Palm Springs Modernism Week is one of the country’s most popular annual events for architects, modernism art and design fans, and mid century modern culture buffs.
The seventh annual Modernism Week, February 16-26, 2012 brings thousands to Palm Springs for 11 days of double-decker bus tours, lectures, films, exhibits, a vintage fashion show, and parties that celebrate the architecture and culture of the 1950-60s era. Modernism Week offers more than 75 events including some firsts for the Coachella Valley.
Visitors and residents alike are looking forward to the first public tours of the renowned Sunnylands Estate, the historic Annenberg residence and grounds and the new Sunnylands Center & Gardens.
The late Lenore and Ambassador Walter Annenberg lived at Sunnylands some five months a year during which they entertained United States Presidents, British and other royalty, international political figures, cultural and entertainment icons.
The 1966 Mid-Century Modern residence was designed by A. Quincy Jones with interiors by William Haines and Ted Graber. The 25,000 square foot home, located in the middle of landscaped grounds and a private Dick Wilson designed golf course, has been restored over the past two years in anticipation of the estate and grounds becoming public.
The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands will present and host a variety of high-level conferences, retreats and seminars of issues of national and international importance. The Modernism Week guided tours will provide the first peek into the 200 acre pink walled estate that has fascinated passersby for decades.
The tour will also feature the newly constructed Sunnylands Center & Gardens, which will officially open to the public March 1.
A variety of public tours will include studies of the art and sculpture collection, interior design and architecture of the Sunnylands home. History and political science buffs can delve into the 20th century cultural landscape through films, videos and publication detailing the historic events of the time and the role the Annenbergs had in shaping the world.
More information may be found online.
www.sunnylands.org

On Feb. 16, kick off Palm Springs Modernism Week at a tres chic soiree at John Lautner’s iconic Elrod House perched upon the Southridge hills overlooking Palm Springs. Just steps away is the late Bob Hope’s famed dome-shaped hilltop manse.
Instantly recognizable from the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, the Elrod House offers many Lautner hallmarks: A difficult site in a harsh environment, a modest entrance that conceals its soaring interior space, and rooms that meld indoors with the outdoors. The 8,901-square foot house incorporates an interior/exterior swimming pool in the living room and expansive mountain and desert vistas.
The home was built for interior designer Arthur Elrod and a portion of the tour proceeds benefit the LA-based John Lautner Foundation. This is a rare opportunity to see this privately owned masterpiece home.
Another new event during Modernism Week will be a Modernism Prefab Showcase Village featuring cutting-edge prefab structures with the latest alternative energy ideas incorporated into the 21st century lifestyle. Each room, designed by a different notable interior designer, showcases sophisticated design aesthetics and advanced technological innovations.
A number of cocktail receptions will be held during the week at intimate settings and at some of the area’s most notable boutique inns, a perfect way to wind down an exciting day of Modernism.
Get groovy with your cocktail dress, white shoes or Nehru jacket for the PS Modcom annual gala on Saturday, Feb. 18, a tribute to the late Peter Seller’s 1968 cult movie, “The Party,” in an ultra-mod glamorous private home.
On Feb. 24, the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation’s Retro Martini Party this year will be at the Maranz home, also known as the “gull wing house.” Rarely open to the public, this home, built in 1960 and designed by architect Val Powelson, features an unusual three-pointed star floor plan.
Throughout the week, mix and mingle with other modernism fans at cocktail parties held at the Horizon Hotel, Hideaway and Desert Star Hotel.
Palm Springs Modernism Week is a non-profit organization that produces this annual 11-day festival.
When it launched in 2006, the event helped fuel a revival of interest in Modernism, a design aesthetic developed during in the 1950s and 60s typified by clean, simple lines and elegant informality.
To purchase tickets and for more information, visit online at www.modernismweek.com.

Today, desert modernism is a much sought-after architectural genre and Palm Springs is a virtual treasure trove of custom and tract home neighborhoods and important public buildings.
Team Haverkate specializes in Mid Century Modern homes and estates for sale. After absorbing the sights and lifestyle of Palm Springs Modernism Week, contact Team Haverkate for a personal tour of desert modern classics currently for sale in the Palm Springs area.
Email agent@TeamHaverkate.com. or visit online at www.HaverkateRealEstate.com.

Check out the story on Ralph and Bettina Haverkate’s Joshua Tree home renovation in the February, 2012, issue of Palm Springs Life. www.palmspringslife.com.
— Pamela Bieri

Herb Ritts, Richard Gere – Poolside, 1982, C-type print, Courtesy of the Herb Ritts Foundation, Los Angeles © Herb Ritts Foundation

Backyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1982

opens January 21 in the Palm Springs Art Museum’s Annenberg Wing.

www.psmuseum.org

Beyond some of the obvious glamorous shots of Marilyn Monroe, Ann Miller, Rock Hudson, Liberace, and other stars, the exhibit explores more deeply how photography emerged during as an important medium of fine art, according to Palm Springs Life editor Steven Biller in his art feature this month, breaking the surface.

One pivotal moment came in 1982 when fine art photographer David Hockney’s composite Polaroid shots of a nude bather “challenged paintings as the dominant mode in all fine art,” said Daniell Cornell, the museums deputy director of art  who curated the exhibition.

Hockney’s composite of many Polaroids as one artwork, first exhibited at the L.A. Louvre gallery, will be one of 140 works in the show.

“Backyard Oasis… organizes the photographs in themes explored in the museum’s preparatory symposium: the backyard pool in celebrity, Cold War California, architecture and design and beefcake and ‘skate cake’ views of masculinity,” writes Biller.

