In the market for a book about RM Schindler

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 1:47 pm

With somewhat limited shelf space and funds available for book acquisitions, if I were to buy one book about Schindler, what would you chatters most recommend? I should note I prefer books about architecture to include a lot of floor plans.

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:03 pm

I would strongly recommend Judith Scheine's R.M. Schindler (Phaidon)

She is able to place his work and theory in the larger international context of modern architecture, while also exploring his relationship to Wright in detail. There are numerous floor plans and photos, mostly black and white, with a few new ones by Grant Mudford. I think it is by far the most comprehensive evaluation of his architecture, though there might be other books with more sumptuous photographs.

She also knows his spaces first hand, having lived in a Schindler building.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:06 pm

Peter, is that the small white-bound paperback ? My copy (which I unaccountably gave away) had no color illustrations, but was graced with a full complement of floor plans (albeit at small size) and a unique bonus in the form of section drawings -- so helpful in comprehending Schindlers spacially rich work.

SDR

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:39 am

No, this is a hard cover with Schindler's trademark embossed initials in burnt orange. It was first published in 2001. The dust jacket features a photo of the Harris House of 1942.

http://www.amazon.com/R-M-Schindler-Jud ... 0714839140

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:03 am

Thank you both. The Scheine book sounds like the one to get if I get only one. SDR's paperback sounds good too as it has a lot of plans and sections. Bookish as I am, I may get both if I can find the other...SDR, do you recall the approximate publish date or publisher of the book? I might be able to search for it on one of the used book sites like ABE or Alibris.

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:14 am

I haven't seen a Schindler monograph with more sections and plans than the Scheine. It must have everything from the Schindler archive including early watercolors plus her own drawings. It is nearly 300 pages long.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:54 am

Here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/R-M-Schindler-Jud ... 0714839140

I've missed this one, which must replace/eclipse/supersede the small earlier book. The author's drawings are the sections and plans I mentioned, I'm sure. I have Scheine and March's larger volume, and James Steele's. These concentrate on certain houses and projects, without attempting a complete catalog of the work.

I also owned the book on Schindler's furniture, which I wish I hadn't given up -- a rare misstep.

SDR

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:52 am

Sold! Thanks both, Scheine it is.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 12:39 pm

Hold on! Bookstores that specialize in these things often carry an old issue of a+u (a Japanese periodical). Issue #59, which admittedly might be hard to find, is full of precise, large drawings of plans, sections and axonometrics by Stephanos Polyzoides and a team he assembled. Houses are McAlmon, Wolfe, Oliver, Elliott, Buck. There are also some RMS drawings and many photos. There is English text as well as Japanese.

Another inexpensive small book is devoted to the How House, one of RMS's best. James Steele wrote the text. The drawings from every angle imaginable are in the same style as Polyzoides, and may be his, but I cannot find credit.