architecture (Paris: Direction de l’Architecture et de l’Urbanisme, 1987) quoted by tecture (France) (1989), 6. Rainier Hoddé, “Architectes hors l’architecture - Les métiers du 3e cercle,” Les cahiers de la recherche architecturale 25 Gérard Ringon, Histoire du métier d’architecte en France (Paris: PUF, 1997), 97. et urbaine no. 2–3 (1999), 137. MoMoWo 126 MoMoWo 127 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Stéphanie Mesnage, Women and Their Professional Activities in Architecture, France 1918–1945 alongside Jean-Claude-Nicolas Forestier, a famous Fig. 9. Geneviève Dreyfus-Sée. French landscape architect. We know that she left Published in Hommes et Techniques, no 115–116 Cuba in June 1933 for Indochina, where she joined the (1954), 559 (photographer: Weber). Public Works services, and became a Public Works architect in Phnom-Penh. The exact dates when she was nominated to these positions are not known, but something took her away from architecture. Contrary to other women architects, she was not surrounded c) The Study of an Assemblage by a triad of male architects; only her brother, Pierre- Hubert Surugue, was Architecte DPLG.27 I propose, therefore, that the history of women architects be written by considering in the widest possible manner the scope of In the field of journalism and architectural criticism, Fig. 8. Juliette Biard (Billard). the architect’s domain of practice in order to bring to light all those Simone Gille-Delafon wrote many articles in several Published on INA (Normandie Actualités/France 3 who worked in the shadows, far from the kind of recognition which journals: Arts, and also Beaux-Arts, from 1935 to Haute Normandie/Diffusion 12/03/1965/Rouen: is awarded to project management. 1950, as well as in La Construction Moderne, where ORTF). she gave various accounts of architects’ projects, But the identification of a number of practices, however wide in exhibitions, and congresses.28 scope, would not suffice to answer the question: how did women architects exercise their profession? In the fields of teaching and illustration, Juliette Billard (Fig. 8) is an interesting figure. born in 1890, accepted in Second Class at the Ensba in 1913, she began by working for other architects. She In my view, to answer that question, one must adopt an attitude then worked as an illustrator, notably on the theme of architectural heritage for the City of Rouen. wherein one no longer aims to reveal forgotten figures or ways of exercising a profession. Rather She also was a set decorator and model maker for the Cinéromans film studio. she finally taught one should study and understand the various practices of a whole professional population, in this drawing in a secondary school for girls in the city of Le Havre.29 case women architects who worked during the period 1890 to 1975 in the Île de France Region, in order to obtain a true and correct analysis. Some women even simultaneously explored several types of practice, e.g. Geneviève Dreyfus-Sée (Fig. 9), who was a journalist, educationalist, historian and illustrator. Translated by Denis Griesmar 27  Mesnage, “Actrices de l’architecture,” 62. 28  Mesnage, “Actrices de l’architecture,” 84. 29  ”Juliette Biard, première femme architecte,” Normandie Actualités (programme broadcasted on March 12,, 1965), http://www.ina.fr/video/RCF07002127 (accessed August 1, 2015). MoMoWo 128 MoMoWo 129 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Stéphanie Mesnage Strasbourg University Stéphanie Mesnage is a French architect. She graduated in 2010 with a Mas- ter’s in Architecture from the Ensa’v (Ecole Nationale d’Architecture de Versailles) where she also obtained in 2010 a degree in history of architecture (Ensa’v/Uni- versité de Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines). She is working in architectural agencies (landscape architecture, architecture and urbanism) and is preparing a PhD dealing with professional activities of French women architects between 1880 and 1968 (Université de Strasbourg, EA 3400 ARCHE). E-mail: stephanie.mesnage@yahoo.fr MoMoWo 130 Rixt Hoekstra https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.07 Women and Power in the History In 2004 the American architectural historian Mary McLeod stated in an article that feminist architectural history had nearly disappeared.1 The flood of interesting publications in this field of Modern Architecture: had come to a halt and schools seemed to prefer classes in new themes such as sustainability, digitalisation and globalisation over gender and architecture. As one of the reasons for this setback The Case of the CIAM Women McLeod states that the very success of gender studies in architecture may have contributed to its decline. Names of once-forgotten women have been resurrected, the reputation of architecture’s male heroes has been taken down and discrimination in the profession has been exposed. If McLeod is right, why then still study the role of women in modern architecture? One reason may be present in the persistence of gender inequalities in the architectural profession. Another reason is that, contrary to what McLeod believed, women in architectural history still remain poorly studied. For example, many books have been written about the Austrian philosopher of science Otto Neurath, but who knows the story of his yearlong assistant, and later wife, Marie Reidemeister? Who knows the story of Stanislavia Nowicki and Edith Schreiber who together with Charlotte Perriand worked at the atelier of Le Corbusier? In this article I will describe my research proposal to rewrite the history of the Three decades after the first pioneering activities of feminist scholars, it is still necessary to think of CIAM from a gender perspective. Despite the fact that the history of the CIAM strategies to make visible the presence of women in architectural history. The history of the CIAM has been written as a narrative of Great Male Architects, it was characterised presents a clear example of a narrative that continues to be written from a male perspective and by the performance of a group of strong, powerful women. The case of the CIAM is important in relation to the question of gendered power relations within that, as a consequence, contains many female actors that remain until this day undetected. The professional networks and organisations. In fact, from a gender perspective the aim of my research is to rewrite the history of the CIAM on the basis of gender balance: as a history CIAM makes clear that these relationships are acted out on two levels. Firstly, in which both men and women are present. In addition, my research also challenges some of the there is the question of power as influence: how did these women, who often did orthodoxy surrounding feminism today. Therefore, I will start this article with a short excursion on not have a formal position as participants in the congress, succeed in obtaining influence? Besides formal power, informal power built upon relationships with gender studies and modern architecture, before moving on to the case of the CIAM women. people plays an important role here. Secondly, did these women used their influence to propose alternative plans? In other words, to what degree did these women identify with the modernist CIAM policies and to what degree did they have their own, autonomous, even subversive position. It is from this perspective that I will discuss the role of Charlotte Perriand (1903–1999) and Helena Syrkus (1900–1982). 1  Mary McLeod, “Perriand: Reflections of Feminism and Modern Architecture,” Harvard Design Magazine no. 20 Keywords: CIAM, networks, power relationships, historiography (2004), 64. MoMoWo 133 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Rixt Hoekstra, Women and Power in the History of Modern Architecture: The Case of the CIAM Women Gender Studies and Architecture visible. Therefore, the question that informs this research considers the strategies that women For my research the difference between women’s history as it emerged in the 1970s and employed not so much to challenge male monopolies but to exercise influence within them. contemporary gender studies is important. Today, gender studies has moved away from a narrow In the following I will analyze two case studies that give an answer to the question: how did women focus on emancipation and equal rights and starts with the recognition of ‘gender’ as a complex within the CIAM from an unequal position succeed in exercising influence? historical and social category. Also, this process happens in creative dialogue with other turns in historiography, such as the postcolonial turn, or the move towards global history. Therefore, it is important to reflect on feminist historical writing and to re-examine its methods and assumptions. The development of women’s history in architecture was closely connected to the so-called Poland: Helena Syrkus second feminist wave that began in the late 1960s. In fact, the earliest considerations of gender The first CIAM congress organized in Switzerland in 1928 resembled an exclusive gentle men’s club, in architecture came as a result of the realisation of the exclusion of women architects from the with architects like Hans Schmidt from Switzerland, Ernst May from Germany and Mart Stam from discipline. A hallmark in this respect was the exhibition Women in American Architecture curated the Netherlands attending. There were however, also two women present, although far less visible: by the architect and scholar Susana Torre and held in the Brooklyn Museum in New York in 1977.2 one was Hélène de Mandrot, who played a crucial role in the foundation of the CIAM and the other The exhibition was part of an inquiry from a feminist point of view of the conditions surrounding women was Molly Weber, a female architect from Hannover (Fig. 1). the production of space, and especially domestic space. Feminist researchers wanted to trace the At the time of this first CIAM meeting, Poland was extent of women’s participation in that production as designers, theoreticians, or users. However, not yet present. However, two weeks after the it was equally important to expose how the subordination of women was embodied in space meeting the Polish architect Symon Syrkus received and the complex role that architectural design played in that subordination. As a consequence, a letter from the secretary of the newly founded doing feminist research in the 1970s and 1980s meant a break with the dominant way of writing CIAM, in which he invited him to become delegate architectural history. It meant a break with the history that is focused exclusively on the figure of the for Poland for the CIRPAC, which was the executive architect and his work, or on movements and styles. Instead, feminist architectural history wanted committee of the CIAM.3 At that time both Simon to describe the social and cultural conditions of space production and the question, how women fit and Helena Syrkus belonged to Poland’s most into the complex puzzle that ensured their invisibility. prominent avant-garde architects. At the end of the Today, it is the question how we can move forward with the legacy of feminist research in 1920s they faced a substantial task: not only were mind. Feminism is ultimately about ending women’s subordination, which in the past implied a they involved in the reconstruction of the country harsh confrontation with male-designed institutions as well as well-defended patriarchal family after its destruction by the Great War, but they were structures. However, today we may raise the question, if this feminist ideology, with its emphasis also engaged in giving the country a new identity Fig. 1. Group photograph, First CIAM Congress, La Sarraz, Switzerland, 1928. on the struggle for equality and rights, did not also lead to a certain simplification. Perhaps today after its independence as a nation state in 1918. Published in Mumford, The CIAM Discourse on we need to take more distance from judgements of good and bad and reductive charges of sexism Like most Polish progressive architects, Simon Urbanism, 1928–1960 (©Gta Archiv/ETH Zürich). and victimization that seems to be implicit in feminist ideology. and Helena Syrkus entertained close relationships To look at women’s history beyond the dominance of feminist ideology means to cast a new focus with international avant-garde movements. Simon on what it meant for women to have an unequal position in the century of equality. It means to Syrkus had received a substantial part of his training abroad; he had studied architecture in Vienna, ask the question after what enabled these women to find their way and to exercise influence. The Graz, Riga and Moscow and in the early 1920s he had spent a couple of years in Berlin, Weimar history of the CIAM congresses provides a good example of how women were able to gain influential and Paris where he became acquainted with the work of Cézanne, De Stijl and the Cubists. Helena positions, while not being among the major protagonists in architecture and while not always being was a well-known figure in Warsaw avant-garde circles; she too had an international focus and her 2  Susana Torre (ed.), Women in American Architecture: A Historic and Contemporary Perspective (New York: Whitney 3  Olgierd Czerner and Hieronimd Listowski (eds.), The Polish Avant-Garde, Architecture and Town Planning, 1918–1919 Library of Design, 1977). (Paris: Editions du Moniteur; Warsaw: Interpress, 1981), 83. MoMoWo 134 MoMoWo 135 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Rixt Hoekstra, Women and Power in the History of Modern Architecture: The Case of the CIAM Women knowledge of languages enabled her to translate Helena Syrkus was born Helena Eliasberg in 1900. She studied architecture at Warsaw’s Technical foreign avant-garde literature into Polish. It is no Academy but she also took drawing lessons and she studied philosophy at the University of Warsaw, surprise then that both Simon and Helena Syrkus in addition to languages.6 So, Helena was many-sided in her range of interests and competences were convinced of the necessity to found a Polish and this defined her professional career. Even if both Simon and Helena had a keen interest in avant-garde journal as a vehicle for the diffusion theory, Simon was more of a prototypical architect, intent on creating a built oeuvre. Helena, on of new ideas. Both were founding members of the other hand, seemed to be able to translate her passion for architecture into a wide range of the journal Blok (‘Block’) followed in 1924 by the activities. As a couple, both Simon and Helena were convinced of the value of modern architecture journal Preasens (latin for ‘present’). for society. Modern architecture was for them the synthesis of the arts, aiming to create a new Although both Helena and Simon Syrkus were space and a new aesthetic for the New Man. The formulation of this doctrine also meant that active in international avant-garde movements, the architecture was for them a matter of teamwork in which the collective was more important than CIAM invitation was addressed solely to Simon. The the individual contribution. This was the modernist paradigm of universality, in which each person direct occasion to invite him was his participation was perceived in the abstract, stripped of gender identity. Thus Helena declared that she was no in the competition for the Palace of the League feminist, because architecture was teamwork in which the gender of each participant was not Fig. 2. Helena Syrkus sitting in between Giedion of Nations organized in Geneva in 1927. Against relevant.7 However, even if this was their ambition, the reality was that within these teams men (standing on the left) and Le Corbusier the background of Le Corbusier’s frustration with were often seen as protagonists while women mostly disappeared into the margins. Helena also (sitting on the right), CIAM IV, 1933. Courtesy of Gta Archiv/ETH Zürich (Nachlass Karl the outcomes of this competition –the outspoken had a marginal position but she was still able to exert a considerable influence. This was first of all Hubacher). modernism of Le Corbusier’s project was rejected due to her unconditional belief in Modernism and her support the ideas of both Le Corbusier and in favour of a more traditional design– Simon Gropius. However, in a more pragmatic way it was equally important that she could make herself Syrkus’ project was judged to be in the right camp ‘useful’ in various ways. It was the variety of her talents that enabled her to do such essential work so to speak: it was a design that attracted the admiration of Le Corbusier.4 as the writing of reports of the discussions held during CIAM meetings, act as interpreter, translate and edit texts. Those were all assisting activities in a way but they also put her in a position where In a self-evident way, Helena Syrkus seems to have followed in the wake of her husband, so that she could exert influence.8 at the time of the first conference of CIRPAC delegates in Basel in 1929 Simon appeared with his working partner and together they presented a plan for a worker’s settlement.5 In this way, as the However, Helena’s role within the CIAM would have been inconceivable without the special position essential other half, Helena obtained her entry-ticket into the CIAM. However, while at first she was that Poland enjoyed in the network. Within the CIAM, Poland was considered a special case and very much part of the ‘Syrkus couple’ and in a way stood in the shadow of her husband, from the a fertile ground, because as a new nation state it was in a sense a tabula rasa in which the theory 1930s onwards she was more or less emancipated within the CIAM and increasingly accepted roles elaborated in the West could be practically applied. Where matters in the West were already fixated and responsibilities independently from him. Thus she was able to obtain an influential position and defined, Poland seemed to offer opportunities to realise planning ideas.9 However, this in no within the CIAM. She was a member from 1928–57, vice-chairwoman 1945–54 and the co-editor way meant that Poland faced a smooth process of growing into a nation state. In fact, besides the of the Charte d’Athènes. She entertained personal friendships with Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius challenge of forging a population with different ethnic origins into a coherent national community, (Fig.2). She saw herself as the chronicler of the CIAM and was interested to research its intellectual the country also faced substantial economic and social problems due to backwardness in many and ideological underpinnings. To understand how Helena could obtain such a central position, regions. At the end of the 1920s, the capital city of Warsaw alone was one of the most densely there are two factors which need to be considered: firstly, her biography and secondly, the specific character of the Polish group within the CIAM. 6  Czerner, Listowski, The Polish Avant-Garde, 283. 7  Maria Lésniakowska, “Simon and Helena Syrkus, Biography,” Culture Place (2015), http: //culture.pl/en/artist/ szymon-and-helena-syrkus (accessed December 23, 2015). 8  Lésniakowska, “Simon and Helena Syrkus”; Mumford, The CIAM Discourse. 9  Martin Kohlrausch, “‘Houses of Glass’: Modern Architecture and the Idea of Community in Poland, 1925–1944,” in 4  Eric Paul Mumford, The CIAM discourse on Urbanism, 1928–1960 (Cambridge Mass.: The MIT Press, 2000), 27. Rajesh Heynickx and Tom Avermaete (eds.), Making a New World: Architecture and Communities in Interwar Europe 5  Czerner, Listowski, The Polish Avant-Garde, 84. (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2012), 93–105. MoMoWo 136 MoMoWo 137 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Rixt Hoekstra, Women and Power in the History of Modern Architecture: The Case of the CIAM Women and highly populated cities of Europe with more then 2000 inhabitants per hectare in its central after he had seen Perriand’s design of districts; also, it was the result of unplanned und uncontrolled growth. In this situation, in which the the so-called ‘Bar in the Attic’ which pressure to solve urban problems was very high, the CIAM became a platform of great importance was exhibited at the 1927 Salon to Polish architects. The ideas and proposals put forward during the CIAM meetings were of great D’Automne, he realized that she could interest to them as the incentive to opt for new solutions was exceptionally strong. In return, Polish provide a substantial contribution to architects gained a certain prestige within the CIAM for their dynamic and intense participation in his studio (Fig. 3). What also played a debates. Also, the radical functionalist plan for Warsaw presented by Simon Syrkus during the IV role in this decision was his defficulty (fourth) CIAM meeting met with approval and admiration within CIAM circles. For Le Corbusier, it in designing a convincing interior. meant a new step in the development of large scale planning methods.10 The prestige of Poland as While designers like Breuer and Stam an active, militant and open-minded group was an important element that contributed to the rise of developed the Wassily chair and the Helena within the CIAM. cantilevered side chair, and while a company called ‘Standard-Möbel’ was created in Germany, Le Corbusier still furnished his villas with either Thonet France: Charlotte Perriand bentwood chairs or with furniture that Fig. 3. Charlotte Perriand, Bar in the Attic, Salon d’Automne, 1927. The designer Charlotte Perriand represents a different type of female protagonist within the CIAM. looked as if it was serially produced Published in McLeod, Charlotte Perriand (©Artists Rights Society). Where Helena Syrkus was part of a couple, Perriand was an autonomous designer who worked for Le but was actually hand made.14 Also, Corbusier: where Helena’s passion for modern architecture was mixed with a talent for writing and in the exhibition for the Weissenhof networking, Perriand was mainly a designer who established a reputation on the basis of her creative Siedlung Le Corbusier had trouble work. Perriand’s design career was intertwined with the figure of the so-called ‘New Woman’ who completing the furniture for his houses.15 He realised that to remain credible in his interior designs after the First World War gained opportunities that were hitherto unheard of.11 In general, for French he needed an expert. With the help of Perriand, Le Corbusier gained a deeper understanding of, for women, the Great War was a turning point, with huge numbers of women entering the workforce, example, the kitchen, the bathroom and of domestic life in general. He was now able to present often in non-traditional jobs.12 During the first part of her career Perriand’s interest in innovative innovative furniture, such as the tubular-steel chair. Le Corbusier’s busy agenda –Perriand arrived design coincided with the daring and independent lifestyle of a New Woman. In the spring of 1927, at the studio at a moment when Le Corbusier’s practice grew and when he became increasingly it was her bravado which led her to go the studio of Le Corbusier to ask for a job. She was by then involved in competitions and urban issues– guaranteed that Perriand had considerable freedom in a 24-year old art school graduate who was bored by the traditional Beaux-Arts designs around shaping interior designs; this also goes for her activities in the CIAM. It is telling that, despite their her. At that time, Le Corbusier’s office was still small, consisting only of Le Corbusier, his partner, differences of opinion about modern life and modern interiors, these issues would never constitute Pierre Jeanneret, and the Swiss architect, Alfred Roth. Le Corbusier’s employment of Perriand a final ground to part ways. Politics did, however. was not without ambivalence. In fact, Le Corbusier was vocal on the issue of women entering the Perriand’s introduction to the world of architecture coincided largely with her ten year-long profession of interior design. In the journal L’Esprit Nouveau, for example, he criticized women for collaboration with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. However, she was not present during the first their ‘nineteenth century’ taste in design and for their ‘lack of an overall sense of order’.13 However, three CIAM congresses. In her autobiography, which was published one year before her death in 1998, Perriand gives as a reason for this absence that she was ‘not yet ready, as I well knew’, indicating the formative value that working for Le Corbusier had for her.16 During the second congress held in 1929 10 Czerner Listowski, The Polish Avant-Garde, 49–53. 11 Mary McLeod, “New Designs for Living, Domestic Equipment of Charlotte Perriand, Le Corbusier, and Pierre Jeanneret, 1928–29,” in Mary McLeod (ed.) Charlotte Perriand: An Art of Living (New York: H.N. Abrams in association with the Architectural League of New York, 2003), 59. 14 Mary McLeod, “New Designs for Living,” 37. 12 Mary McLeod, “New Designs for Living,” 11. 15 Ibid. 13 Le Corbusier, L’Art Décoratif d’aujourd’hui (Paris: Crès, 1925), 136–37, now in Mary McLeod, “New Designs for Living,” 16 Charlotte Perriand, Charlotte Perriand: A life of Creation: An Autobiography (New York: The Monacelli Press, 1998), 37. 55. MoMoWo 138 MoMoWo 139 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Rixt Hoekstra, Women and Power in the History of Modern Architecture: The Case of the CIAM Women new recruits, including Perriand, received their chance within the CIAM; this was in the year 1933.18 Perriand was recruited together with other colleagues from Le Corbusier’s studio who, together with architects like Bossu and Nitzsche, had to keep the group running. Le Corbusier himself had little time to engage in CIAM affairs. He was concerned mainly with its general supervision and direction. The organisation of CIAM Five, dedicated to the theme of Logis et Loisirs, was one of Perriand’s main tasks (Fig. 6).19 As part of the preparations of CIAM Five, Perriand was present as a member of the French group at the CIRPAC meeting held September 1936 at the castle of La Sarraz. During this meeting, it was discussed Fig. 6. Charlotte Perriand, with Grete Hubacher and that the French and Catalan group would prepare a Sert, CIAM IV, 1933. Courtesy of Gta Archive/ETH Zürich (Nachlass Karl Hubacher) publication based on the outcomes of CIAM Four and aimed at a wide audience. Also, a provisional program was discussed containing, among others, Fig. 4. Charlotte Perriand, Le Corbusier, Small Fig. 5. Charlotte Perriand, Le Corbusier, Jeanneret, Stam’s functional city analysis of Berlin.20 However, bedroom of Equipment for a dwelling as an example Apartment for a couple with three, four, five, six children in January 1937 Le Corbu, Jeanneret, Perriand, Sert and Weismann decided to abandon, without of the 14 square meter cell, published in 1931 by (as part of the plans for Radiant City), 1930. Le Corbusier in the journal Plan. Published in McLeod, Charlotte Perriand consulting the other CIAM members, the decisions of the 1936 La Sarraz meeting, in favour of a Published in McLeod, Charlotte Perriand (©Artists Rights Society). theme which they considered to be more urgent: that of the dwelling. Inseparably linked to this (©Artists Rights Society). concept was, according to them, the theme of ‘leisure’.21 This high-handed decision of the French group should also be seen in the context of the difficult political situation in Europe around that time. By the middle of the 1930s, Hitler was gaining territory in Germany and Mussolini felt secure in Frankfurt she did contribute in an indirect way through her work in Le Corbusier’s atelier. In line enough to invade Ethiopia. In reaction to these developments, the French Communist Party agreed with the theme of this congress: ‘Minimal Dwelling’, Perriand went through great pains to think of a to form a coalition with other leftist parties, called the Popular Front. This strategy was extremely suitable interior design for a family with children who had to live in a very small home (Figs. 4 and 5). successful: the leader of the Popular Front, Léon Blum, was elected Prime Minister in June 1936. The French CIAM group was highly international –reflecting the multicultural metropolis that Paris Against this background, the preparations for CIAM Five, which was to be held in Paris in 1937, was at the time– but also slightly chaotic and tainted by internal dissent.17 The French architectural were strongly politicized. As Mumford claims, around this time Le Corbusier began to use the CIAM avant-garde at this time was highly organized but at the same time not a unified front. The first French CIAM group largely coincided with another group of progressive architects: the Union des Architectes Modernes de France. Both groups only had male members: architects like Willy Boesiger, Philippe 18 Enrico Chapel, “France – From Paris to Athens,” in: Van Es, Atlas of the Functional City, 148. Jourdain and Pierre Jeanneret were members. It was only after the first group had dispersed that 19 There is very little reception of the activities of Perriand in the CIAM by critics. In general, the designs of Perriand received wide coverage in the press. However, most critics discussed the objects designed by her – furniture for example or apartment plans. This often occurred on occasion of an exhibition in which she participated, such as the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs of 1928. However, her organisational activities within the CIAM were rarely a theme for critics. See: Mary McLeod, Charlotte Perriand, 62–65. 17 Evelien van Es et al. (eds.), Atlas of the Functional City: CIAM 4 and Comparative Urban Analysis (Bussum: Toth 20 Mumford, The CIAM Discourse, 105. Publishers; Zürich: GTA Verlag, 2014), 148–161. 21 Mumford, The CIAM Discourse, 110. MoMoWo 140 MoMoWo 141 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Rixt Hoekstra, Women and Power in the History of Modern Architecture: The Case of the CIAM Women and the upcoming congress to convince the French left wing of his sympathy for the Communist embracing a small nonconformist movement called Regional Syndicalism.28 However, increasingly Party: he wanted the support of the Popular Front government for his proposals on among others Perriand’s commitment to reform extended beyond Le Corbusier’s political position. She produced agrarian reform. 22 In this way, the fifth CIAM congress, which was held at the end of June 1937 in independent designs with the goal of awakening both her colleagues and the public to urban poverty Paris, did not continue earlier CIAM approaches that had emphasized analytical rigor and scientific and suffering. Perriand also started to write Marxist articles; in January 1935, for example, she inevitability - see for example thèFunctional Cityéxhibition organized in Amsterdam in 1935. wrote a Marxist critique of current dwelling for the magazine L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui.29 Instead, a theme was chosen that was in line with the policies and ideals of the Popular Front: what The years leading to the fifth CIAM congress in 1937 saw a deepening of the conflict between Le was now at stake was city planning as the blueprint for a balanced society.23 A more broad-based Corbusier and the younger, Marxist inspired generation. Illustrative of the widening gap between Le appeal to the masses was made, and leisure-time possibilities were perceived as an integral part of Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand was a conflict about the Pavillon des Temps Nouveaux exposed at these needs. Concretely, the program of CIAM Five consisted of a large number of speakers: three the Exposition Internationale des Arts et des Techniques dans la Vie Moderne which was organised in main talks and an extensive number of ‘interventions and communications.’ Perriand was involved the same year as CIAM Five, in 1937.30 In 1934, Le Corbusier decided the French CIAM group would in the organisation of these talks.24 The end of CIAM Five coincided with the inauguration of the also participate in the international exposition. Perriand became responsible for the organisation Pavillon des Temps Nouveaux in July 1937. It was Perriand’s task to design the interior decoration of of a collective show of the CIAM group. Inspired by her left-wing commitment, Perriand suggested the Pavillon, which consisted of a blue, white and red canvas tent, with an interior steel framework to Le Corbusier to bring a group of young Communist designers into the show. Le Corbusier did and adorned with political slogans and photomontage murals. It was also Perriand’s task to design not have any interest in the ideas of this group but he did see it as a chance to gain the sympathy its exhibition, dedicated to the ideas of the CIAM.25 of the left-wing intelligentsia. It was also a source of free labour to him. Le Corbusier promised the During the first years of her CIAM activities, Perriand was still fully loyal to Le Corbusier. In 1934, young designers they would be full members in the ‘collective’ CIAM project and that they would for example, Perriand took the initiative to write a letter to the French CIAM group in which she receive a normal salary. However, the designers never received any money or the opportunity to do complained about her colleague André Lurçat, who was also a French CIAM member. During a interesting work. They had been just free labour force. Perriand was outraged with this situation. Soviet conference on Western Architecture organized in January 1934, Lurçat had denounced The gap between her political idealism and Le Corbusier’s opportunistic behaviour had become too Le Corbusier as a capitalist architect, perhaps even a fascist. Perriand was worried that Lurçat’s wide. Perriand decided to quit both Le Corbusier’s atelier and the unfinished pavilion. The CIAM statements would threaten the unity of the French group.26 Later on, the unity was indeed broken, history at this point also came to an end for her. with Perriand choosing the side of Lurçat and the revolutionaries. In this way, Perriand had been a member of the French CIAM for a relatively short period, from The middle of the 1930s signalled the years when Perriand was most active for the CIAM however, 1933–1937. Still, she did succeed in exercising a certain influence. During the Frankfurt congress during these years she also gradually distanced herself from Le Corbusier. This departure should she played an important role in changing the scope of Le Corbusier’s designs from a clientele that be seen against the background of her growing interest in both leftist politics and social issues.27 was well-to-do to a clientele of modest means. She designed the small bedroom of the Equipment Perriand started to attend Communist meetings and became engaged in left-wing cultural events. for a Dwelling which Le Corbusier presented at the 1930 CIAM meeting in Brussels to illustrate Whereas her taste in design had been up to that point rather luxurious and elitist, she now changed a 14-square-meter unit. She also designed the apartment plans based on that unit and made for to a more egalitarian and populist style. Up to 1934, Perriand’s agenda was still on a par with that bachelors and families with three, four, five and six children, later published in the journal Plan (Figs. of Le Corbusier who himself had become increasingly involved with social and political issues, 4 and 5).31 In the second place, Perriand played a role in raising the political awareness within the CIAM. Up to the 1930s, the CIAM had always regarded itself as linked in a somewhat loose way to 22 Mumford, The CIAM Discourse, 103. 28 Joan Ockman, “Lessons from the Objects: Perriand from the Pioneer Years to the ‘Epoch of Realities’,” in McLeod, 23 Mumford, The CIAM Discourse, 110. Charlotte Perriand, 162. 24 Ibid. 29 Udovicki-Selb, “‘C’était dans l’air du temps’,” 81; McLeod, “Charlotte Perriand’s Art de vivre,” 14. 25 It was, as Mumford, states, a ‘low-budget shrine to the CIAM….’ presenting what was labelled as the CIAM-CIRPAC 30 Udovicki-Selb, “‘C’était dans l’air du temps’,” 75–76; Van Es, Atlas of the Functional City, 160. ‘Resolutions of the Athens Congress’ of 1933. Mumford, The CIAM Discourse, 115. 31 The small bedroom was part of the model apartment shown at the Salon d’Automne of 1929. This was a large 26 Mumford, The CIAM Discourse, 93. apartment for the middle class. In his paper for the 1929 Frankfurt CIAM congress, Le Corbusier used the small 27 Danilo Udovicki-Selb, “‘C’était dans l’air du temps’, Charlotte Perriand and the Popular Front,” in McLeod (ed.), bedroom of this apartment as an illustration of his residential cells of 14 square meters. See: McLeod, “New Designs Charlotte Perriand, 69–89. for Living,” 64. MoMoWo 142 MoMoWo 143 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Rixt Hoekstra, Women and Power in the History of Modern Architecture: The Case of the CIAM Women the collectivist politics of the left. However, in the 1930s, Perriand reminded the CIAM members of the need to choose sides, rather than rendering oneself available to each power that was willing to modernise. Her clash with Le Corbusier can, in this way, also be regarded as illustrative of a wider discussion within the CIAM. Conclusion So, how did Syrkus and Perriand succeed in gaining influence in the CIAM? Firstly, what was important was their association with an established, influential male architect. This literally opened doors for them. Secondly, both Syrkus and Perriand were, at the time of their CIAM participation, passionate Modernists. They considered themselves part of the cultural avant-garde and did not contend with society’s conventions. Within the CIAM, Helena Syrkus had the possibility to grow into an autonomous role, based on her non-architectural qualities. Syrkus displayed intellectual qualities and was interested in the ideology of the Modern Movement. For Perriand the situation was different: as a designer working for Le Corbusier, loyalty to the boss always played a role. However, even in this limited space, Perriand succeeded in leaving a mark. Rixt Hoekstra Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main I work as Program Manager Research at the Design Academy in Eindhoven. I finished my dissertation on Tafuri called ‘Building versus Bildung, Manfredo Tafuri and the construction of a historical discipline’ in 2006. I specialise in the fields of modern architectural theory, historiography, and the development of architectural discourse in the twentieth century. In the past years, I have published, among others, about the influence of poststructuralism in the work of Dutch architect- intellectuals for the journal of Archimeara: Architektur. Kultur. Kontext (2013) and about the development of architectural discourse in the Communist GDR, published in The Journal of History & Theory of Architecture (2014). In addition, I have published about the possibility of (architectural) critique in a neoliberal society, amongst others, in the book Is there (Anti) Neoliberal Architecture? (Berlin, 2013). Also, I was one of the editors of the book The Death and Life of the Total Work of Art (Berlin, 2015) which is the conference paper of the 12th International Bauhaus Kolloquium held in 2013 in Weimar. This paper is part of my Habilitation on the role of female actors in the CIAM. E-mail: Titiarixt.hoekstra@gmail.com MoMoWo 144 MoMoWo 145 Paola Zanotto https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.08 Planning Education by Post: During the Second World War the exceptional conditions of the conflict gave opportunities to women in several fields to challenge themselves in tasks normally undertaken by men. It was thanks to the Jaqueline Tyrwhitt’s War Correspondence opportunity to replace a man during the war that the English town planner, educator and editor, Mary Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, started her career. Called Jacky by friends and colleagues, she was born Course in South Africa in 1905, and spent her life across London, Toronto, Cambridge in the US, and Athens, where she died in 1983. It’s impossible to bestow a single definition on Jaqueline Tyrwhitt: during her life she worked as town planner, educator, coordinator, editor, secretary, curator, translator, and more. It’s not possible, either, to link her to a specific group. During her life she joined numerous national and international organisations and she also contributed to the foundation of institutions and forums of a global scale. The most relevant and famous institutions she worked for are the British Ministry of Information, the United Nations and the Graduate School of Design at the Harvard University. She helped and supported renowned scholars during her life, such as Sigfried Giedion, Josè Luis Sert and Constantinos Doxiadis, even though her name has rarely emerged in association with any one of them, except in very recent times.1 After her death in 1983, in fact, no research was This paper constitutes part of a larger research project the author carried about undertaken about the life and career of Jaqueline Tyrwhitt for nearly 20 years, until Professor Ellen the life and career of the English town planner, editor and educator Jaqueline Shoshkes from the Portland University and a few other scholars started to explore the subject. Tyrwhitt. The paper will investigate her contribution as director at the School of In particular, a fundamental contribution on the subjekt of this paper has been produced by the Planning and Regional Reconstruction in London and the war correspondence Professor Ines Zalduendo from the Graduate School of Design.2 course she organized. During the Second World War, in 1942, Jaqueline Tyrwhitt was invited to replace the director E. A. A. Rowse, during his service in the army. During her education Jaqueline studied at the Royal Horticulture Society, in London, where she On that occasion she started to direct a war correspondence course for people obtained her diploma in horticulture in 1924. After studying at the Architectural Association, and who were serving in the Allied Forces; the double aims of the course were to at the London School of Economics until 1927, she moved to Germany to follow a Town Planning invite people to take part in the reconstruction process after the end of the war and to educate planners and officers for the application of the New Town Act. course, particularly Land Settlement, at the Technische Hochschule, Berlin University, in 1937. Due The school was recognised as an institution and the course enabled graduates to the political situation in Germany, after a year she had to return to England, where she obtained to register as a member of the Town Planning Institute. The lessons were of an honour diploma at the School of Planning and Regional Reconstruction Development. a multidisciplinary nature, from economy to geography, architecture to law, and sociology to rural studies. The model of the war correspondence course was unique and original in its purpose and its goals, and enabled hundreds of professional to take part to the post-war reconstruction. 1  Ellen Shoshkes, Jaqueline Tyrwhitt: A Transnational Life in Urban Planning and Design (Burlington, USA: Ashgate, 2013). 2  Inès Zalduendo, “Jaqueline Tyrwhitt’s Correspondence Courses: Town Planning in the Trenches” (paper presented Keywords: planning, school, interdisciplinary, reconstruction, practice, team work at Harvard University Graduate School of Design Special Collections, April 2005), 1–11. MoMoWo 147 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Paola Zanotto, Planning Education by Post: Jaqueline Tyrwhitt’s War Correspondence Course This paper will present the very start of Tyrwhitt’s career in educational institutions. This represented The course was organised in three main parts: Background for Planning, Planning Factors and the first episode of a lifelong series of occasions for Jaqueline to be involved in institutional reforms, Planning Practice. Background for Planning contained a general introduction of basic concepts, editorial projects, and in the evolution of the town planning and architecture disciplines. The such as the shaping of the urban environment, the land use policies and the importance of taking experience illustrated below was a fundamental training experience for Jaqueline herself and not into account the nature of the existing context: Rural Community and Urban Community were just for her students: some of the principles introduced in the war correspondence course had been illustrated as models in this part of the course, together with a brief history of town planning in then implemented in the construction of the new faculty of Urban Design, inaugurated with Jose Britain. Planning factors introduced social aspects of town planning and the methods to obtain Luis Sert in 1959. The context where Jaqueline had the first opportunity to enter the educational information. A major part was dedicated to different kinds of survey and analysis, including social system was the School of Planning and Regional Reconstruction (SPRR), founded in 1935 originally survey. For this part of the course, Jaqueline Tyrwhitt had the aid of the sociologist Ruth Glass, at as a post-graduate extension of the Architectural Association. The School became an independent the time considered a notable exponent of the field. A number of quite innovative concepts were association in 1940 due to financial problems and internal politics. Although the level of its courses introduced in the lectures, for example, the idea to establish a community centre integrated within was recognised by the Town Planning Institute, the new SPRR had to be financially self-sustained with the planning layout, to serve as a gathering place for the community and that was associated with annual subscriptions from individuals and grants from professional and learned societies. In 1941 democratic values.4 Another chapter of the Planning factors part included the list and structure the SPRR, where Jaqueline had obtained a diploma years earlier, called her to temporarily replace of the institutions and local administrations entitled to be involved in planning decision, with their E.A.A. Rowse, who had to leave for military service. Without any previous experience in education, areas of influence. This was particularly important in operative terms, as the planners formed at Jaqueline became Director of the SPRR from 1941 to 1948. She supervised a small team with whom the war correspondence course were trained to serve in the local town and county councils and she proposed a new agenda for the Association, including education and research projects. For therefore it was instrumental for them to know the system they would work in. Planning Practice, the the research department she coordinated the production of a series of maps of Britain with the third and last part of the course, considers planning to a larger scale and the necessity for regional geographer Eva Taylor, experimenting with new standards of graphic representation to describe a surveys. One of the topics introduced was the concept of interdependence of planning decisions territory in all its complexity, including physical, social and economic features. During the same and their impact on the social and economic context. The potential scale of consequences of period the War Office commissioned the education department at the SPRR to prepare ‘the official decision making on an area beyond its boundaries was illustrated to justify the need of an effective Army Education correspondence course in Town and Country Planning’.3 Jaqueline accepted the integration between different aspects of the rural and urban planning. commission and organised three courses for architects and planners who were serving with the Some lessons concerned urban settlements as part of a wider system such us the attention Allied Armed Forces. The courses involved over 2000 people altogether, including members of the dedicated to traffic and connectivity, the study of the relationship between the town centres and armed forces of the United Nations. the open countryside, and the importance of woodlands. The last lesson, titled Interpretation of The war correspondence course offered three independent courses, depending on the background of Survey, was dedicated to land use on a regional scale and the centrality of the analysis of the the students enrolled: one was reserved for people who had already passed the final examination as existing context. This is particularly representative of the influence derived from one of Tyrwhitt’s architects, surveyors or engineers the second was dedicated to professionals in the allied branches most important mentors: the Scottish biologist Patrick Geddes (1854–1932). During his life spent of planning that could, on obtaining the diploma, apply for an intermediate examination of the Town between the United Kingdom and India, Geddes introduced pioneering studies in urban planning. He Planning Institute; the third course was offered to anyone who was interested in planning but who explored the complex interaction between natural and man-made systems and coined neologisms was not seeking a particular qualification. Jaqueline Tyrwhitt presented the courses’ curricula in a such as the term ‘conurbation’. Geddes also extended the study of urban settlements to the regional sort of open day of the school on 19 October 1944. Each one of the courses had specific goals: the scale, elaborated the ‘conservative survey’ as a design method in urban areas, and underlined the first course in particular aimed to mitigate the disruption of the education of those who had been essential importance of the preliminary research on the existing contexts before proceeding to the demobilised, but all three courses aimed to introduce post-war reconstruction planning principles draft of new proposals for a place. Moreover, he urged the study of the interrelationship between and to build a cultural basis for the restoration of cities and towns after the conflict. built form and social problems in the city. He was, in Tyrwhitt’s and others’ opinions, ‘the father of 3  Zalduendo, “Jaqueline Tyrwhitt’s,” 4. 4  Zalduendo, “Jaqueline Tyrwhitt’s,” 8. MoMoWo 148 MoMoWo 149 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Paola Zanotto, Planning Education by Post: Jaqueline Tyrwhitt’s War Correspondence Course the town planning,’5 and his influence is well-reflected in Tyrwhitt’s work. From these lectures Tyrwhitt extracted the contents to set a proper educational publication, titled The war correspondence course consisted of a sequence of lectures sent as booklets; theoretical The Town and Country Planning Textbook. On the back cover the publication is presented as ‘an and practical knowledge were closely related in every issue. The synthesis of knowledge in planning indispensable book for town planners, architects, and students,’7 and was finally published in 1950. was very hard to achieve in the form of the few pages sent to the war front, and Tyrwhitt’s task The textbook was a compendium of different contributions selected from the lectures sent by consisted in coordinating the various contributions and editing the publication. One of the goals of post. It counted 29 authors of different disciplines, among them some long term collaborators of the course was to introduce the concept of collaborative work: the program trained the students to Tyrwhitt, for example Brenda Colvin, Ruth Glass, and some of her mentors, for example Sir George work in teams and to relate to statistics and surveys made by professionals from other branches of Pepler and Lord J. Forrester. The anthology is presented as a collection of studies that reflects the knowledge. Probably the most innovative aspect introduced in the lectures was the bridging nature nature of the town planning discipline, demonstrating how it is not constrained by fixed boundaries of the town planning field, which in Tyrwhitt’s mind had to mediate, translate and orient a multiple and how it is cross fertilised by several branches of knowledge. Particular relevance is given to series of contributions from different experts. In her mind planners must be the final ‘shapers of the comprehension of a survey method for the economic, social and geographic conditions of an the environment’6 the conductors of the orchestra. The program of lectures and the structure of the existing context. The textbook was indented to be used as an introduction of all the subjects a school were practice-orientated. At the end of every part students had to complete a test, with written planner should be aware of before making any judgement or planning decision. The design process text, diagrams of sketches and plans, which had to be posted back and checked by the teaching is described as central in the work of the planner. All the elements of architectural design are board. Jaqueline Tyrwhitt was also in charge of putting together a team of individuals from different described as essential and none –for example proportion, harmony and contrast, colour and unity– backgrounds and involving economists, planners, geographers and many other experts. The group in are subject to compromise. charge of writing the lectures was formed, finally, by thirteen specialists, plus other staff members Jaqueline wrote a chapter for the textbook, entitled ‘Survey for Planning’, where she ‘provides the also coordinated by Tyrwhitt. The graduates of the war correspondence course were qualified to be first explicit discussion of ‘the overlay technique’.’8 The layering concept was introduced in the associate members of the Town Planning Institute. 19th century in landscape architecture and planning. The maps, hand-drawn through sun prints The headquarters of the APRR, the association that ran the war correspondence course, was produced on windows, have been used by professionals such as Frederick Law Olmsted, Lynn established in 153 New Bond Street, in London. During an air raid in London the building housing Miller and Charles Eliot, but it was only an operative procedure at the time, with no theoretical the APRR offices was damaged. However, Tyrwhitt managed the continued operations of the School explanation. The method was known by different names, for example ‘the sieve method’,9 according with the important help of Judith Lebedoer (1901–1990). She, a successful architect and a leading to Sir George Pepler. It was popularised by Professor Eva Taylor, who taught Geography at Birkbeck force in post-war Britain, was also the co-founder, with two other women, of the Housing Centre in College and was a prominent figure in that field in the UK. She was probably the person who taught London. Tyrwhitt about the method that consisted of the selection of a defined area, of which the surveyor draws several maps, each one representing a single feature from the survey, drawn on a transparent Until 1947, the APRR worked on two fronts, research and education. Theu conducted research sheet of paper. All maps have to be to the same scale, with the same framing, and on every layer surveys in preparation for town and country planning schemes, and provided education to the the surveyor should draught a recognisable element, such as a river or the coastal line. The different hundreds of new planners that contributed to the reconstruction of the English and American cities. layers could then be placed one on the top of the other which allowed the surveyor to see how many Because of the unconventional situation during the war Jaqueline had the opportunity to put into factors co-exist in a particular place. practice a multidisciplinary model, and the experience she gained with the SPRR was essential also for her approach in her course at the Harvard University where she started to teach in 1954. At the APRR Tyrwhitt worked for the production of maps with new survey methods, stimulated In this period she started her first lecture tour of foreign universities, sent by the British Ministry of by Sir George Pepler ‘who had pioneered the application of Geddes’ principles of regional survey Information to present Town Planning Policies under War Conditions in the US and Canada. in the field of planning, just as Taylor had in the field of applied geography’.10 The cartographic 7  APRR, The Town and Country Planning textbook (London: The Architectural Press, 1950). 