its & Entertainment
Forever Modern
U-114. _Museum highlights architect Albert Kahn's artistic impact
on the Modern movement in Detroit and around the world.
Albert Kahn,
in foreground,
seated on table,
,lpproximatelv
18-70 years
of age, with
fellow staff
members at the
architectural
firm °Pi:laser!
and Rice in
the late 1880s.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
hen the name of architect Albert Kahn
comes up in local professional circles,
there are lots of structural associations
— Ford factories, the Fisher Building,
the James Couzens mansion.
`When the Kahn name comes up in art circles,
there are associations of influence — the Diego
Rivera assembly line murals at the Detroit Institute
of Arts, Alfred Stieglirz's urban photographic studies,
Charles Sheeler's industrial paintings.
And when Kahn's name comes up in Jewish circles,
there are associations of worship — early Detroit
homes of Congregation Shaarey Zedek and Temple
Beth El, now settings for other religious groups.
Kahn, a man of German Jewish heritage who
came to Detroit in the waning years of the 19th cen-
tury, established new construction and artistic vistas
for the 20th century and beyond, and his foresight is
the subject of an exhibit at the University of
Michigan Museum of Art.
Albert Kahn: Inspiration for the Modern runs June 2-
Oct. 21, 2001, almost 60 years after the architect's death.
"The exhibition aims to focus on Kahn's industrial
architecture and also place the work in the context
of Modernism," says curator Brian Carter, professor
and chair of the architecture program at the
Taubman College of Architecture and Urban
Planning at U-M. "It will include the work of Albert
Kahn and the work of artists inspired by Kahn's
work and explain the connections.
"Architecture, fine art and writing — when Kahn
was in his prime — were focusing on common
themes that had to do with machinery, scale of pro-
duction, interest in speed and redefinitions of space
and time that have changed our cities and the way
we live and work," adds Carter.
Kahn's influence is reflected in many of the works
of the avant-garde Modernists of the mid-20th cen-
Schedule
Of Events
Albert Kahn: Inspiration for
the Modern runs June 2-Oct.
21 at the University of
Michigan Museum of Art,
525 S. State Street, Ann
Arbor, where In Human
Touch: Photographs by
6/1
2001
70
wry. In 1923, famed architect Le Corbusier illustrat-
ed his influential book Vers une architecture with
photographs of Kahn's industrial buildings. When
Rivera was commissioned to paint the DIA murals,
he was inspired to depict Kahn's factories as vast and
brightly haloed halls teeming with workers.
The exhibit includes original drawings overseen by
Kahn and provided by Albert Kahn Associates, now
an employee-owned business, as well as paintings
and photos completed by Kahn's well-known con-
temporaries and creations by present-day artists.
Those represented include Rivera, Sheeler, Le
Corbusier, Elsie Driggs, Umberto Boccioni, Mies
van der Rohe, Hugh Ferris, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
Ernestine Ruben will be exhib-
ited June 10-Sept. 23.
Museum hours are 10 a.m.J.
5 p.m. Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, Fridays and
Saturdays; 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Thursdays; and noon-5 p.m.
Sundays. (734) 764-0395.
In Human Touch, a photog-
raphy exhibit of 40 pieces dif-
ferent from the works in Ann
Arbor, will be featured June 2-
July 31 at the Halsted Gallery,
560 N. Old Woodward,
Birmingham. Ruben will sign
copies of her book, which has
the same tide as the exhibit,
4:30-6 p.m. Saturday, June
23. (248) 644-8284.
The Detroit Institute of
Arts, in celebration of
Detroit's 300th anniversary, is
and Michael Kenna, among others.
University of Michigan architectural students con-
structed models of Kahn's acclaimed buildings espe-
cially for the show
Considered an industrial design pioneer, Kahn
planned more than 1,000 facilities for the Ford Motor
Co., including the Highland Park plant and River Rouge
complex, and left his mark on steel plants, distilleries,
rubber factories, textile mills, smelters and foundries.
Of the 2,000 buildings he designed in his lifetime,
there also were schools, banks, clubs, hotels, theaters,
office buildings and private residences.
MODERN
on page 72
featuring a seven-parr photo
exhibit, "Building Detroit,"
which includes examples of
Albert Kahn's projects, such
as the General Motors
Building and the Fisher
Building. Running July 15-
Sept. 30, the exhibit also
showcases architectural ren-
derings and building plans.
(313) 833-7900.
Special events and written
materials surrounding the
Kahn/Ruben exhibits at the
University of Michigan
Museum of Art include:
= Brian Carter, curator of
the Kahn exhibit, will intro-
duce visitors to the ideas and
materials. presented in the dis-
play 3 p.m. Sunday, June 3,
at the U-M Museum of Art.