Biller notes that “the swimming pool also provided a platform to show the changing depiction of gay and straight masculinity.”

Photographer Bob Mizer’s nine homoerotic images once “held a pretense that the buff, one-cloth-from naked men were posed to promote fitness.”

Architectural photographers such as Julius Shulman’s iconic views of Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House and Albert Frey’s Raymond Loewy House seem to “elevate midcentury modern houses to celebrity status.”

www.palmspringslife.com

As part of the Getty Foundation’s Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945-1980 regional initiative, Backyard Oasis traces the iconography of California’s  swimming pool, an integral part of the region’s identity, and suggests “the hopes and disillusionments of the country’s post World War II ethos.”

Bill Anderson, Raymond Loewy Family, Palm Springs, California, 1957, gelatin silver print, Collection Palm Springs Art Museum, gift of Dorothy Anderson © Palm Springs Art Museum

In addition to more than 100 framed archival photos, Backyard Oasis includes selected celebrity home film clips from Steve McQueen and Ginger Rogers shown on flat-screen monitors.

Among well known artists’ work will be Diane Arbus, Bill Anderson, Michael Childers, Anthony Friedkin, Robert Cumming, Shulman, and Maynard Parker.  The exhibition’s catalog contains the photos and an overview of California swimming pools’ aesthetic and culture.

The show continues through May 27, 2012.

Renowned Modernist architect E. Stewart Williams designed the Palm Springs Art Museum in 1974 and  the Steve Chase Art Wing and Education Center which opened in 1996.  The 124,435 square foot museum complex houses various galleries, sculpture atriums, a museum store, cafe, and the 437-seat Annenberg Theater for the performing arts.

It’s located in the heart of downtown Palm Springs at 101 Museum Way, Call (760) 322-4800 or go online at www.psmuseum.org

Backyard Oasis exhibit is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, noon to 8 p.m., closed Monday and holidays.  Free admission every Thursday, 4 – 8 p.m. during downtown Villagefest and the second Sunday of every month.  Admission is $12.50 adults, $10.50 seniors, $5 students, free for youths under 12, active military and their families.

After viewing the Backyard Oasis exhibit, explore Palm Springs’ vast collection of modernism homes and public buildings.  Pick up a map at the Palm Springs Visitor Center for a self tour.

www.visitpalmsprings.com

When you’re ready to “dive in” to your own desert modern home and pool, contact Team Haverkate for a personal tour of homes and estates for sale.  Email agent@teamhaverkate.com or visit online at

www.HaverkateRealEstate.com.

– Pamela Bieri

The Palm Springs International Film Festival  opens this week with hundreds of filmgoers, movie makers, directors, actors and celebrities expected to attend the annual gala on Saturday, Jan. 7 and more than 100 films during the 11 day festival.

The Palm Springs International Film Festival takes place Jan 5-16.  Visit www.psfilmfest.org for tickets, information or to search for movies and screening times.

Besides the incredible array of films, galas and parties, one of the non-film highlights is an exhibition of Marilyn Monroe photographs that will be on display in stores and restaurants throughout Palm Springs Uptown Design District all during the festival.

The show is based on a new book about the actress, Marilyn: Intimate Exposures, and chock full of  photos by Bruno Bernard, her friend and confidante, the famous Bernard of Hollywood who is credited with “discovering” Marilyn.

“The art exhibit is something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while,” said Darryl MacDonald, festival director in a Palm Springs Life Desert Guide story by Scott Brassart this month.

www.PalmSpringsLife.com

Bernard has been called the “Rembrandt of photography” and the “king of glamour” who made his name taking portraits of female stars and starlets of the 1950s such as Anita Ekberg, Jayne Mansfield, Brigitte Bardot, and Monroe.  He also photographed many male luminaries such as John Wayne, Gregory Peck, and Elvis Presley.

Bernard fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s, eventually migrated to California where he studied film and photography.  He established himself in Hollywood becoming one of the most sought-after celebrity photographers.  Countless hopeful stars visited his Sunset Boulevard studio to have their portraits taken.

While she was still called Norma Jeane, the young model first met Bernard in 1946. One story says they  met passing one another while Bernard was leaving a dentist appointment apparently near his studio.

As did many Hollywood hopefuls, Norma Jeane stared up at the “Bernard of Hollywood” sign and asked if he thought she could be a model.

Bernard’s now famous photos captured the transformation of Norma Jeane, then a 19-year-old girl-next-door, into the glamorous movie star, Marilyn Monroe.

Bernard wrote,  “While nature has been generous to her figure, her face is just that of any pretty girl her age, very much like the girl next door, with the exception of her translucent skin, her waiflike innocence, the helplessness underneath.”

No one was so much at ease in front of the camera as Norma Jeane:  “Concentration, projection and synchronization are second nature to her,” he wrote in his journal.

www.immortalmarilyn.com

With additional studios in Palm Springs, Laguna Beach and Las Vegas, Bernard immortalized some of the century’s greatest stars and mastered the art of pin-up photography.

An icon of the 1950s and 60s, Monroe was often in Palm Springs between films and owned a home in the Las Palmas area from 1960-61. The Monroe photo exhibition in Palm Springs Design District shops and restaurants is a perfect place to connect with Mid-Century Modern design and decor.

After attending the Palm Springs International Film Festival and the retro photo exhibition, satisfy your passion for Modernism and take a tour of Mid Century Modern homes and estates for sale in the Palm Springs area.  Many are located in historic districts and significant neighborhoods near Marilyn Monroe’s former Las Palmas home.

Contact Team Haverkate at:   agent@teamhaverkate.com or visit www.HaverkateRealEstate.com

— Pamela Bieri