8  Carl Steinitz, Paul Parker and Lawrie Jordan, “Hand-Drawn Overlays: Their History and Prospective Uses,” in 5  Milos Perovic’s interview to Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, in “Mary Jaqueline Tyrwhitt: In memoriam,” Ekistics 52 (September– Landscape Architecture 66, no. 5 (1976), 444–55. October 1985). 9  Sir George Pepler papers, drawer 13 Box 4 Folder 9, University of Strathclyde Archives, Glasgow. 6  Perovic, “Mary Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, 420. 10 Shoshkes, Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, 62. MoMoWo 150 MoMoWo 151 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Paola Zanotto, Planning Education by Post: Jaqueline Tyrwhitt’s War Correspondence Course investigation was, in Tyrwhitt’s mind, just part of a broader issue concerning scientific planning, has been extraordinary and had no equal at the time the course was launched. This experience and the research about survey tools aimed to provide instruments to read the existing reality of the might have been limited in terms of number of students, or number of publications, but clear signs city and to analyse new projects. Visual data can, in fact, convey large amount of information about of echo can be found in further experiences in Tyrwhitt’s career, especially in the foundation of space in a concise manner, whether the data concerns an existing condition or a new proposal. the Urban Design Faculty. What emerged from this investigation about Jaqueline’s career is that The overlay technique now constitutes the basis for all Geographic Information System (GIS) her experience with the APRR was extremely important in shaping her personal thinking about software, as for Computer Aided Design (CAD) and graphically-oriented software such as Adobe architectural and planning education, and the result of this influence can be found in her late career Photoshop. What started just as a survey method, but later became a design tool, and now the at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard, for example, in the promotion of ‘a model of training overlay technique is widely used in all technical drawing, analogue and digital. Especially from the based both on theory and practice’.13 Jaqueline’s choices for both the correspondence course and 1990s both geography and spatial planning have seen a growing influence in using computational the textbook derived from her interest in crossing humanistic and scientific cultures, reflecting her tools in spatial analysis and in spatial design.11 The layer technique is now a widely used system though as educator and planner. that helps to organise data according to their spatial location, and it is still applied on a daily basis Jaqueline Tyrwhitt managed to transform a temporary and quite unstable situation, in this case the by researchers and professionals. replacement as school director during the war, into a unique opportunity to experiment and venture The overlay technique was accepted and implemented during the reconstruction phase after the into new paths for the development of a discipline, and the reconstruction of a country. Second World War and for the application of the New Town Act, for which the course directed by Tyrwhitt had been founded and supported. Some of the students who enrolled in the course implemented the principles absorbed at the APRR. One of the students of the correspondence course offered by Tyrwhitt after the war was Ian McHarg, who later became a Scottish landscape architect and a renowned writer on regional planning. From Tyrwhitt’s course he was introduced to the concept of suitability analysis, an important factor in his career. After the course McHarg committed himself to promoting a better relationship between the built space and the natural environment. He was convinced that one of the reasons why the environment was not properly integrated as an aspect in planning and design project was the lack of knowledge about the territory, and he used the overlay technique to quantify and display information, and make them meaningful. Later in his career McHarg worked on methods and techniques for ecological planning and he ‘provided an orderly procedure for ecological planning. […] This procedure involves overlaying mapped information to reveal opportunities and constraints for potential land uses.’12 The overlay technique was then been popularised by McHarg’s work. This episode constitutes only one of the possible examples of the evolution to which Jaqueline Tyrwhitt contributed and which was triggered and promoted through her teaching and editing. The real influence of the war correspondence course post-war is hard to measure, but certainly the breadth and depth of the studies at the APRR, both in terms of research and educational programs, 11 Jeroen Van Schaick and Ina Klaasen, “The Dutch Layers Approach to Spatial Planning and Design: A Fruitful Planning Tool or a Temporary Phenomenon?” (article, Department of Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology), https://www.academia.edu/812633/The_Dutch_Layers_Approach_to_Spatial_Planning_ and_Design_A_Fruitful_Planning_Tool_or_a_Temporary_Phenomenonpaper downloaded from the author profile on academia.eu (accessed February 3, 2015). 12 Ian L. McHarg and Frederick R. Steiner (eds.), To Heal the Earth: Selected Writings of Ian McHarg, (Washington: Island Press, 1998), 203–5. 13  Zalduendo, “Jaqueline Tyrwhitt’s,” 2. MoMoWo 152 MoMoWo 153 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Paola Zanotto IUAV University of Venice Paola Zanotto graduated with distinction from the University of Venice, Italy, in 2010. In July 2015 Paola completed an international PhD program in architecture with a thesis on the construction of new knowledge and theory-making process about Cities, illustrated from the point of view of the English town planner, edu- cator and editor Jaqueline Tyrwhitt. Since 2010 Paola has been carrying out her PhD research and working in architectural practices in Italy and the UK, as she considers theoretical research and professional activity mutually enriching and stimulating. E-mail: paola.zan8@gmail.com MoMoWo 154 Helena Seražin ‘The House is Her World.’ With the separation of work and family life, which took place as early as The Home the 19th century, the bourgeois family home lost its decisive function as a space of production Introduction and became the area dedicated to the families’ reproduction and rest. The woman was faced with the task of creating a lovely home and space for family representation, while her domestic chores within the ‘non-working environment’ ceased to be recognised as a proper work. Due to the specific socialisation of women –the system that legitimised the patriarchal authority, which prescribed women’s lives by denying them of their own abilities and promoting their singular role as housewives, wives and mothers– the ideas of the 19th century persisted in the European society long into the 1940s and 1950s, most ardently in dictatorship regimes such as Franco’s Spain. As Ana María Fernández García explains in her article, a special women’s organisation, called Women’s Section organised training courses for women as ‘home managers’, where they learned mostly about house-keeping. With State and Church prescribing and controlling domestic life, women lost what had remained of their independence. The courses trained them in the newly revived popular craftwork, decoration, furnishing and manual arts, providing an alternative to developing their creativity through higher education, which was not available to them. With women’s changing social status and their fight for equality and independence from the end of the 19th century onwards, improvement of domestic life became one of the priorities. Women’s magazines such as the Dutch Feminist De Werkende Vrouw (The Working Woman) or Slovene Žena in dom (Women and Home), Ženski svet (Women’s World) and Gospodinja (Housewife) advocated the Modern Movement of the 1920s and 1930s, seeking purity and simplicity in the design through rationalisation, standardisation and geometry. This functional aesthetic was in tune with striving for efficient domestic work which would provide women with more time for their professional activities and participation in public life. On the other hand, a visually professionalised working place such as the kitchen (the Frankfurt kitchen by Margarete Schütte Lihotzky) was supposed to increase the status of the housewife and acknowledge her domestic work. However, by adopting ‘male’ functionalism (e.g. by Gerrit Rietveld), which held the ‘bad bourgeois female taste’ in disregard, feminists such as An Harrenstein Schräder paradoxically surrendered the last distinctly ‘female’ domain to men and, as Naomi Verbeek concludes in her article, ‘women could only achieve equality by adopting male values.’ An exception to the rule is the case of Slovene women’s magazines which MoMoWo 156 MoMoWo 157 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 spread ideas about modern housing culture, amongst others. Based on her analysis, Alenka Di Battista established that the articles were written by leading Slovene male functionalist architects and their female colleagues, the first generation of Slovene women architects. While all authors (regardless of gender) tackled similar topics on interior design, furniture design or house design for middle-class readers, women architects also contributed the ground-breaking articles on working class apartments, farmhouse architecture and landscape design, being aware of the fact that not all their readers could afford the lifestyle pictured in most of the articles. MoMoWo 158 Naomi Verbeek https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.09 ‘De Werkende Vrouw: in Huis en Maatschappij’: Introduction Dutch Feminism, Fashion and Design This research focuses on a Dutch feminist magazine called De Werkende Vrouw: in Huis en 1930–1931 Maatschappij (The Working Woman: At Home and in Society). The Amsterdam-based magazine was first published in January 1930 and continued to be published regularly until September 1931, with a total of 14 issues (Table 1). In this paper I will try to answer the following question: In what way are the social and feminist ideals that are promoted in De Werkende Vrouw reflected in the design, fashion and domestic culture shown in the magazine? I will argue that the social agenda of the magazine highly influenced the fashion and interior design choices that were made by the editorial office and I will clarify the particular role founder and editor-in-chief An Harrenstein- This paper focuses on an Amsterdam based feminist magazine published from Schräder (1888–1951) has played in this. 1930 to 1931 called De Werkende Vrouw: in Huis en Maatschappij (The Working To do so, I will first elaborate on the social ideals of De Werkende Vrouw to further clarify their Woman: at Home and in Society). The magazine’s founder and editor-in-chief feminist goals. Leading women from the Dutch women’s rights movement wrote engaged articles, An Harrenstein-Schräder was connected to members of Dutch women’s right movements as well as avant-garde modernist artists and designers. She created interviews and opinion pieces on women’s labour, career opportunities, working conditions, women’s a magazine that had a unique perspective for the Netherlands. On the one hand clubs, and marriage law. The magazine’s aim was to reach a modern group of women with ambition, it promoted equality in the workplace and better chances for women to enter all who wanted to combine a career with taking care of their homes, household and families. In De professions. On the other hand De Werkende Vrouw is a rich source of articles Werkende Vrouw they found a great number of articles supporting their ideas. on the rational modern home, avant-garde design, and progressive fashion and workwear. At the same time De Werkende Vrouw contained articles with very modern ideas on design, the This paper seeks to analyse the relationship between the social and feminist home and fashion. The fashion section showed the latest trends, as well as work- and sportswear. ideals and the interior design and fashion promoted by the magazine. I will argue In the second part of this paper I will further examine the relation between the editorial fashion that the former highly influenced the latter. In doing so, I will try to shed new light choices and the identity of the target audience of the magazine. In order to understand the magazine on the connections between the Dutch modernist movement and contemporary it seems important to understand who this 1930s ‘working woman’ was. I will argue that the feminist feminist thinking. My discussion furthermore includes the role that gender connotations played in the way the interior decoration, design and fashion were ideals of the magazine were reflected in these fashion choices. viewed in the 1930s and the notions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ taste. Finally, with these issues addressed, the content of the magazine on the modern home will be analysed. Efficiency, the rational kitchen and innovative social housing projects were brought to the Keywords: magazines, the modern home, avant-garde design, gender identity, attention of the readers in almost every edition. But even more interesting is the fact that avant- fashion garde artist Gerrit Rietveld also contributed to the magazine by submitting articles with his ideas on MoMoWo 161 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Naomi Verbeek, ‘De Werkende Vrouw: in Huis en Maatschappij’: Dutch Feminism, Fashion and Design 1930–1931 architecture and interior design.1 An Harrenstein-Schräder was Women and society: Feminism in De Werkende Vrouw not only connected to well-known women’s rights activists and At the end of the nineteenth century the resistance against the subordination of women grew writers, but also surrounded herself with artists who visited her stronger and became more organised in the Netherlands.6 Women of the first feminist wave (which home in Amsterdam frequently, and Rietveld was amongst lasted from approximately 1880 until 1920) demanded more political influence and economic them.2 He was responsible for building the famous Rietveld independence. Middle class women were leading in the foundation and organisation of unions such Schröder House in Utrecht in 1924.3 The inhabitant and co- as the Nationale Vrouwenraad (National Women’s Council) in 1878 and the Nederlandse Vereniging designer of the dwelling, Truus Schröder-Schräder (1889–1985), voor Vrouwenkiesrecht (Dutch Union for Women’s Suffrage) in 1894. Their position had been even was the sister of An Harrenstein-Schräder.4 Together with more limited than the one of working class women. Middle class women were expected to solely Rietveld, she influenced the magazine in a crucial way. Six years focus on their housekeeping tasks and the upbringing of the children once they were married, and thereafter, Rietveld also designed the cover of De Werkende when the income of the husband was enough to make ends meet. They had no alternative lives. Vrouw (Fig. 1). The value of women’s labour was, despite this, celebrated at the Nationale Tentoonstelling van It is only within this context that De Werkende Vrouw has been Vrouwenarbeid (National Exhibition of Women’s Labour) in The Hague in 1898: a landmark exhibition addressed briefly in a small number of publications until now.5 organised by over 500 women.7 It combined shows on trade, industry, and applied arts with Alice T. Friedman and Marjan Groot both mention the magazine’s congresses on women’s issues. With over 94,000 visitors the exhibition was a great success.8 From existence but do not elaborate much on the subject. By the profit of the exhibition the Nationaal Bureau voor Vrouwenarbeid (National Bureau of Women’s researching the altogether rare magazine, new light might be labour) was founded in 1901. The bureau was supposed to realise the goals set by the Nationale shed on the connections between the Dutch Modernist Vereeniging voor Vrouwenarbeid (National Union for Women’s Labour).9 Their main goal was to Fig. 1. The cover of De Werkende Vrouw Movement, contemporary feminist thinking, and (social) ideas in March 1930, with the lay-out designed create a better position for women on the labour market and motivate women to get an education. behind design of the 1920s and 1930s in the Netherlands. The by Gerrit Rietveld (photographer: Verbeek, The director of the bureau was Anna Polak (1874–1943), who was also involved with the organisation with permission of Atria, Institute on discussion of the magazine, furthermore includes the role that of the 1898 exhibition.10 She was a well-known feminist who frequently wrote for De Werkende Gender Equality and Women’s History). gender connotations play in the editorial choices which were Vrouw as an expert on social and economic issues. The magazine offered her, and her deputy made in the compilation of the design and fashion content of the director Marie Heinen (1881–1948)11 amongst many others, a podium for their opinions on women’s magazine. The gender perspective is crucial in understanding the connection between the social issues in relation to marriage law, social status, and most of all their position in the field of work and ideals and the promoted interior and fashion. opportunities for education. Whereas the Dutch government granted women the right to actively vote in 1919, their position in relation to labour and marriage remained subordinate.12 Because of the worldwide economic crisis at the end to the 1920s, women’s emancipation seemed to stagnate. Women were the first to lose their jobs during the crisis, and were seen as a threat to the employment 1  Gerrit Rietveld, “Rapport van de studie-commissie inzake praktische woninginrichting,” De Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 6  B.M.A. de Vries et al., Van agrarische samenleving tot verzorgingsstaat: Demografie, economie, maatschappij en 7–8 (1930), 230; Gerrit Rietveld, “De stoel,” De Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 9 (1930), 244; Gerrit Rietveld, “Architectuur,” cultuur in West-Europa, 1450–2000 (Groningen: Martinus Nijhoff Uitgevers, 2000), 375–376. De Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 11–12 (1930), 316–318. 7  Maria Greve and Berteke Waaldijk, Feministische openbaarheid: De nationale tentoonstelling van vrouwenarbeid in 2  Elina van Tuinen-Taselaar, Jacob Bendien 1890–1933 (Utrecht: Centraal Museum; Leeuwarden: Fries Museum, 1898 (Amsterdam: Stichting beheer IISG, 1998), 274. 1985), 9. 8  Ibid. 3  Ype Koopmans, “Schenking schilderij Charley Toorop door Arnhem Arts Ambassadors,” Museumkrant Museum voor 9  Hélène van der Veer, “Polak, Anna Sofia,” in Biografisch Woordenboek van het Socialisme en de Arbeidersbeweging in Moderne kunst Arnhem (Spring 2010), 2. Nederland 3 (1988), 169–172, http://socialhistory.org/bwsa/biografie/polak-a (accessed September 10, 2015). 4  Marjan Groot, Vrouwen in de Vormgeving 1880–1940 (Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 010, 2007), 405. 10 Grever and Waaldijk, Feministische openbaarheid, 274. 5  Alice T. Friedman, Women and the Making of the Modern House: A Social and Architectural History (New Haven: Yale 11 Marie Heinen presumably wrote under the initials ‘M.H.’. University Press, 2006), 87; Groot, Vrouwen in de Vormgeving, 405. 12 De Vries, Verzorgingsstaat, 375 – 376. MoMoWo 162 MoMoWo 163 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Naomi Verbeek, ‘De Werkende Vrouw: in Huis en Maatschappij’: Dutch Feminism, Fashion and Design 1930–1931 status of men.13 And even in 1924, a law was passed by the government stating that female public the authors of De Werkende Vrouw.22 The group mainly servants would receive an honourable discharge on their wedding day.14 During the brief existence consisted of highly educated upper middle-class women of De Werkende Vrouw, the magazine served as an important medium for feminist theorists and who were involved in the feminist movement. Every single intellectuals such as Polak and Heinen who firmly expressed their opinions on the issues that still member of the club used to have a different profession, so remained urgent after the highlight of the first feminist wave.15 This way, the magazine hoped to be the network would remain as diverse as possible. Marie a platform for discussion and dialogue among women, but also to be able to support one and other. Heinen and Truus Schröder-Schräder were, amongst other Anna Polak described for instance in ‘Ambten voor vrouwen gesloten’ (‘Occupations closed for writers of the magazine, members of the club as well. women’), the injustice of women still being restricted from certain professions.16 In her articles on Besides the goal of bettering chances for women’s women’s labour she also urged women to get a good education and fulfil their true potential since Fig. 2. Advertisement placed by economic independence, De Werkende Vrouw also they did not know whether they would marry or whether they could depend on their husbands for the Rotterdamse Bankvereniging in supported the idea of enhancing the status of the the rest of their lives.17 The articles written by Marie Heinen were meant to give advice to young and De Werkende Vrouw (March 1930) housewife. This view is expressed in an article written by (photographer: Verbeek, with permission unmarried women who wanted to work and lead an independent life in the city. She wrote a column Anna Polak in which she states that the Centraal Plan of Atria, Institute on Gender Equality and called ‘Uit het leven van de werkende vrouw ’ (‘From the life of the working woman’), in which she Women’s History). Bureau (Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis) should described in a lively manner the way ambitious women were the pioneers of a new emerging consider the full-time housewife as employed instead of lifestyle. 18 In general, De Werkende Vrouw hoped to inspire women to aim for a career, even after unemployed. When the housewives would be registered they got married. The magazine therefore published a number of interviews with women who as ‘employed’ by the governmental organisation, they would receive more recognition for the work succeeded in doing so.19 they performed.23 The editors of De Werkende Vrouw claimed in a statement to want to inspire every An exemplary woman, who was not only interviewed for the magazine, but also submitted two working woman, including housewives, through the articles in the magazine. Yet the desire to be articles herself, was Clara M. Meijers (1885–1964).20 She was an executive secretary for the banking able to choose to work outside as well as inside the home during marriage remained the most association of Rotterdam, and later became the director for a branch office in Amsterdam.21 This important goal. new bank was founded especially to serve women, and provided credit to those who wanted to start Editor-in-chief An Harrenstein-Schräder was able to attract women who were involved with the their own business. The women’s bank frequently placed advertisements in De Werkende Vrouw (Fig. leading women’s issues organisations in the Netherlands to write for De Werkende Vrouw. When the 2). Meijers also became the secretary for National Union of Soroptimist Clubs in the Netherlands. magazine is compared to another Dutch women’s journal such as De Vrouw en haar Huis (The This rather elite club, a female counterpart for the Rotary service clubs, was founded in 1928 by Rosa Woman and her House) the emphasis on women’s issues becomes even more clear. The editor-in- Manus –a well-known Jewish feminist– and modelled after the American example. The Dutch chief of this magazine, Elis M. Rogge, and the other writers of the magazine, were also involved with Soroptimist Club was intended especially for working women and provided an important network for the Soroptimist Club and the exhibition of 1898. Even though they covered many of the same subjects, the approach and tone of the articles in the magazine was slightly different. The relative number of articles on women’s labour in De Werkende Vrouw was simply larger, more extensive, and 13 Amoud Jespers et al., Bericht uit 1929: Het veelzijdige gezicht van de Nederlandse samenleving ten tijde van de came across as more activist and urgent. The writers of De Vrouw and haar Huis mentioned and oprichting van het PTT Museum (Den Haag: Stichting Het Nederlandse PTT Museum, 1989), 33. supported some the latest developments on women’s labour but this never became the main issue 14 Anna Polak, “De Nederlandsche gehuwde vrouw in overheidsdienst,” De Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 9 (1930), 236. of the magazine. The realm of the home remained the most important female domain in Vrouw en 15 Friedman, Modern House, 87. haar Huis, which is, in the end, in contrast to the ideals of De Werkende Vrouw.24 16 Anna Polak, “Ambten voor vrouwen gesloten,” De Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 5 (1930), 136. 17 Anna Polak, “Vrouwenarbeid II,” De Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 3 (1930), 71. 18 M.H. [Marie Heinen], “Uit het leven van een werkende vrouw,” De Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 1–2 (1930), 37–38. 19 S.J.P., “Een vrouw als bedrijfsleidster,” De Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 1–2 (1930), 4–6. 20 Clara Meijers, “Een internationale voorlichtingsdienst voor werkende vrouwen,” De Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 7–8 (1930), 187; Clara Meijers, “Een vrouw, die slaagde,” De Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 9 (1930), 249–250. 22  Groot, Vrouwen in de Vormgeving, 209. 21 Francisca de Haan, Gender and the politics of office work, the Netherlands 1860–1940 (Amsterdam: Amsterdam 23  Anna Polak, “Wordt het huisvrouwschap officieel als beroep beschouwd?,” De Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 10 (1930), 262. University Press, 1998), 91. 24  Groot, Vrouwen in de Vormgeving, 38. MoMoWo 164 MoMoWo 165 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Naomi Verbeek, ‘De Werkende Vrouw: in Huis en Maatschappij’: Dutch Feminism, Fashion and Design 1930–1931 The Working Women and Fashion In their article ‘Conceptualizing fashion in everyday lives’ design- and fashion historians, Cheryl Buckley and Hazel Clark, argue that research of the history of clothing of daily life is just as important as the study of avant-garde fashion. The traditional focus of study lies with exclusive and exceptional couture fashion worn by the wealthy elite and therefore the clothing worn by ‘ordinary’ women might end up being overlooked. Yet for the 1920s and 1930s, everyday fashion has historical value within the context of modernity and mass-consumption. Because of female mass magazine readership, fashion prints reached middle class women on a weekly or monthly basis and influenced the way women behaved as consumers on a large scale. More importantly, fashion can be seen as an instrument for women to define themselves and consciously or unconsciously create their identities within the context of their social groups. 25 It is with this argument in mind that it is interesting to analyse the fashion images and articles of De Werkende Vrouw in relation to the identity of the target audience. Who were those working women Fig. 4. Illustration of sportswear in Fig. 5. Fashion illustration in De Werkende Vrouw, 1930 De Werkende Vrouw, 1930 (photographer: (photographer: Verbeek, with permission of Atria, exactly, and what did they wear and for what reason? As Marie Heinen described in her advice columns, Verbeek, with permission of Atria, Institute Institute on Gender Equality and Women’s History). young women with urban jobs formed a new social phenomenon. In the decade prior to the publication on Gender Equality and Women’s History). of De Werkende Vrouw a new look had emerged in the cities of the Netherlands: la garçonne. This boyish look with short hair and skirt became the symbol of the young and spirited career woman who had fought her way into the workplace and public sphere.26 In the fashion items of De Werkende Vrouw this play hockey with or ride a bike in (Figs. 4 and 5). In context of the professional clothing and the look can be seen frequently. The magazine featured fashion illustrations and articles almost on a sportswear the fashion illustrators of De Werkende Vrouw showed women wearing trousers. Katina monthly basis, displaying not only the latest trends for the season but different types of workwear as Bill explains in her article on the evolution of trousers in the twentieth century that the general well. The first edition of De Werkende Vrouw in 1930 showed three different types of practical professional attitude towards women wearing trousers was still quite hostile.27 The idea that trousers were still clothing: an illustration of an apron, a woman gardener wearing dungarees and a woman wearing not completely free of controversy is supported by fashion historian, Elizabeth Wilson, in her book culottes (Fig. 3). The text explained what kind of work they were suited for and in what kind of fabrics Adorned in Dreams.28 Still, wearing trousers became slowly more acceptable after First World War, they were supposed to be made. The culottes for and it had a symbolic as well as a sportive and functional utility. According to Wilson, wearing instance were suggested as suitable attire for trousers became a symbol of the striving for equality, and the increasing freedom of women and gymnastics teachers. Besides outfits to work in, modernity. But at the same time, she argues, while women remained unequal, trousers also the magazine also showed some sportswear to symbolise the myth of emancipation, for it was only acceptable to wear trousers on certain occasions (such as physical labour and sports).29 Moreover, from a gender perspective, wearing trousers remained problematic because it also exposed the fact that the progress women made was only possible by adopting male values and terms, such as their way of dressing. Fig. 3. Illustrations of ‘Praktische beroepskleeding’ (‘Practical workwear’) in De Werkende Vrouw (January- The way De Werkende Vrouw represented women in their fashion illustration is significant in relation February 1930) (photographer: Verbeek, with permission to their ideals. For instance: in the complete 1930 run of De Vrouw en haar Huis not one single of Atria, Institute on Gender Equality and Women’s woman in trousers was shown, neither women working nor playing sports. Fashion had a larger History). 25 Cheryl Buckley and Hazel Clark, “Conceptualizing Fashion in Everyday Lives,” Design Issues 28, no. 4 (2012), 18, 22 27 Katina Bill, “Attitudes Towards Women’s Trousers: Britain in the 1930’s,” Journal of Design History 6, no. 1 (1993), 47 and 54. and 28. 28 Elisabeth Wilson, Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity (London: Virago Press, 1985), 164–166. 26 De Vries, Verzorgingsstaat, 378. 29 Wilson, Dreams, 165. MoMoWo 166 MoMoWo 167 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Naomi Verbeek, ‘De Werkende Vrouw: in Huis en Maatschappij’: Dutch Feminism, Fashion and Design 1930–1931 The Working Woman and Her Home What makes De Werkende Vrouw interesting in relation to design history of the 1930s is the attention the magazine paid to the home in general and avant-garde interior in particular. In the last part of this paper I will analyse how the social ideals of the magazine were reflected in the presented interior and argue that the influence of An Harrenstein was crucial to this. The articles on the modern home were mainly published in the year 1930, when An Harrenstein-Schräder was in charge of the magazine. In the November-December issue of that year, an announcement was made that in 1931 the magazine would be led by a different group of editors. Although it was not explained in the magazine, the presumable reason for her departure was the fact that she fell ill during 1930.32 Her absence made her influence on the character of the magazine clear: the combination of feminist ideals and avant-garde interior was suddenly relinquished in 1931. The articles on design by Truus Schröder-Schräder and Gerrit Rietveld were therefore only published in 1930. Even though content on labour and women’s rights did not change much, the magazine showed a different and far more Fig. 6. Fashion illustration in De Werkende Vrouw (September Fig. 7. Fashion illustration in De Werkende Vrouw traditional interior to its readers (Fig. 8). It 1930) (photographer: Verbeek, with permission of Atria, ( October 1930) (photographer: Verbeek, with becomes clear that the way An Harrenstein Institute on Gender Equality and Women’s History). permission of Atria, Institute on Gender Equality presented the modern interior to a bourgeois and Women’s History). female audience was what distinguished the magazine from others at this time . share in the content of this magazine, but the illustrations usually showed fashion for at home or in the theatre. Harrenstein was an art critic who surrounded 30 Women were more often depicted at home with their children, and on fewer occasions were seen outside. Representing women at work, outside or playing sports can be seen as a way herself with avant-garde artists such as Charley for De Werkende Vrouw to communicate their ideals through their fashion content. This way, the Toorop, Jacob Bendien, Kurt Schwitters, César magazine distinguished itself from De Vrouw en haar Huis. Even more so because both magazines Domela and El Lissitszky. Her home served as were read by the same type of audience: bourgeois women from the upper middle-class, such as a meeting place for these artists.33 In the article An Harrenstein-Schräder and Clara Meijers. This is reflected and confirmed in the rather luxurious ‘Een inleidend woord tot binnen architectuur ’ Fig. 8. An example of the interior De Werkende Vrouw fashions that were shown in both magazines. De Werkende Vrouw showcased, for instance, clothing (‘A preface to interior decoration’) written by showed in 1931, after the departure of An Harrenstein for three different moments of the day (Fig. 6) and executed in expensive materials such as a chic Truus Schröder, this particular home was (May-June 1931) (photographer: Verbeek, with permission of Atria, Institute on Gender Equality and Women’s fur collar and a leather coat (Fig. 7). This type of wardrobe was only affordable for women with a discussed and a few photographs were History). reasonable income, such as Harrenstein-Schräder who was supported by her husband who worked featured (Fig. 9).34 In 1926, the bedroom of the as a doctor. home was redesigned by Schräder and 31 Nevertheless, it remained important for the editors of the magazine to include their social ideals and to also represent the working woman in their fashion illustrations. Rietveld, in a similar style as the Rietveld Schröder House they realized in 1924. In De Werkende Vrouw they both shared their vision on interior, furniture and architecture in several articles. Schröder explained in the above-mentioned article that she felt that the most important quality of an interior was that the inhabitant should feel activated and uplifted by it. Like art, the space should create an 30  De Vrouw en haar Huis (1930) , 482–485. 32  Koopmans, “Schenking,” 2. 31 Ype Koopmans, “Architectuur – Schilderkunst – Beeldhouwkunst: Nieuwe Beelding en Nieuwe Zakelijkheid,” 33  Tuinen-Taselaar, Bendien, 9. Arnhemse Cahiers 6 (2004), 13. 34  Truus Schröder-Schräder, “Een inleidend woord tot binnen architectuur,” De Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 3 (1930), 93–94. MoMoWo 168 MoMoWo 169 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Naomi Verbeek, ‘De Werkende Vrouw: in Huis en Maatschappij’: Dutch Feminism, Fashion and Design 1930–1931 awareness. When the inhabitant had a busy life, the Fig. 10. Photograph of the Frankfurt-Kitchen in home should stimulate focus instead of creating De Werkende Vrouw (January-February 1930) passivity. Rietveld shared a similar kind of view in (photographer: Verbeek, with permission of Atria, Institute on Gender Equality and Women’s History). his article “Architectuur” (‘Architecture’). He states that the interior should be bright and clear, in order to regain energy and to be able to process the many husband.40 Her new home was not a closed-off private space, which impressions of modern life.35 In the articles he wrote was a significant feature of the nineteenth century middle class for De Werkende Vrouw he also held a plea for dwelling. This way, the separation of the male and female sphere (the simplicity. For instance in his text ‘De Stoel’ (‘The public and the private) that was dominant in the nineteenth century Chair’) he argues that the chair should be freed from house was visually lifted in the Schröder House.41 As the financier and the old-fashioned shapes from the past. New co-designer, Truus Schröder influenced the construction of the house materials and machine-production should make not only in her role as interior designer, but also with her ideas as a furniture simple and useful again.36 woman, mother and housekeeper. Rietveld and the other De Stijl artists, such as Piet Fig. 9. Photograph of An Harrenstein-Schräders Her thoughts on the rational household were also published in De Werkende Vrouw. Truus advocated Mondriaan and Theo van Doesburg, believed that bedroom, designed by Truus Schröder and Gerrit efficiency and the rational use of the kitchen in several articles, for instance, in her text on the Rietveld in 1926, published in De Werkende Vrouw their avant-garde design and architecture was able (March 1930) (photographer: Verbeek, with Frankfurt-kitchen, designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky for Ernst May’s social housing project in to change one’s personal life and therefore influence permission of Atria, Institute on Gender Equality and this city (Fig. 10).42 The purely functional and laboratory-like kitchen should save the housewife society as well. The idea behind their modern Women’s History). labour and, therefore, time. De Werkende Vrouw featured several articles by different authors on the functionalist aesthetic was socially driven.37 New kitchen, electrification, and efficiency in the home in general. The reasoning behind this can be seen surroundings would stimulate different behaviour. as twofold. First and foremost, the time and labour that was saved by this new efficient and rational Their utopian vision on living suggested a more democratic, harmonious and therefore gender- household could be spent working part-time, outside the home. Secondly, when the kitchen was neutral society.38 When Rietveld was commissioned by Truus Schröder to design her new home designed to be a rational working place (based on the logic of the factory or the laboratory), the together, he was able to apply his vision. The inhabitants of the home (Truus was a mother of three home was in a way professionalised, which supposedly increased the status of the housewife.43 children) were almost ‘forced’ to live actively. Within the home there were solid elements such as This was one of the main goals in the articles written by Anna Polak for De Werkende Vrouw, and the bathroom and the staircase, but many walls were adjustable and rooms were multifunctional. was, thus, reflected in a very practical manner in the articles on the home . The design that was Each room could be opened or closed and the interior was recreated as needed at that moment. shown in De Werkende Vrouw, therefore, broke the boundaries between the male and female sphere This way, Rietveld completely disregarded the traditional division of the home and stimulated a in a visual and a practical way. conscious and disciplined lifestyle.39 Furthermore, the transparent exterior and interior of the Schröder House together formed a visual whole. The division between inside and outside was Penny Sparke analyses taste and design from a gender perspective in her book As Long as It’s Pink: therefore dissolved, and this effect was enhanced by the enormous windows on all sides of the The Sexual Politics of Taste (1995) . She argues that modernity is mainly a male domain where house. The traditional separation of the public and private sphere was therefore reduced. This was science, technique and rationality are dominant. Architecture and design also belong to this a significant difference from the comfortable middle class villa Truus had lived in with her late 35  Rietveld, “Architectuur,” 317. 40 Sparke, Modern Interior, 175. 36  Rietveld, “De stoel,” 244. 41 Rita Felski, The Gender of Modernity (London: Harvard University Press, 1995), 18. 37  Penny Sparke, The Modern Interior (London: Reaktion Books Ltd., 2008), 172. 42 Truus Schröder-Schräder, “Wat men door normalisatie in den woningbouw te Frankfort a/d Main heeft bereikt,” De 38  Nancy Troy, The De Stijl Environment (Cambridge Mass.: The MIT Press, 1983), 5. Werkende Vrouw 1, no. 1–2 (1930), 12–14. 39 Carel Blotkamp et al., De vervolgjaren van De Stijl 1922–1936 (Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 010, 1990), 219. 43 Sparke, Modern Interior, 134. MoMoWo 170 MoMoWo 171 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Naomi Verbeek, ‘De Werkende Vrouw: in Huis en Maatschappij’: Dutch Feminism, Fashion and Design 1930–1931 sphere.44 The opposite of ‘design’ is ‘taste’: a gendered concept associated with femininity, Appendices consumption and domesticity. This female taste prevailed in the nineteenth century home, where Year Edition Month Pages the woman was the beautifier of her ‘own’ space.45 The rational design of the modernist artist and I (1930) 1–2 January – February 1–64 architect completely disregarded this ‘bad’ bourgeois female taste for it was seen as too irrational, I (1930) 3 March 68–95 fashionable and frivolous. Architects such as Gerrit Rietveld sought purity and simplicity in their I (1930) 4 April 99–127 design through rationalisation, standardisation and geometry. In these efficient modernised spaces I (1930) 5 May 129–156 there was no room for emotion or comfort. 1920s and 1930s modernist design resisted every I (1930) 6 June 157–183 association with what was seen as feminine (and therefore of a lower status).46 I (1930) 7–8 July-August 186–232 Yet these designs, typical for the male domain, were advocated by An Harrenstein and Truus I (1930) 9 September 233–256 Schröder in De Werkende Vrouw. The functionalist aesthetic predominates the articles about the I (1930) 10 October 259–284 home, but even though the articles were written by women, female designers or architects do not I (1930) 11–12 November – December 287–332 occur as subject matter. The only exception in this case is Schütte-Lihotzky’s Frankfurt-kitchen, but II (1931) 1 January 1–24 Truus Schröder does not emphasize the fact that the kitchen is designed by a woman. II (1931) 2 February 25–48 Penny Sparke concludes that male design and rational values eventually replaced the female taste II (1931) 3–4 March – April 49–80 and influence on the interior of the home. In De Werkende Vrouw this was celebrated as liberating: II (1931) 5–6 May – June 83–120 the status of the housewife was enhanced, the efficient and electrified home saved time and labour II (1931) 7–8–9 July – August– September 122–160 and the separation between inside and outside was removed in the modern home. Yet from a Table 1. Overview of the editions of De Werkende Vrouw 1930–31. gender perspective this still remains problematic, for women could only achieve equality by adopting male values. By incorporating the ‘good’ design that replaced the ‘bad’ bourgeois female taste that was condemned by twentieth century modernists, women still had to conform to a standard that was set by men. This can be said for both the fashion illustrations and the articles on the home in De Werkende Vrouw. On the other hand, these new fashion and interior styles offered a more active, equal and free life to women such as An Harrenstein and Truus Schröder. This way De Werkende Vrouw presented an interesting combination of feminist goals and design for the modern, educated, working woman. An Harrenstein was therefore responsible for a unique and brief encounter between the Dutch modernist and the women’s rights movement. 44  Penny Sparke, As Long as It’s Pink: The Sexual Politics of Taste (London: Pandora/Harper Collins, 1995), 74. 45  Sparke, Sexual Politics, 109–111. 46  Sherry B. Ortner, ‘Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?’ Feminist Studies (Autumn 1972), 5–31. MoMoWo 172 MoMoWo 173 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Naomi Verbeek, MA Leiden University In 2014 Naomi Verbeek obtained her master’s degree in Arts and Culture at Leiden University. Within this master’s program she specialised in the history of design and decorative arts. Her main interest lies in the study of nineteenth and twentieth century design, fashion and art from a gender perspective. She also ob- tained a master’s degree (cum laude) in teaching art history. She currently works as a gallery assistant at Kunstconsult in Amstelveen and as an educator and researcher at the Peace Palace in The Hague. E-mail: nrverbeek@gmail.com MoMoWo 174 Alenka Di Battista https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.10 Historic Background Slovenian Women’s Magazines and The First World War and the altered socio-political circumstances left in its wake had a direct influence the Development of the Modern Home on the position and role of Slovenian women in society.1 Considering that the new Yugoslav state left the civil law uncodified and kept the existing legislation in force, the legal status of women varied Concept in the Thirties and they were treated differently in various regions of the multinational state.2 Generally speaking, they were excluded from political life, as they did not have the right to vote. Most of them, especially workers’ and farmers’ wives, had to look for employment, usually in the textile and clothing industries and in various trades and were not equal paid. On the other hand, the number of women who attained higher education increased significantly, as they were able to attend grammar schools, vocational schools and universities. For instance, the percentage of girls attending Slovenian grammar schools increased from 11.8 % in 1918−19 up to 35.3 % in 1937−38, and the percentage of female students at the University of Ljubljana grew from 3.6 % in 1919−20 up to 18.5 % in 1937−38. The literacy and thereby level of education achieved by women varied from region to region and the main mission of women remained looking after the home and family.3 The situation of women in Slovenia was not very different from that of women in other European countries. According to the lawyer Vito Kraigher the legal status of Slovenian married women was very similar to their status in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. They enjoyed legal capacity and property rights, but were restricted in the choice of their charrier.4 Their struggle for equal The paper presents several Slovenian women’s magazines published during rights was also similar and it began in Slovenia at the end of the nineteenth century in the form of the thirties by different women’s societies and emphasises their contribution various women’s professional, educational, patriotic and charity associations. The struggle gained in the dissemination of knowledge of modern home design among their female readers. By referring to articles on modern home design, written by Slovenian architects of both genders, it analyses how the concept of the modern home developed through the thirties and shows which were the major and most 1  After the First World War most of the territory of today’s Slovenia was included in new established multinational popular topics presented. In this way, the paper underlines similarities and Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918 – 29), later named the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929−39). It was ruled differences between male and female contributors, provides insight into the by the Serbian dynasty of Karađorđević as a unitary state. social and political status of Slovenian women architects during the interwar 2  The new Yugoslav state left the civil low uncodified and kept the existing legislation in force. Consequently, within period and draws attention to the role of women’s readers in the promotion of the Slovenian territory the old Austrian Allgemeine Bürgerliche Gesetztbuch remained in force until 1941. the modern home idea. 3  Mateja Jeraj, Slovenke na prehodu v socializem (Ljubljana: Arhiv Republike Slovenije v Ljubljani, 2005), 19−37; Aleš Gabrič, “Od moškega do unisex šolstva,” in Aleksander Žižek (ed.), Ženske skozi zgodovino: Zbornik referatov 32. zborovanja slovenskih zgodovinarjev (Ljubljana: Zveza zgodovinskih društev Slovenije, 2004), 218−219. Keywords: Slovenia, women’s magazines, architects, modern, home 4  Vito Kraigher, “Žena v sedanjem rodbinskem pravu poedinih evropskih držav,” Ženski svet 14, no. 9 (1936), 202. MoMoWo 177 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Alenka Di Battista, Slovenian Women’s Magazines and the Development of the Modern Home Concept in the Thirties impetus in the interwar period and this was reflected in the women’s magazines that were issued by architect; however, there were no educational or employment possibilities in this field in Slovenia.9 different associations. These periodicals began publishing numerous articles about women’s issues Despite the fact that Sušnik’s essays were criticised by the women’s newsletter Ženski svet (Women’s such as voting rights and vocational training for women. Authors encouraged women to consider World), a few years later the journalist Davorina Bevk presented a selection of typical women’s their unequal situation and their role in society. These magazines had content that reinforced the professions in a very similar way. She only mentioned the vocation of architect indirectly and actually traditional role of women as mothers and housewives in the society as wives presented at the same referred to the profession with a word meaning ‛craftswoman.’ In her opinion, it was still a very time: the permanent columns featured articles which dealt with trends in fashion, various women’s young profession that included all types of decoration and interior architecture and was very suited handicrafts and modern ways of furnishing the home.5 to women.10 An equally clear insight into those times is offered by articles in the daily newspapers Before analysing individual articles by these architects, which are an important source for studying that reported on the renovation of the coffee shop Zvezda in the basement of the Kazina building modern living culture from the interwar period, it is necessary to provide a rough outline of the in Ljubljana. This renovation was led in 1935 by the architect Dušana Šantel Kanoni. One of the circumstances at the time in which these few women architects were active. In the field of technical journalists at the time wrote that some people could not come to terms with the fact that a woman studies, 28 females (or 10% of all graduates) graduated from the department of architecture - had won the contract to renovate the café while another journalist claimed that ‛emancipation and construction at the Technical secondary school in Ljubljana.6 Meanwhile, ten female architects the equality of women and even their superiority were only admitted by their husbands at home when graduated from the technical faculty of the University of Ljubljana, also representing around they are in slippers’. In renovating the café, the young architect had to fight a ‛quiet but difficult battle 10% of all graduates.7 Very little information is available on their lives and professional activity. against public opinion in order to win the confidence of the broader public.’ 11 Only documents belonging to two of them –Dušana Šantel Kanoni and Gizela Šuklje– have been preserved in public and private collections.8 I have, therefore, had to construct the broader context of my article with the help of contemporary written sources. An analysis of the written material, which has been collected so far, has shown Women’s Magazines in Slovenia in the 1930s and the Concept of the Modern Home that society at the time was not favourably inclined to the professional participation of women in Slovenian women’s magazines from the interwar period, especially the 1930s, consolidated the the technical field and that some continued to consider them with a fair amount of reservations. already very firmly rooted role of women as mothers and housewives. Along with general social For example, the linguist and professor Lovro Sušnik wrote that he does not recommend technical and economic development, motherhood and housekeeping became increasingly demanding tasks professions for women because, he considered them unsuitable for the female psyche. In the event which demanded more specific skills and experience of women - women’s magazines introduced that they nevertheless chose a technical subject, he would recommend architecture, which he special columns and supplements which were devoted specifically to these subject matters.12 This believed, was the most suitable for them out of all the possible options. He also recommended that was also the case with current international women’s magazines such as Modern Women, Women, within architecture they choose interior design or administration where they would, in his opinion, find Home Chat and Woman’s Weekly in England as well as Cordelia, Bellezza and Fili−moda in Fascist it easier to succeed. It was also his belief that women were suitable for the profession of landscape 5  Jeraj, “Slovenke na prehodu,” 19−37. 