Saarinen’s Renaissance Continues with New Exhibit

Eero Saarinen is a Finnish-American architect and designer of the 20^th century whose work has experienced a resurgence in recent years. Now an exhibit devoted to his works, “Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future,” will be launching in his hometown of Bloomfield, Michigan at the Cranbrook Art Museum and traveling nationally for the next two years.

Both praised and maligned in his time for his lack of signature style, Saarinen was promptly forgotten by history until just recently. In 2003, the first major monograph in four decades followed by several others over the next couple years. “Eero Saarinen: Realizing American Utopia,” born from a research project, traveled the world a year later.

It is Saarinen’s nonconformity that provides his modern appeal. The man who designed the majestic St. Louis Arch also invented the enveloping, lap-like Womb chair (pictured). He is also remembered for his iconic “Tulip” chair and the TWA terminal at JFK. His adaptability, lack of pretension and attention to client’s needs sets him in Starck contrast to today’s “starchitects,” probably a reason people are drawn to him now.

The new exhibit is housed at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where his father taught and where he developed good friendships with Charles and Ray Eames and Florence Knoll. The exhibition is on display there until March 30.

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