John Entenza (December 4, 1905 – April 27, 1984) was one of the pivotal figures in the growth of American modernism: in the fields of environmental, architectural, landscape, and product design; and fine arts, and artisan crafts; in post-war

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Career

In 1940, John Entenza joined California Arts and Architecture magazine as editor. By 1943, he had completely overhauled the magazine and renamed it '' Arts & Architecture Magazine''. During his editorship, ''Arts & Architecture Magazine'' championed all that was new in the arts, with special emphasis on emerging modernist

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. He made it the first American magazine to popularize the work of

Hans Hofmann Hans Hofmann (March 21, 1880 – February 17, 1966) was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstrac ...

, Craig Ellwood, Margaret DePatta,

George Nakashima George Katsutoshi Nakashima ( ''Nakashima Katsutoshi'', May 24, 1905 – June 15, 1990) was an American woodworker and architect. In 1983, he accepted the Order of the Sacred Treasure, an honor bestowed by the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese ...

Bernard Rosenthal Bernard J. Rosenthal (August 9, 1914 – July 28, 2009),Grimes, William New York Times, July 31, 2009. also known as Tony Rosenthal, was an American Abstract art, abstract sculptor widely known for his monumental public art sculptures, created ...

Charles Eames Charles Ormond Eames Jr. (June 17, 1907 – August 21, 1978) was an American designer, architect and filmmaker. In professional partnership with his wife Ray-Bernice Kaiser Eames, he made groundbreaking contributions in the fields of architect ...

Konrad Wachsmann Konrad Wachsmann (May 16, 1901 in Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany – November 25, 1980 in Los Angeles, California) was a German Jewish modernist architect. He is notable for his contribution to the mass production of building components. Originall ...

, Jan De Swart and many others. Entenza served as director of the

Graham Foundation The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts is a 501(c)3 non-profit that "fosters the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. The Graham realize ...

for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in Chicago from 1960 until his retirement in 1971. He received a Distinguished Service citation from the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

. He also served as a trustee of the

Amon Carter Museum of American Art The Amon Carter Museum of American Art (also known as the Carter) is located in Fort Worth, Texas, in the city's cultural district. The museum's permanent collection features paintings, photography, sculpture, and works on paper by leading arti ...

. Entenza died of cancer in La Jolla, California at the age of 78.

Case Study Houses

Entenza's most lasting contribution was his sponsorship of the

Case Study Houses The Case Study Houses were experiments in American residential architecture sponsored by '' Arts & Architecture'' magazine, which commissioned major architects of the day to design and build inexpensive and efficient model homes for the United Sta ...

project, which featured the works of architects such as

Raphael Soriano Raphael S. Soriano, FAIA, (August 1, 1904 – July 21, 1988) was a Greek-born American architect and educator, who helped define a period of 20th-century architecture that came to be known as Mid-century modern. He pioneered the use of modu ...

, Craig Ellwood,

Pierre Koenig Pierre Francis Koenig (October 17, 1925 – April 4, 2004) was an American architect and a Professor of Architecture at the University of Southern California. He taught at the USC School of Architecture from 1964 until his death in 2004. H ...

, A. Quincy Jones,

Richard Neutra Richard Joseph Neutra ( ; 8 April 1892 – 16 April 1970) was an Austrian-American architect. Living and building for most of his career in Southern California, he came to be considered a prominent and important modernist architect. His most ...

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer who created a wide array of innovative designs for buildings and monuments, including the General Motors Technical Center; the pa ...

, Rodney Walker and

William Wurster William Wilson Wurster (October 20, 1895 – September 19, 1973) was an American architect and architectural teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, best known for his residential desig ...

. ''Arts & Architecture'' also ran articles and interviews on artists and designers such as

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his "Drip painting, drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household ...

Robert Motherwell Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American Abstract Expressionism, abstract expressionist Painting, painter, printmaker, and editor of ''The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology''. He was one of the youngest of th ...

, George Nelson, and many other ground-breakers.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Entenza, John 1905 births 1984 deaths 20th-century American architects Deaths from cancer in California People from Calumet, Michigan