6  Among the teaching staff of the department of architecture-construction there were also modern oriented architects 9  Lovro Sušnik, Akademski poklici: Navodila za izbiro stanu (Ljubljana: Slovensko katoliško akademsko starešinstvo, such as Dragotin Fatur (since 1926), Herman Hus (occasionally from 1923 until 1929), Josip Jelenec (from 1920 1932), 265 and 277; Lovro Sušnik, “Ženski poklici,” Vigred: Ženski list 14, no. 3 (1936), 112. until 1923), Miroslav Kos (since 1929), Rado Kregar (from 1919 until 1927 and from 1929 forward), Stanislav 10 Martina Seljak [=Davorina Bevk], “Žena v različnih poklicih,” in Janez Rožencvet [=Stanislav Vdovič], Matijčkova Rohrman (from 1924 until 1926), Ivo Spinčič (from 1925 until 1926) and Vladimir Šubic (from 1922 until 1926). odpravnina in drugi spisi (Gorica: Goriška matica, 1934), 60−66. Similar schools with architecture-construction departments were opened at that time also in Belgrade, Sarajevo, 11 “Iz Ljubljane: Zvezda bo zopet oživela,” Slovenski narod, August 10, 1935; “Zvezda bo zopet zasijala: Kavarno Split and Zagreb. Beside the mentioned department, female students could enrol also in the applied and fine Zvezda bodo po načrtih arhitektke Šantlove temeljito preuredili,” Slovenski narod, Avgust 24, 1935; “Kazini je pretila arts department, which encompassed traditionally female occupation such as ceramics design and embroidery. katastrofa: Kako je bila preurejena in na novo opremljena kavarna ‛Zvezda’,” Slovenski narod, December 7, 1935; Spominska knjiga: 1888–1938: Ob 50 letnici izdala Državna tehniška srednja šola v Ljubljani (Ljubljana: Državna “Stalna umetnostna razstava v Zvezdi,” Jutro, December 22, 1935. tehniška srednja šola, 1938), 139−143, 146−149, 263−265. 12  Women’s sections were introduced also in the contemporary daily press (e.g. Slovenec, Slovenski narod and Jutro), 7  Archive of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Ljubljana (AFA). and in illustrated magazines (e.g. Domači prijatelj). Sabina Žnidaršič Žagar, Ženski so pa vzrasle svetlejše dolžnosti 8  The legacy of Dušana Šantel Kanoni is a private collection, while the legacy of Gizela Šuklje is kept in the Museum nego kuhati in prati: Podoba in pojavnost žensk na Slovenskem: Slovenke, od sredine 19. stoletja do 2. svetovne vojne of Architecture and Design in Ljubljana. (Ljubljana : Pedagoški inštitut, 2009), 19 and 102−103. MoMoWo 178 MoMoWo 179 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Alenka Di Battista, Slovenian Women’s Magazines and the Development of the Modern Home Concept in the Thirties Italy.13 Directly connected to modern housekeeping were articles about various technical appliances region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. When in 1928 the fascist government disbanded all Slovenian cultural such as modern washing machines and vacuum cleaners, gas and electric stoves, gas and electric organisations, the editorship of the magazine was taken over by the Ženski konzorcij (Women’s hot water boilers and modern refrigerators as well as innovations and articles about modern home consortium) in Ljubljana. This meant that Ženski svet was issued in Ljubljana from 1929 up until design. Home craft features were also popular and common component of Slovenian women’s 1941. It was aimed at a broad circle of female readers from both urban and rural environments. magazines and as Fiona Hackney pointed out in her paper they provided women with opportunities When, in the 1930s, contributors to the magazine began to include people with university education, for self-expression. They contributed to create a distinctly feminine modernity within the house and the selection of subject matters expanded and thereby gained the interest of Slovenian female rehabilitated traditionally women’s work offering them also a potential source of income.14 intellectuals. The magazine strived on the one hand to help bring about an equal position for women in politics, work and in the social domain while on the other hand reinforcing the traditional role of a The authors of articles published in the Slovenian interwar women’s magazines are sometimes woman as mother and housewife. The chief editors of the magazine were the professor and journalist unknown but we know that most of them were initially female journalists and later modern-thinking Pavla Hočevar, the professor and journalist Olga Grahor and the journalist Milka Martelanc.18 architects as well as the first women architects. The latter developed close ties with women’s associations and their representatives and regularly collaborated with them on various occasions. A From its very beginning, the magazine published articles which tried to inform women about modern good example is the cooperation of female architects with the Union of Housewives, which organised housing culture as housewives were presented as being the guardians and souls of their homes. twelve housekeeping fairs between the years 1931 and 1939 as part of the Ljubljana trade fair.15 In this regard, we should mention also a special issue titled Domu (‘To the Home’), published in According to the journalist, Vida Lapajne, the architects provided the union with ‛strong support for its December 1928, and a magazine supplement titled Naš dom (‘Our home’) from 1933 onwards. work’ and she was also convinced that the course of events would lead to each housewife being able to Women were called to meticulously care for the appearance and furnishings of the home and, in have her own expert advisor.16 Journalist Pavla Hočevar was equally enthusiastic about the cooperation order to achieve this, they should nurture their tastes suitably and then put them into practice. The of women architects and other intellectuals in preparing housekeeping fairs as in her opinion this authors of different articles advised them to ‘declare war’ on all forged and false objects, which the helped give true value to the vocation of housewife which had previously been discriminated against nineteenth century had brought with the development of industry, and a love for old styles. They and belittled. However, despite much enthusiasm, she also suggested that female intellectuals should should follow the new style of the twentieth century which is most suitable for the time and its needs use simpler and more accessible forms that simple women could understand.17 and at the same time, when fitting out their homes they should also include handmade products and modern design handicrafts. In the opinion of the magazine, the home would thereby become practical, simple, hygienic, harmonius and beautiful.19 Some articles offer detailed descriptions of how different rooms in the modern home should be arranged and provide examples of modern Ženski svet (Women’s World, 1923–41) folding furniture, converted old furniture as well as furniture made from practical materials. What they all have in common was their emphasis on the need for a well-considered arrangement of The magazine called Ženski svet was in circulation for eighteen years. It was first published in 1923 furniture in individual rooms and making use of the available space in an optimal way. In their by the Women’s Charity Association in Trieste as the newsletter of women’s associations in the opinion the walls must be lightly coloured and decorated with modern patterns. On the walls should hang only a few of the best paintings and hanging up photographs was deemed inappropriate. The windows should be of the right size with simple smooth curtains on the sides and veiled in 13 To delve deeper into the matter see: Fiona Hachney, “‘Use your Hands for Happiness’: Home Craft and Make−do− the middle with a net curtain in a more translucent material. Lighting was also supposed to be and−Mend in British Women-s Magazines in the 1920s and 1930s,” Journal of Design History 19, no. 1 (2006), carefully chosen with homemade lampshades to create a pleasant atmosphere in the home. The 23−27; Annamaria Ruggiero, “L’immagine della donna italiana nelle riviste femminili durante gli anni del Fascismo,” Officina della Storia, March 30, 2013, http://www.officinadellastoria.info/magazine/index.php?option=com_ content&view=article&id=350:limmagine-della-donna-italiana-nelle-riviste-femminili-durante-gli-anni-del- fascismo&catid=68:fotografia-e-storia (accessed February 2, 2016). 14 Hackney, “Use your Hands,” 23−38. 15 The most significant housekeeping fairs were: Novodobno gospodinjstvo (Modern housekeeping in 1931), Domače ognjišče (Home hearth in 1932), Žena in obrt (Women and the applied arts in 1935), Sodobna gospodinja (Modern 18 Katja Mihurko Poniž, “Odkar dobivam Ženski svet ne poznam več malodušnosti,” Vse za zgodovino 16, no. 22 (2009), housewife in 1936) in Vzorno stanovanje (Ideal house in 1937). 118−132. 16 Vida Lapajne, “‛Domače ognjišče’ II: Gospodinjska razstava: Zveza gospodinj,” Gospodinja 1, no. 5–6 (1932), 35−37. 19 D. D-ova, “Iščimo lepoto tudi doma,” Ženski svet 1, no. 2 (1923), 38−40; Milica Schaupova, “Moderna soba,” Ženski 17 Pavla Hočevar, “Vtisti in misli pri ‛Domačem ognjišču’,” Ženski svet 10, no. 10 (1932), 298−302. svet 8, no. 8 (1930), 245−249. MoMoWo 180 MoMoWo 181 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Alenka Di Battista, Slovenian Women’s Magazines and the Development of the Modern Home Concept in the Thirties into the sleeping part (the children’s bedroom and the parents’ bedroom) and the daytime part (the living-room whose function was both a dining room and drawing room). It was furnished with simple furniture which Hus described in detail and presented clearly with the help of photographs of a modern glass cupboard made to his own design with a smoking table and two pouffes, as well as photos of an extendable square table with three chairs.23 Fig.1. Furniture of the gentleman’s The first female architecture graduates began working with the magazine after 1932. Dušana room designed by Herman Hus Šantel Kanoni first published a report in the magazine on an exhibition at the Ljubljana fair entitled and made by the Alfred Amann ‘The Woman in Slovenian Art’ in which she presented the life of the painter Ivana Kobilica in the furniture factory from Tržič at the Ljubljana fair exhibition. permanent column entitled ‘Faces and Souls’, and she designed the magazine cover in 1933.24 Her Published in Ženski svet 8, no. 12 colleague Marjanca Kanc Čuček prepared a critical review of the art exhibition entitled ‘Slovenian (1930), 397. Madonnas’ .25 In 1935, the two architects tackled some more demanding architectural subjects. In the same year they were joined by architect Gizela Šuklje.26 Compared with Hus’ articles, which acquainted readers with the modern furnishings of a middle-class apartment, these two architects modern working woman was supposed to furnish her one-bedroom flat (which she is increasingly tried to broaden the horizons of readers by discussing the furnishings of a working class flat and striving to obtain on her path to independence) according to the same principles.20 the layout of a village settlement. They devoted most attention to the rural house as architects In the 1930 and 1931 editions of Ženski svet we come across the usual articles but also articles by had not even touched upon this theme until then27 drawing attention to various deficiencies of the modern architect Herman Hus entitled The gentleman’s room and Middle-class home design.21 contemporary rural houses which did not meet modern social and hygiene standards. Dušana Šantel The first one was published in the thematic issue of Ženski svet možu (‘Women’s world to the Kanoni prepared a special feature on making inns in rural houses for the needs of rural tourism, in husband’), which contained various texts and personal stories which spoke about the relationship response to the implementation of a law from 1930 to support the restoration of villages28 which between men and women and the differences between the male and female worlds. Herman Hus set a whole list of conditions for the working of architects in villages. This law was supported by carefully explained to readers the man’s need for a special private room in the house, the so-called gentleman’s room. It was intended for him to be able to work there without being disturbed. He therefore recommended that the room be somewhat removed from the main living quarters and 23 Herman Hus, “Ureditev meščanskega stanovanja,” Ženski svet 9, no. 4 (1931), 117−119. especially the kitchen and children’s room. It should also be airy and well-lit. Its furnishings would 24 Dušana Šantel Kanoni (1908−1988) graduated in 1932 with Ivan Vurnik at the Technical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana. Thanks to a French fellowship she could study at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs be different depending on the needs or profession of the gentleman, however, he considers the in Paris between 1933 and 1934. After her return home, she intensively collaborated with various contemporary table and chair to be essential and indispensable. He placed great emphasis on how the walls were Women’s magazines and used to work as interior designer. Igor Longyka and Herta Žagar, Umetniška družina Šantel painted, how the room was lit and small decorative objects such as paintings, statues, handicraft s predniki in potomci (Slovenska Bistrica: Zavod za kulturo, 2012), 25. For more information about the mentioned article see: Dušana Šantel Kanoni, “Žena v slovenski umetnosti,” Ženski svet 10, no. 10 (1932), 293−296. products and plants. For a better understanding, the article was accompanied with his sketches of 25 Marjanca Kanc Čuček (1909−?) graduated in 1933 with Jože Plečnik at the Technical Faculty of the University of modern items of furniture (writing tables, bookcases, smoking tables with armchairs, ottomans) and Ljubljana. She intensively collaborated with various contemporary Women’s magazines and used to work, as far as a photo from the Ljubljana fair with a presentation of the furniture of the gentleman’s room made we know, as an independent architect. Spominski almanah, 291. For more information about the mentioned article see: Marjanca Kanc Čuček, “Velesejemska razstava ‛Slovenske madone’,” Ženski svet 11, no. 10 (1933), 226−228. by the Alfred Amann furniture factory from Tržič (Fig. 1).22 In the second article, Hus wrote about 26 Gizela Šuklje (1909−1994) graduated in 1932 with Jože Plečnik at the Technical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana. the middle-class apartment which, at the time, usually encompassed three rooms. It was divided Thanks to a French fellowship she could study at the Institut d’Art et Archéologie of Paris-Sorbonne University and worked in the studio of August Perret. After her return home, she became a devoted assistant and collaborator of her prof. Jože Plečnik. Bogo Zupančič, “Predstavitev zapuščine arhitektke Gizele Šuklje (1909–1994),” Zavod za prostorsko kulturo Trajekt, http://trajekt.org/arhiv/?tid=1&id=1197 (accessed February 2, 2016). 20 Vida P., “Vsaj lastno sobo,” Ženski svet 6, no. 12 (1928), 363−367. 27 Gizela Šuklje, “Stanujmo v stanovanjih,” Ženski svet 13, no. 12 (1935), 268−269; Dušana Šantel Kanoni, “Delavsko 21 Herman Hus (1896−1960) graduated in 1927 with Ivan Vurnik at the Technical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana. stanovanje,” Ženski svet 13, no. 12 (1935), 275−276. The statement of women’s architects is not accurate. In 1934, He led an architectural office at Gregorčičeva street no. 19 in Ljubljana. Spominski almanah slovenskih strokovnih an architecture exhibition of modern rural farm houses and buildings as well as plans of village settlements at pisateljev, publicistov in projektantov (Ljubljana: Delniška tiskarna, 1940), 288; Adresar mesta Ljubljane in okolice Ljubljana fare was organized. (Ljubljana: Tiskarna grafika, 1933), 505. 28 For more detailed information, see the official gazette of the Drava Banat Službeni list Kraljevske banske uprave 22 Herman Hus, “Soba za gospoda,” Ženski svet 8, no. 12 (1930), 394−397. Dravske banovine (Ljubljana: Kraljevska banska uprava Dravske banovine, 1930), 677−679. MoMoWo 182 MoMoWo 183 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Alenka Di Battista, Slovenian Women’s Magazines and the Development of the Modern Home Concept in the Thirties expressed the wish that soon ‘happy hearths’ would also come alive in Slovenian towns (Fig. 2).32 The collaboration of the above mentioned architects with the magazine Ženski svet continued until 1939. Despite a promising beginning, their contributions no longer had anything to do with architectural content but were limited to reviews of contemporary art-historical and ethnographic books, evaluations of art exhibitions and presentations of some Slovenian female artists.33 Fig.2. Gizela Šuklje, Design of a ‘Happy hearth’ (activity centers for children with small libraries and reading rooms where they could be freely creative). Žena in dom (Women and Home, 1930−41) Published in Ženski svet 13, no. 2 The monthly Žena in dom, which was published in Ljubljana between 1930 and 1941, was to some (1935), 41. extent a rival for the magazine Ženski svet. Its editors were Erna Podgornik, Rija Podkrajšek and Tončka Lipoglavšek. Despite the fact that it tried to be a monthly for women of all social levels, various efforts by the Drava Banovina, municipalities, farming associations, professional clubs and its varied content mainly appealed to middle-class women. It brought readers educational and cooperatives for the regulation of villages. Šantel concluded her article by saying that she has entertaining articles on the theme of housekeeping, raising children, health, hygiene, handicrafts, made readers aware of the need for prudence regarding the construction of new farmhouses in fashion and modern living culture. The graphic appearance of the magazine was very different existing villages and the need to protect and preserve the ‛aesthetic values of our villages’ and from that of Ženski svet as the cover usually sported lively colours in combination with large format to achieve ‛harmony between the building and the landscape’ with typical farmhouses that were photographs, while the magazine’s interior featured many photographs and images that illustrated made to suit each particular region.29 Gizela Šuklje supplemented Dušana’s articles with a detailed different articles or were part of numerous advertisements for products and services by local and analysis of the existing problems of rural homes and she recommended the farmhouse the use foreign brands.34 of locally available material and a construction that is as solid as possible for the successful From the outset, the theme of modern living culture was present in the magazine and in comparison renovation based on a certain building type. In her opinion, farmers would benefit from the advice with Ženski svet, it focused on slightly different and more varied presentations of interior design. of experts and recommended that practical studies of farming houses be included in the training of Whole-page photographs of furniture, which thereby became an advertisement for the woodworking technicians and architects.30 company that produced it, were sometimes featured on the front cover (October 1930, June 1931, The article entitled “Metal furniture” by Dušana Šantel Kanoni is also directly connected with the September 1932 and September 1933) or as part of advertisements for local master carpenters theme of modern home design. She outlined the different advantages of metal furniture while from Ljubljana and its surroundings in the magazine (Fig. 3). Advertisements were usually a drawing attention to the fact that in Slovenia the industrial production of such furniture is lagging combination of photographs of furniture and catchy slogans. These encouraged readers to buy behind but that this should not have a negative effect on its being purchased by cafes, pubs, hotels attractive, modern, practical and solid furniture of all kinds with which buyers could comfortably and businesses.31 Somewhat outside the context of modern living culture, but directly connected and tastefully furnish their home. with the motherly role of the woman in society, is the article by Gizela Šuklje entitled ‘Veselo Of the vast majority of articles dealing with contemporary housekeeping, their authors remain ognjišče’ (‘Happy hearth’) in which she presented the activities of the Enfance et Jeunesse – a French organization which set up activity centres for children with small libraries and reading rooms where they freely could be creative. The author also offered readers a plan for such institutions and 32 Gizela Šuklje, “Veselo Ognjišče,” Ženski svet 13, no. 2 (1935), 41−42. 33 Gizela Šuklje, “Dr. France Stele: Umetnost Zapadne Evrope,” Ženski svet 14, no. 9 (1936), 206−207; Gizela Šuklje, “Jože Karlovšek,” Ženski svet 14, no. 12 (1936), 273−274; Gizela Šuklje, “Jože Karlovšek: Slovenski ornament, ljudski in obrtniški izdelki,” Ženski svet 15, no. 7/8 (1937), 182−183; Marjanca Kanc Čuček, “Jože Karlovšek: Umetnostna obrt,” Ženski svet 16, no. 7/8 (1938), 180−181; Dušana Šantel Kanoni, “Slikarica Henrika Šantel,” Ženski svet 18, no. 29  Dušana Šantel Kanoni, “Naša vas in arhitekt,” Ženski svet 13, no. 7/8 (1935), 168−170. 4 (1940), 73−77; Dušana Šantel Kanoni, “Razstava likovnih umetnic v Ljubljani,” Ženski svet 18, no. 1 (1940), 20−21. 30  Gizela Šuklje, “O izboljšanju naše kmetske hiše,” Ženski svet 13, no. 12 (1935), 276−278. 34 Mateja Ratej, “(Ma)Rija Podkrajšek - urednica mesečnika Žena in dom v letih 1930−1941,” Kronika: Časopis za 31  Dušana Šantel Kanoni, “Kovinasto pohištvo,” Ženski svet 13, no. 12 (1935), 278−279. krajevno zgodovino 50, no. 1 (2014), 133−114. MoMoWo 184 MoMoWo 185 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Alenka Di Battista, Slovenian Women’s Magazines and the Development of the Modern Home Concept in the Thirties unknown. Usually the articles consisted of short explanatory texts and sketches or photographs of the interiors or individual items of furniture. There were particularly interesting articles in which male readers were given practical advice in words and pictures about how they can renovate old or used furniture and, in a very simple way, give it new modern shapes or adapt it for new uses (Fig. 4).35 In a similar way, they also presented articles about local handicraft products (e.g. modern designs for carpets, lampshades, pillows, curtains) that women could make themselves with the help of examples and instructions (Fig. 5).36 There are also interesting articles from 1939 and 1940 which introduced relatively new themes for readers about the necessity of arranging the garden around the house with comfortable Fig. 5. ‛Practical handwork’ outdoor furniture for enjoying nature, about procedures for buying (modern designs for carpets). and building so-called weekend houses in order to spend time Published in Žena in dom 5, no. 1 away from the city and about the characteristics of furnishings (1934), 37. for modern wooden houses.37 Fig. 3. Front cover of the women Fig. 4. ‛For Men’s hands’ (practical magazine Žena in dom advice on how can a man make Modern housing culture was dealt with in word and image by (Women and home). modern furniture on his own). of the home’ or an ‛artistically−comfortable’ solution. In the opinion of architects Janko Omahen,38 an unknown architect M. and another Published in Žena in dom 4, no. 9 Published in Žena in dom 4, no. 5 the author, the correct approach was the unification of both which was unknown academic architect I. Žak. Janko Omahen was the first (1933). (1933), 193. gradually supposed to bring about the ‛harmony of a new style.’39 An to begin working for the magazine. The particularity of his articles article from 1931 dealt with the importance of the correct selection and lay in the fact that they were not aimed solely at female readers but also tried to reach a male fitting of lighting in the home which should not be overlooked if people wished to create a ‛true readership. In his first article from 1930 he presented the problems of modern interior design with home.’40 His last article from 1932 was a kind of justification of modern housing culture. Omahen architects belonging to one of two possible groups either in a ‛technically meaningful arrangement tried to refute the main objection given by the large population that rejected the introduction of a modern style and proceeded to describe its advantages and attractiveness.41 In 1933, the architect M. presented housewives with a detailed presentation of a practically and meaningfully arranged kitchen which had to include a modern kitchen table that was also depicted in sketches (Fig. 6). In 35 “Iz starega pohištva nove oblike,” Žena in dom 1, no. 9 (1930), 306−307; “Za moške roke,” Žena in dom 4, no. 1 (1933), 19−20; “Za moške roke,” Žena in dom 4, no. 5 (1933), 193; “Za moške roke,” Žena in dom 5, no. 5 (1934), 194−195; 1937, an article was published by I. Žak in which he described different ways of sitting and the “Prenovite si opravo,” Žena in dom 7, no. 12 (1936), 428−430; “Iz starega novo,” Žena in dom 8, no. 6 (1937), 248. importance of comfort and suitable furniture.42 The topic of “Make-do-and-Mend” is analysed also by Fiona Hackney in the already cited article: Hackney, “Use your Hands,” 23−38. Female journalists only published a few articles on the subject of modern living culture. Two articles 36 E.g. “Moderno okno,” Žena in dom 1, no. 4 (1930), 132−133; “Posteljno perilo,” Žena in dom 5, no. 1 (1934), 35, and that are worth mentioning are by editor Rija Podkrajšek. She wrote about the incursion of modern “Praktično ročno delo,” Žena in dom 5, no. 1 (1934), 37; “Takale preproga napravi sobo toplo in domačo,” Žena in dom 6, no. 6 (1935), 234. style resulting in the tasteless construction of rural farmhouses and her appeal to her ‛compatriots 37 “Kako si uredimo vrt?,” Žena in dom 10, no. 3 (1939), 102−104; “Krog in krog je vrt v cvetju,” Žena in dom 10, no. 6 (1939), 234−236; “Za letovanje: lastno hišico,” Žena in dom 10, no. 5 (1939), 194−196, and “Med lesenimi stenami, pod lesenimi stropi,” Žena in dom 11, no. 2 (1940), 70−71. 38 Janko Omahen (1898−1980) graduated in 1927 with Ivan Vurnik at the Technical Faculty of the University of 39  Janko Omahen, “Problemi moderne ureditve prostora,” Žena in dom 1, no. 10 (1930), 361. Ljubljana. Between 1925 and 1929 he led, together with architect Domicijan Serajnik, the graphic department of 40  Janko Omahen, “O lučih,” Žena in dom 2, no. 6 (1931), 220. the Delniška tiskarna printing house in Ljubljana. In 1929, the two architects jointly established an architectural studio and mainly dedicated their work to interior design. France Stele, “Omahen, Janko (1898–1980),” in Slovenska 41  Janko Omahen, “Sodobna stanovanjska kultura,” Žena in dom 3, no. 9 (1932), 318−319. biografija, http://www.slovenska-biografija.si/oseba/sbi395254/ (accessed July 21, 2015). 42  M., “Kuhinjska miza,” Žena in dom 4, no. 9 (1933), 330; I. Žak, “Kako sedimo,” Žena in dom 8, no. 5 (1937), 196−197. MoMoWo 186 MoMoWo 187 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Alenka Di Battista, Slovenian Women’s Magazines and the Development of the Modern Home Concept in the Thirties on farms’ and Slovenian rural housewives to build and Domicijan Serajnik, and architects Ciril Tavčar and and equip their farmhouses in the autochthonous, Dušana. Frequent references to foreign sources46 in her Slovenian style.43 After a few years, an article by an text showed her worldliness and capability of adapting unknown female author was published about foreign ideas to the Slovenian context.47 contemporary furniture along with many photographs.44 Another article, also by an anonymous author, used words and pictures to present an attractive layout for an attic room.45 Gospodinja (Housewife, 1932−42) Women architects did not contribute articles to Žena The Union of Housewives was founded in 1931 as a in dom, but Dušana Šantel Kanoni collaborated with special department of the General Women’s Association the magazine in a slightly different way. From 1933 in Ljubljana. In 1935 the Union became an independent onwards, she prepared stylish samples for various association. As the Union wanted to train women to carry handicrafts for the supplement Za pridne roke out the ‛strenuous and responsible’ work of housewives, it (‘For hardworking hands’), and in 1939 she wrote a organised numerous educational courses, factory visits, handbook published by the magazine entitled Kako lectures, the already mentioned housekeeping exhibition opremim stanovanje (How to furnish the home) (Fig. at Ljubljana’s fair and published a monthly housekeeping Fig. 6. Architect M., Design of a kitchen table. 7). The book came about following the initiative review called Gospodinja. Its first editor was Albina Published in Žena in dom 4, no. 9 (1933), 330. Fig. 7. Cover of the book Kako opremim of magazine readers above all with the purpose of Travnova who was succeeded later by Anica Kropivnik. It stanovanje (How to furnish the home) becoming a ‛practical manual and sincere guide to was meant for middle-class housewives as well as by Dušana Šantel Kanoni. all who would like to have an orderly and attractive farming and working-class women. The main goals of the home.’ It was aimed, particularly, at those people who could not afford to equip their homes in a review were to obtain recognition for the life and vocation luxurious way, such as clerks, workers and farmers. In the introduction, Šantel Kanoni presented of housewives and to develop it and improve it.48 the characteristics of homes in past times, criticised old-fashioned furnishing styles and openly The graphic appearance of the magazine was simple but the same for all issues. It partly changed campaigned for modern styles. Further on, she described the main characteristics of a modern style with the introduction of a new cover for the third issue in 1937 and this form was then kept until the and described different items of furniture. She paid particular attention to the layout and placing of end of 1941. Advertising was limited solely to the first and last pages of each issue and was less furniture. Then there were two chapters devoted to the children’s corner and holiday rooms in the obtrusive than that in Žena in dom. There were permanent columns in Gospodinja. Novelties about countryside in Slovenian traditional style. The last part of the manual is devoted to explaining the modern living culture were brought by the column entitled ‘Home’ whose name was changed to role of the architect in fitting out the home and provides practical advice for moving. In compiling the ‘Homeliness and comfort’ after 1936. In comparison with the two magazines mentioned above, the book, Šantel Kanoni largely made use of Slovenian pictures. She featured drawings and photographs that had already been published by Žena in dom, as well as unpublished images of contemporary furniture which had been made according to plans drawn up by the workshop of Janez Omahen 46 She often mentioned architect Carl Burckhard and his book Gutes und Böses in der Wohnung (Leipzig: Verlag Otto Beyer, 1933), architect André Lurcat and his book Architecture (Paris: Au Sans Pareil, 1929), prof. Adolf G. Schneck and his books Die Konstruktion des Möbels (Stuttgart: Julius Hoffmann Verlag, 1932) and Die Möbel als Gebrauchsgegenstandt (Stuttgart: Julius Hoffmann Verlag, 1929), prof. Ernest Neufert and his book Bauentwurfslehre (Berlin: Bauwelt Verlag, 1936), architect Bruno Taut and his book Die neue Wohnun: Die Frau als Schöpferin (Leipzig: Verlag von Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1924) . 43 Rija Podkrajšek, “Nekaj o kmetijskem domu,” Žena in dom 1, no. 1 (1930), 16 and Rija Podkrajšek, “V kmetijske 47 Dušana Šantel Kanoni, Kako opremim stanovanje (Ljubljana: Žena in dom, 1939), and “Inž. arh. Dušana Šantel domove slovenski slog,” Žena in dom 1, no. 2 (1930), 16. Kanoni: Kako opremimo stanovanje,” Slovenec, May 11, 1939, Kulturni obzornik. 44 “O sodobni opremi,” Žena in dom 4, no. 9 (1933), 325−329. 48 Minka Kastelčeva, “Organizacija gospodinj drugod in pri nas,” Gospodinja 1, no. 3 (1932), 17−18, and “10 let 45 “V mojem domu je domačnost,” Žena in dom 9, no. 5 (1938), 195. strokovnega gospodinjskega lista,” Jutro, February 17, 1941. MoMoWo 188 MoMoWo 189 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Alenka Di Battista, Slovenian Women’s Magazines and the Development of the Modern Home Concept in the Thirties articles on this subject in Gospodinja were more numerous and varied in content. Most of them The rich selection of articles by Slovenian women architects in Gospodinja can be divided into different were written by university educated authors: up until 1934 there were contributions by architect themes. The first, articles in which women architects publish modern home design with detailed Dragotin Fatur49 and after 1935 by the architects Dušana Šantel Kanoni, Gizela Šuklje, Katarina descriptions of the layout of individual rooms (the anteroom, dining room, living room/lounge, bathroom, Grasselli50 and Marjanca Kanc Čuček as well as the university educated gardener Ružica Barlé. bedroom).54 The structure and content of these articles was similar to those by Fatur. Besides the usual Developments in contemporary housekeeping were followed by the column ‘Technology’ which description of the function of a particular room, its position, equipment, recommended interior design brought housewives various news about ground-breaking technical innovations in the field of of walls, ceiling and floor, and possible artistic or handmade objects, architects often included in their housekeeping such as modern washing machines and vacuum cleaners, gas and electric stoves texts a short historical overview of the development of an individual room with details about the and gas and electric hot water boilers. There are also some interesting articles in the Economics contemporary situation in Slovenia. There was a special chapter on the layout and equipment of a and Healthcare sections, which discussed the problem of working class and rural housing in modern kitchen, which Gizela Šuklje and Dušana Šantel Kanoni both dealt with in depth.55 Although their Ljubljana and its nearby surroundings. two articles were similar in many ways, Šantel Kanoni’s article offered an even deeper analysis and included technical details about minimal measurements of existing typologies of kitchen and about the Contributions by architect Dragotin Fatur can be divided into two content groups. The first group latest acquisitions and innovations in this field. Both texts showed that their authors had broad horizons contains articles of a more theoretical nature in which the author has tried to address housewives and were aware of contemporary developments in other countries. Šuklje’s article was also accompanied directly by inviting them to consider new findings about modern living culture.51 The other group by an illustrated supplement from the book called Stanovanje (Apartment)56 which showed the layout features articles that are more of a practical nature, in which he tells readers how to furnish of the so-called Frankfurt Kitchen (1926, designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky) and the two-part individual rooms in middle-class houses (family or living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms and separate kitchen sink. A special group of articles in Gospodinja dealt with Slovenian handicrafts and arts, which toilets and laundry rooms). He offered advice on how to build one’s own home, explained the in the architects’ opinion, gained in value and in price after the war (Fig. 8). Their use in the modern beneficent effects of moving, described what new materials were available on the market (such as apartment was completely justified as long as they were used with moderation and with feeling. They rubber flooring and wallpaper), showed possibilities for furnishing the modern apartment, for gave the home the very necessary warmth and an original touch.57 The use of fresh flowers was also example through wall paper and wall panelling, and spoke about the importance of a good home very appropriate for decoration as was fresh greenery, which Katarina Grasselli wrote about. Gizela and garden design.52 The articles also reflect Fatur’s special relationship with housewives. He Šuklje delved into the meticulous arrangement of the small garden characterised by simple and clear believed that the housewife is the centre of the family and that she must not assume the traditionally lines in which plants are left to grow freely, while Ružica Barlè explained the characteristics of rockeries subordinate role but a leading one. She should play a decisive role in preparations for the construction of the family home. She should cooperate closely with the architect and let him or her know her needs and wishes, which, however, should not surpass the family’s financial capacities.53 49 Dragotin Fatur (1895−1973) graduated in 1924 with Jože Plečnik at the Technical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana. In the interwar period, he established an architectural studio and worked as a professor in the technical secondary 54 Dušana Šantel Kanoni, “K smotrenemu urejevanju stanovanja,” Gospodinja 4, no. 4 (1935), 38−39; Gizela Šuklje, school in Ljubljana. He was the main editor of the first Yugoslav architectural magazine Arhitektura (1931−34). “Domače ognjišče,” Gospodinja 5, no. 8 (1936), 88; Dušana Šantel Kanoni, “Predsoba,” Gospodinja 4, no. 7 (1935), 50 Katarina Grasselli (1910−1990) graduated in 1934 with Jože Plečnik at the Technical Faculty of the University of 74−75; Gizela Šuklje, “Vestibul: Vhod v domačijo,” Gospodinja 5, no. 10 (1936), 110−111; Gizela Šuklje, “Jedilnica,” Ljubljana (AFA). Her interwar work is still mostly unknown. Gospodinja 6, no. 2 (1937), 14; Gizela Šuklje, “Hala, salon, dnevna soba: Stanovanjski in družabni prostor,” Gospodinja 51 Dragotin Fatur, “Stanovanjska kultura,” Gospodinja 1, no. 3 (1932), 18−19; Dragotin Fatur, “Stanovanje in oprema,” 6, no. 1 (1937), 2−3; Gizela Šuklje, “Kopalnica,” Gospodinja 6, no. 3 (1937), 26−27, and Marjana Kanc Čuček, Gospodinja 2, no. 10 (1933), 75−76; Dragotin Fatur, “Udobno stanovanje,” Gospodinja 2, no. 9 (1933), 70−71; Dragotin “Spalnica,” Gospodinja 6, no. 6 (1937), 62−63. Fatur, “O pohištvu,” Gospodinja 3, no. 3 (1934), 27−28. 55 Gizela Šuklje, “Nekaj misli o oblikovanju kuhinjskega prostora,” Gospodinja 4, no. 8 (1935), 86−87, and Gizela Šuklje, 52 Dragotin Fatur, “Družinska soba,” Gospodinja 2, no. 1 (1933), 2−4; Dragotin Fatur; “Spalnica,” Gospodinja 2, no. 2 “Nekaj misli o oblikovanju kuhinjskega prostora,” Gospodinja 4, no. 9 (1935), 98−99; Dušana Šantel Kanoni, “Kuhinja,” (1933), 10−11; Dragotin Fatur, “Kopalnica, umivalnica, stranišče,” Gospodinja 3, no. 9 (1934), 98 and Gospodinja 3, Gospodinja 8 , no. 4 (1939), 38; Dušana Šantel Kanoni, “Kuhinja,” Gospodinja 8, no. 5 (1939), 51, and Dušana Šantel no. 10 (1934), 110; Dragotin Fatur, “Pralnica,” Gospodinja 4, no. 6 (1934), 63−64; Dragotin Fatur, “Pogoji za gradnjo Kanoni, “Kuhinja,” Gospodinja 8 , no. 6 (1939), 63−64. lastnega doma,” Gospodinja 2, no. 6 (1933); Dragotin Fatur, “Selitev,” Gospodinja 3, no. 2 (1934), 16−17, 43−45; 56 Jože Mesar and Ivo Spinčič, Stanovanje (Ljubljana: Jugoslovanska knjigarna, 1931). Dragotin Fatur, “Kavčuk,” Gospodinja 3, no. 8 (1934), 88−89; Dragotin Fatur, “Stene stanovanja: Tapete,” Gospodinja 57 Gizela Šuklje, “Zavese,” Gospodinja 4, no. 1 (1935), 2−3; Dušana Šantel Kanoni, “Ročno delo v sodobnem stanovanju,” 3, no. 1 (1934), 2−3; Dragotin Fatur, “Opločevanje sten,” Gospodinja 3, no. 4 (1934), 39−40, and Dragotin Fatur, “Hiša, Gospodinja 4, no. 2 (1935), 14−15; Gizela Šuklje, “Tkanine,” Gospodinja 5, no. 1 (1936), 3, and Gizela Šuklje, “Tkanine v stanovanje, vrt in človek,” Gospodinja 3, no. 5 (1934), 50. nošnji in stanovanju,” Gospodinja 5, no. 2 (1936), 15−16; Gizela Šuklje, “Mali okraski stanovanjske opreme,” Gospodinja 53 Dragotin Fatur, “Arhitekt in gospodinja,” Gospodinja 1, no. 2 (1932), 10−11. 5, no. 5 (1936), 52−53; MoMoWo 190 MoMoWo 191 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Alenka Di Battista, Slovenian Women’s Magazines and the Development of the Modern Home Concept in the Thirties and common mistakes made when Conclusion creating them.58 The new thematic The presentation and analysis of the group consisted of articles in which the above mentioned women’s maga- architects Dušana Šantel Kanoni and zines, Ženski svet, Žena in dom and Marjetka Kanc Čuček dealt with the Gospodinja, has shown that during question of how to create a more child- the interwar period these magazines friendly home where each family played an important role in spreading arranged a children’s room or small ideas about modern housing culture children’s corner in the parents’ amongst the female population. bedroom, or if this was not possible, Each one had its own approach, but that readers should at least buy what they shared in depth was their appropriate children’s equipment (bed, approach to living culture. They did table with chairs and children’s not limit themselves solely to pre- cupboard) made of a light material and senting the traditional middle-class of a clean and simple form. According Fig. 8. Dušana Šantel Kanoni’s design for pillows, around 1935. Fig.9. Play kitchen designed by Dušana Šantel Kanoni, Second Courtesy of Dušana Šantel Kanoni private collection (EG0007370), Housekeepingexhibition at Ljubljana’s fair (1932). home but reacted well to the needs of to the architect, the permanent corner (published also in Gospodinja 4, no. 2 (1935), 15). Courtesy of Dušana Šantel Kanoni private collection (EG0007387). society, which was advancing care- and personally scaled equipment would fully along the path of general mod- make children feel greater attachment ernisation and progress. Slovenian to the home and would also teach them independence and a sense of orderliness (Fig. 9).59 In their women architects played an impor- articles the architects dealt with a broad spectrum of homes from middle-class apartments, small tant role with their articles regarding the modern solution for farmhouses and working-class housing, working-class flats in the form of workers’ colonies, terraced houses and apartment blocks in suburbs, the correct use of contemporary handicrafts and artistic decorations and flowers in the modern home, to plans and studies of rural houses and health buildings which Yugoslavia exhibited at the Exposition making suitable children’s furniture, and the principles of modern gardening. The architects showed a Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris in 1937. They also dealt with a new worldly and sophisticated approach to their subjects and knew much more than just what was related kind of single person’s flat (‘bedsit’), plans and equipment for small gardens or summer houses in the to interior design and home decoration. This can be seen especially clearly through a comparison with countryside and offered readers practical instructions for preparing pleasant, homey rooms for current popular articles written by women journalists focused above all on underscoring women’s tourists.60 skills and taste within their home. Unfortunately, the advanced ideas of Slovenian women architects only reached the small number of women who read these magazines as they did not publish their ar- ticles in the daily newspapers and other specialised press, which was very common at that time in other countries, for instance in Italy.61 One of the best examples of their practice, in the field of modern living culture were the items of kitchen and children’s furniture by Dušana Šantel Kanoni which were 58 Katarina Grasselli, “Cvetlice v stanovanju,” Gospodinja 5, no. 3 (1936), 27−28, and Katarina Grasselli, “Vrtič v on display at the housekeeping exhibition at Ljubljana’s fair in 1932 (Fig. 10) and other examples of stanovanju,” Gospodinja 5, no. 4 (1936), 42−43; Gizela Šuklje, “Arhitektura malega vrta,” Gospodinja 4, no. 5 (1935), Šantel Kanoni’s furniture design published in the manual entitled How to equip your home in 1939. 50−51, and Ružica Barlè, “Skalnjaki in alpini,” Gospodinja 6, no. 10 (1937), 103−104; Ružica Barlè, “Skalnjaki in alpini,” Gospodinja 6, no. 11 (1937), 115−116; Ružica Barlè, “Skalnjaki in alpini,” Gospodinja 6, no. 12 (1937), 126, and Ružica Katarina Grasselli designed the garden layout of the former Villa Bahovec on Erjavčeva street 11 in Barlè, “Skalnjaki in alpini,” Gospodinja 7, no. 1 (1938), 2−3. Ljubljana after 1935, which was demolished in 1982 due to the construction of Cultural and Congress 59 Dušana Šantel Kanoni, “Otroško pohištvo,” Gospodinja 4, no. 10 (1935), 110−111; Marjana Kanc Čuček, “Otrok in Centre Cankarjev dom. Marjanca Kanc Čuček planned the collective housing building on Tržaška dom,” Gospodinja 6, no. 9 (1937), 91−92. 60 Marjana Kanc Čuček, “Malo stanovanje,” Gospodinja 6, no. 4 (1937), 42−43 and Marjana Kanc Čuček, “Malo stanovanje,” Gospodinja 6, no. 5 (1937), 54−55; Gizela Šuklje, “Nekaj besedi o našem pohištvu,” Gospodinja 6, no. 10 (1937), 103; Marjana Kanc Čuček, “Garsonjera,” Gospodinja 7, no. 12 (1938), 127; Gizela Šuklje, “Poletna hišica,” 61  Katrin Cosseta, Ragione e sentimento dell’abitare: La casa e l’architettura nel pensiero femminile tra le due guerre Gospodinja 5, no. 6 (1936), 64, and Gizela Šuklje, “Soba za letoviščarje,” Gospodinja 4, no. 6 (1935), 62. (Milano: Tipomonza, 2000), 15. MoMoWo 192 MoMoWo 193 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Alenka Di Battista, Slovenian Women’s Magazines and the Development of the Modern Home Concept in the Thirties Fig. 10. Kitchen furniture designed by Dušana Šantel Kanoni and made by Andrej Fajfar furniture factory from Bistrica−Podbrežje, Second Housekeepingexhibition at Ljubljana’s fair (1932). Courtesy of Dušana Šantel Kanoni private collection (EG0007376). street 11 in Ljubljana in front of the Tobacco factory for the sisters Karla Kanc and Štrekelj Mara around 1938.62 Despite the fact that much remain unknown and that it will be necessary to carry out much more research, the content of these magazines points to the fact that the road to modernisation of living culture in Slovenia began already at the end of the twenties and that it was on a high level despite the artisanal form of production and marketed to both male and female audiences by male and female experts. However, the trends that were begun could only come alive fully after the Second World War in the context of the new socialist state and with the help of mass industrial production. Alenka Di Battista Research Centre of Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts, ‘France Stele’ Institute of Art History Alenka Di Battista obtained a BA in History of Art and History at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana in 2011, and for her BA thesis “Nova Gorica and Velenje: Miracles of the socialist post-war reconstruction” received the Student Prešeren Award of the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. Since 2011 she has collaborated with the international research project ‘Unfinished modernisation’, presenting the new constructed postwar cities in Slovenia, Kidričevo, Nova Gorica and Velenje‘. She obtained her PhD at the Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU and became Research Assistant at the “France Stele” Institute of Art History in Ljubljana in 2017. Her research interests concern twentieth-century architectural and urban history, especially the interwar period in Slovenia and neighboring countries. For the EU MoMoWo-project she researches the interwar work of Slovenian women architects. 62  For more information about Katarina Grasselli see: Bogo Zupančič, Usode Ljubljanskih stavb in ljudi: 1−24 (Ljubljana: KUD Polis, 2009), 86−93. In regards to Marjanca Kanc Čuček see: “Iz Ljubljane: Sgraffiti Prof. S. Šantla,” Jutro, E-mail: alenka.di.battista@zrc-sazu.si September 11, 1938, and “Ljubljana: Zanimiva hiša na Tržaški cesti,” Slovenec, September 15, 1938. MoMoWo 194 MoMoWo 195 Ana María Fernández García https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.11 The Role of Spanish Women in the It is not necessary to describe, as it is well known, the minor role that women played during Franco’s regime in Spain (1939–75), mostly in the first part of the regime. At that point, as Simone de Beauvoir Household and Craftwork in the First described in 1949 a woman’s life was always subject to her husband. Her role was that of a secondary gender reliant on the primary, leading agent of the historical transformation: the man.1 First from the Years of the Regime of General Franco: Falange with the Women’s Section as the enforcer, and later on with the Opus Dei in the second half The Women’s Section of the regime, they created a feminine ideal that implied the return of women to their homes. As Capel pointed out, several campaigns were developed during the 1940s from different perspectives (church and state) enhancing the prototype of the housewife as the agent responsible for the well- being of the family because of their dedication to domestic tasks.2 The hierarchical differences between men and women implied that females were not capable of having their own view of the world, which meant they embraced the sets of values and roles that the male gender established. However, that imposition was enforced subtly, so it seemed it actually came from the subject group, women. During Franco’s Regime, especially in the first decades of the postwar period, women had a relevant position, as mothers to give birth to the children of the ‛New Spainʼ, to raise those children and educate the new society of the regime. Women were considered in After the Civil War, Franco’s Dictatorship in Spain revitalized the so called Women’s Section, created in 1934 as the female section of the Falange political charge of bringing up their families, as wives and mothers. The policy aimed at raising the birth rate movement. It was an organisation similar to those in Germany or Italy, which provided extended families with several benefits, as long as women did not work out of the house. promoted the role of women as mothers and wives in accordance with the This promotion to raise the birth rate was not only based on ideological issues, but also on a national ideology of the regime. need, as in the first period of the regime it was necessary to counteract the demographic emptiness Losing the war in 1939 implied the end of the initiatives of the Republic to dignify caused by the Civil War. Similarly, the discrimination of women in the labor market somehow women, promote their access to higher education and their participation in public alleviated the unemployment rate of the 1940s and 1950s in a country devastated by the war.3 social activities. Franco’s regime made women go back to their homes, (mostly in the first decades) making fun of republican women considering them 'tomboysʼ or depraved persons who wanted to subvert the biological order of housebound women. It is in this historical and ideological framework that we analyse how the Women’s Section was created and how they organised training courses for women as ‘home managersʼ. These courses aimed to train women not only in daily matters such as cooking, childcare or domestic tasks, but also in the revival of popular craftworks, decoration and furnishing as well as manual arts. 1  Simone de Beauvoir, El segundo sexo (Madrid: Cátedra, 2000). First edition in French Le Deuxième Sexe in 1949. 2  Rosa Mª Capel Martínez, Mujer y trabajo en el siglo XX (Madrid: Arco Libros, 1999), 47. 3  Gloria Nielfa Cristóbal, Mujeres y hombres en la España franquista: Sociedad, política, economía y cultura (Madrid: Keywords: Spain, Francoism, women, interior design, craftwork Instituto de investigaciones feministas, 2003), 31. MoMoWo 197 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Ana María Fernández García, The Role of Spanish Women in the Household and Craftwork in the First Years of the Regime... The ideological context regarding the role of women during Franco’s Regime was based on two legal political organization for women after the warʼ.7 It was created in 1934, a few months after the premises4: the bourgeois model of the housewife and the model promoted by Catholicism. In the foundation of the Spanish Falange led by José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Pilar’s brother. It was disbanded first case, it is widely known that since the Industrial Revolution took place there was a process in 1977 after General Franco’s death. It played an important institutional role as it controlled the training of separation between the productive sphere (work place) and the reproductive sphere, related to for women of all levels and ages. After the war, this organisation was in charge of education for girls domestic matters. Men belonged to the first model, and non-working women to the second, except and it had general control over women (very often in conflict with schools run by nuns, who saw the for those women of the high bourgeoisie who had domestic servants, thus joining the two spheres. Women’s Section as a rival), as opposed to the confrontations existing in the Falange. Discrepancies Women were then considered the ‘angel of the houseʼ and the backbone of the family stability. On with the clergy were usual, in spite of their strong catholic orientation. For example, a controversial the other hand, the traditional catholic discourse promoted the idea that women should be linked aspect was the incorporation of physical education into the academic curriculum. In order to join this to the family, taking care of the house and children’s education. The female model of this catholic type of physical activities, they created the ‘pololosʼ, a sort of baggy short trousers to be worn under discourse was Virgin Mary, who was the ideal of purity, service, sacrifice and modesty. Moreover, the skirts, and which did not please the members of the Catholic Church. as Jesuit Enrique Herrera Oría pointed out, they had to ‘educate girls in what should be the basic We shall take into account that the participation of Falangist women during the war was very ambition of every woman: make the home an extension of who you areʼ.5 scarce, devoted to social and medical assistance to injured people, or to clothing, sewing uniforms Education for women of all ages was based on transferring a culture limited to the private and and equipment that soldiers needed. However, during the Second Republic the political and social domestic sphere, and their training was focused on moral education, rather than intellectual training. implication of women was seen as a threat, and that is why the Women’s Section promoted an Those values associated with femininity were developed from early childhood, in order to create approach to domesticity, which implied the confinement of women in their ‘naturalʼ environment: the perfect housewives, devoted wives and perfect managers of their homes, while men took care of house, ignoring the different duties women carried out inside the family unit, especially in the rural the social and political management. However, even in this female role, the daily life of women was areas. That domestic ideology actually entailed that women had to go back to the private sphere. subject to their social condition. This distribution of gender roles was only possible in the urban Since the end of the Civil War, the training on which the Women’s Section relied promised that soldiers middle class and the high society, where ruling the house or attending formal ceremonies were coming back home would have ‘such a pleasant family life, that they would find anything they may part of a bourgeois ritual. In most Spanish homes lived reality was a different situation. After the want inside their homes, so they would have no need to look for anything in taverns and casinos in war, society in Spain was mainly rural, and that prototype of the woman staying at home and taking their free timeʼ.8 perfect care of the house and family was only a utopia. Rural women not only took care of the house, Its main role was instructing young women to be good mothers and wives. This type of pedagogy but also of the animals and gardens, and they collaborated with their husbands in cultivating the was disseminated among Escuelas de Hogar (Domestic Schools), cátedras ambulantes (Travelling fields.6 Even in the technocratic age in the 1970s, with the exodus from rural areas to the cities, many Professorships) and the Social Service compulsory for women, which were, all in all, training courses low class women contributed to the household income carrying out all kinds of activities. on matters related to maternity and domestic subjects. As Álvarez Puga stated, most of the activities of the Women’s Section had to do with household tasks, in line with all the fascist ideologies which relegated women to the domestic sphere.9 The 3 k’s German slogan: ‘Kinder, Küche, Kircheʼ (children, kitchen, church) which encouraged women to embrace the traditional way of life, and which Hitler The Women’s Section and the Female Ideal in the Fascist Discourse would later on take up, was imitated with the 3 c’s ‘casa, cocina, calcetaʼ (house, kitchen, knitting).10 The Women’s Section was an institution that contributed to establish the ideological discourse of The Women’s Section found a similar model in the Fasci Femminili in Italy or in the Mocidade Spanish women during Franco’s Regime. It was led by Pilar Primo de Rivera, and it was ‘the only Feminina in Portugal, which had identical propaganda lauding female reproductive roles and 4  Jordi Roca i Girona, “Esposa y madre a la vez. Construcción y negociación del modelo ideal de mujer bajo el (primer) franquismo,” in Gloria Nielfa Cristóbal (ed), Mujeres y hombres en la España franquista: Sociedad, economía, política, cultura (Madrid: Editorial Complutense, 2003), 50–51. 