Scope and Content of Collection
Arrangement note
Biographical/Historical Note
Separated Material
Related Material
Processing History
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Publication Rights
Access
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Philip Johnson papers
Creator:
Johnson, Philip, 1906-2005
Identifier/Call Number: 980060
Physical Description:
38 Linear Feet
(65 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1908-2002 (bulk 1925-1998)
Date (bulk): 1925-1998
Abstract: Documentation of the early and later career of architect Philip Johnson, especially representative of his early work, particularly
his Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, and a number of little known, never constructed projects. The collection consists
of photographs, printed and audiovisual materials, clippings, correspondence, legal documents, and manuscripts.
Language of Material:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Philip Johnson papers (1908-2002) offer documentation of the early and later career of one of America's most influential
architects, shedding light on Johnson's work not only as a designer, but also as a writer, a teacher, and a public figure.
Approximately half of the collection is devoted to photographs of Johnson's drawings, his buildings, his friends, and his
colleagues, and Johnson himself. The rest of the collection consists mainly of printed materials, though a limited number
of medals and audiovisual materials are included. The greater part of the printed material consists of clippings and full-length
publications about Johnson and his work. Also included are correspondence, legal documents, and manuscripts. Included in the
correspondence files are letters Johnson wrote to his mother and family, 1925-1944. There are no drawings in the collection.
Although the contents of this archive span nearly a century, there is little documentation of the designs from the middle
of his career, 1967 to 1992, the period in which he designed numerous high-rise buildings with partner John Burgee. Instead,
the collection centers on Johnson's early work, particularly his Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, and contains a number
of little-known projects that were never constructed.
Other Johnson papers are held by the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Avery Library, Columbia University. Drawings for
the high-rise buildings of the 1980s, designed with his partner John Burgee, are in private hands.
Arrangement note
The papers are arranged in 9 series:
Series I. Project files, 1940-1996;
Series II. New Canaan estate files, 1945-1995;
Series III. Professional documents, 1948-2000;
Series IV. Personal documents, 1925-1998;
Series V. Personal photographs, 1908-1998;
Series VI. Honors and accolades, 1978-2002;
Series VII. Writings by Johnson, 1931-2001;
Series VIII. Published materials about Johnson, 1935-2001; Series IX. Computer disks, sound and video tapes, 1953-1995;
Additions to the archive.
Biographical/Historical Note
Philip Johnson is one of the most prominent and outspoken architects of the post-World War II era. During his long career
from the 1940s until the present, Johnson has been a major participant in the architectural debate of his time and has contributed
to all major architectural movements during those years. He started as a follower of Mies van der Rohe's most austere modernism,
broke with this trend to design in a more "humane" modernistic vocabulary, and was one of the leaders of postmodernism during
the 1980s. In his 90s Johnson has designed and built structures that show his interest in the deconstructivist idiom.
Born in 1906 in Cleveland, Ohio, Johnson became interested in the critical study of architecture through frequent trips to
Europe. In 1930, after receiving a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Harvard University, he went to work for the newly
established Museum of Modern Art in New York, where he founded and directed its Department of Architecture, the first museum-affiliated
program in the United States devoted to the study of architecture as art. Before returning to Harvard in 1940 to earn an architecture
degree, Johnson spent six years as a political radical working for the right-wing publication
Social Justice and co-founding the Young Nationalists movement.
As an architect, Johnson played a pivotal role in three international movements: modernism, postmodernism, and deconstructivism.
Indeed, the Museum of Modern Art's 1932 landmark exhibition "The International Style", a collaborative effort between Johnson
and architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock, was the first official American forum to recognize and codify the modernist
movement in architecture. Stressing function over form, this then-revolutionary style made famous by such European masters
as Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier became the new paradigm for American architecture under Johnson's tutelage. Many of
Johnson's early works have become exemplars of modernist architecture, particularly Johnson's own Glass House (1949) and the
Four Seasons Restaurant in New York (1959).
In 1967, Johnson began a partnership with John Burgee that culminated in the construction of Johnson's most publicly celebrated
building after the Glass House: the AT&T Corporate Headquarters in New York (1978). Adorned with nonfunctional design elements,
the AT&T building embraced the post-modernist movement in architecture centered around the revival of historic styles.
At the age of 82, Johnson once again changed the dialogue of contemporary architecture with the Museum of Modern Art's 1988
exhibition "Deconstructivist Architecture" (with Mark Wigley). Linking the works of such architects as Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas,
and Peter Eisenman to the style of Russian constructivist painters, the exhibition fostered much critical acclaim and critical
debate. Johnson continued to further the cause of deconstructivist architecture through the adoption of a new, anti-geometric
style of design - a style best exemplified by his Visitors Center in New Canaan, Connecticut.
The first recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Johnson has been recognized not only as one of the most influential
architects of his generation but also as one of the most influential teachers of the next generation of architects. He died
in 2005.
Separated Material
45 books were separated from the archive to the Getty Research Library's holdings:
American Association of Architectural Bibliographers, eds.
Papers, vol. 1-2. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia
Press, 1965.
Atkins, W. W. & Adler, J.
Interior Book of Restaurants. New York, NY: Whitney Library of
Design, 1960.
Ball, V. K.
Architecture
and Interior Design
. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1980.
Bernier, R. & Bernier, G., eds.
The Best in 20th
Century Architecture
. New York, NY: Reynal & Company, Inc.,
1964.
Blake, P.
Philip Johnson.
Boston, MA: Birkhauser Verlag, 1996.
Brady, S. & Holmes,
A.
Presence, The Transco Tower. Houston, TX: Herring Press,
Inc., 1985.
Chossegros, P.
