A. Quincy Jones, overlooked genius? Hammer Museum makes the case By David Hay May 17, 2013 A. Quincy Jones' last work: the Warner Bros. Records building, 1971-75, in Burbank. (Jason Schmidt / Hammer Museum, Los Angeles / August 24, 2012) The Hammer Museum exhibition opening May 25, "A. Quincy Jones: Building for Better Living," redresses what curators consider a major omission in the history of Los Angeles Modernism. Jones, they argue, had as much, if not more, influence on Southern California architecture before his death in 1979 than many contemporaries who have since become icons of the era. Curators say Jones, who collaborated for much of his career with Frederick Emmons and lectured at USC for nearly three decades, has gone mostly unrecognized beyond his reputation for designing opulent houses for the wealthy, such as Sunnylands, the Walter Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage and Gary Cooper's stunning home in Holmby Hills. Using renderings from the UCLA archive and photographs (some almost life-size), the Hammer show points out that Jones and Emmons also designed tract homes -- more than 5,000 in California. Whereas Richard Neutra and Rudolph M. Schindler extolled their residential designs as prototypes for mass- produced housing -- the architectural equivalents to Henry Ford's auto assembly line -- Jones was the only one of the three to accomplish this goal. And he did it with little bravado and fuss.
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A. Quincy Jones, overlooked genius? Hammer Museum makes the case By David Hay May 17, 2013
A. Quincy Jones' last work: the Warner Bros. Records building, 1971-75, in Burbank. (Jason Schmidt / Hammer Museum, Los Angeles / August 24, 2012)
The Hammer Museum exhibition opening May 25, "A. Quincy Jones: Building for Better Living," redresses what curators consider a major omission in the history of Los Angeles Modernism.
Jones, they argue, had as much, if not more, influence on Southern California architecture before his death in 1979 than many contemporaries who have since become icons of the era. Curators say Jones, who collaborated for much of his career with Frederick Emmons and lectured at USC for nearly three decades, has gone mostly unrecognized beyond his reputation for designing opulent houses for the wealthy, such as Sunnylands, the Walter Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage and Gary Cooper's stunning home in Holmby Hills.
Using renderings from the UCLA archive and photographs (some almost life-size), the Hammer show points out that Jones and Emmons also designed tract homes -- more than 5,000 in California. Whereas Richard Neutra and Rudolph M. Schindler extolled their residential designs as prototypes for mass-produced housing -- the architectural equivalents to Henry Ford's auto assembly line -- Jones was the only one of the three to accomplish this goal. And he did it with little bravado and fuss.
The Hammer bolsters its case for Jones' brilliance by displaying new photographs by Jason Schmidt of the architect's lauded St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church in Studio City as well as his last work, the Warner Bros. Records headquarters in Burbank.
And then there are those fancy houses. The section of the exhibition titled "Living Large" is dominated by the epitome of Southern California luxury: Jones' expansive 1949 home for art collectors Sidney and Frances Brody, set on 2.3 acres in Holmby Hills.
So why isn't A. Quincy Jones better known? Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, guest curator of the Hammer show and assistant curator of architecture and design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, attributes his modest profile to his subdued personality.
"He was a born collaborator and was very professional about crediting everyone he met," she said.
Dunlop Fletcher devotes one exhibition space to Jones' unusual office practice, showing how he reached out for inspiration beyond the circle of fellow architects and into the community as a whole.
Jones was even less concerned with the iconography of architecture. According to Dunlop Fletcher, "He chose to design from the inside out." A fan of post-and-beam construction as well as of the angled roof (a Jones design signature), the architect focused on the experience of living in a house rather than its look -- something harder to communicate, especially in print.
But with this museum show -- the first major exhibition of his work, the Hammer said -- Jones may at long last find the wider audience so many believe he deserves.
Tyre House ( Charles E. Young Research Library / UCLA Library Special Collections / May 17, 2013 ). A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons' plan for the 1951-1954 Tyre House featured an airy, glassed-in living room with a ceiling that gently sloped toward a floating fireplace, creating a more intimate side of the house.
Tyre House ( Jason Schmidt / Hammer Museum, Los Angeles / February 26, 2013 ) The Tyre House today, recently renovated by the Los Angeles architecture firm Escher GuneWardena and featured in an article and photo gallery on L.A. at Home.
Brody House( Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens / December 23, 2010 )This rendering shows the open-air living room of the 1948-1951 Sidney and Frances Brody House, a collaboration between architect A. Quincy Jones, decorator William Haines and landscape architect Garrett Eckbo.
Brody House ( Jason Schmidt / Hammer Museum, Los Angeles / December 28, 2012 )The entrance to the Brody House, which has been the subject of much coverage in the past few years. You can read Jeffrey Head's article on the landscape design by the great Garrett Eckbo, see our related photo gallery and read the buzz over the selling of the house.
Smalley House ( Jason Schmidt / Hammer Museum, Los Angeles / November 12, 2012 )A. Quincy Jones' Los Angeles house, 1969-1973, for Marvin and Sandy Smalley. L.A. at Home revisited the home and its current owner a few years ago in an extensive photo gallery.
Eichler Homes ( Jason Schmidt / Hammer Museum, Los Angeles / November 10, 2012 )A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons' model home for the Fairhaven Tract, a Joseph Eichler development in Orange that dates to 1961.
Crestwood Hills ( Jason Schmidt / Hammer Museum, Los Angeles / August 21, 2012 ) Some of A. Quincy Jones' best known work was for the Mutual Housing Assn. in the Crestwood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. Pictured here: Schneidman House, a Jones collaboration with Whitney Smith and Edgardo Contini, 1946-1950.
Crestwood Hills ( Jason Schmidt / Hammer Museum, Los Angeles / November 12, 2012) Office of the Mutual Housing Assn., Los Angeles, 1946-1950, by A. Quincy Jones, Whitney Smith and Edgardo Contini.
Gross House ( Jason Schmidt / Hammer Museum, Los Angeles / May 17, 2013 )An elegant connection to the outdoors is a hallmark of the Gross House, 1946-1950, part of the Mutual Housing Assn. in Los Angeles by A. Quincy Jones, Whitney Smith and Edgardo Contini.
St. Michael's & All Angels Episcopal Church ( Jason Schmidt / Hammer Museum, Los Angeles / December 28, 2012 ) The Studio City church, 1960-1962, as seen today.
Jones office ( Jason Schmidt / Hammer Museum, Los Angeles / May 16, 2012 )The Los Angeles office of A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons, Architects, 1954-1955 (phase 1), 1957-1959 (addition).
Hay, David. “A. Quincy Jones, overlooked genius? Hammer Museum makes the case.” Los Angeles Times (May 17, 2013) [online].
http://www.latimes.com/home/la-lh-a-quincy-jones-hammer-museum-20130517-story.html
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