7  Lourdes Benería, Mujer, economía y patriarcado durante la España franquista (Barcelona: Anagrama, 1977), 19. 5  Enrique Herrera Oría, “Educar en la niña a la mujer,” Atenas (December 1938), 366. 8  “La gran concentración femenina de Medina del Campo,” Revista Y (June 1939). 6  Matilde Peinado Rodríguez, Enseñando a señoritas y sirvientas: Formación femenina y clasismo en el Franquismo 9  Eduardo Álvarez Puga, Diccionario de la Falange (Barcelona: Dopesa, 1977). (Madrid: Catarata, 2012), 44. 10 Victoria Sau, Diccionario ideológico feminista (Barcelona: Icaria Editorial, 1981), 165. MoMoWo 198 MoMoWo 199 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Ana María Fernández García, The Role of Spanish Women in the Household and Craftwork in the First Years of the Regime... with Germany. As in other contemporary regimes, Francoism aimed to instill the values and way of life that followed the model of a fascist society, which implied women were to serve their husbands, and become ‛perfect maidsʼ whose final goal was no other than ‛improve the family lifeʼ.15 Domestic Activities and the Household for the Women’s Section The organisational structure of the Women’s Section consisted of National Schools, Residence Halls, Fig. 1. Meeeting of Pilar Primo de Rivera Farm Schools, craft workshops, Domestic Schools, lodgings, press and propaganda, publications (as with the Nazi Women in 1941 in Berlin. the journals Y, Teresa or Bazar), Vocational Training Schools, Social services, Nursing Schools, etc.16 Courtesy of Bundesarchiv Bild 146– 1976–112–03A, October 1941. The Domestic Schools seemed to imitate German models and focused on the idea of the woman as the main element in the house and family and also on the need to receive theoretical and practical training for that purpose. Although back in 1941 there were fifty seven domestic schools throughout showing women as mothers of the children of the nation and also sharing the same concerns about Spain, there were more than one thousand mixed gymnastic activities.11 schools that combined official education delivered The fascist component in the first years of Franco’s Regime was obvious until the Second World War by a teacher, and training on domestic aspects, with broke out. As in other authoritarian European regimes (Italian and German) the Spanish Government either one or more specific teachers.17 Single-sex relied on a strong repression, using attractive rhetoric pretending to be the saviors of the civilization, education offered specific courses for young girls: and even showing a fake desire to encourage the masses to participate in the political decisions of the ‛Family and social educationʼ, ‛Sewingʼ and ‛Music nation. Some gender issues also present great similarities among Italian Fascism, German Nazism and songsʼ, in addition to ‛Dressmakingʼ, ‛Domestic and Francoism: policies aimed at raising the birth rate, patriarchal family structure, the promotion of economy and social relationshipsʼ, ‛Postnatal careʼ the home and maternity, exclusion of women from the labor market.12 Likewise, the three regimes had or ‛Cookeryʼ in advanced courses (Fig. 2). their own women’s organizations, as the German Nationalsozialistsche Frauenschaft and Deutsches In 1942 the Rural Domestic Schools were created Frauenwerk, which were the model that the Women’s Section followed in many aspects. We know thanks to a consortium with the National Institute of 16 trips by a delegation of the Women’s Section to Germany, in addition to the stay in Spain of six for Colonization, which belongs to the Ministry for groups of Bund Deutscher Mádel (Fig. 1).13 In September, 1941, the leader of the Women’s Section Fig. 2. Cooking classes, Barcelona, 1943. Agriculture. Their purpose was to keep the training Pilar Primo de Rivera travelled to Germany where she was welcomed by Adolf Hitler whom she Courtesy of Merletti Collection/ IEFC Ref. ACP-1-295. program of each city, without taking women away gave a sword and a dagger elaborated by a craftsman in Toledo, 14 at the request of Franco himself. from their environment. Part of their activities had Besides, there was an exchange of delegations with Italy, although it was less relevant than the one to do with the rural environment, like the Escuela de Economía Doméstica Rural de Aranjuez 18 (Rural Domestic Economy School of Aranjuez), cátedras ambulantes (travelling professorships), farm 11 Giuliana di Febo, “La condición de la mujer y el papel de la iglesia en la Italia fascista y en la España franquista: Ideologías, leyes y asociaciones femeninas,” in Ordenamiento jurídico y realidad social de las mujeres: Siglos XVI a XX (Madrid: Seminario de Estudios de la mujer Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 1986), 446. 15  Mª Teresa Gallego Méndez, Mujer, Falange y Franquismo (Madrid: Taurus, 1983), 198. 12 Rosario Ruiz Franco, ¿Eternas menores? Las mujeres en el franquismo (Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva, 2007), 25. 16  Carmen Alcalde, Mujeres en el Franquismo. Exiliadas, nacionalistas y opositoras (Barcelona: Flor del viento 13 Antonio Morant i Ariño, “Una importante expresión de amistad hispano-alemana: Les visites de Pilar Primo de Rivera ediciones, 1996), 59. a l’Alemanya nacionalsocialista, 1938–1943,” in I Encuentro de Jóvenes Investigadores en Historia Contemporánea 17  Luis Suárez Fernández, Crónica de la Sección Femenina y su tiempo (Madrid: Asociación Nueva Andadura, 1993), de la Asociación de Historia Contemporánea (Zaragoza: Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza, 2008), 2. 109. 14 During the visit to Germany she was received by different Nazi leaders to ‘offer a clear vision of the attention that 18  The School of Aranjuez was created in 1950 for the training of rural instructors, and the following year it would the Nazi policy has dedicated to the feminine’. Revista Y (Mai 1938). become a collaborating school of the Ministry of Agriculture. MoMoWo 200 MoMoWo 201 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Ana María Fernández García, The Role of Spanish Women in the Household and Craftwork in the First Years of the Regime... schools or rural homes in the colonial villages, in the rural areas. In addition to traditional songs and regional dances, cookery and sewing, women received training on how to be a truly good housewife, which, in a period of 45 days, included whitewashing walls, gardening arrangements, balconies, kitchen, etc.19 Moreover, there were advocates of the Women’s Section who visited the homes to ‛make improvementsʼ and recommended that women ‛make use of their old domestic utensils or clothesʼ.20 For traditional Spanish women in the postwar period, the fact that their role as wives (or even as mothers) could be questioned, was used by the Regime as a control measure. It is fair to imagine that housewives could fear being called into question. In all the places where the Women’s Section developed their activities, they recommended women take extreme care of their hygiene and appearance in order to ‛instill the desire to strive for perfection from the very beginning, and achieve a greater refinement, thus raising the cultural level in Spainʼ.21 Fig. 3. Sewing clases, Women’s Section, 1942. It was also suggested that those places should have an austere decoration, to prevent those women Courtesy of Fondo Santos Yubero, Archivo Regional de la Comunidad de Madrid (ARCM). ‛from getting used to excessive luxury, as they could not keep up with itʼ, but at the same time setting the example of the minimum living standards ‛they should achieve in their own homesʼ. Likewise, women were advised to take up sewing and dressmaking as a usual activity, which also had a practical use. It seemed that sewing and dressmaking were intrinsic to females because ‛every little girl loves sewingʼ. So from a very early age they should start sewing, firstly with a cloth to practice sewing stitches, backstitches, hems and buttonholes, being able after some to make table cloths or table linens and then practice pin stitching, laces, piping, embroidery or cross-stitching (Fig. 3). Concerning domestic tasks, the Women’s Section provided training on home cleaning and ventilation, the importance of the exposure of the house and the distribution of rooms, the furniture that was necessary for each room, natural and artificial lighting or the different heating systems (Fig. 4). There were even courses focused on Decoration, which dealt with the importance of the aesthetic of the home, decoration of walls and ceilings, distribution of rooms and how to use the available space, Fig. 4 Home Schools, 1940. material and distribution of furniture, combination of fabrics and the use of decorative objects like Courtesy of Fondo Santos Yubero, ARCM. vases, pictures or even indoor plants (Fig. 5). Interestingly, this training program included a section on how to have a little washroom inside the house to enjoy some privacy.22 The publications linked to the Women’s Section suggested austerity in decoration, in line with the economic status of the country after the civil war. On the one hand, women were encouraged to take care of the domestic economy focusing on their resources and planning their needs in advance, 19 Pilar Primo de Rivera, La Enseñanza doméstica como contribución al bienestar de la familia española (Madrid: Comercial Española de Ediciones, 1961), 24. 20 Primo de Rivera, La Enseñanza doméstica, 25. 21 Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS. Delegación Nacional de la Sección Femenina, Plan de formación de las juventudes (Madrid: Afrodisio Aguado S.A., 1946), 14. 22 Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS. Delegación Nacional de la Sección Femenina, Plan de formación Fig. 5. Classes at the Home School, Madrid, 1942. de las juventudes (Madrid: Afrodisio Aguado S.A., 1946), 184 and 198. Courtesy of Fondo Santos Yubero, ARCM. MoMoWo 202 MoMoWo 203 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Ana María Fernández García, The Role of Spanish Women in the Household and Craftwork in the First Years of the Regime... fostered an approach to God; and, finally, an aesthetic value, as it highlighted the beauty of craftwork pieces as opposed to the ugliness of the industrial production.25 Moreover, as the press at the time showed, this craftwork revival aimed to ‛embrace the Spanish style in our homes againʼ26 by searching for national values in craftwork pieces and going back to traditional models. This desire to go back to craftwork showed some similarities with the beginning of Nazism, since Hitler’s Regime presented women as ‛the guardians of the German cultureʼ and as the ones responsible for keeping the traditional songs, dances, dresses and craftwork typical of the country.27 The interaction between the fascist ideology and the desire to go back to craftwork traditions would also be a permanent feature of the Italian fascism and until 1944 different trilateral events between Spain, Germany and Italy were common on Spanish soil. The starting point of this revaluation of craftwork was the creation of the Obra Sindical de Artesanía (‘Crafts Syndacate’) in 1940, conceived as a local organization, aimed at providing assistance, and Fig. 6. The kitchen, Medina Journal, 1943. included in the corresponding ‛vertical unionʼ. Its activities went from the elaboration of a census containing occupations (385 occupations) and a local census of handicraft artisans, to some specific activities like craft markets, organization of exhibitions and contests, artisans’ cooperatives especially in the kitchen, as it was considered to be a place of ‛order and cleanliness, where all the or the awarding of loans. As most part of the artisanal activities was performed by women, the family will gather and sing wonderful songsʼ. 23 On the other hand, women were also encouraged Women’s Section got involved in their vitalization. In the same way that there had been a process to to use old furniture, as ‛you may restore and rejuvenate your old-fashioned furniture yourselfʼ24 and rescue Spanish popular music and dances through the Coros y Danzas (‘Choirs and Dance’) groups, also to make their own curtains, bed covers and tablecloths etc. which were explained on a regular presenting them as a combination of physical exercise and promotion of the national roots,28 the basis in many women’s magazines (Fig. 6). That strong orientation to take up recycling and be training on craftsmanship monopolized the education of the young Spanish women. self-sufficient is parallel to the lack of a national industry able to fulfill the domestic needs at that It seems that the willingness of the Women’s Section to promote craftwork started out in the last time. Thus, women with all the instructions provided by the media and the training delivered by the months of the civil war, as an activity that could provide additional resources to peasant families Women’s Section became decorators of their homes. of the national faction. In May, 1939 there was a craft fair in Santander with Spanish products, which later on travelled to San Sebastián and Valencia in 1940. In the VI National Conference of the Women’s Section held in Granada on January 2, 1942, it was agreed to collaborate with the Obra Sindical de Artesanía, in order to disseminate the craftwork production throughout the country and Craftwork in the Women’s Section provide assistance in the organization of its activities. In October of the same year the first national It is worth mentioning how the Women’s Section promoted Spanish craftwork. In general, a quite craft fair was organized out of the country, with an itinerant exhibition that travelled to Lisbon, large Falangist faction believed that embracing modern trends meant losing their national identity, Berlin, Frankfurt-am Maine and Vienna. Moreover, a singular body of craftswomen was created and and thought they were antinational, cosmopolitan and capitalist. As Llorente has explained, craftwork entrusted with the elaboration of a ‛Census of Handicraft Artisansʼ.29 has three main values for the Falange: social and economic, as a way to increase the income of a population impoverished by the war and by the lack of industrial fabric; ideological, overlapping the anti-capitalist discourse of the Falange, as the promotion of artisans was contrary to the foundations 25 Ángel Llorente, Arte e ideología en el franquismo (1936–1951) ( Madrid: Visor, 1995), 56. of capitalism, with an interesting religious connection, because the spiritual mission of craftwork 26  ABC, July 21, 1942, 16. 27 Jill Stephenson, The Nazi Organización of Women (New York: Routledge, 2013), 12 28 The great success of Coros y Danzas was due to their international tours and the success of the film Ronda Española, released in 1957 and directed by Ladislao Vajda. 23  Medina, December 5, 1943. 29 Luis Suárez Fernández, Crónica de la Sección Femenina y su tiempo (Madrid: Asociación Nueva Andadura, 1993), 24 Juan (Brian) Basilio Gómez, La decoración de la casa modesta (Barcelona: Leda, ca.1950), 10. 148. MoMoWo 204 MoMoWo 205 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Ana María Fernández García, The Role of Spanish Women in the Household and Craftwork in the First Years of the Regime... one of the contradictions of the Women’s Section: in spite of the strong defense of the national catholic role of women, who were restrictively limited to the household, it favored self-employment and promoted entrepreneurship culture on a small-scale, in which even the husbands and children in the family collaborated.31 Conclusion The Women’s Section, as an organisation for women in the Francoist era, developed intense training activities aimed at a model of catholic bourgeois woman as the perfect housewife, who met the needs of her husband and of a traditional fascist society. From its creation in 1934, the Women’s Section promoted the idea of the woman as mother and wife, keeping the house clean and neat, with no ambitions, always recycling and a on a constant state of self-production. That way, women of the first period of Franco’s Regime were decorators and producers at the same time, designers Figs. 7 and 8. Inauguration of the craftwork courses organized by the Women’s Section with a delegate of the Nazi and decorators of their homes in the post-war period, which had no national industry or distribution delegation in Madrid, 1942. Courtesy of Fondo Santos Yubero, ARCM. channels, in a country devastated by the Civil War. In the same vein, the Women’s Section promoted the recovery of craftwork in a national ideology that praised the popular values of the State. Women took part in this craft renovation as manufacturers and even entrepreneurs in charge of modest The so called ‛apprenticeship trainingʼ delivered in the Talleres-Escuela (‘Workshop-School’) of the small companies. Women’s Section, and whose objective was to provide training to ensure a better economic stability in a future life, included theoretical and practical training on art, Spanish craftwork and geographical situation of the Spanish craftwork, emphasising the details ‛typical of a specific regionʼ.30 That is, the objective was not to achieve a deep knowledge about the Spanish craftwork tradition, but to get a general idea on a theoretical basis and to achieve a practical performance according to the characteristics of each region (Fig. 7). They organised workshops to learn how to make dolls, toys, carpets, laces, weaving, knitting, and how to work with straw, wicker and hemp. It is worth mentioning that in this same training program for woman under eighteen years of age, ten out of the twenty topics covered in their History of Art subject were the so called ‛minor artsʼ, maybe because these skills were considered better suited for their future life rather than, for example, painting skills. It must be taken into account that the range of techniques and models was huge because of the country’s rich craft tradition and every territorial organisation identified the potential of each region in different crafts (Fig. 8). The basic reason for this promotion of the craftwork performed by women was to alleviate the terrible economic situation of many families in the post war period, but there was also a deep underlying nationalistic feeling, with a strong wish to keep local tradition and national products. This shows 30 Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS. Delegación Nacional de la Sección Femenina: Plan de formación de las juventudes (Madrid: Afrodisio Aguado S.A., 1946), 214. 31 Alison Lever, “Capital, Gender and Skill: Women Homeworkers in Rural Spain,” Feminist Review 30 (1988), 6. MoMoWo 206 MoMoWo 207 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Ana María Fernández García Department of Art History, University of Oviedo, Spain Ana María Fernández García holds a PhD in Art History (with honors). She specialised in artistic relations between Spain and America as regards contemporary art and she is currently working on decorative arts in Spain. She has been a visiting researcher at the Universities of Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, UNAM Mexico, Cambridge and Kingston. She has published several books and articles on Spanish art in Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador and United Kingdom. She has also been president of the Danae Foundation, curator of the Selgas Fagalde Foundation and coordinator of the European Master in Conservation, Preservation and Heritage Management. She works at the University of Oviedo in Spain. E-mail: afgarcia@uniovi.es MoMoWo 208 Marjan Groot Visual Sources and Women’s Around the millennium, I was tracing and researching the work of women designers and architects in the Netherlands who were active between 1880 and 1940. The idea of presenting a documentary History: with visual historical material at the first MoMoWo conference workshop at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, about women designers, architects, and engineers between 1918 and 1940, a Documentary about the Life comes from my experience then. Wanting to learn more about the practices of individual women as designers, architects, or engineers, I encountered difficulties in finding archival sources and written and Work of Dutch Graphic documents in public archives. The reasons for the lack of documents are sometimes that women had not been active in the field for a long time or had not achieved much because they stopped Designer and Teacher working when they got married. Sometimes they did not retain their work and documentation for later preservation in public archives because they did not believe it to be of any future importance – Tine Baanders (1890–1971) they were designing for the moment, not thinking about possible historical interest later. Confronting the gaps in public archives, I could only attempt to trace family connections and private archives that might hold documentation relating to the women whose names I came across and could help in (re)constructing their histories. Perhaps relatives could remember something of the lives of their grandmothers, mothers, or great-aunts, or of people whom the designers met. A case study of the graphic designer Tine Baanders (1890–1971) was a good opportunity to address the importance of private archives for historical research on women architects and designers in the context of the first MoMoWo conference workshop for the period 1918 to 1940. Tine Baanders lived in Amsterdam and was active between 1910 and 1960. She did not have any children and after her death her papers and letters were kept by other members of her family. Today they hold a large number of negatives, photographs, and letters documenting not only her own life and work, but also that of her many Dutch and foreign friends who were part of the network of artists and designers in Amsterdam. Mr. Broos Baanders, a great-nephew of the designer, is actively involved in ordering and analysing the archive, having used it for a small exhibition and lectured about it himself. Working together, he, his daughter Sanderijn Baanders, Thomas Vorisek (technical assistant at the Play video University of Leiden), and I produced a documentary about 30 minutes long with a focus on visual source material. It was first presented at the MoMoWo conference at the University of Leiden on Friday 25 September 2015. To watch this documentary please click the: link. MoMoWo 210 MoMoWo 211 Maria Helena Souto Representation The four articles highlight the numerous ways women have been left out of modern architecture Introduction and design history publications, and analyses the different paths of the women ‘left in the shade.’ In the article by Florencia F. Cardoso we can observe how women architects and designers are still unequally portrayed by historians. We submerge into pioneer cases in the articles by Lucia Krasovec, Laura Martinez, and Maria Perers, all of which focus on women who have contributed to the image of their countries through their work and participation in international exhibitions. Cardoso develops ‘a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the documentation of women’s achievements in modern architecture history publications’. She focuses on ten books published in a ten-year period (2004–14) and observes that inequality of recognition between men and women’s achievements still remains and that there is ‘a lack of acknowledgement of women’s contributions to modern architecture,’ especially when compared to the pioneering book and exhibition by Susana Torre, Women in American Architecture (1977). Krasovec’s article provides paradigmatic examples of pioneering cases, focusing on how the Women’s Building in the Chicago International Exhibition of 1893 designed ‘a strategy to gender subsequent pavilions, [and that] female architects were encouraged to design them’. She presents similar cases in Germany, and also focuses on the Italian architect Maria Teresa Parpagliolo Shepard and her ‘approaches in an innovative way to architecture, gardening and landscape issues.’ The interesting study by Laura Martinez analyses the impact of Anni Albers’s visit to Barcelona International Exhibition in 1929 when she was still a Bauhaus student, on her later work. Martinez highlights the impact of the many interiors Lilly Reich and Mies van der Rohe designed for the German sections in eight separate Beaux-Art palaces ‘on architectural culture from then on’, particularly the use of woven textiles as architectural elements. Maria Perers begins her article by examining the impact of the Swedish Pavilion at the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes and how this success was transferred to the United States in 1928 via the luxury passenger liner M/S Kungsholm. She analyses how this success is largely related to the work by Swedish designer Anna Petrus whose works are studied by the author. MoMoWo 212 MoMoWo 213 Lucia Krasovec Lucas https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.12 Modern Women in (Modern) Architecture: Women became architects and engineers especially in the second part of the nineteenth century, after the industrial revolution and important changes in life and cultural aspect of the society. Some Cases At the beginning, most of them chose this profession because of their particularly high social (Genesis of a Modern Lifestyle) status, even working in the shadow of established architects. However, earlier we can find some rare cases of the architectural profession practiced by women that constitute cases of great excellence. Women involved in architecture belonged to noble or important families that allowed them to do architecture although generally, at the same time, they avoided publicize their works. For example, Katherine Briçonnet (1494–1526) had great influence in designing her husband’s property, Château de Chenonceau,1 managing the construction work and taking important architectural decisions while her husband was away fighting in Italian wars. Named ‘Château des Dames’, the castle was successively embellished by Diane de Poitiers and Caterina de Medici. The presence and influence of women as architects and designers, has not yet One century later, Plautilla Bricci (1616–1690) was the first woman to practice architecture and her been sufficiently explored in terms of social change. From the end of the 19th reputation has clearly survived to the present day, although the full extent of her activities remains century we find very strong and innovative female influence in architecture, to be explored. In 1663 Bricci designed the Villa Benedetti (destroyed in 1849), near the Porta S. design and urban planning projects. The origins of the modern women’s Pancrazio on the Janiculum Hill, for Elpidio Benedetti, agent to Cardinal Jules Mazarin in Rome. approach to architecture emerges mostly from the world fairs in America during that period, when the social influence of women determined occasions for a Benedetti was so pleased with the result that in 1677 he published a guidebook to the villa giving specific professional role in architecture. At the beginning of the 20th century, detailed descriptions and views of the building along with an account of the roles played by Plautilla American experiences were exported to Europe through fairs and exhibitions, and her brother, with whom it is said she collaborated. However, the building contracts and several generating a model for the new generation. What did actually drive these women preparatory drawings make it clear that it was, in fact, Plautilla who designed the building with little, to choose this profession and what did they have in common? What were their aims and what concepts did they have of the new era? In a nutshell the Italian scenario of that historical era reveals how women –who had a profound impact on Modernist history even while working at the periphery of the profession– have changed the idea of living, working, learning, having fun, even if their works sometimes remains under the ‘tradition of misattribution’. The case of Maria Teresa Parpagliolo Shepard is significant both as an instance of Italian pioneering innovative landscape architect and as a promoter of a new lifestyle. 1  Eugène Aubry-Vitet, “Chenonceau,” Revue des deux mondes no. 2 (1867), 851–881, https://rddm.revuedesdeuxmon- des.fr/archive/article.php?code=64538 (accessed June 12, 2017). First published by M. Abbé Chevalier, Pièces historiques relatives à la Chastellanie de Chenonceau publièes pour la premiére fois d’après les originaux (Paris: Keywords: design, architecture, women pioneer, landscape, exposition Techner, 1864–1866), in 5 vol. MoMoWo 215 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Lucia Krasovec Lucas, Modern Women in (Modern) Architecture: Some Cases (Genesis of a Modern Lifestyle) if any, creative input from Basilio. Benedetti was probably embarrassed to admit that his villa had reinforce traditional female roles. Anyway, the Women’s movements demanded that women occupy been entirely designed by a woman.2 a more active role in the public sphere. Women’s Buildings rendered this demand more visible and, Yet Lady Elisabeth Mytton Wilbraham (1632–1705) set up an architectural office near Birmingham step by step, the architecture of those pavilions also contributed to change the concept of what a and eventually designed 400 buildings. As the historian John Fitzhugh Millar wrote, she might also woman should be, and to promote women’s active participation in design and realisation of such.5 have taught her most famous colleague, Christopher Wren, who rather abruptly took up architecture The first realisation for the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893, is significant. Because the in the XVII century after a decade as an Oxford scientist.3 Even if she did not sign her drawings managing board of the fair agreed to allow women to participate, a separate Board of Lady because her aristocratic milieu would have disapproved of a working woman, the library at Weston Managers that had authority over all the decisions regarding the Women’s Pavilion was created. Park, in the village of Weston-under-Lizard, owns some tangible evidence of her interests - copious The competition was opened to trained architects, women only, and this pavilion was a promising notes about building techniques and raw materials she signed in her 1663 volume of Palladio’s first step that would set a precedent for women’s involvement in later years.6 The winner, Sophia writings. Given the situation of a woman acting as an architect during a period in history when that Hayden (1868–1953), was young and had just graduated. She submitted a design based on her was socially unacceptable, it is still not clear the documentation of Wilbraham’s authorship of any thesis project for a fine arts museum in an Italian Renaissance style. Her design for the fair building building, other than for her family. included balconies and loggias and was perceived as ‘light and gay,’ in the words of one of the judges, The first women architects worked from about the second part of 1800 in America, either qualities deemed appropriate for a festive event. Paid the small sum of $ 1000 plus expenses, and independently or as the wife of male architects. What drove these women to choose this profession compelled to reduce the scale of her details, Hayden was forced to make changes on short notice and what aims and ideas of the new era did have had in common? To answer this question, it and with little time. Hayden spent two years completing working drawings, designing a building that is necessary to investigate the events that led to the occasions in which women were able to was both positively and negatively reviewed by architectural journals for the same reason: it was express their creativity and skills in the field of architecture. At the time, it was mostly based on made by a woman!7 the intersection of the new bourgeois femininity coupled with the political and economic power In 1891 the architect, Jennie Louise Blanchard Bethune (1856–1913), wrote the article ‘Women relevant to the growth of the nation states. and Architecture’ for the Inland Architect and News Record, in which she voiced her disgust at the In the mid-nineteenth century, the Woman’s Building made its appearance at the world exhibitions, competition and the pathetic remuneration offered, while male colleagues received up to ten times and up until the First World War it remained a significant component of these events. The world ex- that amount for their expo buildings. In her words, it was an ‘unfortunate precedent to establish hibitions provided a showplace to present and to celebrate the industrial production of the emerging just now, and it may take years to live down its effects’.8 Whatever problems there may have been, nation states - the locus of every kind of human activity,4 where any number of contemporary social this was a far more substantial commitment to women than any fair had previously made and or cultural concerns also found expression . The Women’s Building represented gender difference the building represented the display of women’s achievements. The design process of Hayden’s –as did the emerging women’s movements– at venues which championed display of industrial debut work was often interfered with by the supervision of Bertha Palmer, a powerful Chicago production. It represented clearly bourgeois femininity in a didactic form, even if it would repeatedly businesswoman, socialist and president of the Board of Lady Managers. During the initial planning phase, the Board, aligned with the organisers of the Exposition, developed the dimensions of the 2  Yuri Primarosa, “Nuova luce su Plautilla Bricci pittrice e architettrice,” Studi di Storia dell’Arte no. 25 (2014), 145–161, https://www.academia.edu/12116062/Nuova_luce_su_Plautilla_Bricci_pittrice_e_architettrice_ (accessed June 12, 5  Mary Pepchinski, “The Woman’s Building at the World Exhibitions: Exhibition Architecture and Conflicting Feminine 2017). Ideals at European and American World Exhibitions, 1873–1915,” Wolkenkuckucksheim: Internationale Zeitschrift 3  John Fitzhugh Millar, “The First Woman Architect,” Architects Journal, November 11, 2010, https://www. zur Theorie der Architektur 5, no. 1 (2000), http://www.cloud-cuckoo.net/openarchive/wolke/eng/Subjects/001/ architectsjournal.co.uk/the-first-woman-architect/8608009.article (accessed June 12, 2017); Eve M. Kahn, “Maybe Pepchinski/pepchinski.htm (accessed June 12, 2017). a Lady Taught Cristopher Wren,” The New York Times, March 8, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/arts/ 6  The Board of Lady Managers was a governing body, and the first of its kind, see: Maud Howe Elliott (ed.), Woman’s design/the-case-for-a-17th-century-female-british-architect.html (accessed June 12, 2017); Jay Merrick, “Elisabeth Building of The World’s Columbian Exposition: Chicago, 1893 (Chicago, New York: Rand, Mcnally & Company, 1894), Wilbraham, the first lady of architecture,” Independent, February 16, 2011, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts- http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/elliott/art/art.html (accessed June 12, 2017); Sarah Allaback, The First entertainment/architecture/elizabeth-wilbraham-the-first-lady-of-architecture-2215936.html (accessed June 12, American Women Architects (Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2008). 2017). 7  Allaback, The First American Women Architects. 4  Sigfried Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition, 5th edition (Cambridge Mass.: Harvard 8  Margaret Moore Booker, “Hayden (Bennett), Sophia (Gregoria),” in Joan Marter (ed.), The Grove Encyclopedia of University Press, 1967), first edition 1941. American Art (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011). MoMoWo 216 MoMoWo 217 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Lucia Krasovec Lucas, Modern Women in (Modern) Architecture: Some Cases (Genesis of a Modern Lifestyle) plan and the idea of the structure with the Fair’s supervising architect, Daniel Burnham. For the first cornerstone laid.13 At time, it was noted that ‘she goes out herself to oversee the construction of time women architects were discussed in a lively public forum and the two most accomplished the buildings she designs, inspecting the laying of foundations and personally directing the different colleagues, Louise Blanchard and Minerva Parker Nichols (1863–1949), contributed their views to workmen from the first stone laid to the last nail driven, thereby acquiring a practical knowledge not major periodicals.9 In the summer of 1982 Hayden suffered a nervous breakdown, likely the result possessed by every male architect’.14 While Sarah Ward Conley (1859–1944) authored the one at the of the intense pressure she was under. Some used her illness as proof that women did not belong in 1897 Tennessee Centennial in Nashville, Elise Mercur developed a two-story, multifunctional building architecture, while others, such as fellow architect Minerva Parker Nichols who also participated at modelled on a regional paradigm, the Southern antebellum plantation house. the competition, came to her defence. For her design, Hayden was given a gold medal and an award Following the Chicago example, as a strategy to gender subsequent pavilions, female architects for ‘delicacy of style, artistic taste, and geniality and elegance of the interior hall’. At the ceremony were encouraged to design them, and encountered all the difficulties related to the practice of held in her honour in June 1893, Hayden was praised for creating ‘a lasting monument to her genius this profession, and especially the recognition of women’s capacity to manage a project and the and a source of pride to women for all ages to come’. The following year she designed a building execution of a construction. for the Women’s Club of America, but it was never completed. Burnham suggested she open an architectural firm in Chicago, instead she chose to retire from the field.10 The Columbian Exposition also paved the way for women to begin designing structures of all types, such as Josephine Wright Chapman’s (1867–1943) design for the New England States Building The Woman’s Building reflected the growing association of American bourgeois femininity with the which won the competition for the upcoming Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. patronage of the fine arts. As the American painter Anna Lea Merritt (1844–1930) observed, Later, inside the Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915, the recent attempts to make separate exhibitions of women’s work were in opposition with the YWCA Building, sponsored by the Young Women’s Christian Association at the insistence of local views of the artists concerned, who knew that it would lower their standard and risk the place heiress Phoebe Hearst, was erected. The building’s exterior is designed by the architect Edward C. they already occupied. What we so strongly desire is a place in the large field (…). The kind Champney of San Francisco (1874–1929), and the architect Julia Morgan (1872–1957) was asked ladies who wish to distinguish us as women would unthinkingly work us harm.11 to design the pavilion’s interior. It’s interesting that, in this case, function had overtaken meaning, In any case, the Columbian Exposition set the precedent for a Women’s Building at the Cotton States as the building was created to serve women working and participating in the public sphere. Julia and International Exposition held in Atlanta two years later, when the Women’s Department sponsored Morgan was the first woman to graduate from the Beaux-Arts in Paris and in 1904 had established a national competition in search of a talented female designer. The request was for a building in the a successful practice in San Francisco Bay Area. It must also be said that, at time, she was a colonial design, ‘to harmonize and at the same time to be able to hold its own among the much larger seasoned professional having built extensively for both the Hearst family as well as for the YWCA.15 buildings in its immediate vicinity’.12 In 1895, when she worked in the Pittsburgh architectural office of Thomas Boyd, Elise Mercur (1864–1947), a Pittsburgh architect, won the competition and a prize In Europe, the process of the emancipation of women professional architects has had a longer of $100. The building was the most expensive for its size at the fair and the only building to have a incubation. Professional practice was still outside the norm for women in the nineteenth century. Around 1900, representative Women’s Buildings also appeared at European fairs. There were many occasions to talk about women at the Expositions, but there isn’t evidence of the involvement of women architects designers. For example, the Palais de la Femme, at the Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Paris in 1900, was a small pavillion praised for conveying a sense of the Parisienne. Under the supervision of Madame M. Pégard, it was executed in a charming Baroque style, a small 9  Kathleen D. McCarthy, Women’s Culture: American Philanthropy and Art, 1830–1930 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991); see also Anna Burrows, “The Women’s Pavilion,” in Patricia Kosco Cossard and Isabelle Gournay (eds.), Essays on the Material Culture of the World‘s Fairs, University of Maryland Libraries, University of Maryland, 2005, http://digital.lib.umd.edu/worldsfairs/record?pid=umd:997 (accessed June 12, 2017). 10 Bruce G. Harvey, World’s Fair in a Southern Accent: Atlanta, Nashville and Charlestone, 1895–1902 (Knoxville: 13 Mary Pepchinski, “Woman’s Buildings at European and American World’s Fairs, 1893–1939,” in Tracy Jean Boisseau University of Tennessee Press, 2014). and Abigail M. Markwyn (eds.), Gendering the Fair. Histories of Women and Gender at World’s Fairs (Urbana, Chicago 11 Sharon Foster Jones, The Atlanta Exposition (Mount Pleasant (S. Carol.), Arcadia Publishing, 2010); Coons F. H. and Springfield: University of Illinois Press, 2010). Boyd, “The Cotton States and International Exposition in the New South, Architecture and Implications” (Master’s 14 Foster Jones, The Atlanta Exposition; Boyd, The Cotton States; Allaback, The First American Women Architects; thesis, University of Virginia, 1988). Temple Jamison, “Pittsburgh’s Woman Architect.” 12 Allaback, The First American Women Architects; Mary Temple Jamison, “Pittsburgh’s Woman Architect,” Home 15  Sara Holmes Boutelle, Julia Morgan: Architect (New York: Abbeville Press, 1988). Monthly, April 1898. MoMoWo 218 MoMoWo 219 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Lucia Krasovec Lucas, Modern Women in (Modern) Architecture: Some Cases (Genesis of a Modern Lifestyle) masterwork of modern French architecture, decorated with tasteful latticework, flowers, artful stone The Italian scenario of that historical period may reveal, in short, how women, who have had a basins and fountains, where the architect Emmanuel Pontremoli (1865–1956) understood how to profound impact on Modernist history, even while working on the periphery of the profession, embody the grace and the attraction of appealing femininity in stucco and stone.16 changed the idea of living, working, learning, having fun. In Britain, there were barriers to the presence of women in the professional field of architecture. In 1927 Mussolini uttered the sentence ‘Women should be passive. The woman must obey. She is The Institute of Architects, founded in 1834, was ‘undeniably, a male preserve (…) For the emerging analytic and not synthetic (…) my view of the role of women in the state is opposed to feminism. architectural profession, women in their ranks were quite simply unthinkable’, as the architects- Naturally she does not have to be a slave; but if I gave her the right to vote, she would deride me. members were to be ‘men of taste, men of science, men of honour’.17 The RIBA –Royal Institute In our state she simply does not count’.21 In this political and social climate in which it was difficult of British Architects– did not admit women until 1898 although during the 19th and 20th century to emerge in this profession, there are multitalented women who left a distinct impression on the some women –mostly from a family architects– did practice as professionals outside the auspices of Italian architectural scene with their own firm, involved in important fairs and other important works. the RIBA. Women’s place in the profession was envisaged and inscribed by Robert Atkinson (1883– From 1920 to 1940, the exhibitions realised in Italy were an integral element of the processes and 1952), head of the AA School in London in 1917: ‘(…) women would find a field for their abilities more techniques of building consent, with a range of different themes, staged with the indispensable particularly in decorative and domestic architecture rather than the planning of buildings 10 to 12 contribution of the artistic and architectural professions. The didactic function of these exhibitions stories high’.18 and pavilions constituted a kind of campaign to promote a national lifestyle. The first female-designed pavilions were constructed in 1914, at competing fairs in Germany. The IV Triennale of Monza in 1930 was an important occasion for the comparison of academic and Margarethe Knüppelholz-Roeser (1886–1949) created a one-story building with stark unornamented rationalist architecture. Some enterprises, such as Edison and Rinascente, promoted the research facades, coloured in deep ochre tones for the Werkbund Exhibition in Cologne. Emilie Winkelmann of innovative housing solutions giving the opportunity for young Italian architects such as Emilio (1875–1951) designed the Haus der Frau for the 1914 Internationale Ausstellung für Buchgewerbe Lancia, Gio Ponti, and Gruppo 7, to build housing prototypes in the Villa Reale Park. The exposition und Graphik – Bugra (International Exhibition for the Book Industry and Graphic Design) in Leipzig. of these prototypes was replicated in the V Triennale in Milan in 1933, and priveded significant input She also arranged the twenty-five finely furnished exhibition rooms, each differing in size and to the Modern House Show with more than 30 buildings, for social or private destination, and with decoration, into a long building clad in light grey with neo-baroque facades.19 different economic ranges.22 Among the participants, Luisa Lovarini (1895–1980), graduated from By the turn of the century, more and more women who were joining the pioneer generation of the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and employed by the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro, the national architects were finding that higher education gave them access to new opportunities. Now women institute providing assistance to workers, designed the Casa del Dopolavorista (After-Work House), without male relatives or friends in the profession could decide to become architects, even assuming a one-story house fully furnished.23 In Italy, it was the first important architectural contributione they could pay for their education. There is evidence that more women architects were beginning to from a woman architect. join others by the early twentieth century.20 16 The building was located close to the Eiffel Tower. It housed an exhibition on women artists that had received prizes 21 Tracy H. Koon, Believe, Obey, Fight: Political Socialization of Youth in Fascist Italy, 1922–1943 (Chapel Hill and during the Fair. It also had a few theatres, a large entrance hall where visitors could come and rest, and a reading room; London: University of North Carolina Press, 1985); Emil Ludwig, Colloqui con Mussolini (Milano: Mondadori, 1932). there was also a section dedicated to beauty products. See Paul Lindenburg, Paris un die Weltausstellung (Minden i. 22 Flavia Marcello, “Fascism, Middle-Class Ideals, and Holiday Villas at the 5th Milan Triennale,” Open Arts Journal 2, Westfalen: J. C. C. Bruns’ Verlag, 1900); Anne St. Cere, “Der Frauenpalast auf der Pariser Ausstellung,” in Georg Malkow- (Winter 2013–14), DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5456/issn.2050-3679/2013w08fm (accessed January 10, 2016). sky (ed.) Die Pariser Weltausstellung in Wort und Bild (Berlin: Kirchhoff & C.o Verlag, 1900), 15–16, http://digi.ub.uni- 23 Gio Ponti, [editorial on architecture at V Triennale di Milano], Domus 11, no. 61 (January 1933), 1, http://www. heidelberg.de/diglit/malkowsky1900/0003?sid=6e96e774c9bc3e0d0276a25ed9832fc6 (accessed June 12, 2017). casadellarchitettura.eu/fascicolo/data/2010-12-18_434_598.pdf (accessed June 13, 2017); Mattia G. Granata, 17 The first woman member was Ethel Mary Charles (1871–1962) and she was also the first woman to address Smart Milan: Innovation from Expo to Expo (1906–2015) (Cham, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London: Springer, an architectural society in Great Britain, see Lynne Walker, “Golden Age or False Down? Women Architects in the 2015); Grace Lees-Maffei and Kjetil Fallan (eds.), Made in Italy: Rethinking a Century of Italian Design (London: Early 20th Century,” https://content.historicengland.org.uk/content/docs/research/women-architects-early-20th- Bloomsbury Academic, 2014); Ferdinando Reggiori, “La triennale di Monza: IV Mostra Internazionale delle Arti century.pdf (accessed June 12, 2017). Decorative,” Architettura e Arti Decorative: Organo del Sindacato Nazionale Architetti 9, no. 11 (July 1930), 481– 18 Walker, “Golden Age.” 526, http://www.casadellarchitettura.eu/fascicolo/data/2013-10-30_581_2554.pdf (accessed June 13, 2017). The Milan Triennale Exhibition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts and Modern Architecture developed out of the 19 Jeremy Aynsley, Graphic Design in Germany: 1890–1945 (Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press; biennale International Exhibition of Decorative Arts which it took place in Monza in 1923. After three exhibitions, London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2000), vol. of series Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism. in 1930 it was renamed the International Triennal Exhibition of Modern and Industrial and Decorative Arts, and it 20 Walker, “Golden Age.” began to be organised according to techniques. MoMoWo 220 MoMoWo 221 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Lucia Krasovec Lucas, Modern Women in (Modern) Architecture: Some Cases (Genesis of a Modern Lifestyle) The house was published in Edilizia Moderna,24 with two illustrations: the building from the garden When she started to have an interest in landscape architecture there were no specialised schools and the living room, showing the non-luxury house for the new middle-class, and the application on the topic so she developed as a self-taught landscape designer travelling mostly in Italy, of innovative materials, as linoleum, and a more appropriate organisation of the living space England, France and Germany, to make contact with garden designers and view their projects, and modern facilities. The design of the house was extended to the outdoors as the garden was and participating in thematic exhibitions and conferences.28 Although she was hired for the job considered an important part of the house where ‘everyday life pulses and collaborates for the because of her excellent botanical knowledge and her ability to design planting plans and flower happiness of the family’, and its design was fundamental for the success of the whole project. The beds, Parpagliolo realised the new opportunities it offered for becoming involved in urban design project was successful and it was described by Lidia Morelli as a little jewel of practicality, of good and planning. taste and low price.25 Serving the Fascist regime, she adhered to its political vision with her theoretical statements and A few years later, Maria Teresa Parpagliolo Shepard, born in Rome (1903–1974), approached design work for the exhibition E42. Yet she showed no regret and no lack of self-confidence when architecture, gardening and landscape issues in an innovative way to. She was the first Italian reflecting, in 1971, on her work within the male-dominated planning team: ‘It was such an enormous woman landscape architect. After she had started her university studies in archaeology, she job that I learned the profession doing one job and teaching all architects to see the site in a different developed interest in garden design and botany. She started to educate herself, studying all the way’.29 In Parpagliolo’s idealist vision, the healthy landscape consisted of functional natural systems available garden literature and taking several study trips. In 1931 she went to England where and integrated social communities, and it provided the cultural meanings to support human life. she trained in the office of Percy Stephen Cane (1881–1976). She participated in international Landscape architecture was a work of synthesis. conferences of European landscape architects (Paris 1937, Berlin 1938), and contributed regular The innovative idea of domestic gardens and parks was that of a natural landscape, where a articles for specialist magazines such as Domus, Il giardino fiorito, Landscape and Garden, Journal beautiful and functional landscape becomes an aesthetic expression of practical land-use, looking of the Institute of Landscape Architects. In 1938, she joined the planning team for the Esposizione to an innovative spatial qualities of the city.30 Universale in Rome (E42), and in 1940 became head of the exhibition’s Ufficio Parchi e Giardini. In 1946 Parpagliolo married Ronald Shephard, and moved to London starting to work on projects with Parpagliolo not only designed gardens and open spaces in Italy, she also wrote a lot of articles Sylvia Crowe (1901–1997). From 1950, with Frank Clark (1902–1971) she designed for the Festival for specialist magazines on planting and garden design, urban design and broader environmental of Britain and the grounds of primary schools in the south of London. In 1954, the Società Generale issues. Immobiliare commissioned her projects for private and public gardens, parks and open spaces.26 She explained her idea of garden architecture, influencing the readers and professionals on this Parpagliolo was first involved in urban planning schemes with Raffaele De Vico (1906–1969) issue then underdeveloped in Italy, by highlighting the fact that the garden and the landscape are and Piero Porcinai (1910–1986), and she was soon appointed head of the Planning Department part of the same picture. For Parpagliolo, this was a central point in the cultural debate of the for Parks and Gardens of the World Exhibition, E 42, site in the south of the city and planned by twentieth century. Mussolini to open in 1942.27 From soft suggestions for a pretty familiar open space to detailed technical instructions (Figs. 1 and 2), the theoretical principles of Parpagliolo were focused not only on geometrical or natural shapes,31 but even on the issues of simplicity, balance and harmony between materials and plants. The practical examples of small gardens (Figs. 3 and 4), illustrate the close connection of the 24 Giuseppe Pensabene, “L’architettura alla Triennale,” Edilizia Moderna 11–12, no. 10–11 (1933) 3–7, http://www. casadellarchitettura.eu/fascicolo/data/2011-03-07_444_1769.pdf (accessed June 13, 2017). 