Maisons
méditerranéennes, Cote d'Azur et Provence
. Barcelona, Spain: Editorial Gustavo
Gili, 1991.
Creighton, T.
The
Architecture of Monuments: The Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Competition
. New
York, NY: Reinhold Publishing Company, 1962.
Diamonstein, B.
Inside New York's Art World. New York, NY: Rizzoli
International Publications, 1979.
Dupre, J.
Skyscrapers. New York, NY: Black Dog & Leventhal,
1996.
FCC Construccion, Comylsa Empresa Constructora,
Construcciones San Martin, eds.
Peurta de Europa. Madrid,
Spain: Graficas Marte, 1995.
Ferrari North America, eds.
Ferrari at Monterey. Milano, Italy: Automobilia,
1994.
Ford, J.
Design of Modern
Interiors
. New York, NY: Architectural Book Publishing Company,
1942.
Freedman, J. L.
Introductory
Psychology
. New York, NY: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.,
1978.
Gill, B.
Late Bloomers.
New York, NY: Workman Publishing Company, Inc., 1996.
Ginzburg, R.
I Shot New York. New York, NY: Harry Abrahams,
1999.
Henselmann, H.
Ich Habe
Vorschläge Gemacht
. Berlin, Germany: Ernst & Sohn, 1995.
Hitchcock, H. R. & Johnson, P.
The International
Style
, 3rd edition. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.,
1995.
Jacobus, J. M.
Philip
Johnson
. New York, NY: G. Braziller, 1992.
Johnson, P.
Philip Johnson / Architecture 1949-1965. New
York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966.
Johnson, P.
Philip Johnson Writings. New York, NY: Oxford University
Press, 1979.
Johnson, P.
Texte zur
Architektur
. Stuttgart, Germany: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1982.
Karsh, Y.
Karsh: American Legends. Boston, MA:
Little, Brown & Company, 1992.
Kidder-Smith, G. E.
The New Churches of Europe. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart
& Winston, 1964.
Kipnis, J.
Philip
Johnson: Recent Work
. London, England: Academy Editions, 1996.
Knight, C., ed.
Philip Johnson / John Burgee:
Architecture 1979-1985
. New York, NY: Rizzoli International Publications,
1985.
Krichbaum, J.
4. Internationales
Architektur-Forum in Dessau: Tradition und Visionen
. Germany: Edition Arcum,
Koln und den Autoren, 1995.
Langsam, W. E.
Great Houses of the Queen City. Cincinnati, OH: The Cincinnati
Historical Society, 1997.
Lewis, H. & O'Connor, J.
Philip Johnson: The Architect in His Own Words. New York,
NY: Rizzoli International Publications, 1994.
Mariani, J.
& Von Bidder, A.
The Four Seasons: A History of America's Premier
Restaurant
. New York, NY: Random House, 1994.
McLanathan, R. B. K.
The American Tradition in the Arts. New
York, NY: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968.
Miller, N.
Johnson/Burgee: Architecture. New York, NY: Random House,
1979.
Nakamura, T.
Reflecting: Philip
Johnson's Glass House
. Japan: Tadahiro Yoshido, 1998?
National Central Museum of Korea.
International
Architectural Competition for the New National Museum of Korea
. Seoul, Korea: Ki
Moon Dang, 1995.
Norwich, J. J., ed.
Great Architecture of the World. London, England: Mitchell Beazley,
1975.
Oue, H. & Naibu, A.
Contemporary Architecture Series: P hilip Johnson. Japan: Bijutsu Shuppan-sha,
1968?
Peter, J.
Masters of Modern
Architecture
. New York, NY: G. Braziller, 1958.
Price, J.
Executive Style: Achieving Success through Good Taste and
Design
. New York, NY: The Linden Press / Simon & Schuster,
1980.
Rosenthal, R. & Toy, M., eds.
Building Sights. London, England: Academy Editions, 1995.
Talmey, A., ed.
People Are Talking about People and
Things in Vogue
. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
1969.
Thorndike, J. J.
The Magnificent
Builders and Their Dream Houses
. New York, NY: American Heritage Publishing
Company, 1978.
Uy, B. H.
Drawings:
Architecture & Leisure
. Mt. Kisco, NY: Bon-Hui Uy, 1980.
Watson, S.
Prepare for Saints. New York, NY:
Random House, 1999.
Whitney, D. & Kipnis, J., eds.
Philip Johnson, The Glass House. New York, NY: Pantheon
Books, 1993.
Winter, J.
Modern
Buildings
. London, England: The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited, 1969.
Related Material
Other Johnson papers are held by the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Avery Library, Columbia University. Drawings for
the high-rise buildings of the 1980s, designed with his partner John Burgee, are in private hands.
Processing History
Processed, arranged, and rehoused by Andrew Shtulman. Additions to the collection -- gifts from Johnson and David Whitney
-- made in 2001, 2002, 2003 have been integrated into the archive and described in this finding aid as of 2007 Apr 21. Five
boxes that hold material donated by David Whitney in 2006 have not yet been processed or integrated into the archive. They
are numbered ADDS4 - Boxes 1-5.
Acquisition Information
Papers donated by Philip Johnson, through David Whitney, in 1998 and 1999. Additions received in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006.
Preferred Citation
Philip Johnson Papers, 1908-2002, bulk 1925-1998, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 980060.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa980060
Publication Rights
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers. Audio visual materials in Series IX are not available until reformatting is complete.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Magnetic disks
Photographic prints
Videotapes
Architecture -- United States -- 20th century
Architects -- United States -- Biography
Audiocassettes
Glass House (New Canaan, Conn.)
Photographs, Original
Architecture—Designs and plans
Architectural practice -- United States
Architects and patrons
Johnson, Philip, 1906-2005