Charles & Ray Eames
Barbican Art Gallery, London

18 January 2016

The Barbican Art Gallery in London is putting on a powerful tribute to the talent of Charles and Ray Eames, undisputed protagonists of the 20th-century design scene-. The exhibition, curated by Catherine Ince and with a display designed by 6a Architects and John Morgan, sets the Eameses in their historical and sociological context in order to underline the significance of their essential and rigorous approach, and presents 380 of their objects and designs. Also on display are documents and materials from the archives of the Eames Office, an extraordinary creative workshop out of which came, for over forty years, a multitude of innovative works—in the fields of architecture, design, painting, film, sculpture and photography—all developed under the motto of “do more with less.” Their most celebrated pieces of design are there, of course, like the Plywood, Wire and Lounge chairs and the models of the Case Study Houses, including the manifesto of ideal living that was their own home (which can now be visited, by appointment). But we can also find their films, often made to promote companies, for instance IBM, but also to celebrate the bicentenary of the American War of Independence, like The World of Franklin and Jefferson (named after a famous exhibition they staged). And there is also a substantial section made up of documents testifying to their collaboration with figures of the caliber of Richard Buckminster Fuller, Alexander Girard, George Nelson, Isamu Noguchi, Eero Saarinen and Saul Steinberg, who made an important contribution to the development of the Eameses’ philosophy and process of design.

The World of Charles & Ray Eames
Barbican Art Gallery
Curated by Catherine Ince
London
October 21, 2015 > February 14, 2016

The World of Charles and Ray Eames. Barbican Art Gallery, London.

The World of Charles and Ray Eames. Barbican Art Gallery, London.

The World of Charles and Ray Eames. Barbican Art Gallery, London.

The World of Charles and Ray Eames. Barbican Art Gallery, London.

The World of Charles and Ray Eames. Barbican Art Gallery, London.

The World of Charles and Ray Eames. Barbican Art Gallery, London.

The World of Charles and Ray Eames. Barbican Art Gallery, London.

The World of Charles and Ray Eames. Barbican Art Gallery, London.

The World of Charles and Ray Eames. Barbican Art Gallery, London.

Charles and Ray Eames posing with chair bases. © Eames Office LLC.

Charles and Ray Eames posing with chair bases. © Eames Office LLC.

Charles Eames showing Antony Armstrong-Jones model of the I.B.M. Pavilion for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. © Eames Office LLC.

Charles Eames showing Antony Armstrong-Jones model of the I.B.M. Pavilion for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. © Eames Office LLC.

Eames Office staff. © Eames Office LLC.

Eames Office staff. © Eames Office LLC.


Loredana Mascheroni

A journalist, she has always been interested in design. Passionate about contemporary art and architecture, she has worked at Domus since 1997, following a decade-long apprenticeship with other magazines in the sector and an early experience as a TV news journalist that left her with a partiality for video interviews. She does yoga and goes running, to loosen up the tensions caused by overuse of the tablet.


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