25 Katrin Cosseta, Ragione e sentimento dell’abitare: La casa e l’architettura nel pensiero femminile tra le due guerre 28 Dümpelmann, “Maria Teresa Parpagliolo.” (Milano: Franco - Angeli editore, 2000), vol. of series Storia dell’architettura e della città, https://books.google.si/ 29 Dümpelmann, “Maria Teresa Parpagliolo.” books?id=H0fmGJS1C8MC&printsec=frontcover&hl=sl&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=fa 30 Sonja Dümpelmann, “Breaking Ground: Women Pioneers in Landscape Architecture: An International Perspective,” in lse (accessed June 13, 2017); Victoria De Grazia, How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy 1922–1945 (Oakland, Cal.: Patrick F. Mooney (ed.), Shifting Ground, Landscape Architecture in the Age of the New Normal (Vancouver: University University of California Press, 1992). of British Columbia, 2006), 45–50, Proceedings of CSLA/CELA Conference, 14–17 June 2006, Vancouver, British 26 Sonja Dümpelmann, “Maria Teresa Parpagliolo Shepard (1903–1974), Her Development as a Landscape Architect Columbia, Canada, http://thecelaorg.ipage.com/wp-content/uploads/shifting-grounds-proceedings.pdf (accessed between tradition and Modernism,” Garden History 30, no. 1 (Spring 2002), 49–73. June 13, 2017). 27 Massimo De Vico Fallani, Parchi e giardini dell’EUR: Genesi e sviluppo delle aree verdi dell’E42 (Roma: Nuova Editrice 31 Maria Teresa Parpagliolo, “Giardino geometrico e giardino naturale,” Domus 11, no. 61 (January 1933), 40–41, Spada, 1988). http://www.casadellarchitettura.eu/fascicolo/data/2010-12-18_434_626.pdf (accessed June 13, 2017). MoMoWo 222 MoMoWo 223 Fig. 1. Drawing of Geometrical garden by Maria Teresa Parpagliolo, in “Giardino geometrico e giardino naturale”. Fig. 3. Drawing of Small garden by Maria Teresa Parpagliolo, in “Delle parti di un giardino”. Published in Domus 11, no. 62 Published in Domus 11, no. 61 (January 1933), 40. (February 1933), 90. Fig.2. Drawing of Natural garden by Maria Teresa Parpagliolo, in “Giardino geometrico e giardino naturale”. Fig. 4. Drawing of Small garden by Maria Teresa Parpagliolo, in “Il piccolo giardino”. Published in Domus 11, no. 64 (April 1933), 209. Published in Domus 11, no. 61 (January 1933), 41. MoMoWo 224 MoMoWo 225 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Lucia Krasovec Lucas, Modern Women in (Modern) Architecture: Some Cases (Genesis of a Modern Lifestyle) Fig. 5. Drawing by Maria Teresa Parpagliolo, in “Opus topiarium”. Published in Domus 11, no. 65 (May 1933), 276. building with its open space, for which the surroundings area became the extension of the house itself, like a room to fit, ‘stanza da stare’,32 with green furniture and objects (Fig. 5). Pietro Porcinai established, that her research is developed through the knowledge of the European experiences on landscape. In August 1938, before she started to work on E42, she took part in the Second International Conference of Landscape Architects in Berlin, from where she returned enthusiastic about the German approach to the landscape. In particular, she described the German highways whose Fig. 6. Drawing attributed to Maria Teresa Parpagliolo, in Sonja Dümpelmann, “Maria Teresa Parpagliolo Shepard (1903–1974): Her Development as a Landscape shapes were studied in detail by expert professionals, and she began Architect between tradition and Modernism”. Published in Garden History 30, no. 1 to promulgate the use of local plants in landscape design, the so (Spring 2002), 63. called flora classica, in accordance with Fascist garden culture.33 In 1938, when she started project gardens and parks for the E42 with Porcinai and De Vico, she had already gained good international 1985), Guido Roda (1892–1971) and Maria Teresa Parpagliolo, who became head of exhibition’s experience and she was able to draw an image of the modern Italian garden taking to account the Planning Department for Parks and Gardens in 1940. During her work, Parpagliolo probably adjusted political idealism of the Fascist period. her ideas to the Fascist ideals of classical design, and this is clear in the project of a garden for the Exhibition of the Italian Garden. This turned out to be a collage of design elements found in The town planning scheme of the world exhibition of 1938 paid great attention to the setting up different Italian renaissance and baroque garden resulting in unrelated garden rooms placed next of green areas, under the supervision of Marcello Piacentini (1881–1960), Superintendent of the to each other more or less at random.35 Even if the aim of the exhibition was to define an innovative Architecture, and Gaetano Minnucci (1896–1980), Director of Services relating to the Architecture, landscape character, at the end the design of gardens was subordinated to the Fascist classical Parks and Gardens.34 For this purpose, a special commission of architects and technical staff with ideal of classicità. Owing to increasing financial difficulties in late 1939, most of the projects were a specific background in landscape architecture was established, and included Alfio Susini (1900– never realised. In projecting the green belt –as avenues, roads and squares– harmonisation of the panorama and the sky of Rome was planned with, based upon the choice of resinous trees, Italian 32 Maria Teresa Parpagliolo, “Delle parti di un giardino,” Domus 11, no. 62 (February 1933), 90–91, http://www. pines, as the national symbol. Some sketches, showing a formal design with trimmed hedges along casadellarchitettura.eu/fascicolo/data/2010-12-18_433_655.pdf (accessed June 13, 2017); Maria Teresa avenues and parks, show the image of the exhibition, as it should be. The drawings technique of a Parpagliolo, “Il piccolo giardino,” Domus 11, no. 64 (April 1933), 209, http://www.casadellarchitettura.eu/fascicolo/ lot of perspective views for the E42 exhibition can be attributed to Parpagliolo: roads and avenues data/2011-02-18_431_1593.pdf (accessed June 13, 2017); Maria Teresa Parpagliolo, “Opus topiarium,” Domus 11, no. 65 (May 1933), 276, http://www.casadellarchitettura.eu/fascicolo/data/2011-02-18_430_1635.pdf (accessed are attractive with shady trees, adorned with channels of water or a series of fountains (Figs. 6 and June 13, 2017). 7).36 33 Maria Teresa Parpagliolo, “Hannover, città nel verde: Un esempio di moderna urbanistica,” Le Vie del Mondo: Rivista mensile della CTI 6, no. 3 (March 1938). 34 Marcello Piacentini et al., “L’esposizione Universale di Roma 1942,” Architettura 17, special number (December 1938), 721–24, http://www.casadellarchitettura.eu/fascicolo/data/2011-02-07_321_1373.pdf (accessed June 13, 35  Dümpelmann, “Maria Teresa Parpagliolo.” 2017). 36  Dümpelmann, “Maria Teresa Parpagliolo.” MoMoWo 226 MoMoWo 227 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Lucia Krasovec Lucas, Modern Women in (Modern) Architecture: Some Cases (Genesis of a Modern Lifestyle) Fig. 7. Sketches of Belvedere, Avenue of the Corporations and Parkzone, in “Parchi, giardini, viali alberati nell‘E42,” in Lucia Krasovec Lucas Marcello Piacentini et al., “L’esposizione Universale di Roma Politecnico di Milano 1942”. Published in Architettura 17, special number (December 1938), 826. Lucia Krasovec Lucas is an architect, has a PhD in urban and architectural investigations, and is a contract professor in the Faculty of Architecture at Politecnico of Milano since 2002. She focuses on the urban, landscape and In the first part of her professional experience, Parpagliolo’s communication skills activated a break environmental field and their re-definition with integrated projects in small and with tradition to experiment with new forms in garden design, parkways and community gardens. large scale. She has been involved in EU programs as Phare Cross- Border She also contributed as a pioneer to establish landscape architecture as a new specific discipline. Project, Interreg, Ecos-Ouverture. Her practice’s expertise includes Architecture, Having considered women’s participation in architecture since the early twentieth century, it can Masterplanning, Urban Design, Space Planning, Interior Design, Building Approval, be said that we have seen works mostly realised in exhibition occasions, and that were innovative Graphic Design and Project Management. Her approach to the space filters out the research of the image and the patterns of it in a deep contamination with both in the architectural and the social settings. Women architects, through their actions and their different disciplines, including art and experimental visualization, on account of lives, contributed as pioneers to redefine professional identity and the boundaries of achievement the importance of a good communication and information of visions especially in architecture. Even if their numbers were few, the works of pioneer women architects have had a strong in the public space main themes. She is President of the national board of profound and still unknown impact on modern history. The opportunities to emerge were limited for AIDIA, Association of Italian Women Engineers and Architects, and co-founder of them, and their position in the architectural hierarchy was more often than not on the lower rungs AIDIA Trieste. of the professional ladder, but they strongly changed the idea of living, working, and learning, have fun, even if sometimes their works remained under the tradition of misattribution. E-mail: lucia.krasovec@polimi.it MoMoWo 228 MoMoWo 229 Florencia Fernandez Cardoso https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.13 Introduction How Wide is the Gap? Low representation of women is a problem in the practice of architecture today. This will only be Evaluating Current Documentation exacerbated by an inaccurate account of architecture history. Perpetuating an exaggerated gender gap can discourage women from entering and remaining in the profession. In 2014, a survey covering of Women Architects in Modern Architecture 97% of architects in Europe showed that the collective average of women practicing architecture was 39%.1 The same European survey stated that women architects earned 67 cents to a man’s History Books (2004–2014) euro. This suggests that women are not valued equally in the profession. Moreover, architects tend to earn the most when they are above fifty years-old but, according to the 2014 report, only one woman for every six men reaches this higher recognition. One may wonder, are women architects being discouraged from the profession due to a lack of recognition? In 1977, Susana Torre addressed the lack of documentation and representation of women’s Four decades ago, Susana Torre addressed the lack of documentation and rep- design and built achievements in architectural histories. Torre asked, ‘Why, although women have resentation of women’s design and built achievements in architectural histories. designed and built since the beginning of human civilization, have their achievements remained This article contributes to the current criticism of the lack of documentation of undocumented and unacknowledged in architectural histories?’2 Are women’s achievements still women’s contributions to architectural histories. To evaluate the historical vis- undocumented and unacknowledged in the modern architecture records? Is this gap between ibility of women since Torre’s first addressed of the issue, this article provides women’s achievements and what is written in the canon history books still significant today? If a quantitative analysis of the documentation of women and their achievements in recent publications. The titles examined were 10 modern architecture history such gap still exists, one may wonder how wide is the gap? books, accompanied by an index, published or re-printed between 2004-2014 and In the last forty years, several architectural historians and theorists have examined the work and lives available in Belgian university libraries. Only those available in at least three in- stitutions were investigated, and those with multiple copies available were pri- of modern women architects and designers. They have disseminated and proliferated their findings oritised. The outcome of this research is two-fold. Firstly, it demonstrates that through exhibitions and exhaustive publications3 thus, providing the tools to revisit the history of modern architecture histories were composed of an averaging ratio of 19 men architects/designers to one woman architect/designer. Secondly, inspired by the three-question Bechdel test that evaluates women’s representation in film, an 1  ‘Country profiles’ in: ‘The Architectural Profession in Europe 2014 – ACE Sector Study, 2014,’ Architects’ Council of architectural Bechdel test was introduced and put into practice to evaluate the Europe, http://www.acecae.eu/fileadmin/New_Upload/7._Publications/Sector_Study/2014/EN/2014_EN_FULL.pdf representation of women’s lives and achievements. Only four out of the ten books (accessed June 16, 2017), research done by Mirza & Nacey Research Ltd, January 2015. were shown to represent the lives and/or achievements of one woman architect 2  Susana Torre (ed.), Women in American Architecture: A Historic and Contemporary Perspective: A Publication and in at least three pages. Exhibition (New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1977). 3  Diana Agrest, Patricia Conway and Leslie Kanes Weisman (eds.), The Sex of Architecture (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996); Lori A. Brown, Feminist Practices: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Women in Architecture (Farnham: Keywords: women, modern architecture documentation, quantitative study, recent Ashgate, 2011); Ulla Markelin, Profiles: Pioneering Women Architects from Finland (Helsinki: Museum of Finnish publications Architecture, 1983). MoMoWo 230 MoMoWo 231 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Florencia Fernandez Cardoso, How Wide is the Gap? Evaluating Current Documentation of Women Architects... modern architecture and to correct inaccuracies about collaborative projects previously thought test developed by cartoonist Alison Bechdel in 1985 to analyse the representation of women in film to have been individually created. These updated, detailed studies have given modern architecture (Fig. 1).5 In order for a film to pass the test, it needs to fulfil the three following requisites.6 Firstly, a new face in a history that does not omit the presence of women. They have ‘unforgotten’ great the film has to have more than two named female characters that, secondly, talk to each other; and architects like Charlotte Perriand, Lilly Reich and Marion Mahony Griffin.4 It seems thus necessary thirdly, talk about something other than men. The goal of this test is to draw attention to the lack of today to evaluate the impact of their work. If historians have included women architects, to what women represented in film and to illustrate how they are represented. The last question points to extent did they? the way women characters are written only to promote the stories of other men characters. The outcome of my research is twofold. Firstly, I present the statistics for total individuals recorded, The architectural Bechdel test is further explained in part two of this article. This test was done focusing on those appearing on more than one page or illustration. Secondly, these page-citations with the support of a supplementary quantitative method. By counting the pronouns he, she, his, are supported with an analysis of the representation of women architects’ lives and achievements. her and him employed in the English version of the text, it was possible to illustrate how women architects’ lives and their achievements are portrayed in these books. This step was accomplished with digital, English versions of the books examined (Google books and ebooks). This quantification enabled an evaluation of the extent to which gender pronouns, in the English translations of the Methodology text, refer to women architects; thus, a form of quantification of the representation of women’s This article provides a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the documentation of lives, achievements and ideas described in such publications. women’s achievements in modern architecture history publications. This research paper is divided in two parts. The first concerns the quantification of people named in book indexes who were assigned an The Ten Titles Analysed individual and documented role in the history of architecture. I am interested in the individuals who are attributed a singular role and individual recognition. By examining book indexes and counting Ten books were analysed for this research. They were selected according to five criteria. the page citations, a female-to-male ratio of represented individuals can be demonstrated. Because (1) Only books published in the last decade were studied (from 2004–14). this conference focuses on the period of 1918–45, statistics and information about women (2) All books were available in more than one architecture library at Belgian universities. Books in architects working in this period will be included. multiple copies, languages or editions were preferred. The second part addresses the way in which women modern (3) Titles had to contain the words ‘modern architecture’ or ‘20th century architecture’. This was architects are included in these books. This was done by designated in order to examine what is perceived as ‘generally noteworthy’ or the canon of modern creating an architectural Bechdel test through which the architecture. There was one exception to this guideline in incorporating the title Negotiating books were examined. The Bechdel test is a three-question Domesticity edited by Gülsüm Baydar and Hilde Heynen. This was deliberately done in order to compare the effect of gender-aware architectural theory and history books. (4) Books geographically focused were excluded from the research in order to represent the Fig. 1. Extract of original comic strip by Alison Bechdel perceived world’s canons and the ‘general’ history of modern architecture. titled ‘The Rule’ in her Dykes to Watch Out For, 1985, p. 22. Copyright belongs to Alison Bechdel. (5) Finally, all books had to include an index of the individuals mentioned within the pages of the literary work. 4  Charlotte Benton, Charlotte Perriand: Modernist Pioneer (London: Design Museum, 1996); Mary McLeod, Charlotte Perriand: An Art of Living (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003); Matilda McQuaid, Lilly Reich, Designer and Architect (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1996); Debora Wood, Marion Mahony Griffin: Drawing the Form of Nature 5  Glyn Davis et al., Film Studies: A Global Introduction (London: Routledge, 2015), 462. (Evanston, II.: Mary and Leight Block Museumof Art, 2005). 6  Alison Bechdel, “The Rule,” in Dykes to Watch Out for (Ithaca, NY: Firebrand Books, 1986). MoMoWo 232 MoMoWo 233 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Florencia Fernandez Cardoso, How Wide is the Gap? Evaluating Current Documentation of Women Architects... The ten titles of the books studied are: Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture (2004); Negotiating Domesticity: Spatial Productions of Gender in Modern Architecture (2005); L’Architecture du XXe siècle (2005); Modern Architecture and Other Essays (2005) L’architecture moderne (2006); The A-Z of Modern Architecture (2007); Modern Architecture: Representation & Reality (2009); La arquitectura moderna y sus creadores (2012); 20th Century World Architecture (2012); and Modern Architecture: A Critical History (2014). Then ten publications here studied are not all aimed for the same audiences. Some are intended for scientific audiences, some contain subjective essays on modern architecture, and others claim to be encyclopaedic accounts of modern architecture. A strict distinction was not made for two reasons. Firstly, scholars have praised these ten books as being accurate representations of history, also using them as scientific references in their own academic publications. Secondly, these books were found in university libraries, presented with the same treatment and in the same shelves for modern architecture history sources. Part One: The Statistical Results All the ten titles add up to 6985 pages recording the history of modern architecture. After analysis, a total of 3490 individual names were extracted from the indices. Of the total number of people mentioned, 342 were female (10%) to 2936 male (90%) (Fig. 2). Of the 3490 people indexed, 1574 (45%) are mentioned on more than one page or illustration. Since more than 50% of the individuals Fig. 2. Chart of all the names mentioned in the indexes of the ten titles indexed are only used once as literary references that are unique to one title, I propose to study the statistics of those individuals that are mentioned more than once: in the same book or just once but in more than one book. These 1574 individuals would be portrayed as significant contributors Part Two: The Torre Test to modern architecture. Six out of the ten most cited architects,7 in this recently published Euro-American literature, Of these individuals cited, 144 (9.1%) are women and 1429 are men (90.9%); 1063 are architects and collaborated and some even partnered with fellow female architects and designers for their most designers (67.5%); 116 artists (7.4%) and 95 historians (6%). Furthermore, of these 1063 architects celebrated work. However, only two women are present in the top 100 most cited architects (Fig. 3). and designers, appearing on more than one page, 61 are female (5.7%) to 1002 male (94.2%). Furthermore, when women collaborators or partners are described in this historical literature, they Subsequently, of the 61 women, 24 are recorded architects or designers who were active in the are almost never presented as equal architects or designers but rather as drafters, assistants or profession between 1918 and 1945. Finally, we can produce the ratio of female to male architects even just simply as wives. How do we account for this discrepancy? Why are men and women not or designers, documented in two or more pages or illustrations and being active during 1918–1945, equally portrayed by historians? It is imperative for architectural history to reflect reality but most of to be 24 women (4.6%) to 490 men (95.3%). This is an extremely low ratio, especially given that all, it is important that the future of architecture is projected from accurate histories. out of the ten most cited architects, as recorded in this analysis, more than half had significantly collaborated with women architects and designers. 7  After adding up total counts of page citations, across the ten studied publications a top ten of most cited architects was found. The top ten most cited architectes are, in order of page-mentions: Le Corbusier (Charlotte Perriand), Frank Lloyd Wright (Marion Mahony and Catherine Ostertag), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (Lily Reich), Louis Kahn (Anne Tyng), Walter Gropius, Robert Venturi (Denise Scott Brown), Louis Henry Sullivan, Philip Johnson, Alvar Aalto (Aino Marsio-Aalto), and Adolf Loos. MoMoWo 234 MoMoWo 235 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Florencia Fernandez Cardoso, How Wide is the Gap? Evaluating Current Documentation of Women Architects... Fig. 5. The representation of women architects in Group A. The architectural equivalent of the Bechdel test that I propose will need to comply with the three following statements. (1) The book contains more than three women architects or designers, named individually in the index. (2) One of the women architect’s projects, productions, ideas or experiences are mentioned (3) in more than two pages of the whole book. I name this adapted architectural Bechdel test the Torre test, in honour of Argentinian scholar Torre and her pioneering contribution to recognising women in architecture with her 1977 publication, in a defining time when history started being written with a conscious perspective of gender biases.8 Six out of the ten books fail this simple test (Fig. 4). For the purposes of clarity, the books will be separated into three groups according to their number of pages. Group A will include the books with over 450 pages. Group B will include books between Fig. 3. Chart representing the top ten most cited architects in the ten titles analysed. 300 and 450 pages. Finally, Group C will include the books with less than 300 pages. Group A This group is composed of four books that aim at a lengthier narrative of history, replicating the form of encyclopaedias. Figure 5 illustrates the results for their representation of women architects (Fig. 5). 1. Sennott, Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture, Volume 1–3. New York: Fitzroy. This title is an extensive historical encyclopaedia composed of three volumes and 1525 pages.9 There are 553 individuals mentioned and almost half of them (266) are mentioned multiple times. This suggests an average of 2.7 pages per individual, which allows for a more extensive historical account of the lives and works of the architects and designers. One also observes a higher number of female (26 she and 35 her) and male pronouns (88 he, 89 his and 74 him) used in the text. This is 8  Torre, Women in American Architecture. Fig. 4. Results of the “Torre test”. 9  R. Stephen Sennott, Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Architecture (New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004). MoMoWo 236 MoMoWo 237 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Florencia Fernandez Cardoso, How Wide is the Gap? Evaluating Current Documentation of Women Architects... also reflected by extensive descriptions of women architects and their contributions, thus passing researched that she appears in the index individually. Aino Aalto graduated in 1920, a year before the Torre test. Alvar and with the same architecture degree from the Institute of Technology in Helsinki.13 She Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture represents the second highest use of female pronouns. collaborated as an equal partner with her husband, as well as designing on her own. Due to the encyclopaedia format, each entry of a woman architect presents a detailed account Surprisingly, the projects that she produced alongside Alvar Aalto are cited in 8 out of the 10 books, of who they were and what they accomplished. This above average representation of women with the top 10 highest amounts of page citations in all of the books. The projects and designs architects may be due to the involvement of the feminist architect and historian Diana Agrest, as Aino Aalto produced with her partner are well recognized and admired but she does not receive any she was part of the board of advisors.10 A particularity of this book, which increases the visibility of credit for them. On the other hand, Alvar Aalto, who is one of the most described figures of modern the women architects, is that there is an index entry on this topic: titled ‘women architects,’ which is architecture, appears in more than 140 pages of all of the books analysed. In this way, it is her followed by a reference to the page mentions of nine prominent women architects. husband that is credited as the sole author of the projects that they both collaborated on. The theme of women in architecture is also treated throughout the three volumes of the However, Irish architect Eileen Gray’s (1878–1976) life and achievements are described on more encyclopaedia. For example, on the ‘Finland’ entry there is a two-paragraph description of prominent than one page of the book. It is only thanks to the Peter Gössel and Jean-Louis Cohen mentioning early 20th century women architects. Along with two other Finnish women architects, Vivi Lönn is her in three pages that this book passes the Torre test. presented. She is noteworthy for being the first female architecture graduate in 1896 and the first independently practicing female architect of Finland in 1904.11 In page 460 of this encyclopaedia, she is presented as a ‘major force’ in the architecture of the first two decades of the country. Her 3. Terragni and Thomas, 20th Century World Architecture. London: Phaidon. most prominent buildings are also subsequently referenced without elaboration. This book has a This book was edited by two women historians, Emilia Terragni and Helen Thomas, and it has the 7.43% female name citations in its index. Even with a low percentage, this book is noteworthy in lowest women representation out of the ten titles.14 There are only 10 individual women architects elaborating in higher detail the lives, production and trajectories of 41 women. cited in the index at least once. Women represent a very low 2.6% of the 424 people cited. The lives or works of women architects are not recorded in this 831-page book. This title was praised upon reception for its accuracy, exhaustiveness and inclusiveness of modern architects from non- 2. Gössel and Cohen, The A-Z of Modern Architecture. Cologne: Taschen. Western parts of the world. For example, This book, consisting of two volumes with illustrated projects, represented the highest number of The reality, needless to say, was more complicated, and now Phaidon have devoted several women mentioned (110), and the highest number of women architects mentioned (103).12 Some kilogrammes of book to putting the record straight. 20th-Century World Architecture is a of the wives that collaborated with their partners are given a name and sometimes a face. This coffee-table book that weighs more than a table, an epic production that boasts its scale: 3,800 reference book is effective in representing the high numbers of women that have contributed to photographs of 757 buildings by 699 architects in 97 countries. It aims to set architecture the field of architecture as a whole in the twentieth century. It may be because it is taken more as a in wider contexts of colonisation and decolonisation, and of cultural exchanges between detailed encyclopaedia than as a free-flowing writing piece. Even though many women are cited in countries.15 this book, very few are actually presented or cited on more than one page of the book. Despite this title aspiring to represent 20th century world architecture, it exhibits a case for Some of the architect wives of men architects are for the first time present in this book. However, discrimination. There are female partners that are completely overlooked and whose respective they are not represented equally compared to their husbands. For instance, Herzog and De Meuron husbands or partners are not (ie. Aino Marsio-Aalto, Nobu Tsuchiura, Charlotte Perriand, Denise both appear in the same number of pages. For example, the Finish modernist architect Aino Marsio Scott-Brown, etc.) There are also several female architects that are overlooked as individuals Aalto (1894–1949) is here mentioned for the first time on her own in the index, however, she is not given her own entry in the content of the book. Nonetheless, this is the only time in all ten books 13 Alvar Aalto, Aino Aalto and Renja Suominen-Kokkonen, Aino and Alvar Aalto: A Shared Journey: Interpretations of an Everyday Modernism (Helsinki: Alvar Aalto Foundation, 2007). 14 Emilia Terragni and Helen Thomas, 20th-Century World Architecture (London: Phaidon, 2012). 10 Ibid. 15 Rowan Moore, “20th-Century World Architecture: The Phaidon Atlas by Phaidon Editors; The Future of Architecture 11 Annie Canel and Ruth Oldenziel, Crossing Boundaries, Building Bridges (London: Routledge, 2005), 82. Since 1889 by Jean-Louis Cohen – Review,” The Guardian, October 28, 2012, http://www.theguardian.com/ 12 Peter Gössel and Jean-Louis Cohen, The A-Z of Modern Architecture (Köln: Taschen, 2007). books/2012/oct/28/architecture-atlas-phaidon-review (accessed June 16, 2017). MoMoWo 238 MoMoWo 239 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Florencia Fernandez Cardoso, How Wide is the Gap? Evaluating Current Documentation of Women Architects... but who are partially mentioned as office names or together with their husbands such as Marion Mahony Griffin, Ray Eames and Helena Syrkus. A surprising example is the case of Lina Bo Bardi (1914–1992) whose projects are presented in three different pages but the architect is barely mentioned in them.16 She is firstly introduced as Gio Pionti’s student and then the authors proceed to describe her home, the Glass House (1951), as an excellent representation of his theories and not hers. Subsequently, when presenting Bo Bardi’s project for the Museum of Art in São Paulo, the narrators only focus on the husband of the architect, Pietro Maria Fig. 6.The representation of women architects in Group B. Bardi. They describe his role in the museum, his networks and his curatorial experience. Her name is only mentioned in the last sentence of the page, to remark her unusual choice in presenting the artwork freely in the space. Finally, only in the project of the Pompéia Factory Leisure Center is Bo way, her life and work are not included in the body of the book and are not described for at least Bardi’s motto ‘Architettura povera’ cited. However, her unique parti pris for renovating the factory, three pages. instead of following through with the planned demolition of the site, is also ignored. This title fails A particularity of this book is that it contains a section detailing twenty architects: as individuals the Torre test because Bo Bardi’s life and ideas are not described for more than one page and her or as duos. Sadly, no women are represented. It insinuates that no women architects were worth projects are presented in such a way that they do not appear to be her own. being remembered or that their work was not remarkable enough in the history of 20th century architecture. This particular chapter, that appears at the end of the book, also provides a biography of the architects, accompanied by large photographs of the architects mentioned. Because this 4. L’Architecture du XXe siècle. Cologne: Taschen. selection is not explained/motivated in the introduction or the text, one is left wondering, why these Multiple copies, editions and language versions of this book were available at all university libraries. twenty? Why only white Western men? The version analysed here is a French translation and second edition of the book published in 2005, a newer version has been published in 2012.17 However, it is the 2005 edition that was most widely available, in multiple copies, across multiple institutions. This book contains 604 pages of text, with an index presenting a total of 468 people with 17 referenced women. Thus, one can observe a 3.6% Group B representation of women in this notorious reference of modern architecture history. However, this This group is composed of four books written by one author aiming to portray abridged overviews book blatantly fails the Torre test. of modern architecture history, some of them are a compilation of essays. Figure six illustrates the When analysing the use of gender pronouns in the English version of the 2005 edition, a great results for their representation of women architects (Fig. 6). discrepancy stands out. There are a total of 189 male pronouns (83 he, 85 his and 21 him) employed in the text. However, there are absolutely no mentions of she pronouns. This can be translated as: there are zero sentences where women are active subjects in the history of modern architecture. 5. Filler, La arquitectura moderna y sus creadores. First edition, Spanish translation. Barcelona: Alba. Furthermore, there are only five uses of the pronoun her. Of the five, only two refer to human beings: This book is a composition of articles published online for the ‘The New York Review of Books’ that British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid and American-French artist Josephine Baker, as a fantasy client. was re-edited for the book publication. These articles dating from 1985 to 2007 were edited together The other three her pronouns refer to anthropomorphised nature. Zaha Hadid’s name appears in in the last 8 years and the author took advantage of the time to include more female architects. text in two sentences of the whole book. Once in the descriptor of a photograph of her Vitra Fire Martin Filler narrates history for a wider audience, attempting to include references to popular Station (1989–1993) and once when describing the profile of architect Daniel Libeskind.18 In this culture figures (Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Jacqueline Kennedy) as well as political figures (Robert Kennedy, Saddam Husseim and George W. Bush).19 However, there is no bibliography or footnotes supporting this book, which makes one question its scientific validity. 16 Terragni and Thomas, 20th-Century World Architecture, 722, 728, 732. 17 Peter Gössel and Gabriele Leuthäuser, L’architecture du XXe siècle (Köln: Taschen, 2005). 18 Gössel and Leuthäuser, L’architecture, 524, 585. 19 Martin Filler, La arquitectura moderna y sus creadores (Barcelona: ALBA Editorial, 2012). MoMoWo 240 MoMoWo 241 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Florencia Fernandez Cardoso, How Wide is the Gap? Evaluating Current Documentation of Women Architects... This publication passes the created Torre test, given that women architects are present in the This is due to the nature of the writing being in essay form. For example, very high page mentions index and a woman architect’s life is partially described through multiple pages. However, this are given to the architect Louis Khan, who is much less referenced in the other books. There is one doesn’t prevent this work from undermining women’s contributions to architecture. The author woman architect, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (1950), who is mentioned in more than three pages but acknowledges that Margaret Macdonald (1864–1933) had been ‘forgotten’ by many historians and always as an accessory to her husband, and her own life and accomplishments are not described academics, even citing the work of feminist historian Janice Helland. However, he discredits the for more than one page. Denise Scott-Brown is the other one mentioned in more than three pages collaboration of the couple. but again, as an accessory to her husband and her own life and accomplishments are not described. Pamela Robertson, an expert on Charles Mackintosh, cited in 2001 one of the letters Mackintosh There are a total of 30 female gender pronouns employed in this book. There are nine instances addressed to Macdonald, his wife, as recognition of her contribution.20 Charles Mackintosh wrote, where the pronoun she is employed. These are in reference to the following: one for a client of ‘you must remember that in all my architectural efforts you have been half if not three-quarter in a home (Vanna Venturi), one for a religious story mentioning the Virgin of the Belle, two for an them.’ However, Filler does not as recognise her efforts. For example on page 44, he questions Egyptian mummy story (no name), two for anthropomorphized countries of France and England, the fact that both Macdonald’s and her husband’s initials appear as authors of both of their work. one for the dead wife of a king (no name), two for the mother of Frank Lloyd Wright (no name), and He raises doubts about Macdonald’s contributions to the architectural office by adding: ‘Scholars finally one for Catherine Bauer who is not included in the index of persons mentioned. This book debate whether this meant actual collaboration, concept inspiration, or merely, in the case of his fails the Torre test. series of botanical watercolours (…), her proximity when he painted them.’ Here, Margaret is reduced to the role of an object that appeared to be sharing the same space as 7. Frampton, Modern Architecture: A Critical History, 4th revised edition. London: Thames and Hudson. the male-genius in the room. On page 207, Marion Mahony is also discredited for her architectural contributions, being only mentioned once, as Frank Lloyd Wright’s draftsperson and not as the This book had a very large index (1044 individuals) considering that it is comparatively small in size, registered architect that she was. 389 pages.22 This creates a higher density of name citations per page, resulting in less detailed information about one-person, but more individual contributions recorded. This produces a more inclusive history of architecture with large numbers of individuals and not just the too-well-known 6. Scully, Modern Architecture and Other Essays. New York: Princeton Press. heroes (cf., Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, etc.). This book contains an introduction by Neil Levine that describes the life of the author, the Although the numbers of people mentioned are higher, the number of women represented is not architectural historian Vincent Scully, and multiple chapters that are essays previously written by proportionally higher. Designers, interior architects, and architects that happen to be women are only Scully and compiled by Levine.21 This is not, thus, an encyclopaedia but it does aim to portray a mentioned once and only in the context of their couple. For example, the designer and artist Noémi personal overview of modern architecture. There are 18 women out of 381 people cited in the index Pernessin is mentioned only once (p. 258). Her name appears as a second subject, not the first, and of this book. However, three of the women indexed are mentioned only once, in the biographical it used as a descriptor of her husband and not as a stand-alone citation. This is her only mention. In introduction, and only because they were wives or ex-wives of the author. It is surprising that the contrast, her husband, Antonin Raymond is mentioned as the main subject in multiple pages (257– three indexed women (Nancy Keith Scully, Catherine Lynn Scully and Marian LaFollette Wohl) were, 8, 259). By mentioning only him as a subject, Frampton implies that Pernessin’s contributions were and are, involved in the academic world of art and architecture history but were not included in this negligible. This is in contrast with historians who have examined the biography of the couple and book for their accomplishments but as biographical information of Vincent Scully. attribute to Noémi Pernessin an equal role of influencing, economically supporting, and directing her There are fewer references to other authors and more focus on a small number of figures. In a husband’s work.23 way, it almost appears to be too subjective as most of the author’s cited architects are rooted in the same country as the author and external scientific referencing is scarce throughout the book. 20 Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Pamela Robertson, The Chronycle: The Letters of Charles Rennie Mackintosh to 22 Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture: A Critical History (London: Thames and Hudson, 2013). Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, 1927 (Glasgow: Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, 2001), 18. 23 Kurt Helfrich and William Whitaker, Crafting a Modern World: The Architecture and Design of Antonin and Noémi 21 Vincent Scully, Modern Architecture and Other Essays (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005). Raymond (Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006), 16–17. MoMoWo 242 MoMoWo 243 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Florencia Fernandez Cardoso, How Wide is the Gap? Evaluating Current Documentation of Women Architects... This tendency of mentioning the woman collaborator only as an accessory to a male counterpart is repeated several times throughout the whole text,24 thereby failing the Torre test. 8. Levine, Modern Architecture: Representation & Reality. Yale Press. This book, written by Neil Levine, is a compilation of his lectures given at the University of Fig. 7. The representation of women architects in Group C. Cambridge in the academic year of 1994.25 In this way, the content of this book dates back to a time when several other feminist historians were publishing books and organising conferences on Group C women’s contribution to modern architecture.26 However, this book does not seem to have been impacted by these contributions. The author, Levine, reviews three centuries of architecture, dating This group is composed of two books of a shorter length, aimed at a scholarly audience. Figure 7 the beginning of modernity to the Italian architect Alberti in the mid-fifteenth century. This would illustrates the results of their representation of women architects (Fig. 7). provide for many years of history where women also theorised and took part in the practice of building.27 Nonetheless, there are 27 women cited in this book as opposed to 353 men. 9. Colquhoun, L’architecture moderne. Gollion: Infolio. There are a total of 31 female gender pronouns (9 she and 22 her) employed in the text against a This book was available across all university libraries with more than one copy, in numerous editions total of 225 (87 he, 85 his and 53 him) male gender pronouns. Only five women architects are cited and in more than one language. The version analysed here is a 2006 paperback French translation and none of them were working during the period of 1918–45. The only two women architects cited of the 2002 edition of Modern Architecture by Alan Colquhoun.30 Many of the books researched here more than twice are Denise Scott Brown (1931) and Cammie McAtee (1966). They are mostly used made reference to this book as a scientific source of merit. There are 366 pages and 16 women for literary references and their life and work are not described either. that are mentioned in the index. This figure is the second lowest out of the 10 books. This book also A review by historian Kenneth Frampton describes the author as an outstanding architectural fails the Torre test. historian of his generation. It sates, The pronoun her appears on two pages out of 366. On page 26, it is used to reference This is Levine at his critical best and it is this, surely, that puts him in a class apart as far as the anthropomorphised nature. On the page 275, her is used to reference Catherine Bauer. The only architectural historians of his generation are concerned, since his writing not only manifests she pronoun also appears on that same page. Both pronouns are used to reference the same profound erudition and logical judgment but also exhibits an exceptional capacity to perceive housing expert and architectural educator. Bauer is the only woman architect described in the book; and interpret the spatial and technostatic feeling of a given architecture… 28 although only in less than five sentences. She is first introduced as Lewis Mumford’s assistant and Even though, Modern Architecture: Representation & Reality is a critically acclaimed book, appreciated later as his ‘tour partner.’ On page 275, Bauer is also described as a writer, a ‘transformed housing by fellow historians,29 it fails the Torre test. reformer’, and an expert on social housing. However, Bauer was also a regional planner, part of the US Government Housing Authority and contributor to the United Nations urban development programs. She had been one year away from graduating with an architecture degree at Cornell 24 Lilly Reich (p. 163), Eileen Gray (p. 334), Margaret MacDonald (p. 74), Gertrud Jekyll (p. 50), Gunta Stölzl (p. 128), University but graduated with an English degree from Vassar College instead. Bauer was also a Catherine Ostertag (p. 62) and more. professor and the Dean of the Environmental Design College at the University of California Berkeley.31 25 Neil Levine, Modern Architecture: Representation and Reality (New Haven Conn.: Yale University Press, 2010). Household rationalist and designer Christine Frederick is also cited once, accompanied by two 26 Agrest, Conway and Weisman, The Sex; Beatriz Colomina (ed.), Sexuality and Space (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992); Dolores Hayden, The Grand Domestic Revolution: A History of Feminist Designs for American Homes, Neighborhoods, women that appear here as literary authors (household designer Erna Meyer and Austrian architect and Cities (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1982); Leslie Kane Weisman, Discrimination by Design: A Feminist Critique of the Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky). In two concise sentences, the historian describes the significance of Man-Made Environment (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1994). 27 For example Katherine Briçonnet (1495–1526). See: Alberto Gisholt Tayabas, “De la mujer en la arquitectura, una reflexión histórica,” Bitácora arquitectura 33 (2016), 80–85. 28 Kenneth Frampton, “Modern Architecture: Representation and Reality,” Journal of the Society of Architectural 30 Alan Colquhoun, L’architecture moderne (Gollion: INFOLIO, 2006). Historians 4 (2012), 552–55. 31 Barbara Sicherman, Notable American Women: The Modern Period: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge: Harvard 29 Jack Quinan, “Modern Architecture: Representation & Reality,” Choice 3 (2010), 489. University Press, 1980), 66–68. MoMoWo 244 MoMoWo 245 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Florencia Fernandez Cardoso, How Wide is the Gap? Evaluating Current Documentation of Women Architects... the women’s movement’s influence in promoting new concepts of the domestic management (that Conclusion greatly inspired celebrated modernist architects). These three household rationalists and designers Four out of the ten books pass the Torre test. The books that were the most frequenly available are mentioned by name, in one page of the whole book. However, no context is given as to why within the Belgian libraries failed. In this way, six titles out of ten did not reach the simple three-page their collective work would be remarkable in the theory of architectural history. Their life, ideas, and requirement to describe the work, life or ideas of a single woman architect or designer. This test architectural works are overlooked. was deliberately made simple and easy to pass in order to draw attention to a great discrepancy that persists today. Forty years after Torre’s book and exhibition, there is a persisting lack of 10. Heynen and Baydar, Negotiating Domesticity: Spatial Productions of Gender in Modern acknowledgement of women’s contributions to modern architecture. Architecture. London: Routledge. Recently published works by architectural theorists and historians have responded to some of the This book represents the most equitable ratio of female to male individuals referenced (41% to criticisms that feminist researchers often receive. One for example is the criticism that ‘there are no 59%), with 106 women out of 260 individuals referenced in the index. It was edited by two feminist modern women architects in history books because there were fewer women that had access to an architecture scholars and it was a result of a Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) session on architectural diploma at the beginning of the twentieth century.’ However, this thought is misleading. Domesticity and Gender in Modern Architecture in 2003.32 In this way, this is a very different book The reality is that modern architecture was never a movement that required obtaining an architecture written by multiple scholars, experts in their subjects and not claiming to be a detailed overview of diploma. Some of the greatest male architects that lead the movement never obtained an architecture modern architecture history. Furthermore, the topic of gender and women architects is of special degree and sometimes never even received education from a formal college setting. Renowned interest in this book. Negotiating Domesticity is the only title that contains an almost equally high modern architects such as Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier never acquired any university diplomas,34 ratio of male and female pronouns 167 she and her and 186 he, him and his. In this way, the women even though they commonly engaged in teaching and in writing about modern architecture. architects mentioned have their life and work described in the more detail compared to the nine In the same way, there have been many women that also practiced architecture without formal other books. This book also passes the Torre test. credentials, for example Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham who is attributed the role of architect for leading Negotiating Domesticity is the only book that mentions the British modernist architecture contributor and designing the construction at least a dozen houses for her wealthy family in the 17th century.35 Elizabeth Denby (1894–1965). Denby was a successful designer and expert in the subject of modern A Belgian historian, Julie Piront, even discovered that groups of religious women between 16th- housing. She was involved in several well-known modernist projects of the 1930s.33 In the chapter 17th century in Belgium and France often designed and supervised their own built environments.36 titled ‘A citizen as well as a housewife’, Denby’s productions are described as a member of the Furthermore, several women actually had already attended architecture studies at the very beginning Utility Furniture Advisory Committee and as a housing consultant (pp. 49–64). The British author, of the twentieth-century in a few countries. Some of these are the previously cited, Vivi Lönn and Elizabeth Darling, mentions Denby’s collaboration with the architect Max Fry but she also presents Marion Mahony as well as Julia Morgan (1872–1957), the first woman architect to graduate from direct quotations from Elizabeth Denby herself, thus, giving her a voice and a life as a designer the Beaux-Arts school in Paris,37 and Margaret Staal-Kropholler (1891–1966), the first woman outside her collaboration with a man. architect in the Netherlands.38 34 Adolf Loos et al., The Architecture of Adolf Loos: An Arts Council Exhibition (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1985), 116; Nicholas Fox Weber, Le Corbusier: A Life (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), 456. 35 John Millar, “The First Woman Architect,” The Architects’ Journal, November 11, 2010, https://www.architectsjour- nal.co.uk/the-first-woman-architect/8608009.article (accessed June 16, 2017); Nicole Pohl, Women, Space and Utopia, 1600–1800 (Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited), 2006, 66. 36 Julie Piront, “Empreintes architecturales de femmes sur les routes de l’Europe: Étude des couvents des annonciades célestes fondés avant 1800” (PhD diss., Université catholique de Louvain, 2013). 37 Ginger Wadsworth, Julia Morgan: Architect of Dreams (Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 1990), 25. 32 Hilde Heynen and Gülsüm Baydar, Negotiating Domesticity: Spatial Productions of Gender in Modern Architecture 38 Dave Wendt, Academie van Bouwkunst Amsterdam 1908–2008 (Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 010 Publishers, 2008), 19. For (London: Routledge, 2005). more examples of women architects at the beginning of the twentieth century see: Despina Stratigakos, “Architects 33 Elizabeth Darling, “‘The Star in the Profession She Invented for Herself:’ A Brief Biography of Elizabeth Denby, in Skirts: The Public Image of Women Architects in Wilhelmine Germany,” Journal of Architectural Education 2 housing consultant,” Planning Perspectives 3 (2005), 273. (2001), 90–100. MoMoWo 246 MoMoWo 247 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Florencia Fernandez Cardoso, How Wide is the Gap? Evaluating Current Documentation of Women Architects... Finally, some may dismiss this failure by saying that ‘there are less women in the history books because it is a reflection of the reality at the time.’ This conclusion could be drawn if we were to study only one book, with few women citations, for example the 2005 Architecture in the 20th Century by Peter Gössel and Gabriele Leuthäuser. However, if one were to pick up another book, such as the Encyclopaedia of 20th Century Architecture or The A-Z of Modern Architecture then one would see that there are at least 140 women that contributed to the history of modern architecture, and even more outside of these two books. This suggests scientific inaccuracy as historians or a conscious bias against women’s contributions. In order to shine light on the invisibility of women architects, it is essential to measure the weight of their absence in the records of modern architecture. Numerous female modern architects and designers have been researched and their work proliferated in the last decades. These female histories need to be acknowledged. Historians of modern architecture should move on from the naïve male-hero narrative. Recognizing collaboration between architects will result in a better representation of history. Historians value the story of the ingenious male hero who is admired for his unlimited imagination and building abilities. The problem with this hero story, despite its inaccuracy, is that it has become the only story of modern architecture. As literary author Ngozi Adichie stated in 2009, The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story. (…) The consequence of the single story is this: it robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar. Florencia Fernandez Cardozo Stories matter.39 Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KUL / Université Libre de Bruxelles ULB Florencia Fernandez Cardoso is an architect. She graduated in 2013 with a Mas- ter’s in Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture La Cambre-Horta, at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), where she also obtained a Bachelor in Ar- chitecture (2011). At the moment she is preparing a PhD in the same faculty as a joint-degree with KU Leuven and ULB, under the supervision of Hilde Heynen (KUL) and Christine Schaut (ULB). She is a researcher at Hortence (Architectural History, Theory and Critique) and Sasha (Architecture and Social Sciences), two laboratories that are part of the research center CLARA. Florencia is a member of the editorial committee of the annual scientific journal Clara: Architecture/Re- cherche. E-mail: florencia.fernandez.cardoso@ulb.ac.be 39 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Danger of a Single Story, screened July, 2009 (Oxford, TED Global, 2009), http:// www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/transcript. MoMoWo 248 MoMoWo 249 Laura Martínez de Guerenu ˜ https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.14 Anni Albers and Lilly Reich This paper examines the work of Anni Albers (1899–1994) to ascertain the impact that the visit to Barcelona International Exhibition during the summer of 1929 had on her later work. Albers was in Barcelona 1929: then a student of the Bauhaus weaving workshop and would graduate the following semester, in February 1930.1 Lilly Reich (1885–1947) would not join the Bauhaus until 1932.2 However, Reich’s Weavings and Exhibition Spaces work in the interior designs of the vast German exhibits in Barcelona 1929 is echoed in a building that was collectively designed by the various Bauhaus workshops under the directorship of Hannes Meyer (1889–1954), and in which Albers participated, also in 1929. Despite all that has been discussed in relation to the Barcelona International Exhibition, an important fact has remained undiscovered for scholarship in the fields of decorative arts, design history and material culture. In early 1929 the Bauhaus had already acquired many commitments to participate in several exhibitions throughout that year.3 Barcelona, together with Basel, Brussels, Leningrad The Bauhaus participated as an industry in the German section of the 1929 Barce- lona International Exhibition, sending objects to the Palaces of Textile Industries and Paris, was one of the many cities outside Germany, where the Bauhaus was planning to display and Decorative and Industrial Arts, two interiors (besides another thirteen) de- its objects. In fact, the Bauhaus participated as an industry in the German section of the 1929 signed by Lilly Reich and Mies van der Rohe. The ground-breaking design for the Barcelona International Exhibition, sending objects to the Palace of Textile Industries ( Textilpalast) Textile Industries exhibition space clearly contrasted with the architecture of the and to the Palace of Decorative and Industrial Arts ( Gewerbepalast).4 given neoclassical palace. The exhibited Bauhaus objects were samples of drapery material, upholstery ma- terial, and wall-covering materials, the three types of utilitarian weavings Anni Albers elaborated at the Bauhaus weaving workshop, apart from her own artis- tic wall hangings. In the fall of 1929, after her visit to Barcelona, Albers would 1  Anni Albers’s Bauhaus diploma was signed in Dessau on February 4, 1930, by the Director Hannes Meyer and the design an experimental wall-covering material for the Bundesschule Auditorium Head of the Department Gunta Sharon-Stölzl. Box 29, Folder 2, Anni Albers Papers. The Josef and Anni Albers of Hannes Meyer’s Federal School of the ADGB in Bernau. The original weaving Foundation, Bethany, CT. had two different sides, one for acoustic absorption (made out of a straw-like 2  Mies van der Rohe offered Lilly Reich a position at the Bauhaus in Dessau a few months after he became its director synthetic material with chenille backing), the other for light reflection (of a silver in September 1930. Gunta Stölzl left the weaving department in September 1931, and Lilly Reich became the finishing), which would grant Albers her Bauhaus degree in February 1930. director of both the weaving studio and the building/finishing department in January 1932. See Magdalena Droste, “Lilly Reich: Her Career as an Artist,” in Matilda McQuaid (ed.), Lilly Reich: Designer and Architect (New York: The The goal of this paper is to set out the role played by Reich in the interior design of Museum of Modern Art, 1996), 55. the exhibition spaces in Barcelona and to trace the origin of the material innova- 3  On the first issue of the Bauhaus journal in 1929, the Bauhaus presence was noted on two lines, lost on a list with tion of Albers’s weavings. sixteen other exhibitions in which the school was taking part during that season. See “Ausstellungen,” in Bauhaus: Zeitschrift für Gestaltung 3, no.1 (1929), 24. 4  Firma (company), Bauhaus Dessau, Dessau, Ebertallee, 12. Palacio (palace), Artes Decorativas e Industriales y [sic] Industrias Textiles. Box 47174, Expo 1929 Inventari Objetos de Artes. Exposición. Barcelona Extranjero y Estado. Listado de expositores, 4. Arxiu Contemporani, Exposición Internacional de 1929 (1923–1942), Barcelona. See also Keywords: Anni Albers, Bauhaus, exhibitions, interiors, Lilly Reich, textiles Internationale Ausstellung Barcelona 1929: Deutsche Abteilung (Reichsdr.,1929), 58 and 66. MoMoWo 251 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 As is already well known, most of the attention of the German presence in Barcelona went to the two pavilions that were built ex-novo, the renowned Representative Pavilion and also the German Electrical Industries Pavilion, both designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969). However, what it is less known is that another 16,287 m2 were devoted to the exhibition of German industries in the fairgrounds of Montjüic.5 Reich and Mies had been in charge of designing the German sections in parts of the interiors of eight separate neoclassical palaces: the Southern Palace on the top of the mountain; the Machine Palace (with sections for Electricity, Motive Force and Chemical Industries), the Palace of Projections, and the Palace of Communications and Transport, around the main avenue; the Palace of Textiles Industries and the Palace of Decorative and Industrial Arts to the eastern side; and the Palace of Graphic Arts and the Palace of Agriculture on the top of the ridge. These commissions were interiors, which had to be accommodated in neoclassical buildings of the most different nature. The linguistic diversity and the varied spatial quality of these eight neoclassical palaces –and the areas devoted to the display of the 342 German industries– indicate the colossal challenge that Reich and Mies faced to accomplish this endeavour. The spatial structures of the given palaces (most of them designed by local architects) ranged from ample horizontal spaces with steel columns of great slenderness, to double-height volumes resting on Corinthian columns, as the numerous interior photographs attest. Their assorted size is also apparent when comparing the ground plans (Fig. 1).6 The dark shading in the image shows how the German sections occupied spaces of very different dimensions and kinds: between 2000 and 3000 m2 devoted to Electricity, Motive Force and Chemical Industries, Communications and Transport, and Textiles Industries; 1,500 m2 to the different exhibits distributed in the Southern palace; around 700 m2 to Graphic Arts; smaller and varied areas to Decorative and Industrial Arts, as well as to Agriculture. Additionally, the German objects on display ranged from light to heavy industries. Thus, achieving consistency by Fig. 1. 1929 Barcelona International Exposition site plan with the German presence marked in the different palaces. Collage by the author. providing a neutral background (where to underscore the particularities of the objects themselves) Legend was not a minor challenge for the architects. Pavilions. 30. German Pavilion. 139. Electrical Industries Pavilion 5  The German section of the International Exhibition of Barcelona occupied a total surface of 17.562 m2, including Industrial Exhibits distributed in Palaces the official Representative Pavilion and its garden, which took up 258 m2 and 417 m2 respectively, and the Electrical 4. Palace of Graphic Arts, Buchgewerbepalast: 680 m2 Industries Pavilion that extended over 600 m2. The exhibition in the Palace of Textile Industries and the Palace of 5. Palace of Agriculture, Landwirtschaftspalast: 100 + 20 + 1300 + 100 m2 Decorative and Industrial Arts, the two palaces where the Bauhaus was present, occupied 3.000 m2 and 1.441 m2 6. Palace of Decorative and Industrial Arts, Gewerbepalast: 841 + 400 + 100 + 100 m2 respectively. In total, 342 German exhibitors took part in the different sections of the International Exhibition. Box 47174, Expo 1929 Inventari Objetos de Artes. Exposición. Barcelona Extranjero y Estado. “Exposición Internacional 7. Machine Palace (Electricity, Motive Force and Chemical Industries) Chemie- und Maschinenpalast: 2500 + 2117 m2 de Barcelona 1929. La sección extranjera de la exposición.” Arxiu Contemporani, Exposición Internacional de 1929 9. Palace of Projections, Projektionspalast: 529 m2 (1923-1942), Barcelona. 10. Palace of Communications and Transport, Verkehrspalast: 3000 m2 6  See the official catalogue publication Internationale Ausstellung Barcelona 1929: Machine Palace (Electricity, Motive 11. Palace of Textiles Industries, Textilpalast: 3000 m2 Force and Chemical Industries Palace), ( Chemie-und Maschinenpalast), 2; Projections Palace ( Projektionspalast), 35; 46. Southern Palace, Konstruktionspalast: 1500 m2 Palace of Communication and Transport ( Verkehrspalast), 39; Palace of Textile Industries ( Textilpalast), 51; Palace of Decorative and Industrial Arts ( Gewerbepalast), 61; Palace of Agriculture ( Landwirtschaftspalast), 71–3; Palace of *Numbering according to the Spanish catalog of the German section. Graphic Arts ( Buchgewerbepalast), 79; Southern Palace ( Konstruktionspalast), 87. Copy deposited at the Bauhaus- Published in Exposición Internacional de Barcelona 1929: Catalogo official de la sección alemana Archiv, Berlin. (Berlin: Reichsdruckerei, 1929). MoMoWo 252 MoMoWo 253 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Laura MartÍnez de Guereñu, Anni Albers and Lilly Reich in Barcelona 1929: Weavings and Exhibition Spaces There were areas, such as the ample 3,000 m2 space devoted to the Palace of Communications steel-tube MR 10 chair with the seat and the back in ‘Lilly Reich Weave’,7 since Mies took every op- and Transport, which Reich and Mies left almost bare, so that the German means of transportation portunity to blatantly promote his furniture in what seemed to be a new promising market.8 could be openly seen underneath the vaulted hangars. Others, such as the space devoted to the The omnipresence of Mies’s furniture in every single interior of Barcelona, and the quick and now famous beer-stand from Munich, which were simply sandwiched in an U-shape created by three widespread commercialisation of it in Spain, led the Basque architects Joaquín Labayen (1900– walls between four Corinthian columns. Reich and Mies proposed different finishings depending, 1995) and José Manuel Aizpurúa (1902–1936) to choose the MR10 chair in wickerwork for the not only on the spatial structure of the given neoclassical palaces, but also, on the light-or-heavy interior of the Nautical Club House they opened in San Sebastian in the summer of 1929, four character of the industries that would be on display. One clear example is the varied way in which months after the opening of the Barcelona International Exhibition, on the other side of the Franco- they responded to two predetermined and similar interiors: that of the Electricity and Motive Force Spanish border. The mobility of the MR chair, its journey from Barcelona to San Sebastian, is Industries and that of the Chemical Industries, to the left and right sides of the Machine Palace. In relevant because it traces the travel itinerary that Anni and Josef Albers (1888–1976), followed the Chemical Industries section, their aim was to cover the floors with linoleum, to lower the height from the Mediterranean to the Cantabric border of Spain that summer of 1929 (Fig. 3).9 It also of the ceiling with a hanging ceiling composed by one-meter-wide textile bands, and to panel most shows the impact of Mies’s furniture in the shaping of modern interiors, since the German Pavilion of the vertical surfaces in white whilst in the Electricity and Motive Force section, all surfaces were in Barcelona and the Nautical Club House in San Sebastian would be precisely the only two works left bare. built on Spanish ground to be part of the Modern Architecture: International Exhibition at the MoMA The design of vitrines, shelves, lettering and signage was not a minor issue. Reich and Mies in 1932.10 designed an extensive range of pieces of furniture to display a varied array of industrial products: As explained, the fact that the Bauhaus had sent objects to two of the Barcelona exhibits, the Palace from chemical compounds and optical objects to books and graphic arts. Additionally, the two of Textile Industries and the Palace of Decorative and Industrial Arts, was the main motivation for architects naturally introduced ‘still-lives’ composed by tubular-steel furniture such as Mies’s MR10 the Alberses to decide to embark on a Southern European journey, since some of the fabrics woven chairs, MR20 chairs, MR1 stools, as well as MR30 tables (Fig. 2). These pieces of furniture had by the Bauhaus weaving workshop (probably even by Anni Albers) were displayed in the German originally been designed in 1927 for Mies’s apartments at the Werkbund exhibition Die Wohnung section of the Textile Industries. (The Dwelling) at the Weissenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart, forming a consistent group of a chair, a chair-with-armrests, an ottoman, and a small round table. Metallgewerbe Joseph Müller from Berlin The Palace was a neoclassical building finished by local architects Joan Roig and Emili Canosa was the company that commercialized all the furniture from the German interiors in Barcelona, and in 1928. The area occupied by the German section extended through the front axis, and occupied also provided the steel frames for the freestanding elements that supported most of the objects an area equivalent to the space underneath the main dome. Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and on display. Switzerland inhabited this space as well as the two other square areas on either side of it, and an extension to the northern side of the interior aisle. The plan for each of these squares was The fifteen interiors distributed over eight palaces show how, with a few materials and a series of carefully controlled design 7  This is the name that was given to the version of the chair in wickerwork, since it was long thought that Mies’s strategies, Reich and Mies were success- tubular Steel models MR10 and MR20 had been ‘revised in 1927 by his employee, Lilly Reich.’ However, this is a fact that has been refuted in ZI Research Group, “The ‘Lilly Reich Weave’,” in Helmut Reuter and Birgit Schulte (eds.), Mies ful in placing the heterogeneous objects and Modern Living: Interiors, Furniture, Photography (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2008), 139. of the German industries comfortably 8  The full-page advertisement included in the official catalogue reads: ‘The MR chair is elastic and follows the against a uniform background. The MR movements of the body. It is made out of steel tubes and it is delivered in chrome, nickel or lacquered in color, and the seat and the back come in leather or wickerwork. Better quality, bigger solidity’ (translation by the author). Mies chair/ chair-with-armrest/ ottoman/ table registered the patent of the MR10 chair for its ‘improvement in chairs and curved armchairs’ a few days after the sets, and the way they had been care- opening of the Barcelona International Exhibition in 15 June 1929. On Mies’s business with patent registrations of fully introduced, played a crucial role in his chairs see Pablo López Martín, “La silla de la discordia. La pequeña escala como campo de experimentación de la modernidad. Breuer, Mies y Stam” (PhD diss., Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, January 2016). procuring formal consistency to a series 9  See Laura Martínez de Guereñu, “Bauhaüslers on the Franco-Spanish Border,” Architectural Histories, 4, no. 1 (2016), of spaces that were otherwise heteroge- Fig. 2. Area of Textile Machinery at the Palace of Textiles Industries, 15, DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/ah.191 (Special issue: Travel) . neous in character. The official catalogue with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s furniture in the forefront. 10 Mies’s German Pavilion at the Barcelona Exposition (187–8), Labayen & Aizpurua’s Nautical Clubhouse in Donostia- Published in Exposición Internacional de Barcelona Diario Oficial, San Sebastián (174), in Henry-Russell Hitchcock Jr. and Philip Johnson, The International Style: Architecture since included a full-page advertisement of the no. 34, October 26, 1929, 4. Biblioteca Nacional de España. 1922 (New York: W. W Norton & Company, 1932). MoMoWo 254 MoMoWo 255 Laura MartÍnez de Guereñu, Anni Albers and Lilly Reich in Barcelona 1929: Weavings and Exhibition Spaces organised according to a classical compositional spatial structure. Four main columns created a central square accompanied by eight other smaller columns, placed toward their two perpendicular sides in each area; all of them together supported friezes that crossed and marked the height of the ceiling perpendicularly. Reich and Mies created a ground-breaking design for this exhibition space, which clearly contrasted the architecture of the designated neoclassical palace as well as the interior design of the rest of the represented countries in the same building. It is worth comparing the original distribution of the stands anticipated by the general committee of the Barcelona exhibition, with the way Reich and Mies organised the German products.11 In the original Palace of Textile Industries, a steel structure was covered with plaster creating concentric friezes at a low height and the stands were rationally organised following these concentric areas. Reich and Mies broke the alignments of the distribution of the stands, allowing the visitors to move freely across the space. In order to do so, they covered the perimeter walls with modular white panelling and created four cabinets in the form of an L (facing each other towards the central space) thereby distinguishing a perimeter circulation from a central space (Fig. 4). In the central area, the weavings were hung from freestanding bars of different width and height that advanced over an array of isolated coloured glazed walls of chrome carpentries. These coloured- glass walls, including a curved one, divided the space, while allowing a view through it. The cabinets in the form of an L, as well as the perimeter walls, served as backdrops for the freestanding coloured glass walls and the textiles hanging from them. Thus, the modular repetition of the white wood panes in the background, the four L-shaped cabinets, and the freestanding glazed walls created a balanced atmosphere in which the objects on display were foregrounded (Fig. 5). The images of this interior space show some of the many details of the panelling that were designed in order to create a distinct interior to the one originally offered in the form of a neoclassical palace. The photographs also reveal how assorted the areas of the section were, accommodating miscellaneous products Fig. 3. Itinerary of Anni and Josef Albers during the summer of 1929, with designs and pieces of furniture of members and machines. of the Bauhaus. Mapping by the author. As the official catalogue of the German presence in Barcelona reveals, the Bauhaus was exhibited in Legend one of the displays of the perimeter spaces on the left side of Deutsche Seide, amongst thirty-eight Berlin: other German industries distributed in the entire area, including companies such as Gütermann Portrait of Lilly Reich; Plans of the interiors of Barcelona Exhibits; Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s MR10 chair in wicker. that still survive today.12 As the listing reads, the objects that the Bauhaus sent to this section were Dessau: Photocollage of Anni Albers by Josef Albers; Interior view of the auditorium of the ADGB building; Wall covering material for the auditorium. Barcelona: 11 The original plans with the exhibitor-distribution of the different palaces that are stored as part of the holdings of the Arxiu Contemporani in Barcelona [Exposición Internacional de 1929 (1923–1942)] differ substantially from the Photocollages by Josef Albers; Textile design by Anni Albers; Interior views of Deutsche Seide at the Palace of plans designed by Reich and Mies, as the plans of the Mies van der Rohe Archive and the numerous photographs Textiles Industries. of the exhibition display attest. San Sebastián: 12 The list of objects in the section devoted to the Palace of Textile Industries ( Textilpalast) that also shows a Photocollages by Josef Albers; Exterior and Interior views of the Nautical Club by Joaquín Labayen and José Manuel distribution plan in one of the publications about the German presence in Barcelona reads: ‘15. Bauhaus Dessau, Aizpurúa. Dessau: Vorhangstoff, Diwandeckenstoff, Spannstoff.’ See Internationale Ausstellung Barcelona 1929, 58. MoMoWo 256 MoMoWo 257 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Laura MartÍnez de Guereñu, Anni Albers and Lilly Reich in Barcelona 1929: Weavings and Exhibition Spaces Fig. 4. Plan of the Palace of Textiles Industries, with reference to the different German exhibitors. Legend 1. Berlin-Karlsruher Industrie-Werke Aktien-Gesellschaft, Karlsruhe (Baden) Fig. 5. Lilly Reich and Mies van der Rohe, 2. Mundlos Aktien-Gesellschaft, Nähmaschinen-Fabrik, Interior view of the Palace of Textile Industries. Magdeburg-Neustadt Courtesy of the Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin. 3. G. F. Grosser, Fabrik für Flachstrick-maschinen, Rundstrickmaschinen, Spulmaschinen, Markersdorf (Chemnitztal) 4. Louis Bahner, Strumpfwirkerei, Oberlungwitz samples of drapery material, upholstery (Sachsen) material, and wall-covering material, the 5. Gütermann & Co., Nähseidenfabrik, Gutach (Breisgau) three types of utilitarian and anonymous 6. Limbacher Maschinenfabrik Bach & Winter, Limbach (Sachsen) weavings Anni Albers designed, together Biernatzki & Co., Chemnitz with her own artistic wall hangings, at the Emil Wirth, Wirkmaschinenfabrik, Hartmannsdorf bei Bauhaus weaving workshop. However, there Chemnitz 15d.u.f. Mechanische Weberei Pausa A., -G, Stuttgart are no photographs that can show how the Seyfert & Donner, Chemnitz 15e.u.k. Deutsche Werkstätten Textilegesellschaft M. B. H. Dresden –A. space on this side of the perimeter gallery had been distributed. Instead, there are two photographs Dürkoppwerke A.-G., Nähmaschinenwerk, Bielefeld G. Hilscher, Wirkmaschinenfabrik, Chemnitz 15g. Staatliche Hochschule für Handwerk und showing sewing machines by Mauser-Werke A. G., knitting machines from Elite-Diamantwerke, and C. A. Roscher Söhne, Rundwirk – und rund- Baukunst, Weimar every kind of textile machine from C. G. Haubold A. G., in the continuing perimeter of the gallery. Strickmaschinenfabrik, Mittweida (Sachsen) 15h. Spitzenwerkstätte, Elfriede Freiin von Hügel, The longitudinal arrangement of this machinery recalls another project that Reich had designed Chemnitzer Strickmaschinenfabrik A. –G, Chemnitz Stuttgart. 15h. Forkelsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft, Plauen (Vogtl.) on her own three years earlier for the International Frankfurt Fair: ‘Von der Faser zum Gewebe’ 7. C. G. Haubold A. –G, Maschinenfabrik, Chemnitz 8. Leo Lammertz, Nadelfabrik, Aachen (Rheinland) 15h. Staatliche Kunstschule für Textilindustrie, Plauen ( From Fiber to Textile). In this design Reich had foregrounded the display of the industrial process 9. S. Fränkel, Tischzeug-, Leinwand . und (Vogtl.) of production, showing the manufactured raw materials and distinguishing between phases and Frottierwarenfabrik, Neustadt (Ober-Schlesien) 15h. Spitzenkunst L. Matthaei, Hannover, types in an almost scientific way.13 This precedent clearly reveals Reich’s responsibility in the overall 10. Wilhem Geidner, Metallwarenfabrik, Kempten Ferdinandstrasse 41 design of the interior at the Palace of Textile Industries of Barcelona, something that Mies never (Bayern) 15h. Frau Margret Klaiber-Gminder, Öhringen (Württemberg) obscured.14 11. Mauser-Werke A. ´G., Werk Spezialnäh- Maschinenbau, Oberndorf am Neckar (Württemberg) 15i. Staatliche Spitzenklöppelschule Tiefenbach, 12. Elite-Diamantwerke Aktiengesellschaft, Siegmar- Tiefenbach (Oberpfalz, Bayern) Chemnitz 15i. Staatliche Spitzenklöppelschule Stadlern, Stadlern 13. Erich Barth, Chemnitz (Bayern) 13 See Matilda McQuaid, “Lilly Reich and the Art of Exhibition Design,” in McQuaid, Lilly Reich, 21. 14. Deutsche Seide 15i. Staatliche Spitzenklöppelschule Schönsee, 14 In the introductory note to Barcelona Exhibits 1929 published in The Mies van der Rohe Archive by Garland, Franz a. Verein Deutscher Seidenwebereien, Krefeld Schönsee (Bayern) Schulze only recognizes that ‘the special talents of his companion, the designer Lilly Reich, proved of inestimable b. Verband Deutscher Samt – und Plüschfabriken, 15i. Staatliche Klöppelschule Nordhalben, Nordhalben value’ when Mies was called upon to oversee the layout and the design of the individual exhibits of Barcelona. See Krefeld (Bayern) Arthur Drexler (ed.), The Mies van der Rohe Archive, Vol. 2 (New York: Garland Publishing Co., 1986), 246. Valentín c. Vereiningte Glanzstoff-Fabriken A.-G., Elberfeld 15i. Staatliche Klöppelschule Abenberg, Abenberg Trillo explains also how Mies named Reich co-author of the entire Barcelona exhibits project in the letter he sent to d. I. P. Bemberg A. –G, Barmen-Ritters-Hausen (Bayern) commissioner Von Schnitzler on 28 September 1929, in which he justified a summary of the budget of the German 16. Nieuhues & Dütting, Baumwollspinnerei, Weberei, participation in Barcelona. Bundesarchiv, Politisches archive, MAEB R240030/ 0107-0138. Berlín, October 7, 1929. e. I. G. Farbenindustrie A. –G., Abteilung Kunstseide, Quoted in Valentín Trillo, “Mies in Barcelona: Arquitectura, representación y memoria” (PhD diss., Universidad „Agfa“ Berlin so 36. Färberei, Bleicherei, Nordhorn (Hannover) de Sevilla, January 2016), 289. Additionally, correspondence between the office of Internationale Ausstellung 15a. Handweberei Hablik-Lindemann, Itzehoe (Holstein) Barcelona 1929, Der Deutsche Generalkommissar in Barcelona and Lilly Reich in Berlin, from 26 November 1929, 15b. Bauhaus Dessau, Dessau Published in Exposición Internacional de Barcelona discussing the days of work devoted to the installation of different industries on display at the Textile Pavilion (2 15c. Deutsche Textile Kunst Deteku, Rudolf Hiemann, 1929: Catalogo oficial de la sección alemana days for Niehues & Dütting; 4 days for Bauhaus, Pausa, etc; 2 days for Spitzen; 2 hours for Gütterman and 23 days Leipzig (Berlin: Reichsdruckerei, 1929), 50–57. for Deutsche Seide) can be found at the Mies van der Rohe Archive, the Museum of Modern Art, New York. MoMoWo 258 MoMoWo 259 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Laura MartÍnez de Guereñu, Anni Albers and Lilly Reich in Barcelona 1929: Weavings and Exhibition Spaces However, there is no evidence of which specific weaving samples the Bauhaus sent to Barcelona, nor whether some of them were made by Albers herself or not. The interior of the Palace of Textile Industries was clearly the most successful one of the entire fair, for it showed the high quality and modern taste of the German textile industries.15 It has also been discovered that Anni was Fig. 7. Josef Albers, Interlocked, always the one in charge of ‘engineering’ the trips and 1927, Sandblasted opaque flashed glass. 32,7 x 52,2 cm, arranging the itineraries that she and Josef would follow, Solomon R. Guggenheim, which leads one to think that it was her idea to embark New York. Gift, The Josef and on a Southern trip, from Dessau to Barcelona, in the Anni Albers Foundation, summer of 1929.16 Bethany, 1991. During the 1920s, Anni Albers’s artistic work developed on a parallel track to that of Josef Albers. Anni’s especially the strip patterning –the alternating bands of stone of the Basilica of the Santa Croce weavings and Josef’s glass paintings show an interest and the Duomo Cathedral in Florence– had had on their work in 1925.17 And for this reason it is not in exploring the same architectural themes. It is easy to difficult to think that the Mediterranean architecture the Alberses saw in Barcelona had a similar find striking correspondences, as is the case with some impact on their work. If one looks at Komposition, the wall hanging Anni developed in 1929/1930, of her weavings such as Pictorial Tapestry (1925), and after their trip to Barcelona, in parallel to Pergola, Josef’s last glass painting in his idiosyncratic Fig. 6. Anni Albers, Wall Hanging, 1926, Woven, his glass paintings such as Skyscrapers on Transparent ‘thermometer style,’18 also created after the same trip, it is clear that they were both exploring Silk (three-ply weave); actual: 178.8 x 117.8 cm Yellow (1929); or with Wall Hanging in Silk (1926) (Fig. 6) and translating the same tectonic concerns. Their resemblance with the horizontal pergolas Josef (70 3/8 x 46 3/8 in.). Courtesy of Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger and Interlocked (1927) (Fig. 7). Although the architectural captured in the interior courtyard of the Hotel Colón in which they stayed is quite astonishing. One Museum, Association Fund, BR48.132 implications of Josef’s glass paintings might be more of the images of the photo collage created by Josef Albers years later shows that some of the © The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / apparent (due to the way they represented overlapping of commercial extensions of the ground level were protected by subsequent bands of long horizontal Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York horizontal floors or the play between regular supports and pergolas for shadow production, very present in Mediterranean architecture.19 (Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows cantilevers), the exchange –and the mutual influence– of Harvard College). But this is not what interests us most about the impact the trip to Barcelona may have had on Anni’s of their work is obvious. Looking at the dates, it can be work. Anni would graduate the following February, weaving a complex textile as her final project, inferred, however, that it was Anni who influenced Josef on his tectonic explorations during the 1920s. Besides this, Anni had recognised the impact that Tuscan architecture, 17 See Nicholas Fox Weber, The Bauhaus Group: Six Masters of Modernism (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009), 370. 18 The ‘stripping’ strategy that acquired the name of ‘thermometer style’ consisted in the employment of single pieces of opaque glass with surfaces of different colours. Josef Albers sewed bands in groups of different widths and 15 “Una visita a la sección alemana de la Exposición de Barcelona,” in Exposición Internacional de Barcelona. Diario visual weights with a variety of vertical columns, producing an effect of spatial superposition that created the Oficial, no. 12, June 2, 1929. illusion of transparency. Albers developed this technique to be able to create a multifaceted spatiality in single 16 Anni Albers recognized this role she had two years earlier, with the previous trip they had made to Spain, that time pieces of opaque glass, since for him, ‘combination [became] as important as composition’ in the design of his glass on a Banana boat, to the Canary Islands. ‘I was always the adventurous one who arranged tickets and visas and I paintings. See “On My Glass Wall Paintings” (1933). In Josef Albers: An Anthology (1924–1978) (Commentaries on had the idea that we should do (sic) a journey: we went on a banana boat to Tenerife [1927]. The whole trip there and texts by and on Josef Albers by Laura Martínez de Guereñu), in Josef Albers: Minimal Means, Maximum Effect back took five weeks. We travelled on mule back up to the pick. There were two other islands still that we visited. All (Madrid: Fundación Juan March, 2014), 217, Exhibition catalogue. was really quite adventurous.’ Conversation between Anni Albers and Nicholas Fox Weber in Orange, Connecticut. 19 The resemblance between Josef Albers’s, Studie für die Glasskonstruktion Pergola, December 1929, and Anni October 21, 1974. Tape 2 (side A), 6:58 min; ‘I was always the one who thought of [travel] when we were still at Albers’s Komposition, tapestry, 1929/1930, both at the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, point to one of the three images the Bauhaus.’ See Maximillian Schell, interview with Anni Albers, Orange, Connecticut, December 16, 1989. Box 21, that Josef Albers took in Barcelona: Barcelona from the Hotel Colón ’29, 1929. Gelatin silver print, mounted on Folder 6, The Anni Albers Papers. The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany, CT. cardboard, photocollage, 29,5 x 41 cm. The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany (1976. 7.11). MoMoWo 260 MoMoWo 261 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Laura MartÍnez de Guereñu, Anni Albers and Lilly Reich in Barcelona 1929: Weavings and Exhibition Spaces aside from the purely artistic one’ brought about a profoundly different conception of her work.23 Following this idea, what Albers created was an interesting ‘construction’ with multiple threads: cellophane on the front (for light reflection) and white velvet on the back (for sound absorption) (Fig. 9). With this light-reflecting straw-like material on the surface, the walls could be white, because they could be cleaned by brushing. Later on, Zeiss Icon Works in Germany analysed of how the light-reflecting surface worked when the light fell on it at different angles. By this means, she demonstrated that scientific penetration Fig. 8. Hannes Meyer, Section of the auditorium of the ADGB building, Bernau, Germany, 1929. was possible for textile knowledge, following the Published in Sonderdrück aus dem Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung 51, no. 14 (1931), 215. demands of the Bauhaus at that time. Fig. 9. Anni Albers, View of the cellophane and Anni stated that textiles for interior use could be the velvet sides, wall-covering material for regarded as architectural and that, when they were not the auditorium of the ADGB building, Bernau, pliable, they had to compete against other materials.24 Germany, 1929. which would solve an acoustic problem in a collective building. It was a wall-covering material Courtesy of the Bauhaus-Archiv. This is precisely what she did with the textile of Bernau, for the Bundesschule Auditorium of the Federal School of the ADGB ( Allgemeiner Deutscher weaving it with two opposed sides and producing an Gewerkschaftsbund) in Bernau, which Meyer, then the director of the Bauhaus, was finishing in architectural element that was light-reflecting, sound-absorbent, and easily cleanable (Fig. 10). collaboration with the Bauhaus workshops.20 The building had been under construction since 1928. However, what made this textile architectural was probably the fact that Meyer proposed the project Years later, Anni Albers herself explained how Meyer was building a union school and had come up to her as ‘a problem to solve.’25 against an echo problem in the auditorium. Meyer asked Albers specifically whether she could take care of that problem.21 The section of the auditorium shows the extensive surface where Albers Anni was able to understand it as such for the interior design projects she had recently seen in Spain. would need to intervene (Fig. 8). There, at the Palace of Textile Industries of the Barcelona International Exhibition, Reich and Mies, had also treated textiles as architectural elements, putting them at play with the white paneling and The conventional thing to do at that time was to put velvet on the walls, because the fibers absorbed the freestanding glass walls. Such an innovative design is unlikely to have gone unnoticed by Anni sound. But it would have to be in a dark colour, because the room was going to be used by hundreds of people, and the marks of fingerprints had to be avoided. Albers then decided to experiment with a then new synthetic material from Italy, a kind of cellophane.22 Albers explained that the greatest 23 Anni Albers, “Weaving at the Bauhaus” (September 1938, revised July 1959), in Anni Albers: Selected Writings on shift took place at the Bauhaus when, in her own words, ‘the idea of a practical purpose, a purpose Design (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2000), 4. 24 ‘It is really interesting to concentrate like an architect has to concentrate on the functioning of a house, so I enjoyed concentrating on what that specific material demanded. I developed a series of wall covering materials, which at the time I did it was non-existent really. And I tried to make them so that they were partly even light reflecting, 20 As a ‘communal effort of craftsmen and inventors,’ this construction materializes the words of “building,” the that they could be brushed off, that they could be fixed straight and easily on the wall without pulling into different famous thesis that Hannes Meyer published in Bauhaus 2, no. 4 (1928). Republished in Ulrich Conrads, Program shapes, you know. So a specific task sets you a very interesting way of dealing with your choice of material, with and Manifestoes on 20th-century Architecture (Cambridge, Mass., The MIT Press 1970), 117–20. your technique, and so on.’ In Fesci, Interview with Anni Albers, Orange, Connecticut, July 5, 1968. 21 Neil Welliver, “A Conversation with Anni Albers,” in Craft Horizons 25, no. 4 (July - August 1965), 42. 25 ‘[Hannes Meyer] was building a union school and had come up against an echo problem in the auditorium…He 22 ‘Cellophane just was coming in as a new material –we have been in Florence, Italy, and I had bought a little crocheted asked me if I could think of something to take care of this problem…This material was used in this hall effectively.’ cap made of this material. And I unraveled it and used it for the first attempt.’ In Savim Fesci, “Interview with Anni In Welliver, “A Conversation with Anni Albers,” 42. Meyer disregarded the artistic dimension of architecture. As the Albers, Orange, Connecticut, July 5, 1968,” Archives of American Art, New York, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/ first sentence of his text “building” reads, ‘all things in this world [were] a product of the formula: (function times interviews/oral-history-interview-anni-albers-12134 (accessed July 4, 2017). economy)’. See Meyer, “building,” 117. MoMoWo 262 MoMoWo 263 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Laura Martinez de Guereñu, Anni Albers and Lilly Reich in Barcelona 1929: Weavings and Exhibition Spaces Fig. 10. View of the auditorium room of the ADGB building, covered with Anni Albers’s textile. Courtesy of the Bauhaus-Archiv. Albers, and probably more than one story could be told about the impact that the many interiors Lilly Reich and Mies designed for Barcelona 1929 have since had on architectural culture. Acknowledgements This article is part of the project Bauhaus, Spain, America: Exchanges and Cultural Transfers (1928–1975) that I developed as a fellowship recipient from the edition of the BBVA Foundation Laura MartÍnez de Guereñu Leonardo Grants for Researchers and Cultural Creators. I am also grateful to the Josef and Anni IE School of Architecture and Design, IE University, Madrid-Segovia Albers Foundation, the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe & Lilly Reich Archive at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, the Arxiu Contemporani in Barcelona and the Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin for facilitating my access to primary sources. Assistant Professor at IE University, she holds a Master in Design Studies (History and Theory of Architecture) from Harvard University (2004 With Distinction) and a PhD in Architecture and a Professional Degree from University of Navarra (2006, 1998 Thesis Award of Excellence). She studies the cultural transfers and creative exchanges between the north and the south of Europe as well as North America during Modernism. Her research has been supported by the BBVA Foundation, the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and Fundación Rafael del Pino, amongst other institutions. E-mail: lguerenu@faculty.ie.du; lmg@post.harvard.edu MoMoWo 264 MoMoWo 265 Maria Perers https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.15 Women behind Swedish Grace: Introduction When the Swedish luxury liner M/S Kungsholm had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in New Success and Neglect York on 3 December 1928, everyone gasped in admiration. The newspapers reported that even the French could not have done it better. There were glamorous salons in red and black, furniture made of exotic woods with silver inlay, and magnificent staircases that could have featured in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel of 1925 The Great Gatsby (Fig. 1). Every detail, from the champagne glasses to the textiles, furniture and the interiors as a whole, had been created by the most prominent designers of the time. Sweden was experiencing a heyday in decorative arts and design, and M/S Kungsholm was a floating showcase for the decorative arts industries.1 The reputation had spread since the success of the Swedish pavilion at the 1925 Paris Exposition, British critic, Morton Shand eventually coined the term Swedish Grace to describe the often classi- The Swedish national museum of art and design, the Nationalmuseum in Stock- cal design of glass, ceramics, furniture, and other holm, has launched a project to research and collects works by women design- decorative arts.2 Two years later, The Metropolitan ers in the inter-war period. So far, the project has resulted in a catalogue and an exhibition of more than 140 objects by 22 women designers, most of which have Museum of Art in New York gave Sweden the op- been acquired in the past few years. Under the mottos of ‘more beautiful wares portunity to exhibit its finest decorative arts and for everyday use’ and ‘artists for industry’, many women designers were hired design. Needless to say, expectations were high by Swedish decorative arts companies in the 1920s. Known as Swedish Grace, when M/S Kungsholm arrived in New York. Swedish decorative arts and design won acclaim at the 1925 Exposition des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes in Paris. Anna Petrus and Marie-Louise Idestam-Blomberg were awarded gold medals for their work but in spite of this, their names were omitted in the catalogues. Another example is Sylvia Stave, Fig. 1. The first-class smoking room on M/S Kungsholm who had a design career in modern materials until she married and was forgot- with cast iron reliefs by Anna Petrus on the fireplace. ten. When the Italian firm Alessi resumed production of one of her shakers, they Courtesy of Sjöfartsmuseet Akvariet, Göteborg. thought Marianne Brandt had designed it. Although successful during their time, women designers in the Swedish inter-war period were ignored and forgotten due to their family situation, gender-biased company relations, and not least institutional neglect by the Nationalmuseum. 1  Anne-Marie Ericson, M/S Kungsholms inredning: Mästerverk i svensk art deco (Lund: Bokförlaget Signum, 2005); Marie Rehnberg, Anna Petrus: Skulptör och industrikonstnär (Stockholm: Bokförlaget Signum, 2009), 139–147. 2  Morton Shand, ”The Stockholm exhibition,” Architectural Review 68 (August 1930), 73–83, referred to in Anne-Marie Keywords: Sweden, historiography, museum (re)presentation, women designers Ericsson, Svenskt 1920-tal: Konsthantverk och konstindustri (Lund: Bokförlaget Signum, 1984), 8. MoMoWo 267 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Maria Perers, Women behind Swedish Grace: Success and Neglect War, Taste, Marriage, and Dominant Companies – Four Reasons for Neglect The exhibition, Women Pioneers – Swedish design of the interwar period, features more than 140 objects of glass, metal, and ceramics. Textiles are not included in the project, due to practical reasons of exhibition display but also because it is a part of the collection where women are well- represented. Most of the exhibition’s 22 women artists and designers, although forgotten today –it was even difficult to find photographic portraits of some of them, which is quite striking– were prominent in the inter-war period. They participated in exhibitions in Paris, London, New York, and many other cities, they attended the Technical School, now called Konstfack, the University College of Arts, Crafts, and Design in Stockholm, or the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and several of them went to Paris to study with well-known artists and sculptors. For many reasons, however, these women were later forgotten or neglected.4 One reason was, of course, the Second World War, which for years closed Sweden’s doors to the Fig. 2. Anna Petrus (1886–1949). Fig. 3. Anna Petrus, Relief ‘The Earth’ 1928, copper, produced outside world. At the 1939 New York World’s Fair, Sweden had one of the most noticed pavilions, by Ragnar Myrsmeden. Purchase by Barbro Osher Pro Suecia but the possibilities for further contacts and sales were barred when the war broke out. Than, after Foundation, Nationalmuseum, NMK 64/2013. the war, a new generation took over. Another reason for the neglect was the question of taste, and in this case, the Nationalmuseum is Anna Petrus (1886–1949), one of the designers featured in the Nationalmuseum’s acquisition and somewhat responsible. For a long time, the Museum saw itself as a guardian of good taste, and exhibition project Women Pioneers, had designed the large copper reliefs that were intended for the the notions of good taste meant that the more colourful and exuberant objects designed by these first class library on the ocean liner (Fig. 2). These were striking compositions on the four elements, women in the 1920s and 30s did not fit the prevailing acquisitions policy of the Museum. Instead, inspired by Greek mythology and daringly depicting Earth as a female centaur with a small child the Museum favoured the more terse modernist style. Values change with time, however, and since on her shoulder (Fig. 3). At the time, this was considered an astonishing accomplishment for a 2012 the Museum has been actively collecting objects by women designers in the inter-war period. woman. With her strong hands, Anna Petrus processed even the hardest materials such as stone Unfortunately, many interesting pieces from this period had already been taken out of Sweden by and iron. She was the first woman in Sweden to work with cast iron and had a breakthrough at the the 1980s, as there was greater interest and knowledge abroad.5 Since 2012, the Museum has 1925 Paris Exposition, where she was awarded a gold medal.3 acquired 92 objects by women designers that are featured in the exhibition. But the war arrived, and when the American soldiers took over M/S Kungsholm in 1941 all the A third reason for oblivion is the dominance of companies. When Anna Petrus designed flower pots interiors disappeared. Luckily, Anna Petrus’ reliefs of the four elements had yet to be mounted, with the same decoration she had used for the columns in the Swedish pavilion at the 1925 Paris which is why they are still preserved and could recently be acquired by the Nationalmuseum and Exposition, she was not even allowed to have her name in the product catalogue of Näfveqvarn, the shown in the exhibition at Läckö Castle and Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm 2015. foundry she worked for, even though the names of her male colleagues were listed.6 In other cases, the company name may indeed be the reason why artists and designers were forgotten. The interior design shop, Svenskt Tenn from 1924, literally Swedish pewter, is one example. 4  Magnus Olausson and Eva-Lena Karlsson (eds.), Kvinnliga pionjärer: Svensk form under mellankrigstiden (Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 2015). 5  Magnus Olausson, “Inledning,” in Olausson and Karlsson, Kvinnliga pionjärer, 4. 