Dec

Photo Friday: Happy New Year!

Charles Eames, settling in for the evening during a house party thrown by Eero Saarinen, circa 1950. Margueritte Kimball Papers, Cranbrook Archives.

We don’t think this photo is actually from a New Year’s party, but we like Charles Eames’s approach to socializing at Eero Saarinen’s home—find a cozy corner (preferably blocked by a chair of your own design), and settle in for the night! From all of us here at Cranbrook Kitchen Sink, we hope you’ve enjoyed the December holidays and are getting ready for a lovely New Year’s Eve—with or without a designer curled up in windowsill!

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Uncategorized

Dec

Photo Friday: Stegosaurus Party

Bob and Lee Bowen at the Stegosaurus Party. Steve Kendricks/Cranbrook Archives.

We post this photo with very little commentary, because what kind of explanation could possibly improve upon the title “stegosaurus party?” So enjoy it as it is!

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Archives/Images/Uncategorized

Photo Friday/Steve Kendricks

Dec

Walls Can Talk: Robert Snyder, the Buckner Residence, and the Mid-Century Home

The other day I had the pleasure of taking a fantastic (albeit very cold!) field trip to view a mid-century modern home designed by Birmingham architect Robert Snyder. Snyder studied architecture at Cranbrook’s Academy of Art (1948-1950) and eventually took over as the Head of Architecture (1952-1965). The house, located on Walnut Lake in West Bloomfield and commissioned by Noel and Isabel Buckner, is slated for demolition any day. I learned about the house from Liz Buckner, who called to donate the original blueprints of the house to the Archives. Liz offered to give me a tour of the house and I enthusiastically accepted!

View of Buckner House from the drive above, circa 1955. Courtesy Liz Buckner. Detroit Free Press/Ray Pillsbury.

View of Buckner House from the drive above, circa 1955. Cranbrook Archives, Detroit Free Press/Ray Pillsbury.

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Not-a-Photo Friday: Season’s Greetings!

Kingswood Christmas Card, 1944. Cranbrook Archives.

As the holiday season swings into full gear, we thought we’d highlight one of our favorite historic Cranbrook traditions: the Kingswood School Christmas card. From 1944, this card features a woodblock print of Carl Milles’s Diana sculpture, one of the hallmarks of Kingswood’s campus. The Kingswood students who made it also managed to capture the movement and dynamic geometry of Eliel Saarinen’s remarkable leaded windows at Kingswood, a not-insignificant feat.

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Images/Objects

Author: Shoshana Resnikoff/Kingswood/Photo Friday

Dec

Gruss aus

This postcard shows a Swiss postal worker with a small pouch. 1921, Cranbrook Archives

This week’s Friday photo is actually a postcard from the Virginia Kingswood Booth Vogel Papers. In 1921, Ralph Harmon Booth ─ one of the founders of the Detroit Institute of Arts and first president of the City of Detroit Arts Commission ─ traveled to Europe with his family. Booth’s son John (Virginia’s brother) collected postcards throughout the trip. “Gruss aus” translates to “Greetings from”, and was a popular souvenir travel postcard series printed in Germany with the chromo-lithography process.