Philip Johnson

Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 (Cleveland, Ohio) – January 25, 2005 (New Canaan, Connecticut)) was an influential American architect. The first director of the architecture department at the Museum of Modern Art (New York) in 1946, and later a trustee, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1978 and the first Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1979.

Influence

Through his long career Johnson was more influential for his criticism and intellectual guidance of the profession than the buildings directly credited to him. Financially independent as a result of his father's gift of Alcoa stock, he both founded and funded his directorship at MOMA. As co-author (with Henry-Russell Hitchcock Jr.) of the MOMA exhibition catalog "The International Style: Architecture Since 1922" (1932), Johnson is credited with recognizing and popularizing European modernism, and with introducing Mies van der Rohe to America. As mentor of the New York Five, power-broker, socialite, and MOMA trustee, Johnson put himself in an ideal position to promote his stance that architecture is an aesthetic pursuit equal to other fine arts, with little responsibility to clients or users. It has been said that he was weak at sketching and drawing, but regardless Phillip Johnson had a very skilled graphic and design sense. The most recognizable figure in American architecture for decades, part icon, part oracle, part stand-up comic, Johnson was a reliable source of wit and provocation.

Related Topics:
MOMA - International Style - 1932 - Modernism - Mies van der Rohe - The New York Five

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His firm, Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie (PJAR), is located in Midtown Manhattan under now the guidance of Alan Ritchie, his long time partner from England. Another branch is located in Shanghai, China.

Related Topics:
Midtown Manhattan - Alan Ritchie - Shanghai, China

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