Vladimir Kagan's Blog

FINALLY, MY MOMENT IN THE SUN!

Copyright Vladimir Kagan 2010

Friday, a week ago, was my big Day with Paul Goldberger, the distinguished Architectural critic for The New Yorker, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of numerous erudite books on Architecture. The newest one: Why Architecture Matters. 

Gale Coudert and her Coudert Institute put together one of her terrific seminars, this time a roundtable luncheon to discuss the merits of Architecture and Design. The participants were Paul Goldberger, Richard Sammons and Anne Fairfax of the firm Fairfax Architects and myself. The Moderator was the well-known design director of Tiffany, John Loring. 

I was in heavy company! Being outnumbered by architects three to one, I had to hold the Fort on the design portion of the program. If Paul Goldberger was the wordsmith, I had better have a good visual presentation to hold up my side of the equation. I assembled photos of architecture, designer's work plus my designs.…(I spend a week fine-tuning my presentation.) To enlighten a lay audience, I introduced them to the ubiquitous designs of everyday life: the Bobby Pin, the Zipper, the safety pin, a pair of scissors. Someone had to design them…but who?

Next, I took them on a journey of the impact a designer can have on a product. For illustrations, I showed the steam engine railroad of the 40's and Raymond Lowey's streamlined redesign, the original typewriters to the sleek IBM Selectric and followed the development of the first Apple desktop to the ethereal Air Laptop that makes everyone drool! I followed this with a challenge to separate Extreme Design…is it art or is it design? Wonderful examples of Marc Newson, Ron Arad, Frank Gehry, the Campana Brothers, Zaha Hadid and Phillipe Starke. It was amazing to see the reaction and as the fine lines got blurred.  Designers today, all too often strive to achieve notoriety through extremes, regardless of function.

I concluded my presentation with the strong influence of architecture on my design evolution…not cause and effect, but the parallel thought process. 

Richard Sammons and Anne Fairfax were fully dedicated to classical architecture and quite voraciously opposed to modern. They were an excellent foil to us, the dedicated modernists. They mesmerized us with the luscious classic residences they had created for the ultra-rich. Executed with superb precision and details. (After that, who wants to live in a minimalist environment?) Even I confessed, that I am no longer a minimalist. “Less is More” has been replaced by “More is More”. Their lecture lesson in “Architecture 101” was mostly over the heads of most of the audience, including myself, but the comparisons to classic Roman and Greek architecture was fascinating. Richard Sammons is an articulate advocate of the classics and inspiring to listen to.

Paul Goldberger was the encyclopedic devote of 20th Century Architecture. He brilliantly articulated modern's mission. He dissection of Mies Van Der Roe's esthetic proportions in the Seagram Building compared to the Greek Classics was understandable in lay terms. The audience could follow and appreciate the message and the messenger.

Our brilliant moderator, John Loring helped bridge the irreconcilable difference between the modernists and the devout traditionalist. 

In retrospect, our meeting was much like the US congress…irreconcilable difference of opinions…. but much more civility! 

Here is a link to the review in the Palm Beach Daily News:

http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/arts/coudert-institute-experts-debate-modern-architecture-design-372797.html

 

1930's Steam Engine

Raymond Lowey Streamlined Engine Design

Early Typewriter

 
 
IBM Selectric Typewriter

 


 

 
 Apple Computer Lineage
        
  

Marc Newson

Ron Arad

Frank Gehry

Campana Brothers

Zaha Hadid

 
Mies van der Rohe, Seagrams Building 

Kagan Omnibus Sofas (right) and Kagan Dining Chairs (left)

Kagan Omnibus and Corkscrew Chairs (at bar)

  

 

 

Paul Goldberger and Dale Coudert

Paul Goldberger, Dale Coudert, and John Loring

Richard and Edwina Kaplan

Anne Fairfax and Richard Sammons

  
 Erica and Vladimir Kagan

 

AN OUTSIDER'S VIEW OF OPERA

Copyright Vladimir Kagan 2010

I haven't always been an outsider…In the 60's Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Watson gave us their box on a regular basis. It was dead center at the old Metropolitan Opera House on West 39th Street. We were aficionados then. We bemoaned the move to Lincoln Center in 1965 but remained staunch Operagoers every week.

Monday Night was black tie and Erica and I reveled in the dress-up charade with special access to the Opera Guild's private room at intermission. These were glamorous times. Center row, orchestra…. These nights became known as Monday Odd, Monday Even and Monday New for the Artiste (nouveau riche). Of course, our subscriptions were for Odd and Even!

As the years passed, we found that either one of us would discretely dose off into a sublime sleep in the middle of the performance. We would nudge each other to keep from snoring or slumping to one side…which would have been a sure telltale of our little secret. To forestall future embarrassment, we changed our subscription to the back row of the orchestra so that our little indiscretion would go unnoticed. In those days there were no simultaneous translation screens from Italian to English. I can't imagine how we endured.

Over time, we missed more opera evenings, often without finding friends to take our tickets. Finally, the inevitable: We gave up our subscription.

Last week was our grand reentry into the Opera scene. It was opening night for the Palm Beach Opera, (a company that was founded in 1961). Black tie, ladies encrusted with jewelry…cocktails in a “Reserved for Donors Only” room…. Champagne with the cast backstage after the performance…. and yes, simultaneous translations to keep us alert.

It was a splendid performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni presented on a minimalist stage.  Ever-changing translucent backdrops depicted heroic architectural freezes in monochromatic tones, Rococo ballrooms, and ethereal landscapes creating a mystical dreamlike, atmosphere. Gliding between them, the cast, dressed in medieval hoods and enormous black and aubergine cloaks “floated” in half step as in a dream. The opera was deliberately slow paced to dramatize the sinister plot and act as a foil for the devastating humor that Mozart envisioned.

The performers were brilliant…their powerful voices projected into the cavernous Kravis Performance Center…animated acting…much of it in contorting poses on the barren floor. The conductor was the Italian born Bruno Aprea, Stefano Poda created the exquisite costumes and stage directing and the talented cast came from a diverse background, many trained in Italy.

My take on the evening?.... It's been far too many years since we've been to the Opera. We have been ruined by fast moving Cinema, Theater and Musicals. Opera is an acquired taste that needs constant nurturing. Mozart's music is always evocative but the libretto drones on ad infinitum. Each Aria is a tour de force for the performing artist, evoking huge applause. The story line is both comical and sinister and while it was first performed in 1787, it still speaks to us today….. It is obvious that we need a refresher course in “soaking-up” Opera.