3  Sonja Lyttkens, “Min mor Anna Petrus,” in Anna Petrus: Konstnär och formgivare (Uppsala: Sonja Lyttkens in 6  Marie Rehnberg, “Anna Petrus och Paris 1925,” in Anna Petrus: Konstnär och formgivare (Uppsala: Sonja Lyttkens in collaboration with Bror Hjorths Hus, 2005), 21; Rehnberg, Anna Petrus: Skulptör och industrikonstnär, 159. collaboration with Bror Hjorths Hus, 2005), 35, 38. MoMoWo 268 MoMoWo 269 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Maria Perers, Women behind Swedish Grace: Success and Neglect The founder, Estrid Ericson (1894–1981), made sure the company name took pride of place, rather than the individual designers she hired, and she knew well which products were sellable (Fig. 4). ‘All models are the property of the company’, Ericson wrote in the product catalogue from 1931, in which she presented some of the 300 models in her assortment. In the late 1920s, she started collaborating with Anna Petrus, who, amongst other things designed a lion that Ericson used and re-used in various ways (Figs. 5 and 6). The objects are representative of the material culture of the 1920s and include tobacco jars, matchstick holders, boxes with lid, trays, mirrors, book- ends, etc. Even in the 1970s, Ericson composed a plate on which she used a cast of a lion that Petrus had designed in the 1920s.7 Ericson was a business woman with an eye Fig. 4. Estrid Ericson (1894–1981). Courtesy of Svenskt Tenn archive for what would be commercially viable, but this method of (Photo Erik Holmén). adjusting somebody else’s design was only possible in a time with a different view on copyright and the designer’s Fig. 5. Anna Petrus, Sculpture ‘Lion’ 1926, pewter, Svenskt Tenn. influence on the final product. The brand was unequivocally the firm Svenskt Tenn and the name Purchase by The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, Nationalmuseum, NMK 67/2014. Anna Petrus was consequently forgotten. It is only during the past ten years that she has been recognised as one of the most original and influential designers of the inter-war period.8 Estrid Ericson had founded her company, Svenskt Tenn, in 1924, focusing on pewter as a cheaper alternative to silver. In this way, she contributed to regenerating the status of pewter as a modern material. Similarly, the decorative arts industries highlighted other materials as modern and affordable to a wide audience. The Museum’s acquisitions of objects by women designers includes some pieces in German silver, which also was cheaper and more modern than real silver; earthenware, which was simpler than porcelain; and cast iron, which had mainly been used for stoves and fireplaces but was now popular for flower pots and other household items. Perhaps the most exciting material was the Swedish version of Bakelite, isolit from Skånska Ättiksfabriken, later called Perstorp. Wilhelmina Wendt (1896–1988) was the daughter of the factory founder and owner. She was also the first woman master silversmith in Sweden, a combination that gave her the idea to work in silver and the new plastic material (Fig. 7). She graduated from Högre konstindustriella skolan at Tekniska skolan in Stockholm in 1929 and was inspired by the Art Déco era. In 1946, she opened her own studio and production back home in Perstorp.9 7  Rehnberg, Anna Petrus: Skulptör och industrikonstnär, 101–103. 8  Christian Björk, “Estrid Ericson och Anna Petrus,” in Olausson and Karlsson, Kvinnliga pionjärer, 42–44. Fig. 6. Estrid Ericson and Anna Petrus (décor), Bowl 1944, pewter, Svenskt Tenn. 9  Anders Bengtsson, “Wilhelmina Wendt,” in Olausson and Karlsson, Kvinnliga pionjärer, 30–36. Purchase by The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, Nationalmuseum, NMK 66/2015. MoMoWo 270 MoMoWo 271 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Maria Perers, Women behind Swedish Grace: Success and Neglect This ambition to renew and develop the art industries is Fig. 9. Sylvia Stave, Water jug ‘3834’ 1936, electroplated silver, summarised by the motto ‘more beautiful wares for everyday blackened wood, C.G. Hallbergs Guldsmeds AB. Purchase by use’ and ‘artists for industry’, which the Swedish Society The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, Nationalmuseum, NMK 198/2013. for Arts, Crafts, and Design promoted since 1914 in line with its German sister organisation, the Werkbund.10 In the case of earthenware, for example, several manufacturers had realised that it no longer sufficed to simply reproduce Hallbergs Guldsmedsaktiebolag. The exhibition included a peasant vessels from the collection at the Nordic Museum, whole room with her glamorous cocktail shakers, glasses, or to copy foreign factory products. To compete on the and coffee sets in silver and German silver, in a Bauhaus- Fig. 7. Wilhelmina Wendt, Brush 1935, silver, international market and increase production, it was inspired style (Fig. 9). In 2013, the Nationalmuseum had black isolite (plastic), Skånska Ättiksfabriken, necessary to hire professional artists and designers who the opportunity to acquire a large collection of her work later Perstorp AB. Donated by Nationalmusei could create products that people actually wanted to from the German-Swedish collector and connoisseur Rolf Vänner, Bengt Julin’s foundation 2013, Nationalmuseum, NMK 74/2013. buy and could afford. Examples of women designers are Walter. Since the Museum receives no public funding Tyra Lundgren (1897–1979), artistic director of the Arabia for acquisitions, it was thanks to the Barbro Osher Pro porcelain factory in Helsinki and the first woman designer at Suecia Foundation that we could acquire some 40 objects the Venini glassworks outside Venice, Anna-Lisa Thomson designed by Sylvia Stave.12 (1905–1952), the first permanently employed artist at St Sylvia Stave brings us to a fourth reason why successful women designers were so quickly forgotten Eriks Lervarufabriker, and Maggie Wibom (1899–1961), and neglected, namely marriage. Stave had a blossoming career and her works for C.G. Hallbergs the first permanently employed woman at Bo Fajans (Fig. were exhibited at the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition and the 1937 Paris World’s Fair. But in 1940, at the 8). Marie-Louise Idestam-Blomberg (1898–1988), who was age of 31, she married a doctor in France and retired from the design field, to become a housewife. among the first group of professionally trained furniture She never worked as a designer again, and when the Italian firm Alessi resumed production of designers, opened one of the first interior design companies one of her cocktail shakers in 1989, they thought it was designed by the German Bauhaus-trained in Sweden, Futurum.11 Another woman designer was Sylvia designer Marianne Brandt. However, Rolf Walter and the Bauhaus archive were able to identify the Stave (1908–1994), artistic director of the goldsmiths C.G. real designer, Sylvia Stave, and re-establish her name within the design community.13 There are indeed several exciting and moving life stories embedded in the project about women pioneers in design. It is with great pleasure that the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm is now collecting Fig. 8. Anna-Lisa Thomson, Vase 1936, stoneware, glazed, objects and filling in the gaps in its inter-war design collection. The Museum building is currently Gefle Porslinsfabrik. Purchase by Nationalmuseum, NMK 129/1936; Vase ‘Shell’ 1945, earthenware, partially glazed, Upsala-Ekeby. closed for a major renovation, and when we open again in 2018, women designers will feature more Purchase in 1945, by Nationalmuseum, NMK 60/1945; and Vase, prominently in the permanent exhibition. faience, Upsala-Ekeby. Donated by Upsala-Ekeby through director Rolf Sterner 1943, Nationalmuseum, NMK 96/1943. 10 Gregor Paulsson, Vackrare vardagsvara (Stockholm: Svenska slöjdföreningen, 1919); Gregor Paulsson, ”Better Things for Everyday Life,” in Lucy Creagh, Helena Kåberg, and Barbara Miller Lane (eds.), Swedish Modern: Three Founding Texts (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2008), 72–125. 11 Olausson and Karlsson, Kvinnliga pionjärer; Sigrid Eklund-Nyström, Inredningsarkitekt på 1930-talet: Om inredningsfirman Futurum och hur en ny yrkesgrupp etablerar sig (Stockholm: Nordiska museets förlag, 1992); Maria Perers, ”Marie-Louise Idestam-Blomberg: Artist of the ’People’s Home’,” Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm 12 Magnus Olausson and Micael Ernstell, “Sylvia Stave,” in Olausson and Karlsson, Kvinnliga pionjärer, 46–52. 22 (2015), 61–70, http://nationalmuseum.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:991809/FULLTEXT01.pdf (accessed 13 Ibid. Alessi, http://store.alessi.com/and/en-gb/catalog/detail/90021-cocktail-shaker/90021 (accessed June 26, June 26, 2017). 2017). MoMoWo 272 MoMoWo 273 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Maria Perers Curator of decorative arts and design, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, and PhD candidate, Bard Graduate Center, New York Maria Perers is a curator of decorative arts and design at Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, and PhD candidate at the The Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture in New York where she is working on her disser- tation ”Inside the Ideal Home: Changing Values in Apartment Living in Sweden c. 1955-1970.” She also lectures in design history at institutions such as Parsons and Cooper-Hewitt in New York and Konstfack, University College of Arts, Crafts, and Design, in Stockholm. E-mail: maria.perers@nationalmuseum.se MoMoWo 274 Ilja S. Meijer Cases from Ireland to Finland Introduction The five articles in this section cover a range of different approaches. The article on English architect Mary Crowley applies a straightforward biographical approach and elaborates the formative years of her professional career. The article in which the wall hangings of textile designer and Bauhaus- student Anni Albers are related to the architectural concepts of Gottfried Semper, offers a more analytical approach. Aligning her textile wall hangings with architectural theory, Anni Albers tried to undermine ‘gendered distinctions between architectural and textile practices’. Textile design was strongly integrated into the Bauhaus curriculum. Another article concerned with this field is also related to the Bauhaus. Its main character is Corona Krause, a lesser-known designer whose biographical content presented in this article is based on archival and oral research. The difficulties women architects experienced in a predominantly male environment is a recurring theme in the articles. One example is the essay about the relatively unknown (and Ireland’s first female) architect Florence Fulton Hobson. She anonymously published an article in 1911 where she not only shared her own experiences, but also encouraged future women architects. Another example is the article on Aino Aalto, which reflects on the regularly encountered situation in which the professional careers of women are totally overshadowed in history by their professional and personal male partners. MoMoWo 276 MoMoWo 277 Tanja Poppelreuter https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.16 Little is known about Florence Fulton Hobson (1881–1978). In 1911 she was the third woman to be Architecture as Method of Self-Realisation: licensed by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and was the first one from Ireland. The online Dictionary of Irish Architects, the Dictionary of Ulster Biography and the brochure Celebrating The Belfast Architect Belfast Women: A City Guide Though Women’s Eyes dedicate short texts to her1 and on the basis of Florence Fulton Hobson the information available here Ryan McBride wrote his unpublished BA Hons dissertation Houses Designed by Women, for Women that reiterates her biography and discusses one of her houses.2 Her life and significance as the first RIBA licensed Irish woman architect furthermore inspired the novelist Marina J. Neary to write two novels within which she and her family take a central place.3 The extent of Fulton Hobson’s architectural oeuvre has yet to be researched and this paper focuses on providing an account of her career and, more importantly, on discussing her 1911 article “Architecture as a Profession”. Life Fulton Hobson was born in 1881 in Monasterevin, County Kildare but grew up in Belfast where her Florence Fulton Hobson (1881–1978) was the third woman architect to be li- family had moved to by 1883. Her family (Fig. 1) were Quakers and her English mother Mary Ann censed by the RIBA. Attended the School of Art in Belfast, was an apprentice in the Belfast practices of James John Phillips and James St John Phillips and worked for Edward Guy Dawber and James Glen Sivewright Gibson in London. After returning to Belfast, she worked for the Belfast Corporation from 1905 as an assistant to the Royal Commission on Health and Housing. Little is known of her activities for the Belfast Corporation and only a few houses that were designed by her have been identified to date. She wrote, however, about the ways in which she negotiated her role as the only women in an all-male profes- 1  “Hobson, Florence Fulton,” Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720–1940, http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/5010/ sion in her article “Architecture as a Profession”. Here, she analysed and reflected HOBSON-FLORENCEFULTO (accessed August 27, 2016); Kate Newmann, “Florence Hobson,” Dictionary of Ulster on doubts that were at the time expressed in relation to women practicing as Biography, http://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/viewPerson/692 (accessed February 2, 2017); and Celebrating Belfast women: A city guide through women’s eyes (Belfast: Women’s Resource & Development architects. At the same time the text was an aid to women who wished to become Agency, [s.a.]), 22, https://wrda.net/pdf/celebrating%20belfast%20women%20-%20tour%20guiding%20booklet.pdf architects because it explained how architects are educated and accredited. (accessed August 27, 2016). 2  Ryan McBride, “Houses Designed by Women, for Women,” (BA Hons thesis, Ulster University, 2015). Keywords: Florence Fulton Hobson, Ireland, Suffragette, Easter Rising, Belfast, 3  Marina Julia Neary, Martyrs & Traitors: A Tale of 1916 (Maine: All Things that Matter Press, 2011); Marina Julia Neary, RIBA Never Be at Peace (Tucson, AZ: Fireship Press, 2013). MoMoWo 278 MoMoWo 279 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Tanja Poppelreuter, Architecture as Method of Self-Realisation: The Belfast Architect Florence Fulton Hobson Bulmer Hobson (1856–1947) was a hobby ar- Fig. 2. Henry Albert Cutler, New Abbatoir, chaeologist,4 active Suffragette and founder –to- Drawing no. 17, North Elevation, West Elevation, Belfast, 1909. gether with the poet and writer Alice Milligan Courtesy of ‘The Deputy Keeper of the Records, (1865–1953)– of the Irish Women’s Association Public Record Office of Northern Ireland’, in Belfast.5 Fulton Hobson’s younger brother, John LA/7/8/JA/3/17. Bulmer Hobson (1883–1969), is the best-known member of the family. He was a leading member of the Irish Volunteers, and the Irish Republican Dawber8 (1861–1938), who ran a large Brotherhood before the Easter Rising in 1916 and practice that specialised in stone-built he had a pivotal role in the political developments country houses in Tudor or late Stuart in Ireland at that time.6 styles, and later took employment with James Glen Sivewright Gibson9 (1861– Fulton Hobson attended the School of Arts in Fig. 1. Family Photograph, ca. 1922. Florence Fulton Hobson 1951). Here, she was involved with the Belfast and was an architectural assistant in the is standing to the left hand side. Her mother Mary Ann Hobson (née Bulmer) is seated in front of her. John Bulmer work on the Neo-Baroque Town Hall in Walsall near Birmingham.10 Fulton Hobson returned to practice of James John Phillips (1841/42–1935) Hobson sits to the right hand side of the image. Belfast and in 1906 and became a temporary assistant in the Surveyor’s Department at the Belfast and his son James St John Phillips (1870–1935) Courtesy of the family (private collection). Corporation where she made working drawings for an Electric Generation Station.11 After travelling between 1899 and 1903.7 After moving to London privately on the Continent to study architecture for three months she commenced working for the she was first a temporary assistant to Guy Royal Commission of Health and Housing, also at the Belfast Corporation. Here, she appears to have worked between 1907 and 1921. Up until 1911 she was involved with the erection of ten workmen’s dwellings in Portadown, a Presbyterian Church on Grosvenor Road in Belfast, a disinfecting station, and a public abattoir that was designed by the architect Henry Albert Cutler12 4  Mary Ann Bulmer Hobson was active in the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club and is frequently mentioned in the Annual reports between 1904 and 1913, especially in relation to her interest in ‘Souterrains’ or cave dwellings. In 1904 (1861–1952) (Fig. 2). her daughter Florence is mentioned as having made sketches and plans. “Some Souterrains in Antrim and Down,” Annual Report & Proceedings: Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club Series 2, vol. 5, part 3 (1903–4), 213–214. See also Shortly after she had become a licentiate to the RIBA in 1911 she anonymously published the “Lecture on ‘Deneholes and Souterrains’,” Annual Report & Proceedings: Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club Series 2, vol. 5, article “Architecture as a Profession.”13 Little is known about her later career at the Belfast part 5 (1905–6), 425–426, https://archive.org/stream/s2annualreportsp05belfuoft#page/n5/mode/2up (accessed Corporation or her private practice. In 1913 she gave the public talk “Town Planning and its Relation June 16, 2017). In 1947 her Memoirs of Six Generations, which is a Chronicle of her family, was published. Mary A. Bulmer Hobson, Memoirs of Six Generations (Belfast: Graham and Heslip Ltd., 1947). to Public Health” at the Belfast Public Library. It encompassed topics such as the ethics of town 5  Catherine Morris, Alice Milligan and the Irish Cultural Revival (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2013). planning, modern legislation, and social housing. She also built several houses at Carnalea (Figs. 3 6  Marnie Hay, Bulmer Hobson and the Nationalist Movement in Twentieth-Century Ireland (Manchester: Manchester and 4), south of Belfast, a bungalow in Killiney (Fig. 5), near Dublin and made alterations to the 1810 University Press, 2009); Kate Newmann, “Bulmer Hobson (1883–1963), Writer and Revolutionary,” Dictionary of Ulster Biography, http://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/viewPerson/691 (accessed January 1, 2017). 7  Biographical details on her professional work: “RIBA Nomination File ‘Florence Patterson’. Candidate’s Separate Statement, December 3rd, 1910,” in The Royal Institute of British Architects, Licentiate Florence Fulton Hobson 8  “(Sir) Edward Guy Dawber,” Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Architect Biography Report, http://www.scottisharchitects. Student RIBA, London, November 29th, 1910. In addition to her architectural work, this CV also lists two publications org.uk/architect_full.php?id=203314 (accessed, August 15, 2016). “Some Ulster Stone Monuments in Antrim co. Down” (1910) and “Some Ulster Souterrains” (1910). Her mother 9  “Glen Sivewright Gibson,” Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Architect Biography Report, http://www.scottisharchitects. wrote the texts but both articles were illustrated with Fulton Hobson’s drawings of ancient stone monuments and org.uk/architect_full.php?id=100337 (accessed, August 15, 2016). underground structures. Information on her work after 1911 is contained in: Florence Fulton Hobson, “Hand-written 10 RIBA Nomination File ‘Florence Patterson’. Curriculum Vitae,” not dated (c. 1921). This manuscript is in the collection of Fulton Hobson’s family. Her successful completion of the preliminary and intermediate RIBA exams in 1903 didn’t go unnoticed and the Belfast architect 11 Fulton Hobson, “Hand-written Curriculum Vitae.” W. J. Fennell welcomed her in a public lecture on “Early English Architecture” among the ranks of architects and ‘… 12 “Cutler, Henry Albert,” Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720–1940, http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/896/CUTLER- was glad to see that there was at least one lady in Belfast who had the pluck to serve her time to architecture, and HENRYALBERT (accessed August 10, 2016). had passed the Royal Inst. Of British Architects…’ “Lecture by Mr. W. J. Fennell FRIBA on ‘Early English Architecture’ 13 Anonymous [Florence Fulton Hobson], “Architecture as a Profession,” The Queen: The Lady’s Newspaper, December at Municipal Technical Institute (extract),” The Northern Whig, Monday February 9, 1903 in The Royal Institute of 23, 1911. Her being licensed by the RIBA was reported also in The Queen shortly after her article had been published. British Architects, Licentiate Florence Fulton Hobson Student RIBA, London November 29, 1910 . “Public Work and Women’s Employment,” The Queen: The Lady’s Newspaper, February 17, 1912, 284. MoMoWo 280 MoMoWo 281 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Tanja Poppelreuter, Architecture as Method of Self-Realisation: The Belfast Architect Florence Fulton Hobson Glendun Lodge in Cushendun.14 Fulton Hobson also worked for the Reconstruction Commission of the Irish White Cross Society before the initiation of the Free State in 1922.15 The Irish White Cross had been organised in 1920 to obtain funds to alleviate the effects of civil war in Ireland.16 The only publication that illustrated and discussed Fulton Hobson’s houses was the 1927 article “Ireland’s First Women Architect” by Maire Garvey in the magazine The Crystal 17. It featured images of two of the houses that Fulton Hobson had built in Carnalea as well as one floor plan (Figs. 3 and 4). Around 1930 she ran the craft shop, Dunluce Handcrafts, in Bushmills, Co. Antrim and retired in 1936. In 1947 she married William Forbes Patterson and appears to have lived in London until the Fig. 3. Florence Fulton Hobson, House at Carnalea Co. Down, 1960s but returned to Carnalea where she died in 1978 at the age of 97. 1914–15. Courtesy of Gary Quigg Photography. Architecture as a Profession The most compelling insights to the ways in which Fulton Hobson experienced her education and early practice as an architect are given in her article “Architecture as a Profession”. The article begins by explaining that architecture is suitable for those –men and women– who combine artistic ability and ‘practical common sense’ and continues to summarise several preconceptions concerning women architects: Fig. 4. Florence Fulton Hobson, Many people declare that women should be domestic architects, and that they would no doubt House at Carnalea Co. Down, excel in house designing on account of their special knowledge of domestic arrangements, 1920–21. but this is about as far as they are willing to go; any larger sphere of work has probably never Published in Maire Garvey, “Ireland’s First Women Architect,” The Crystal presented itself to the minds of the majority of people. There certainly is an idea abroad that (September 1927), 263. a woman could not superintend the erection of a high building or supervise workmen. It is thought that she could not possibly go up a ladder in a skirt, and that, although she might be everything that could be desired as a designer of houses to live in (for who knows the dwellers’ requirement better than she?), yet to look after all the details of house erection would be something entirely outside her sphere, and unsuitable, if not impossible.18 This statement as well as the remainder of the article displays comprehensive knowledge and involvement in the discussion about women in architecture that had commenced in Britain around 1900 when Ethel Mary Charles (1871–1962) and her sister Bessie Ada Charles (1869–1932) had 14 Fulton Hobson, “Hand-written Curriculum Vitae.” Fig. 5. Florence Fulton Hobson, Bungalow in Killiney near Dublin, 15 Maire Garvey, “Ireland’s First Woman Architect,” The Crystal: Modern Ireland Mirrored (September 1927), 264. c. 1921. 16 Ibid. Courtesy of Gary Quigg 17 Ibid. Photography. 18 Anonymous, “Architecture as a Profession.” MoMoWo 282 MoMoWo 283 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Tanja Poppelreuter, Architecture as Method of Self-Realisation: The Belfast Architect Florence Fulton Hobson become associate members of the RIBA in 1898 and in 1900. Some of the wording of Fulton would be created, that athletic bodies would lead to female impotence, or that women would be- Hobson’s article allows for the assumption that she was familiar with the article, “May Women come ‘masculine’.25 Practice Architecture?”,19 that was published in 1902 in The British Architect and that reported on a The beginning of Fulton Hobson’s article outlined objections towards women architects but it also talk by Ethel Mary Charles. provided the female reader with counter-arguments should she too have to tackle similar views and The argument, that women are best suited to be domestic architects, can be found in both articles obstacles. Fulton Hobson’s text also addressed practical issues such as how to find an architect and was related to the notion that the realm of women is the domestic one. Domestic architecture willing to give a woman the opportunity to work in his office. In giving insights into the daily hence provided a ‘natural’ niche for women architects. Female spheres and experiences were linked operations of an architectural practice, she provided her readers with clues as to why an architect with newly acquired expertise in architecture. This could be seen, as Despina Stratigakos has shown, might be reluctant to accept female apprentices which also equipped the reader with knowledge as an attempt to reconcile the perceived opposite spheres of women in the workplace with women that might help to persuade a prospective employer.26 The article explains the costs and length of in the domestic realm. Using the first German women architect Emilie Winkelmann (1875–1951), as tutelage, gives details about the three qualifying examinations by the RIBA and provides a list of an example the reporter Fritz Daussig explained in 1909 that designing single-family homes would schools where architecture is taught. help women to remain feminine and would ‘preserve the best female qualities in their professional She closes her article with a word of warning to the architectural aspirant: she should not seek work’20 since house design should come ‘naturally’ to women architects. architecture as a profession unless she is strongly drawn to it. In citing the text De Profundis written Fulton Hobson’s remark that a women architect would find it difficult to supervise contractors or by Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) to Lord Alfred Douglas (1870–1945) from prison between 1896 and builders referred to social expectations about gendered behaviour.21 The social homogeneity of the 189727 this last paragraph takes a serious tone and is as such separated from the more ironic or all-male work place was disrupted by a female presence and created unease. Fulton Hobson matter-of-fact spirit of earlier passages: regarded such diffidence as unnecessary because architects are gentlemen and behave politely to Those who undertake something that is not part of themselves will achieve that, but will be everyone in the office.22 nothing more; that if they start with the ideal of being the parish beadle, in whatever sphere Her comment that skirts make the climbing of ladders a problematic exposure23 appears to have they are placed they succeed in being the parish beadle and no more. A man whose desire is to related to the observation that male architects were able to transgress class boundaries between be something separate from himself … invariably succeeds in being what he wants to be. That construction workers and fellow middle-class architects through wearing clothes appropriate for is his punishment. Those who want a mask have to wear it.28 the building site. This way they would be seen as knowledgeable master architects as well as For Wilde, De Profundis was a reflective piece in which he deliberated the meaning of the identity of craftsmen. It would have been scandalous for the lady architect to attempt the same.24 the artist and the ‘self’.29 This had been an integral part of Wilde’s work and he had been particularly The notion that women could not climb a ladder was also linked to a broader discourse concerning the perceived inferior physicality of the female body. Such concerns went, as outlined by architec- tural historians Lynne Walker and Despina Stratigakos, hand-in-hand with fears that a third gender 25 Stratigakos, “Architects in Skirts,” 90–2; Lynne Walker, “The Entry of Women into the Architectural Profession in Britain,” Woman’s Art Journal 7, no. 1 (1986), 13–18. See also Lynne Walker, British Women in Architecture 1671– 1951 (London: Sorello Press, 1984). 26 Anonymous, “Architecture as a Profession.” 27 The title De Profundis was added by Robert Ross but Wilde named the letter Epistola: In Carcere et Vinculis. “Manuscript of ‘De Profundis’ by Oscar Wilde,” British Library: Manuscript/Letter, https://www.bl.uk/collection- 19 “May Women Practise Architecture?” The British Architect, February 21, 1902, 125. items/manuscript-of-de-profundis-by-oscar-wilde (accessed January 2, 2017). It is not known which edition Fulton 20 Fritz Daussig, “Ein weiblicher Architekt,” Daheim 45 – 48 (1909), 11, as cited in Despina Stratigakos, “Architects in Hobson used. If she read the first edition of 1905 , it would not have contained any reference to Douglas and their Skirts: The Public Image of Women Architects in Wilhelmine Germany,” Journal of Architectural Education 55, no. 2 relationship because the publishers feared being sued for libel and removed some passages. The text therefore (November 2001), 97. would not have read as a love letter but presented itself as a reflective piece on the life of the artist. Fulton Hobson nevertheless will have been aware of the reasons why Wilde had been incarcerated. 21 Stratigakos, “Architects in Skirts,” 92–4. 28 Anonymous, “Architecture as a Profession.” 22 Anonymous, “Architecture as a Profession.” 29 Elaine Hernen, “Names are Everything: For Oscar Wilde, Posing as a Letter and Visiting Card,” 219, http://open. 23 “May Women Practise Architecture?,” 125. conted.ox.ac.uk/resources/documents/names-are-everything-oscar-wilde-posing-letter-and-visiting-card-elaine- 24 Stratigakos, “Architects in Skirts,” 92–4. hernen 224-5 (accessed, 22 August, 2016). MoMoWo 284 MoMoWo 285 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Tanja Poppelreuter, Architecture as Method of Self-Realisation: The Belfast Architect Florence Fulton Hobson interested in exploring the meaning of identity within the constraints of social conventions.30 Fulton ways that, on one hand, could counteract criticism and prejudice and that, on the other hand, helped Hobson’s reading of Wilde was therefore inspired by the notion in which a person and their art her to be recognised as a professional. amalgamate. Fulton Hobson’s ultimate goal was, nevertheless, more than to provide a guidance to architectural The reader at the time would have related the term ‘parish beadle’ to a lay official of a church or education or to give instructions as to how to recognise and respond to prejudices. She cautioned local administration who carried out various duties within charitable organisations. The most her reader that the achievement of being a women architect should not be an end in itself. The prominent parish beadle, Mr. Bumble, had been portrayed by Charles Dickens in his 1837–39 novel, struggle to become an architect is merely the means to the end of becoming what she considered Oliver Twist, as a pompous character engrossed with his idea of duty and power over others which to be her true identity and a fulfilment of herself. Fulton Hobson’s main concern was that future overrides emotions of empathy or compassion. In De Profundis the term ‘parish beadle’ served women architects would reflect on what it means to find self-realisation as a woman and an Wilde as an example for an occupation that might bring with it importance, power, or respect but architect in one person. that might not necessarily amalgamate with a person’s identity. The passage cited by Fulton Hobson in her article therefore was a warning that a profession should not be chosen because of a perception of it. If it is chosen for what it stands for rather than for what it means for oneself, it will become a Acknowledgements mask and as such it will never be part of the self. The punishment of wearing such a mask is to Without the help of Florence Fulton Hobson’s great-nephew Roger Mitchell, who provided me with never be able to merge the idea of an occupation with the true self. Fulton Hobson closed her article family photographs, documents, drawings and other material that is still in the family’s collection, it with the advice that architecture is only suitable as a profession for those ‘who feel that it is the would not have been possible to write this paper. I would like to express my sincere thanks to him medium through which they can express themselves best and in which architecture is their method and his family for their ongoing confidence, support and interest in this research. I would also like of self-realisation’.31 An occupation should support one’s identity and provide the knowledge and to thank Prof. Peter Walker as it was he who brought Florence Fulton Hobson to my attention. skills necessary to develop and nourish it. Finally, I must thank Ryan McBride, who wrote his BA Hons dissertation on her life and work. His research and literature review were of great help and accelerated the writing of the biographical part of this paper. Conclusions When women begun to enter the profession of architecture around 1900 many reasons were brought forward that sought to explain why their gender was a hindrance to their ability to fulfil the duties and responsibilities of an architect. Within this discourse, very little opinion was expressed that women lacked the necessary intelligence or may have been unable to learn all required skills. Most criticism related instead to practical factors regarding social conventions and class. Fulton Hobson’s article was written in reaction to such notions and intended to be an encouragement for women to enter the field of architecture. In providing her readers with a number of counter- arguments she displayed her awareness of what it meant to have transgressed social boundaries and stratifications that expected women to fulfil a role described and prescribed by conventions. For the woman architect, no guidance existed to aid her in navigating social interactions in the workplace, in talking to a builder, in choosing the appropriate dress for the office and for the building site, or in approaching a client. In this way, she was placed outside societal norms and had to find 30 Ibid., 220. 31 Anonymous, “Architecture as a Profession.” MoMoWo 286 MoMoWo 287 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Tanja Poppelreuter Belfast School of Architecture, University of Ulster Tanja Poppelreuter is a Lecturer in Architectural History and Theory at the Univer- sity of Ulster in Belfast. Her research interests lie in the field of 20th-century art and architectural theory with the focus on the impact of politics, sociology and medicine on these fields as well as on the question of how utopian ideas devel- oped and took shape in modern society. E-mail: t.poppelreuter@ulster.ac.uk MoMoWo 288 Yasmin Shariff https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.17 Utopian Beginnings Mary Crowley: Mary Crowley was born in Bradford in 19071 into a Quaker family rooted in the idealism and utopian Beginnings of the Career of a Pioneering experimentation of Quaker industrialists, Joseph and Seebohm Rowntree and Ebanezer Howard, and their concept for garden cities. These ideas initially shaped the 150 acre site model village at Modern Movement Architect in Britain New Earswick near York and then the Garden Cities in Letchworth and Welwyn where Mary grew up and lived.2 Parker and Unwin were commissioned to design New Earswick and two years later they before 1945 started work in 1903 on the first Garden City at Letchworth.3 Ebanezer Howard’s Garden City4 movement was a reaction to the overcrowding and industrial pollution of Victorian cities. He drew on Quaker precedents at Port Sunlight, Bournville and Robert Owen’s ‘Vision for a new society’, which envisioned ‘a happy home for many generations of children where they will be brought up amid surroundings that will benefit them spiritually, mentally and physically’.5 Mary’s father, Ralph Crowley ‘became one of the pioneers of the Garden City Movement and at the heart of this utopian idealism was the education and social welfare of children. Ralph Crowley believed that, as he wrote, ‘a doctor cannot fulfil his more specific function of treating bodily diseases, if he is indifferent to the patient’s environmental conditions and his mental and moral Mary Crowley (1907–2005) was an exceptional Modern Movement architect yet her contribution is largely unrecognised and overlooked. This article looks at welfare.’6 Following Ralph’s recruitment to the Board of Education in London in 1908, the family her pre-war background, training and early works. Mary grew up in the utopian Garden Cities at Letchworth and Welwyn when they were being established. She trained at the Architectural Association (AA) in 1927, just ten years after the school allowed women to join. After graduating in 1932 she became an associ- 1  Louise Brodie talking to Mary Medd, August 7, 1998, British Library, National Life Story Collection: Architects’ Lives, ate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1934. Her early works National Life Story Collection: Architects’ Lives, British Library C467/29, Medd, Mary, Part 1 of 11, http://sounds. bl.uk/Oral-history/Architects-Lives/021M-C0467X0029XX-0001V0 (accessed July 6, 2017),. include a group of three houses for her family influenced by Scandinavian Mod- 2  See respectively Seebohm Rowntree, Poverty, A Study of Town Life (London: Macmillan Publishers 1901); Ebanezer ernist ideas. She worked with other Modernist architects including Ernö Goldfin- Howard, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform (London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co 1898); Joseph Rowntree ger and Maxwell Fry and was involved in the British Pavillion of the Exposition Foundation, “History of New Earswick,” https://www.jrht.org.uk/community/new-earswick-york, accessed 4 Internationale des Arts Techniques dans la Vie Moderne Paris 1937 designed by January, 2016. Oliver Hill. After 1945, she worked at the newly formed Hertfordshire Architects 3  Walter Creese (ed.), The Legacy of Raymond Unwin: A Human Pattern for Planning (London and Cambridge Department and at the Ministry of Education’s Architects and Building Branch. Massachusetts: MIT Press 1966), 1. 4  Howard, To-morrow. Keywords: Mary Crowley, Medd, schools, Modern Movement, Sewell’s, Hertford- 5  Alan Powers, Hovels to Highrise: State Housing in Europe Since 1850, (London: Routledge 1993),175. shire 6  “Obituary, Ralph Crowley MD Lond FRCP,” The Lancet, October 10, 1953, 785. MoMoWo 290 MoMoWo 291 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Yasmin Shariff, Mary Crowley: Beginnings of the Career of a Pioneering Modern Movement Architect in Britain before 1945 moved from Bradford to the newly founded Garden City in Letchworth, Hertfordshire and then in 1920 to the recently established second Garden City in Welwyn.7 When the family moved to Welwyn Garden City in 1921 Mary was sent to Bedales,8 a pioneering co-educational school founded by John Haden Bradley, which offered an alternative model to traditional English Public Schools. Mary found expression for her talents in drawing, music and art and spent many hours sketching in the (now Grade 1 Listed) Arts and Crafts Library with its double height timber structure dramatically top lit like a cathedral clerestory designed by Ernest Gimson.9 After she left Bedales she spent a few months with a Swiss family in Lausanne to improve her French in 1926 before enrolling at the Architectural Association (AA) in London in 1927.10 Education and Social Change Mary was training for a profession at a time of great political and social change. It had only been 10 years since the suffragette Ruth Lowy persuaded AA Council to consider allowing women Fig. 1. AA Pantomime 1929, Mary Crowley far right. Fig. 2. Pottery Offices Entrance illustrated in Courtesy of Architectural Association Photo Library. The AA Journal 46, no. 522 (August 1930), 88. to be educated at the AA. Mary was not even eligible to vote until she entered her second year Courtesy of Dennis Sharp Archive. at the AA when Parliament passed the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act on 2 July 1928. In this same period, political tensions in Germany saw waves of émigrés flocking into London, including architects and designers Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Erich Mendelsohn, Ernö and much coveted final year prize in 1932. The 1930 issue of the AA Journal includes Mary’s third Goldfinger, Arthur Korn and László Moholy-Nagy, and the Russian architects Serge Chermayeff and year project- a Modernistic rendering of an entrance to an office block (Fig. 2). The article shows a Berthold Lubetkin.11 range of styles that were being explored from classical An Application of the Orders (Second Year, P. AA records show that Mary was a highly conscientious student who managed to get consistently Cornit) to modern expressionism Esquisse for an Island Belvedere (Third Year W. P. Dyson).13 high marks. She took full part in student activities including a stunning role in the Finale of the Her professional training at the AA and Travelling Studentships enabled her to travel to Scandinavia 1929 AA Pantomime with the choreography by Carmen Dillon (Fig. 1).12 Mary was the only student and Europe with her peers including Oliver Hill, Norah Aiton and others who pioneered Modernism to have won the AA’s Travelling Studentship four years running in her second, third, fourth and in Britain. The trip to Scandinavia in 1930 was to be one of the most formative experiences of her fifth years. She also had her work published in the AA Journals and won the fiercely competitive student life. Organised by F.R. Yerbury, a group of 93 students and staff set off from St Pancras on 16 July 1930 a few days after she was presented the Third Year Course AA Travelling Studentship for £31.10s. Travelling by train and boat the group spent two days in Gothenburg, five in Stockholm 7  Frederic James Osborn, F.J, Green-belt Cities (London: Faber & Faber, 1946), 36. and four in Copenhagen.14 Photographs of the buildings visited were exhibited at the AA from 24 8  John Haden Badley, Bedales: A Pioneer School, (London: Methuen 1923). November to 20 December 1930 and a detailed account of the trip was published in the December 9  Historic England (March 16, 1954, updated August 11, 1968) List Entry 1278033, Bedales Memorial Library, Lupton issue of the AA Journal (Fig. 3).15 The trip included visits to a number of new innovative schools in Hall and Corridor, http://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1278033 (accessed November 3, 2015). Gottenburg by Arvid Bjerke and Gunnar Asplund, and in Stockholm the group saw a new school by 10 Louise Brodie talking to Mary Medd, September 7, 1998, National Life Story Collection: Architects’ Lives, British Library C467/29, Medd, Mary, Part 2 of 11, http://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Architects-Lives/021M-C0467X0029XX- 0001V0 (accessed July 6, 2017). 11 Charlotte Benton, A Different World: Ém igré Architects in Britain 1928–1958, (London: RIBA 1995). 12 HMSC, “AA Pantomime 1929,” The AA Journal 45, no. 515 (January 1930), 280–283. Carmen later won an Oscar 13 Frederic Etchells, “Exhibition of Students’ Work,” The AA Journal 46, no 522 (August 1930), 82–92. in 1949 for the Best Art Direction-Set Decoration for the 1948 Olivier version of Hamlet and was nominated for a 14 A. A. “Excursion to Sweden and Denmark, 1930’,” The AA Journal 46, no. 526, (December 1930), 179–95; “The A.A number of BAFTA’s and won an Emmy Award in 1975. Ronald Bergen, “Carmen Dillon: Oscar winning art director Visit to Sweden and Denmark,” The AA Journal 46, no. 522, (August 1930), 104–6 and 81. setting the scene for great British films,” Guardian, April 21, 2000. 15 Ibid. MoMoWo 292 MoMoWo 293 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Yasmin Shariff, Mary Crowley: Beginnings of the Career of a Pioneering Modern Movement Architect in Britain before 1945 Fig. 4. ‘The Diagram’ illustrating major advances Fig. 5. The Institute of Archaeology, 4th Year project in science and invention with political and social by Mary Crowley illustrated in The AA Journal 46, events ‘modus vivendi’ used to illustrate Mr Duncan’s no. 528 (February 1931), 272. Courtesy of Dennis Sharp Archive. opening speech at an AA General Meeting held on 27 May 1929 on “Modern Tendencies in Architecture and the other Arts,” The AA Journal 45, no. 508 (June 1929), 7. Courtesy of Dennis Sharp Archive. in some parts of Scandinavia and Germany a modern real style that has evolved naturally Fig. 3. Cartoon by G Laider illustrating the from changing practice in construction and changing fancies in ornament. …In more backward Highlights of the 1930s AA visit to Stockholm. countries the modern style is conceived of as a style of pure negation, its aesthetic weakness The AA Journal 46, no. 526 (December 1930), 195. Courtesy of Dennis Sharp Archive. bolstered up by mechanical theory or unintelligible philosophy (Fig. 4).17 Mary’s fourth year project from 1931 for An Institute of Archaeology, published in the February Hakon Ahlberg and a technical school by Eric Lallerstedt containing a fountain by Carl Milles. The issue of the AA Journal, (Fig 5) looks remarkably like the 1934 RIBA Headquarters which was main highlight of the tour was the newly completed Stockholm Town Hall and Asplund’s Paradiset influenced by Östberg’s Town Hall and Asplund’s City Library in Stockholm.18 In her final year, 1932, Restaurant in the Stockholm Exhibition. The exhibition’s slogan was Acceptera! , or Accept!, literally a she had two of her projects published in the AA Journal: A British Centre for Arts and Sciences in plea for acceptance of functionalism, standardization, and mass production as a cultural change. It France fifteen kilometres from Paris on the banks of the Seine, and her thesis subject which was An also underlined the social and economic basis of the architecture designed, revealing the architect Educational Centre for a Town of 25,000 Inhabitant (Fig 6).19 The Educational Centre is remarkably as ‘a worker in the service of the broad masses of the community.’16 futuristic with curtain walling along one elevation and Scandinavian style Modernist treatment on the other. In this final thesis she mentions the school system of Gary, Indiana that her father had After the 1930 trip Modernism could no longer be ignored and Goodhart-Rendel’s address to the AA visited in 1913 and the first of Henry Morris’ village colleges in Sawston (the precursor to Gropius’s General Meeting on 23 February 1931, when Mary was in her fourth year, gives an insight into the Impington). Mary left the AA at the top of her class, winning the highly coveted medal from the debates around stylistic attitudes: Société des Architects Diplômés par le Governement, Paris, a prize for the best Diploma student of I believe that much of our advanced architecture is in danger of being strangled by style- consciousness….I think that I recognise in most of the best recent architecture of France and 17 Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel, “Growing Pains,” The AA Journal 46, no. 529 (March 1931), 283. 18 “AA School Fourth Year Project,” The AA Journal 46, no. 528 (February 31), 269–73. 19 Respectively in The AA Journal 48 no. 545 (July 1932), 52 and 55, and The AA Journal 48, no. 548 (October 1932), 16 Dennis Sharp, A Visual History of Twentieth Century Architecture (London: Heinemann 1972), 114. 103. MoMoWo 294 MoMoWo 295 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Yasmin Shariff, Mary Crowley: Beginnings of the Career of a Pioneering Modern Movement Architect in Britain before 1945 Fig. 6. An Educational Centre, Fifth Year Thesis Subject by Mary Crowley, The AA Journal 48, no. 548 (October 1932), 103. Courtesy of Dennis Sharp Archive. Fig. 7. A view of Kemp House taken in 2007 with a single extension on the side, designed by the author. Courtesy of Dennis Sharp Architects. Fig. 8. Line drawing by Mary Crowley the session. She was also awarded the Henry Florence Travelling Studentship (£50).20 While showing bird’s eye view of a group of studying at the AA Mary also gained seven months experience working in the office of the architect three houses at Sewell’s Orchard, Tewin. of Welwyn Garden City, Louis de Soissons (who retired from AA Council in 1929). Courtesy of Dennis Sharp Archive. 21 Early Practice Mary left the AA at a time of the Great Depression (1929–33) when there was a serious economic downturn and work was sparse. Her family were amongst her first clients. In 1934 she started working independently on a group of three houses at Sewell’s Orchard, Tewin, for her parents, her sister Elfrida and brother-in-law - Elfrida had married architect Cecil Kemp,22 who became the Chief Fig. 9. “Houses At Tewin, Herts, Architect: Mary Crowley A.R.I.B.A.,” 20  The AA Journal 48, no. 545 (July 1932), 41–2. The Architect & Building News, 21 RIBANPA_5426_Crowley_Mary_1934_1–5 (February 9, 1934), Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), London. June 26, 1936, 388. 22 “Six pithead baths erected by the Miners’ Welfare Committee: Architects: J. H. Forshaw, C. G. Kemp,” Architectural Courtesy of Architectural Association Review (1941), 79–80. Photo Library. MoMoWo 296 MoMoWo 297 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Yasmin Shariff, Mary Crowley: Beginnings of the Career of a Pioneering Modern Movement Architect in Britain before 1945 architect to the Miners Welfare Commission and was responsible for the innovative design of the School Building Design pithead baths, and a third house for another Quaker family, the Mialls (Fig. 7).23 Mary collaborated with Goldfinger on a series of projects for the French toy makers Abbats and The three houses in Tewin are radically different to anything else in the area. The mono-pitch buff a project for a prototype prefabricated expanding nursery school commissioned by the Nursery brick structures look deceptively simple. The influence on the design was Scandinavian and drew on Schools Association in 1934. A sketch of the design is held by the RIBA Drawings and Archive the seminal AA trip from 1930.24 Every detail was carefully thought through especially in relation to Collections.29 She went on to design a nursery school at Kensal House, the innovative housing the services and the control of sun, light and air. The upper floor bathrooms are grouped together project by Maxwell Fry (Fig. 10). Kensal House was completed in 1937 and financed by the Gas with a concrete floor to cope with any leaks or future failures; the ironmongery on the windows Light and Coke Company for re-housing slum dwellers. The dramatic curve of the nursery school allow for the full extent of the windows to be opened without any dividing frames and all the rooms creates a dynamic geometry and sense of place. There are many similarities with the prototype she have natural controllable air vents. The internal arrangement on the ground floor with sliding doors had designed a few years earlier for the Nursery Schools Association, particularly the use of top creates a flexible space which can be used for intimate dining or open plan parties. The shared lights and sliding folding doors that merge inside and outside spaces. Mary was also involved in gardens maintained a sense of the open countryside and a pond was designed to store rainwater. A Goldfinger’s The Child Exhibit at the 1937 British Pavilion at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et simple return on the south facing façade gives each house a sense of enclosure and privacy (Fig. 7). Techniques dans la Vie Moderne designed by Oliver Hill under Frank Pick. Hill was a contemporary Completed in 1936, the Sewell Orchard houses were included in an exhibition at the Building Centre25 AA student who had also gone on the AA trip to the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930.30 and published alongside houses by other great Modern Movement architects such as Breuer, Yorke, Between 1938–40 just before the onset of Second World War, Mary and another contemporary Goldfinger, Lubetkin, Lescaze, Chermayeff, and others in F.R.S. Yorke’s book The Modern House in student, Anne Parker, worked with Goldfinger on designs for evacuation, school, and holiday England published in 1937. This was a remarkable achievement and testament to her talent as an camps.31 In 1940 she collaborated with Justin Blanco White (another ex-AA student) and Goldfinger architect (Figs. 8 and 9). on prefabricated industrial housing design run by the RIBA.32 In the same period Mary worked with Ernö Goldfinger on several projects including his own house which was part of a terrace of three units in Willow Road, Hampstead (London NW3). Goldfinger had moved to London in 1934 after marrying an English artist he met in Paris, Ursulla Blackwell, (of the Crosse and Blackwell food group) and he had offices in Bedford Square near the AA.26 The two housing projects are very different. Goldfinger’s houses are a split level terrace of red brick faced town houses with a spiral staircase linking the multi levels whilst the Tewin houses are a group of modern villas in the countryside on one and a half acres of land. It is difficult to see what Mary contributed to the Goldfinger terrace but Sewell Orchard was entirely under her control and in her interviews she also acknowledges the help of John Brandon-Jones and Cecil Kemp.27 She collaborated on projects with Brandon-Jones and other students who studied with her at the AA, including Judith Ledeboer.28 Fig. 10. Nursery at Kensal House designed by Mary Crowley. Courtesy of Architectural Association 23 Bill Miall, Memoirs, http://prism.bham.ac.uk/~miallrc/private/WEM_memoirs.pdf (accessed November 3, 2015). Photo Library. 24 Brodie talking to Mary Medd, September 7, 1998, National Life Story Collection: Architects’ Lives, British Library C467/29, Medd, Mary, Part 3 of 11, http://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Architects-Lives/021M-C0467X0029XX-0003V0 (accessed July 6, 2017). 25 Catherine Burke, A Life in Education, (London: Ashgate, 2013), 69. 29 Juliet Kinchin and Aidan O’Connor, Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900–2000, (New York: MOMA, 2012). 26 Design Museum, “ERNÖ GOLDFINGER Architect (1902–1987) Designing Modern Britain” (2006) http://design. 30 “The A.A Visit to Sweden and Denmark,” The AA Journal 46, no. 522 (August 1930), 104–6. designmuseum.org/design/erno-goldfinger?print=1 (accessed January 4, 2016). 31  Architects & Building News, October 27, 1939, 88–9, and Architects & Building News, March 22, 1940, 288. 27 Brodie, Part 3 of 11. 