Philip Johnson

For other people named similarly, see Phillip Johnson (disambiguation).

Philip Johnson
Johnson aged 95, with a model of a privately commissioned sculpture (2002)
Born
Philip Cortelyou Johnson

(1906-07-08)July 8, 1906
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
DiedJanuary 25, 2005(2005-01-25) (aged 98)
New Canaan, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma materHarvard Graduate School of Design
OccupationArchitect
AwardsPritzker Prize (1979)
AIA Gold Medal (1978)
BuildingsGlass House, Seagram Building's 2 restaurants, 550 Madison Avenue, IDS Tower, PPG Place, Crystal Cathedral

Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 Madison Avenue in New York City, designed for AT&T; 190 South La Salle Street in Chicago; the Sculpture Garden of New York City's Museum of Modern Art; and the Pre-Columbian Pavilion at Dumbarton Oaks. His January 2005 obituary in The New York Times described his works as being "widely considered among the architectural masterpieces of the 20th century".[1]

In 1930, Johnson became the first director of the architecture department of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. There he arranged for visits by Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier and negotiated the first American commission for Mies van der Rohe, after he fled Nazi Germany. In 1932, he organized with Henry-Russell Hitchcock the first exhibition dedicated to modern architecture at the Museum of Modern Art, which gave name to the subsequent movement known as International Style. In 1934, Johnson resigned his position at the museum.

During the 1930s, Johnson became an ardent admirer of Adolf Hitler, openly praised the Nazi Party, and espoused antisemitic views.[2][3][4] He wrote for Social Justice and Examiner, where he published an admiring review of Hitler's Mein Kampf.[5] In 1939, as a correspondent for Social Justice, he witnessed Hitler's invasion of Poland, which he later described as "a stirring spectacle".[6] In 1941, after the U.S. entered the war, Johnson abruptly renounced his earlier views, quit journalism, organizing anti-Fascist league at Harvard Design School. He was investigated by the FBI, and was eventually cleared for military service.[1] He evaded indictment and jail by cooperating with the prosecution, though, according to some critics, it may have been because of his social connections, but no evidence of this was ever produced.[7] Years later he would refer to these activities as "the stupidest thing I ever did [which] I never can atone for".

In 1978, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal. In 1979, he was the first recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.[8] Today his skyscrapers are prominent features in the skylines of New York, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Madrid, and other cities.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference NYT-obit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Saval, Nikil (December 12, 2018). "Philip Johnson, the Man Who Made Architecture Amoral". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved April 23, 2024. Johnson was an anti-Semite and a strong proponent of ruling-class power. (...) Indeed, it is difficult to think of an American as successful as Johnson who indulged a love for Fascism as ardently and as openly. (...) Johnson would later describe Hitler as "a spellbinder"; in 1964, well after he had been forced to abjure his Nazi past, he insisted in letters in the 1930s that Hitler was "better than Roosevelt."
  3. ^ Budds, Diana (December 1, 2020). "Artists to MoMA: Take Down Philip Johnson's Name". Curbed. Retrieved April 23, 2024. Johnson described attending Nazi rallies in Germany as "exhilarating" and attempted to found a fascist political party in the United States.
  4. ^ Bahr, Sarah (December 3, 2020). "Artists Ask MoMA to Remove Philip Johnson's Name, Citing Racist Views". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 23, 2024. He also championed racist and white supremacist viewpoints in his younger years. Johnson's Nazi sympathies, for example, have been well documented (...)
  5. ^ Lamster, Mark (October 31, 2018). "Was Architect Philip Johnson a Nazi Spy?". New York Magazine. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
  6. ^ "Artists Are Calling on MoMA to Remove Philip Johnson's Name". Architectural Digest. December 3, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
  7. ^ "Famed Architect Philip Johnson's Hidden Nazi Past". Vanity Fair. April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 23, 2024. How did Johnson, virtually alone among his Fascist associates, manage to avoid indictment? The answer may lie in the influence of powerful friends. One man in particular could well have been influential: (...) Nelson Rockefeller, who knew Johnson well from his New York days.
  8. ^ Goldberger, Paul (May 23, 1979). "Philip Johnson Awarded $100.000 Pritzker Prize." Retrieved August 1, 2011.