32 R.I.B.A, Industrial housing in wartime: Results of a competition organised by the Royal Institute of British 28 Leonard Marsh, Mary Medd Architect 1907–2005 (Kent: Meadow Publications, 2013), 4. Architects (London: RIBA, 1940). MoMoWo 298 MoMoWo 299 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Yasmin Shariff, Mary Crowley: Beginnings of the Career of a Pioneering Modern Movement Architect in Britain before 1945 Hertfordshire County Council couple married in 1949 and both moved from Hertfordshire County Architect’s Department to the 1941 was a turning point for Mary when John Newson, the Chief Education Officer at Hertfordshire, newly formed Architects and Building Branch (A&BB) headed up by Johnson-Marshall who was offered her a job to work in the Hertfordshire County Council’s Education Department.33 There was the deputy County Architect in Hertfordshire. The Medds wrote many of the Building Bulletins that an urgent need to help schools make arrangements for the mandatory requirement to feed school became the standard references and set the standards for school design all over the world including children – something her father had campaigned for. She worked with Paul Mauger on the project the Ministry of Education Building Bulletin 1 which was issued in the first year (1949).38 The couple which mainly focused on providing facilities for cooking in small village schools. This also gave worked so closely together that it is difficult to single out Mary’s contribution. Mary an opportunity to speak to teachers about education ideas. She kept up with the ideas of From the very start of her professional career Mary was a Modernist focused on the welfare of Henry Morris on the village schools in Cambridgeshire through John Newsom and her father.34 children. Her Quaker upbringing and her father’s involvement in founding Letchworth and Welwyn The 1944 Education Act radically changed the education system for secondary school in England Garden Cities meant that in her formative years, Mary was surrounded by people with vision and and made all schooling free for all pupils and raised the school leaving age to 15. The new Act made ideas about social justice and equality. Ideas about space, form and prefabrication evolved from it a duty of local education authorities to secure the provision of primary and secondary schools: what she saw and learnt on student trips especially the famous Architectural Association student trip to the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930. Mary developed her knowledge and hands-on expertise of and the schools available for an area shall not be deemed to be sufficient unless they are sufficient prefabrication and school building as a member of the Hertfordshire Architects Department. This in number, character, and equipment to afford for all pupils opportunities for education offering early experience enabled Mary to pursue an international and celebrated career in school design. such variety of instruction and training as may be desirable in view of their different ages, abilities, and aptitudes, and of the different periods for which they may be expected to remain at school, including practical instruction and training appropriate to their respective needs.35 The pressure to build new schools in a war-torn Britain where there was a shortage of materials required great ingenuity and creativity to deliver large numbers of buildings quickly and economically. In 1945 Hertfordshire County Council appointed its first ever County Architect, C.H. Aslin. Aslin established the Hertfordshire County Architect’s Department in 1946 with Stirrat Johnson-Marshall as his deputy and a team of architects including Mary and David Medd. When Mary joined the Hertfordshire Architect’s Department she was nearly forty years of age, single and the only professional female architect on the staff list. Her experience of pre-fabricated building construction and her in depth knowledge of education and school design internationally made her an invaluable member of the team that was already aspiring to build fifteen schools within two years of being established.36 The first three schools that were designed by the team that Mary and her future husband David Medd were part of were Essenden School (120 children), Cheshunt School (200 juniors) and Croxley Green School (320 children).37 Mary’s most significant work on schools, which was to have national and international impact, developed after she was 40 years of age and in partnership with her husband David Medd. The 33 Brodie, Part 3 of 11. 34 Brodie, Part 5 of 11. 35 Great Britain, Education Act 1944: 7&8 Geo Ch 31 (London: HMSO, 1944), 5. 36 “Architectural Pre-View, The Hertfordshire Architect’s Department,” Architectural Review (February 1947), 63–6. 38 Geraint Franklin, ‘Built-in variety’: David and Mary Medd and the Child Centred Primary School, 1944–80, Architectural 37 Ibid. History 55 (2012), 321–367. MoMoWo 300 MoMoWo 301 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Yasmin Shariff Dennis Sharp Architects Yasmin Shariff is director of Dennis Sharp Architects, a practice with close asso- ciations with DoCoMoMo. She has worked on many Modern Movement buildings including Mary Crowley’s Kemp house in Tewin. She was a senior lecturer at the University of Westminster for over 15 years and a trustee and Honorary Secretary of the RIBA and the Architectural Association. Currently she is chair of the steer- ing group AA XX 100, set up to mark the centenary of women at the Architectural Association in 2017 and serve as a catalyst for a wider discussion of women in architecture. E-mail: yshariff@sharparchitects.co.uk MoMoWo 302 Myriam López-Rodero https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.18 Introduction Women Architects in the Shadow: Aino Marsio-Aalto (Fig. 1) was one of the most important Finnish architects of the beginning of the Aino Marsio-Aalto twentieth century. She was the professional and personal partner of Alvar Aalto from almost the beginning of their professional career in 1920 until her death in 1949. However, her work has not been extensively studied in spite of her being a key figure in modern Finnish architecture and also a key figure in the work of her husband. In the many studies about Alvar Aalto, limited credit has been awarded to Aino Marsio-Aalto and few written articles that analyse her work can be found.1 The aim of this paper is to study and bring to light the professional career of Aino Marsio-Aalto, to understand and appreciate her architecture and design and to publicise and value her work placing it justifiably within the history of modern art, as a matter of historical justice. In the case of Aino Marsio-Aalto, the tandem with Alvar Aalto Aino Marsio-Aalto, one of the most important Finnish architects of the beginning of the 20th century, was Alvar Aalto’s professional and personal partner from the was not only personal but also professional, working with him as a collaborator, co-author and start of his career until her death in 1949. But like other female partners of re- independent designer. She worked on architecture and interior design projects, preferring residential nowned architects, Marsio-Aalto worked behind the scenes. Her work has never architecture, small dwellings, interiors and the design of furniture and everyday objects. been valued despite the fact that she was co-author of Alvar Aalto’s projects, designed independently and led an international design company (ARTEK). The Aino Marsio-Aalto was always kept in the background, scope of her work encompassed architecture, interior projects and industrial de- and her work in collaboration with her partner has sign, with interest in residential architecture, minimum habitation projects, furni- not been clearly defined or fairly acknowledged until ture and glass design. recently. The same thing has happened with other Analysis of her work showed adherence to rationalistic principles of the Modern known professional couples of the twentieth century. Movement, with emphasis on functional and practical issues, use of natural ma- terials and mass-production. She created projects with an exquisite sensitivity to After analysing the personal history of the great detail, colour, materials and textures. Aino Marsio-Aalto focused on small-scale projects to improve everyday life. This paper highlights the work of the architect Aino Marsio-Aalto, who has been hidden behind the shadow of her husband. All these female pioneers of the be- Fig. 1. Aino Marsio-Aalto drawing at her desk ginning of the 20th century are the workhorses of the emancipation of women, in the office of Jyväskylä, around 1924. and it is necessary that their personal stories uncovered to give them their due Photo: Alvar Aalto Estate/Alvar Aalto Museum recognition. 1  This article is based on the introduction to a study dedicated to one of these female architects, but acknowledging Keywords: women architects, Aino Marsio-Aalto, Modern Movement, rationalism, also the great number of other women forgotten by history. Heiki Alanen, “Preface,” in Ulla Kinnunen (ed.), Aino Aalto Finland, Alvar Aalto (Helsinki: Alvar Aalto Foundation, Alvar Aalto Museum, 2004), 7. MoMoWo 304 MoMoWo 305 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Myriam López-Rodero, Women Architects in the Shadow: Aino Marsio-Aalto architects of the past century we find that many had a female architect at their side, both no professional separation between architects, interior professionally and personally. This is the case of the group, The Four, formed by two pairs of and furniture designers, so her studies covered these architects, Charles Mackintosh and his wife Margaret MacDonald and Herbert McNair and his wife subjects’.5 Whilst studying she worked as a carpenter and Frances MacDonnald. The Deutscher Werkbund had several architect couples, such as Hermann building apprentice. This experience strongly influenced Muthesius and his wife, Anna Muthesius, Hans Poelzig and Marlene Poelzig, and Mies Van Der her later work and her work as director of Artek. Rohe and Lilly Reich, who was his professional and personal partner before he immigrated to the In 1919 the Female Finnish Architects Association Tum- United States.The list also includes Auguste Perret and his wife Karola Bloch, Le Corbusier and stocken was founded, which in 1942 evolved into Archi- Charlotte Perriand, and Louis Kahn and various lovers who were architects like Anne Tyng and tecta. Marsio was a member from the beginning. Harriet Pattinson. Ernst May’s professional partner was Margarete Schutte-Lihotzky. Heikki Siren and Kaija Siren were personal and professional partners. In the Netherlands, Jan Frederik Staal was When she finished her university studies in 1920, she the partner of Margaret Kropholler, Mart Stam was married to Lotte Stam-Beese, and the architect started to work for Oiva Kallio in Helsinki. In 1923 she Johan Niegeman was married to Bé Niegeman-Brand. collaborated in the studio of the architect Gunnar A. Fig. 2. Aino Marsio and Alvar Aalto in the Wahlroos in Jyväskylä. A year later in 1924, she moved to Alvar Aalto has always been considered a genius and a charismatic architect. However, this has Finnish Pavilion at the New Yorks World Fair, the studio of Alvar Aalto in the same city. Six months later not taken into account important professional collaborators and that he never directed the studio 1939. Photo: Alvar Aalto Museum they were married. From that moment on they worked as alone. In particular, two female architects accompanied him during his life, first Aino Marsio-Aalto a team, with Marsio acting as co-director of the office. and after her death, Elissa Mäkkiniemi. This implies that work attributed solely to Alvar Aalto should In 1927 the practice moved to Turku when they won the take into account his professional partners, who were a great influence in the practice. competition to build the Agricultural Co-operative in the It is well known that Aino Marsio-Aalto co-directed the office with her husband, taking responsibility Southeast of Finland. In 1933 the studio relocated to for the clients, employees and economical and family issues. During Alvar Aalto’s frequent foreign Helsinki where it remained for the rest of its existence. journeys, Marsio was responsible for the office and all the projects.2 ‘However, she never appeared In 1935 together with Alvar Aalto, the Gullichsen couple and Niels-Gustav Hahl, Marsio created Artek in the foreground or admitted what had really been designed by her. She was always at work behind (Art & Technology) in Helsinki.6 The company was conceived to develop objects for the domestic the scenes’.3 industry. From this moment onwards, Marsio-Aalto’s principal interest was the business, first as the creative director, then as the general director, after the death of Hahl in 1941. She continued to lead the company, alongside many other projects, until her death from cancer in Helsinki in 1949 at the age of 55 (Fig. 2). Biography For a better knowledge of Aino Marsio-Aalto it is important to study her biography to understand her influences and shed more light upon her work. She was born in Helsinki in January 1894 to a proletarian family and was brought up in a housing Analysis of Her Work complex for railway families. According to Suominen-Kokkonen her natural modesty, her interest for Aino Marsio-Aalto was an architect who remained almost exclusively in the shadow of her husband, minimalism and preference for simple design is due to the atmosphere in which she grew up.4 In and of whom we know very little either of her work or of her person. Very few of her written works 1913 she began to study architecture at the Polytechnic University of Helsinki. ‘At that time there was exist so the most important primary sources are her projects. However the work of Aino Marsio- Aalto is closely tied to that of her husband, and we must also bear in mind that the creative process 2  Mia Hipeli, “Aino Marsio-Aalto architect,” in Kinnunen (ed.), Aino Aalto, 59. 3  Sigfried Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition (Cambridge: Harvard University Press), 667. 5  Kaarina Mikonranta, “Aino Marsio-Aalto Interior and Furniture Designer,” in Kinnunen (ed.), Aino Aalto, 110. 4  Arne Heporauta, “About Aino Marsio-Aalto,” in Kinnunen (ed.), Aino Aalto, 17. 6  “Artek (Company),” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artek_(company), (accessed January 27, 2017). MoMoWo 306 MoMoWo 307 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Myriam López-Rodero, Women Architects in the Shadow: Aino Marsio-Aalto is usually the result of several imaginative strengths, which complicates the task of discovering the independent roles played by each architect. To understand the work of Aino Marsio-Aalto it is fundamental to analyse the work that can be credited to her without joint authorship. The objective is to highlight Aino Marsio-Aalto as an independent architect and not to analyse her work in relation to the one of her husband, as has been done before, thus keeping her still in the shadow. She was interested in improving an individual’s everyday life, so her main focus was the design of small and domestic scale projects that helped to facilitate people’s daily routines. Consequently, in this paper some of these will be studied. For the clarification of the authorship of the designs it is necessary to examine the proof. In the case of utilitarian objects and furniture, the authorship is based on the exhibition named Alvar & Fig. 3. Bölgeblick Series. Aino Aalto. Design carried out in Germany in 2004. For the design of kitchens and interiors, this Photo: Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Museum justification is based on the study and catalogue of all the drawings of the studio of Alvar Aalto, between 1924 and 1939, in which we find the signature of Aino Marsio-Aalto. Aino Marsio-Aalto was especially interested in questions related to the ideals of the Modern Modern Movement statements of Le Corbusier in which ‘objects are just tools, pretty tools’ that Movement like the practicality of objects, geometric shapes, standardization and universal ‘need to fulfil a special aim’.9 As Adolf Loos said in 1910, design has nothing to do with personal timeless design. taste but must answer practical necessities.10 7 She was concerned with questions of economic, serial production, storing and stacking, and the use of durable and economical materials. This led her to design objects without The design of the collection is united to the production methods and the materials used. Rings were an aesthetic presumption. Aino Marsio-Aalto could be considered as the more rational element of introduced for practical reasons as they helped to hide irregularities in the inexpensive pressed the couple. glass. This type of glass was much cheaper than blown or strained glass and, mass production was automated. All the objects could be stacked, thus saving space and adapting to the minimum kitchen and housing standards, which were being studied at the time and were of great interest to Aino Marsio-Aalto. Design of Glass Utensils. Competition Karhula-Iittala: Series Bölgeblick, 1932 The design of this series could be summarised in the ideas of Le Corbusier about the making of In 1932 the Karhula-littala factory organised a competition for the design of glass tableware (Fig. 3). useful objects: they had to be above all perfect, precise, efficient, and inexpensive tools.11 Eighty Aino Marsio-Aalto won second prize with her Bölgeblick series (a view of waves), which consisted years later, they are still modern and can be found in any of our households. This is exactly what a of a jug, cups, dishes, plates, a sugar bowl and a milk jug. The range went into mass production in designer at the beginning of the 20th century aimed for, a timeless, universal design for the general 1932. Later a collection of glasses, vases and bowls was added. This series became very popular, use of society. and was exhibited in 1933 in London, at the Fortnum & Mason department store, and in 1936 at the Milan Triennale where it won the golden prize.8 The Bölgeblick series is still in demand and being produced and imitated today. The objects designed by Marsio had a simple shape, with no aesthetic boasting, according to the 9  Le Corbusier, “Argument,” in Le Corbusier, The Decorative Art of Today (London: The Architectural Press, 1987), 23; 7  Timo Keinänen, “Alvar and Aino Aalto as glass designers,” in Pirkko Tuukannen (ed.), Alvar Aalto Designer (Helsinki: Le Corbusier, “Ripolin Law,”in Le Corbusier, The Decorative Art, 18. Alvar Aalto Foundation, Alvar Aalto Museum, 2002), 135. 10 Adolf Loos, “Architecture,” in Panayotis Tournikiotis, Adolf Loos (Princeton Architectural Press 2002). 8  Ibid., 135. 11 Le Corbusier, “The Decorative Art of Today,” in Le Corbusier, The Decorative Art, 84. MoMoWo 308 MoMoWo 309 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Myriam López-Rodero, Women Architects in the Shadow: Aino Marsio-Aalto Furniture Design the Aaltos during these years and especially those produced for the hospital of Paimio displayed in Stool for the Tuberculosis Sanatorium, Paimio, 1929–1932 great measure the ideals of the Modern Movement. On winning the competition to design the Tuberculosis Sanatorium in the southeast of Finland in 1929 (Fig. 4), Aino and Alvar Aalto were contracted for the complete design of the hospital complex. This was a dream for them; it was their first opportunity to carry out their philosophy of Kitchen Design global design. Alvar Aalto, in 1925, spoke for the first time of one ambience that would be created when the architect takes charge of the complete building and the interiors, where each detail had ‘Minimum Kitchen’ of the Minimum Apartment Exhibition in the Finnish Society of Art and Craft Fair, a special importance.12 Helsinki, 1930 Aino and Alvar Aalto centred all their design on the comfort and well-beeing of the patients. Their For the Minimum Apartment Exhibition in the ‘Finnish Society of Art and Craft Fair’ that took place proposal considered that they would spend most part of the day lying in the sun or in bed. So they in Helsinki in 1930, the Aaltos designed a modern minimum home comprised of living/dining room, paid special attention to the design of the beds and loungers, as well as all the elements in the kitchen and two bedrooms. Aino Marsio-Aalto designed the kitchen and its different utensils, a table rooms. One of these objects was the stool designed by Aino Marsio- and a sideboard for the dining room and curtains for the bedroom (Fig. 5). During this period Aino Aalto in 1932, for the hospital. It was a three-legged tubular stool with and Alvar Aalto’s ideas in design in the domestic space were influenced by the social transformation steel lacquered legs and a circular seat of lacquered wood. The tubular and the new role of women in society. Alvar Aalto displayed his ideas about this topic in 1930: structures of the legs were finished with a circular tube joining them I am referring to the complete so they could be easily stacked and occupy very little space. This stool transformation of the role played is a clear example of the purest International Style in furniture design by women nowadays. Their which always created durable objects, easy to clean and cheap without independence and emancipation unnecessary ornamentation, with regular shapes, metal structure, from a submissive position to a stackable and close to the geometric and estereometric elementarism complete comradeship, as much as displayed by Walter Curt Behrendt. in the work as at home involves 13 The stool is light for the patients completely new requirements to move easily. Made in neutral colours, the part in contact with the in the design of the home. body is smooth and warm. All of these details show the designer’s Woman’s independence leads great interest in the practicality of the object. to radically new requirements in The stool, together with two armchairs –41 and 42– designed by Alvar living commodities such as easy Aalto for the hospital, formed part of a programme of modern furniture cleaning, weight of the objects launched in 1932, after being shown in the Scandinavian Housing Fair and the mechanical uses of the in Helsinki in the Standard Furniture section.14 This furniture would be fixtures.16 produced and manufactured by Finnish manufacturers, and it is still Fig. 5. Minimum Kitchen of the Minimum Apartment The most innovative element of the Fig. 4. The Paimio stool in different finishing’s. being made today by the Artek company.15 All the furniture designed by Photo: Martti Kapanen, Alvar Aalto Museum Exhibition in the Finnish Society of Art and Craft Fair, 1930, apartment was the Minimum Kitchen that Taidehalli, Helsinki. was greatly influenced by the practical ideas Photo: Heinrich Iffland, Alvar Aalto Museum of Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, who created 12 Kaarina Mikoranta, “Alvar Aalto: Master of Variation,” in Pirkko Tuukannen (ed.), Alvar Aalto Designer (Helsinki: Alvar Aalto Foundation, Alvar Aalto Museum, 2002), 75. the Frankfurter Küche (Frankfurt Kitchen) in 13 Kaarina Mikonranta, “Aino Marsio-Aalto: Interior and Furniture Designer,” in Kinnunen (ed.), Aino Aalto, 116; Walter Curt Behrendt, Modern Building: Its Nature, Problems, and Forms (New York: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1937). 14 Thomas Kellein, “Aino and Alvar Aalto’s Hospital rooms,” in Alvar & Aino Aalto: Design, (Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2005), 57. 16 Alvar Aalto, “El problema de la vivienda,” in Alvar Aalto and Goran Schildt, De palabra y por escrito (El Escorial: El 15 Richard Weston, Alvar Aalto (London: Phaidon Press Ltd, 2007), 260. Croquis, 2000), 113 and 115. MoMoWo 310 MoMoWo 311 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Myriam López-Rodero, Women Architects in the Shadow: Aino Marsio-Aalto 1926. Ideas like efficiency, organisation, modulation, simple cleaning, reduced space, storage and resistant and continued surfaces. Much influenced by the ideas of the American engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor and his Industrial Efficiency Movement, Schütte-Lihotzky was able to create a laboratory for the modern woman, and by rationalising the space she helped to save time. The great novelty of the Minimum Kitchen in comparison with the Frankfurter Küche is that the height of the countertop is set at the height of a table, this means that all the elements were at an ideal height for working while sitting on a chair or stool thus making life easier and more comfortable for the 1930s housewife. The kitchen was small and rectangular, approximately 3 x 2 m, separated from the living room by a sideboard.17 It contained two working surfaces; a long counter and a kitchen stove. On the side of the counter, we find a continued surface, long and easy to clean. The material of the countertop also runs along the length of the wall to a height of 30 cm, eliminating joints Fig. 6. Interior perspective of Aino and creating a simple design. On the counter was a stainless steel kitchen sink, designed by Aino Marsio-Aalto’s proposal for the Marsio-Aalto, with a sliding wooden lid to cover the sink and provide more workspace. Next to the competition of the Finnish Pavilion in New York World’s Fair, 1938. kitchen sink and sharing the same tap, there was another sink for washing clothes. Below the second Photo: Alvar Aalto Museum sink was a rubbish bin on wheels with a removable lid, made of metal and easy to clean. Below the worktop there were four cupboard modules, one of them with drawers. Any type of utensil that did not fit into the cupboards was hanging on the walls. In this way, it was a neat space with everything Aalto won the first and second prize while Marsio came in third. in its place as if it was a laboratory, thanks also to the modulation of every element. The Finnish pavilion had strict design restrictions, because Finland could only afford a cubicle in The kitchens designed by Aino Marsio-Aalto and Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky in the 1920s a shared pavilion with other countries. Firstly it did not have an outside elevation; secondly the evolutionized the world of kitchen design, setting the basis for the present day kitchens. They exterior form was fixed. Thirdly, the volume was determined and fourthly, and most important, the created extremely practical kitchens in which everything down to the last detail was thought out, project was limited to an interior design that was supposed to impress a public overwhelmed by the therefore making the work of women who were beginning to enter the labour market much easier, great number of pavilions of the Fair. The trigger for the couple to present several proposals was and also helping with their emancipation. With the compact modulated kitchens, time and space the chance to be able to implement some of the ideas that were left pending in the design of Villa was saved and domestic life moved into the background, taking women out of the place where they Mairea, the couple’s most famous single-family house. had historically been confined. A fourth project designed by Aino and Alvar Aalto was finally built combining all of the proposals submitted.18 The project that was finally carried out is one of the most analysed works of the practice, and because it is difficult to distinguish the individual input of each of the architects, we will study the proposal that Aino Marsio-Aalto presented independently. The project had to deal with a long Interior Design and tall space (four stories high) so Aino Marsio-Aalto’s proposal tried to break this pronounced Competition for the Finnish Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair, 1938 long and narrow volume by creating two converging longitudinal façades in order to reduce the Aino Marsio-Aalto submitted a proposal –USA 39– for the competition of the Finnish Pavilion at the tunnel effect of the space. These two elevations had different architectonic treatments; one had two 1939 World Fair of New York (Fig. 6). undulating balconies that break the high interior façade and provide dynamism and excitement, and the opposite side had a long linear terrace acting as counterweight to the facing elevation. At the same time Alvar Aalto presented two other proposals Maa, Kansa, Tÿo, Tulos (Country, People, Work, Product) and Kas kuusen latvassa oravalla (The sqirrel has a nest in the spruce tree’s top). 18 Göran Schildt, “Finnish pavilion at the World’s Fair in New York,” in Alexander Tzonis, The Architectural Drawings of Alvar Aalto. 1917–1939 (New York: Garland Pub., 1994), 170. Göran Schildt, “Finnish pavilion at the New York 17  Kaarina Mikonranta, ‘Aino Marsio-Aalto Interior and Furniture Designer,” in Kinnunen (ed.), Aino Aalto, 118. World’s Fair 1939,” Alvar Aalto Museum, http://file.alvaraalto.fi/, accessed August, 2015. MoMoWo 312 MoMoWo 313 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Myriam López-Rodero, Women Architects in the Shadow: Aino Marsio-Aalto The second floor had the smallest footprint; here the undulating balcony disappeared and only the linear terrace remained. Stylistically, this gallery was designed following the Modern Movement principles. It was a linear platform elevated on pilotis, rendered presumably in white, with rounded edges and a tubular horizontal balustrade reminiscent of some emblematic buildings from the International Style, like the houses for the Bauhaus masters of Walter Gropius from 1925–6 or the Villa Savoye of Le Corbusier from 1929. This mezzanine had a large space that mainly acted as a top balcony where one could admire the whole pavilion. An important feature was the jardinière on the second floor that was connected to the lower floor garden. If the perspective sketched by Aino Marsio-Aalto is compared to a photo of the final project we can see that they were extremely similar (Fig.7). Both had a linear balcony supported on pilotis on the right hand side, an undulating wall on the left that brought dynamism to the space, an important central staircase and natural elements along the building reminding us of Finnish nature. The main architectonic element is the central ‘inverted valley’ around which everything revolves and which endeavours to transports us out of the interior space to the magnificent Finnish lakes and forests. Conclusions The purpose of this paper is to cast light on the professional work of the architect Aino Marsio- Aalto, almost forgotten in the shadow of her genius husband. It is not intended to highlight the value of a female architect for the mere fact of being a woman, but as a matter of historical justice. Until recently, history has belittled or ignored the role of women in any professional environment, Fig. 7. Perspective of the final Project, 1939. Photo: Alvar Aalto Museum especially if it is technical or architectural. Recently, in Finland some articles have been devoted to the role of Aino Marsio-Aalto as an important collaborator in the work of Alvar Aalto, however they do not approach her work individually or try The two converging facades created an artificial valley, which made you forget that this was an to value her professional career apart from the work of her husband.19 This individual approach interior prismatic volume. This central void was the most interesting spatial point of the pavilion. happened for the first time in 2004 in an exhibition dedicated to Aino Marsio-Aalto at the Alvar The balconies were all connected creating a spatial continuity around the inner space; they Aalto Museum. It was the first time that her personal life and professional career was addressed generated an ascending walk towards the top terrace like a corbusian promenade architecturale. separately. On the ground floor we find the access to the pavilion and in the centre of the main space there are two important elements: a garden with an irregular shape that broke the long room and brought Due to the limited attention that Aino Marsio-Aalto’s independent professional career has received, nature to the interior (reminiscent of a Finnish forest), and an Italian ramp-staircase located at the it has not been given its deserved place in history. This is because ‘in the period that is discussed it end of the space that connected with the first floor balconies. This pavilion was an object of great appeared to be quite common for the joint projects of architect couples and the work of their joint dimensions, an important sculptural object that also shortened the length of the space. offices to be recorded predominantly as the achievement of one spouse, thus overshadowing the The first floor was composed of two balconies –one linear and the other undulating– that met on a large landing where the staircase ended. The undulating balcony on the first floor contained the main exhibition space of the pavilion, where interesting viewpoints were created. The linear terrace 19 Renja Suominen-Kokkonen, Aino and Alvar Aalto: A Shared Journey: Interpretations of an Everyday Modernism was closed and used as a projection room, thanks to the trapezoidal shape of the floor plan. (Helsinki: Alvar Aalto Foundation and Alvar Aalto Museum, 2007). MoMoWo 314 MoMoWo 315 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Myriam López-Rodero, Women Architects in the Shadow: Aino Marsio-Aalto other’.20 Therefore when we bring to light a compilation of her architecture and design projects we aside from directing the company she led an international architecture firm, and during Alvar Aalto’s help to clarify her important figure as a Modern architect and design pioneer. frequent travels she directed the practice, the projects, and the family. There is enough evidence that Alvar Aalto respected the work developed by his wife in and outside Female pioneers from the beginning of the 20th century like Aino Marsio-Aalto were the workhorses the office. As Giedion described, all Aalto’s exhibitions and his work up to 1949 were signed ‘Aino and of the emancipation of women. It is more than justified that these personal stories start to be Alvar Aalto’. It was not a gesture of chivalry21 but to the fact that their marriage was a ‘partnership uncovered, to give them their due recognition. Moreover, if we take into account the role of women marriage’. In Finland in the 1920s this concept was a distinct expression of the modern.22 If we talk during this historical period, their value is even greater, because their professionalism implied a about her talent, according to Viola Markelius, Marsio was more interested in social issues and her rebellion against society and its established rules that relegated women solely to the domestic ingenuity was deeper than Alvar’s.23 sphere. Architects like Marsio were strong and very talented women, but due to the historical time Aino Marsio-Aalto was mostly focused on small scale projects in which she put all her time and they lived in, they were kept in the shadow of their professional partners. They worked together with interest, so as to enrich and improve the daily life of the individual in his most intimate dimension men, out of necessity or by choice, to be able to carry out their professional career. Very few of them through the improvement of his close surroundings (Fig. 8). If we analyse her work, we could consider managed to succeed independently and if they did it was always as designers. What it is striking Aino Marsio-Aalto as the rational element within the couple. If we examine her pieces there is a big is that in most of these architect couples, particularly in the case of Aino and Alvar Aalto, the male emphasis on utilitarian, functional, and practical issues, as well as to the use of natural materials partner appreciated, valued and acknowledged the professional role of female partners. The denial and mass-produced objects. She created pieces and designs without a strong aesthetical display, of women as professionals is more an omission to be attributed to the narrators of history. where the needs set the aesthetics of the objects. These ideas were less evident in Alvar Aalto’s work. According to her grandson, Alanen, ‘Aino remained loyal to functionalist ideas and designed practical things that were carefully studied and finished throughout’.24 Based on this analysis, we can deduce that during the functionalistic period of the 1930s Aalto’s work was highly influenced by Aino Marsio-Aalto’s ideas.The domestic scale in the buildings of Alvar Aalto might also be strongly influenced by Aino Marsio-Aalto. The detailed design of every project, from its architecture, interior design, furniture and lighting, could not be the work of one sole person but of a design team. The sensitivity and the exquisite taste of the interiors of the buildings of Alvar Alto could be the work of Aino Marsio-Aalto. Marsio’s concern for detail, colour, materials and textures can be detected in the drawings that she created which were full of annotations and where everything was designed down to the smallest detail. Marsio was defined as quiet, punctual, calm, with her feet on the ground, and a counterpart of the bohemian, singular and creative personality of her husband. But after the analysis of her work and her life, we can conclude that she was a strong, responsible and creative professional. Accordingly, she was able, in the beginning of the 20th century, to lead a company that produced furniture and consumer goods for a domestic and international market. Her strength is reflected in the fact that 20 Alanen, “Preface,” 7. 21 Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture, 667. 22 Renja Suominen-Kokkonen, “The Ideal Image of the Home,” in Suominen-Kokkonen, Aino and Alvar Aalto, 139. 23 Göran Schildt, Alvar Aalto: His Life (Helsinki: Alvar Aalto Museum, 2007), 276–277. 24 Alanen, “Preface,” 9. MoMoWo 316 MoMoWo 317 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Myriam López-Rodero Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, belonging to the U.P.M. Myriam López-Rodero is a Spanish architect, raised in Spain and the U.S. She studied architecture at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and the TU Delft in the Netherlands. Currently she is undertaking her PhD thesis studying Women in the Shadow, focusing especially on Finish architect Aino Marsio-Aalto. Her pro- fessional career began in Madrid with Burgos & Garrido Arquitectos and contin- ues in the Netherlands for KCAP architects, DKV architecten, and ONIX architec- ten. In 2008, she moved to Spain to create with two partners Madland estudio. In 2013 she moved to Holland, founding her own firm to develop architecture and interior design projects. She currently teaches at the Academy of Architecture of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen, the Netherlands. E-mail: info@mlopezrodero.com MoMoWo 318 Matina Kousidi https://doi.org/10.3986/wocrea/1/momowo1.19 Textile artworks held a pivotal role in the spatial experiments promoted by the Bauhaus State School The Case of Corona Krause: ( Staatliches Bauhaus) and were included in seminal interior spaces therein produced in the early years Textiles as a Spatial Apparatus of the 1920s. In the light of the total work of art ( Gesamtkunstwerk) concept, textiles were elevated to integral elements of interior architecture, equal to the rest of the domestic elements, namely pieces of furniture, ceramics and lighting. For the Haus Sommerfeld (1920–21) –the first architectural commission upon the School’s establishment– for instance, Dörte Helm had created a large-format appliqué curtain,1 in the dimensions of 2.10 by 2.60 meters, so as to conceal a wide wall opening in its interior (Fig. 1). The curtain echoed the geometrical patterns of the woodcarvings that Joost Schmidt had applied on the house’s interior surfaces, as well as the ones that featured on its parquet floors. The interior architecture of the Haus am Horn (1922–23), which reached completion a few years later for the first Bauhaus exhibition in Weimar (1923), similarly incorporated site-specific textile artworks. The floor of its living room was covered by a carpet designed by Martha Erps-Breuer that aligned with the visual identity of its neighbouring fittings designed Crossing between the production of textiles intended for both bodily and spatial by Marcel Breuer and László Moholy-Nagy (Fig. 2). It wrapping, Corona Krause’s contribution to the terrain of modern textiles appears was in the case of another space on display during diversely rich. Alumna of the Bauhaus State School in Weimar, and later direc- the 1923 exhibition, however, that the contribution of tor of the weaving workshop at the Arts and Crafts School in Hannover, Krause belongs to the wider group of modern artists whose biographic and professional textile design to interior architecture was expressed profile remains obscure, but recently cogent due to new archival acquisitions. Not at its most evident. only does this paper aspire to elucidate the thread of the artist’s practice, stress- ing the need to unknot and retie modern historiographies, but it also anticipates drawing attention to the overlooked role of dress in the attentively orchestrated in- terior spaces produced in the early decades of the twentieth century. In so doing, it employs oral histories, archival material and observations, as well as writings Fig. 1. Dörte Helm, Curtain with appliqué technique of key figures of the Weaving Workshop in Weimar and sets out to provide a com- for the Haus Sommerfeld (1920–21). plex interpretation of the artist’s little-known oeuvre. The contextualisation of the Published in Dörte Helm am Bauhaus in Weimar (Weimar: female body and dress within the interdisciplinary spatial production of that time, Freundeskreis der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, 2009), s.p., anticipates influence on a broader discussion on issues of disciplinary relevance Exhibition catalogue. and exchange, as well as of female representation and engagement, which was at that time valid, yet volatile. 1  The catalogue of an exhibition on Dörte Helm at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (18 July – 6 September 2009), provides valuable insights into the body of her work. See Dörte Helm, Am Bauhaus im Weimar (Weimar: Freundeskreis Keywords: Bauhaus, Weaving Workshop, Corona Krause, simultaneity, modernity der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, 2009), Exhibition catalogue. MoMoWo 320 MoMoWo 321 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Matina Kousidi, The Case of Corona Krause: Textiles as a Spatial Apparatus the Carpentry Workshop3 and a perpetual dialogue with art and craftsmanship, the Workshop had a vivid and active presence in the majority of interior spaces produced. It was to this environment of osmotic alliance between products of architecture, fine art and craftsmanship that Corona Krause4 was introduced in Spring 1923, as a student of the preliminary course ( Vorkurs) at the Bauhaus. Krause was born on 16 August 1906 –to a German consul, Friedrich Krause, and his wife, Isolde Morrison– in Coronata, Genoa. A textile artist, who had engaged in artisanal workshops on the craft of weaving prior to her inscription at the Bauhaus, Krause would later go on to make her own contribution to the wider map of modernist textile artworks in Germany. She was also an artist who had contributed a winning entry to a competition by the Junkers factory for aircraft upholstery designs,5 who went on to initiate her own independent practice and who became largely involved in pedagogic activities – first at the Arts and Crafts School in Halle (Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule) and then at the respective School in Hannover. Aiming to shed light on the artist’s little-known artistic profile, the present article focusses on her stay at the Bauhaus, in the period between 1923 and 1925, and sets out to situate it within the wider cross-disciplinary debate of that period between interior space and textiles. It explores how her interaction with the pre-eminent figures of the School, and her involvement in its diverse activities, Fig. 2. Martha Erps-Breuer, Carpet for the Haus am Horn Fig. 3. Walter Gropius, The Office of the Bauhaus laid the foundation for her further creative professional practice. Consequently, it discusses selected (1923). Published in Juliette Desorgues et al. (eds.), Director Weimar (1923). Published in Magdalena Droste artworks, currently found in the family archives and the collection of the Sammlungsarchiv at the Bauhaus: Art as Life (London: Walther König, 2012), 89. and Jeannine Fiedler (eds.), Experiment Bauhaus: Das Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin (West) zu Gast im Bauhaus Dessau Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau), which are attributed to the artist and were (Berlin: Kupfergraben, 1988), 82. created in the course of, and after, her educational stay at the Bauhaus. Emphasis is placed on a dress, which is included in the archival collection of her work and is estimated to date back to the late 1920s. As this paper considers how the dress alludes to materials and techniques promoted by the Apropos the Direktorzimmer Bauhaus in Weimar (1923) (Fig. 3), not only did woven elements –namely Weaving Workshop of the Bauhaus State School in Weimar, it aspires to understand the role of bodily the knotted-pile carpet by Gertrud Arndt and the silk wall hanging by Else Mögelin– articulate the room’s attire in its extensive definition, within a wider context of holistic domestic environments produced linear and spatial continuity, but, also, the diverse functional spaces were attentively ‘interwoven’,2 as by the School, as well as in reference to the artistic practices taking place at that time and, in terms if both two- and three-dimensional elements had been ‘stitched’ together in an homogeneous space. of artistic production, later on as well. The interrelation between textiles, furniture and other interior space elements could be ascribable to the visions of Walter Gropius for the ‘complete building’, as defined in his 1919 Bauhaus manifesto, in which architecture would converse with sculpture and painting. Meanwhile, its expression could, to a large extent, be attributed to the work of the Weaving Workshop. Through close collaborations with 3  This collaboration also led to a simultaneous approach to interior space elements such as pieces of furniture. ‘Later collaborations between the two Workshops in Dessau’, Weltge notes, ‘would result in the cohesive unity of fabric and chair and would be advertised with technical specifications including the elasticity of the material’. See Sigrid Wortmann Weltge, Bauhaus Textiles: Women Artists and the Weaving Workshop (New York: Thames and Hudson, 2  ‘Even more than the furnished interiors of the Haus am Horn, the director’s office made all of the Workshop’s 1993), 58. products – textiles, graphics, furniture, lighting – integral parts of a radical spatial experiment. Inspired not only by 4  The research project with the working title Corona Krause – Hermann “Sven” Gautel. “Le chaînon manquant” is being De Stijl extensions of space through linear continuities but also by Wright’s technique of weaving one space into undertaken by the grandson of Krause, Jakob Gautel. another, the office layered both space and spatial perception through line and colour, through the suggestion of 5  The information on Krause’s participation in the competition established by Junkers –the German aircfraft and boundaries and wrapping spaces, and through functional zoning’. Barry Bergdoll and Leah Dickermanp, Bauhaus aircraft engine manufacturer based in Dessau– was provided by Jakob Gautel during our phone discussion on 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2009), 49. November 23, 2015. MoMoWo 322 MoMoWo 323 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Matina Kousidi, The Case of Corona Krause: Textiles as a Spatial Apparatus A Weaver’s Formation: From the Visual to the Tactile Canvas book The New Vision. From Material to Architecture.8 Arguably, From April 1923 until her enrolment at the Weaving Workshop the following year, Corona Krause the principal characteristics of this study would later be attended the preliminary course of the Bauhaus School in Weimar, during which she delved into incorporated into Krause’s textile artefacts, which although experiments with watercolour, nude painting and typography, as the extent of her portfolio suggests. they had not received an equally broad attention as the In that year, László Moholy-Nagy had succeeded Johannes Itten6 at the helm of the course, having 1923 study, they bore a vivid interest in the interpretation of had significant impact on the formation of the Bauhaus weavers. Given that the succession was geometry, abstractness and balance. still recent, traces of Itten’s influence on the weavers’ practice were still evident. For instance, textile ‘Miss Korona Krause, you have been preliminarily accepted in artworks of that period still drew upon elementary forms combined with primary colours – features the Workshop,’ announces a letter addressed to the artist on that were characteristic of Itten’s theory and teaching. Paul Klee also served as an influential figure 4 July 1924, signed by Walter Gropius. It indicate that ‘admis- for the Weaving Workshop practices in those days. Through his design theory courses, he prompted sion shall be made on August; until then, you are on leave of the weavers to experiment further with woven textiles that featured geometrical patterns, alongside absence.’9 This document is the earliest surviving form of cor- a combination of colourful layers and stripes. A pencil sketch in Krause’s portfolio –bearing the title respondence between Krause and the Weimar School, direct- ‘Master Klee’ and depicting Paul Klee’s profile– reveals his informal bonds and close connection ed in those days by Gropius, and marks the beginning of her to the Bauhaus weavers and students of the School. In a broader context, the preliminary course studentship at the Weaving Workshop, at the age of eighteen. of the Bauhaus comprised a platform of experimentation with materials, essential to the later From within a female terrain of creativity, integral to the Bau- engagement of students with weaving – one branch in a broad variety of handicrafts explored at haus State School, Krause would produce various artefacts the School.7 that ranged from domestic furnishings, tablecloths, pillow cas- Fig. 4. Corona Krause, Floating Plastic: Among the pen drawings, watercolours and graphic works which Krause produced during the es and blankets, to women’s and children’s apparel. Illusionistic (1924), Photograph: Eckner, preliminary course of Moholy-Nagy, a balance study ( Gleichgewichtsstudie) is found: it is entitled Weimar. Published in László Moholy- A study in watercolour, coloured pencils and pencil on paper Nagy, Vision in Motion ‘Floating Plastic, Illusionistic ( schwebende Plastik, illusionistisch)’ (1923) and survives through a –dating back to 1924– comprises a composition with circular (Chicago: Theobald, 1965), 125. silver gelatin print of 1955 located at the Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin (Fig. 4). Comprising rectangular segments and lines, while it is testament to the weaver’s parts of solid wood and plastic that balance on a delicate spiral body, it refers to a sculptural piece which seemingly challenges gravity. Krause’s limited reputation to this day could be presumably accredited to this sculptural artefact, given that László Moholy-Nagy had included it in his 1938 8  See Lutz Schöbe, “Sind Sie an Textilien interessiert?,” Bauhaus Online, http://bauhaus-online.de/magazin/artikel/ sind-sie-an-textilien-interessiert, (accessed November 29, 2015), and “Corona Krause,” Bauhaus Online, http:// bauhaus-online.de/atlas/personen/corona-krause (accessed November 29, 2015). More recently, the balance study by Corona Krause received renewed attention after the incorporation of its 1924 photographic documentation, produced by Lucia Moholy, in the exhibition Bauhaus: Art as Life exhibited at the Barbican Art Gallery in London (3 May – 12 August 2012). For a catalogue of the exhibits see List of objects proposed for protection under Part 6 of 6  Johannes Itten had an ongoing interest in textiles and the origins of his relationship with textile design can be traced the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 (protection of cultural objects on loan, http://www.barbican.org. back in the period between 1923 and 1926, a time when he founded the Ontos Workshops for handweaving, together uk/media/upload/art/bauhauslistofloansforprotection.pdf (accessed November 29, 2015). More recently, Krause’s with Gunta Stölzl. Later on, his contribution to art textile practice would be complemented by his appointment as work has been included in the exhibitions Bauhaus: The Art of the Students – Works from the Collection of the Director of the Advanced School of Textile Art ( Höhere Fachschule für textile Flächenkunst) located in Krefeld in Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (October 19, 2013 – January 26, 2014, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, Galerie der Stadt 1932. See Karin Thönnissen, Johannes Itten und die Höhere Fachschule für textile Flächenkunst in Krefeld (Krefeld: Remscheid) and “Big Plans! Modern Figures, Visionaries, and Inventors. Applied Modernism in Saxony-Anhalt 1919- Van Acken, 1992) and Ernest W. Uthemann (ed.), Johannes Itten 1888–1967: Alles in einem – Alles in sein (Ostfildern: 1933” (4 May 2016 - 6 January 2017, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, exhibited throughout Saxony-Anhalt). See also Hatje Cantz, 2003). Matina Kousidi, “The Thread of Corona Krause, beyond the Bauhaus,” in AIS/Design: Storia e Ricerche, Special issue 7  ‘There were studies of materials that we could fool around with in our own studios. These were necessary in order to Italian Material Design: Imparando dalla Storia, no. 4, November 4, 2014, http://www.aisdesign.org/aisd/il-filo-di- familiarize us with the materials of any one of the Bauhaus Workshops, for after the Vorkurs it was mandatory that we corona-krause-oltre-il-bauhaus (accessed September 12, 2017). learn a handicraft’. Eckhard Neumann (ed.), Bauhaus and Bauhaus People (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1993), 41. 9  Krause’s correspondence with the Bauhaus is located at the Sammlungsarchiv of the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau. MoMoWo 324 MoMoWo 325 MoMoWo: Women Designers, Craftswomen, Architects and Engineers between 1918 and 1945 Matina Kousidi, The Case of Corona Krause: Textiles as a Spatial Apparatus Fig. 5. Corona Krause, No title, for the Weaving Workshop’s activities from 1920– describes, ‘but it can just as well be conceived Watercolour composition (1924). as a self-sufficient “thing in itself” which, in its formal and colouristic language can treat some two- Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau. Published in dimensional visual theme’.12 Indeed, during the Weimar era of the Weaving Workshop, the emphasis