A weekend in Antwerp - art nouveau, cup cakes and a touch of Africa

It takes just three hours to get to Antwerp from London on the Eurostar, changing once at Brussels. I made my first ever visit to the city last month and discovered its architectural delights, some great cafes, a street full of antique shops and a fascinating modern museum that tells the story of Antwerp. 

Antwerp has a history as a great port city, with millions of immigrants having passed through on their way to America from Eastern Europe. The MAS  (Museum aan de Stroom) in the old docks area tells the story of the this port city, including the great waves of migrants that flowed through it. It also tells something about those who made Antwerp their home. When I visited there was a small but fascinating exhibition about the city's Chinese community. The building is extremely striking, a red brick tower with stepped brick blocks interspersed with floor to ceiling glazing at each level, affording differing views of the city. The collections include thousands of objects, paintings and photographs that tell the story of Antwerp. I especially enjoyed the "visible storage" gallery where visitors can catch a glimpse of some of the museum's treasures, whilst the other galleries display items under the themes of Display of Power, Metropolis, World Port and Life and Death. There is a good book shop too. The museum opened in 2011, was designed by Dutch architects, Willem Jan Neutelings and Michiel Riedjik and is a major component of the regeneration of this part of Antwerp.

The MAS

Which one is Tin Tin? Exhibit in the MAS

Antwerp has a Jewish community numbering about 15,000. The majority are Orthodox Jews, many working in or connected with the city's diamond industry located close to the Central Station. This community was immortalised in Diamonds, the story of an Orthodox diamond merchant living in the city on the eve of the First World War. His workers compete with each other to gain his favours , his wife suffers from his overbearing personalty, his son is without direction and his daughter is a spendthrift! Written in Yiddish by Esther Kreitman, the less well known sister of Isaac Bashevis Singer, the book was first published by Foyle's in 1944.

The Het Zuid district is home to a stunning synagogue completed in 1893. The Shomrei Hadass Synagogue in Bouwmeesterstraat was designed by architects Ernest Stordiau and Joseph Hertogs. Dominating this side street it is Moorish in style. Suffering bomb damage in the Second World War it was repaired in 1958 and declared a protected monument in 1976. Stordiau was responsible for a number of buildings in the city including a chapel and a number of residential properties in the art nouveau district, Zurenborg.

Shomrei Hadass synagogue, main entrance

No visit to any city is complete for me without the chance to enjoy its collection of art nouveau or art deco architecture. Antwerp offers some great examples of both of these styles. I have already posted about the city's art deco riches here and so will pick out my art nouveau favourites in this post. The majority of Antwerp's art nouveau buildings are in the Zurenborg district, a fifteen minutes walk from the Central Station. A triangle of streets including Cogels-Osylei, Waterloostraat and General van Merlenstraat include over 100 examples of the style and will be the subject of a separate post.

There are many beautiful examples of the nouveau style in those streets but my two favourite nouveau buildings here are in the Het Zuid district. Het Bootje (the boat),  at Schilderstraat 2 takes its name from the corner balcony which is shaped like a ship's prow and is a tribute to the city's seafaring links. Commissioned by wealthy ship builder P. Rouis and built in 1901 it was designed by architect Frans Smet-Verhas. It is a riot of colours, curves, swirls and floral motifs that make it stand out from its neighbours. Today the house is divided into several separate units, including one which is home to the Chilean consulate.

Het Bootje.

It is a short walk from Het Bootje, to Volkstraat 40, where you can see my favourite Antwerp art nouveau building - the former Maison du Peuple (People's House). Built from 1899-1903 and designed by architect Emil van Averbeke it was built for the Socialist party and is now a Steiner School. Flamboyant in the extreme, it has fabulous glazed arches, elaborate ironwork and is topped by carved figures. Most striking of all are the freezes on the facade, showing the heroic labour of agricultural workers. There is a smaller freeze above the tiny side door, the shape of which reminds me of the national romantic architecture of Helsinki and Stockholm. 

Steiner School, detail

Steiner School, side entrance

Another favourite is Mercatorstraat 102-106 in the Jewish Quarter, also designed by van Averbeke. Dating from 1901, it faces the railway viaduct and has lovely yellow brick facades and wrought iron balconies. As with the Steiner School, I was particularly taken with its door, which also resembles the national romantic architecture found in Scandinavia from around 1900. On the day I visited this part of the city, there was heavy rain and Antwerp's Orthodox citizens looked at me with astonishment as I took photographs from underneath my umbrella and from the middle of the road!

Mercatorstraat, 102-106.

Brussels has long been famous for its cartoonists and for its street cartoons decorating the exterior walls of shops and other buildings. Antwerp also has many street cartoons, including a wonderful series of tableaux by Jan van der Veken, painted on to a blank wall at the back of the KBC Bank at Eiermarkt 8. Born in Ghent, van der Veken has been featured on the cover of the New Yorker. His Eiermarkt murals show a series of glamorous urban dwellers with romantic undertones! 

Other highlights of my visit included shopping and cakes! Kloosterstraat is a long street filled with antique shops of varying price and quality, all of them interesting and browsing them is a great way of spending an afternoon in the city. I even picked up a small tin once used to store "electroplated pins". I don't own any electroplated pins - it was the constructivist design on the lid that attracted me! Antwerp also has many bookshops. I loved Erik Tonen's shop at Kloosterstraat 48 which sells both new and antiquarian books and where you can see and buy original copies of the Dutch avant-grade magazine Wendingen that ran in the 1920's and 1930's.

This is a city that loves coffee …and cakes. Clearly it was my duty to sample the local produce. I loved my creme brûlée cupcake and very strong coffee at Momade Cupcakes, a tiny six seater cafe in the historic centre. There are more than 30 kinds of cupcake on offer and the service is extremely friendly. The lady serving when I visited on Sunday morning told me she had studied at the Steiner School mentioned earlier. Coffee and Vinyl is another good place at Volkstraat 45. There are racks and racks of vinyl records for sale at the rear of the shop, with coffee being served in the front area. Nice.

I also found a great place to stay. De Witte Nijl (the White Nile) is an excellent bed and breakfast hotel in the Het Zuid area, just a short walk from Nationalstraat and the main shopping and cultural areas. The owners are extremely friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable about their city. The hotel is furnished in colonial style with many antiques, pictures, maps and other items originating from or paying tribute to the former Belgian Congo. There are two suites which, continuing the African theme, are named after Stanley and Livingstone. I stayed in the Livingstone which was spacious, comfortable and had a great free standing bath. A big breakfast is available too!

Speaking of big breakfasts, I couldn't resist photographing the tiger enjoying his breakfast outside the Antwerp Zoo. The mosaic is one if a pair of panels on the exterior of the zoo which I didn't visit but the
entrance is well worth a look. For more pictures of Antwerp click here.

Mosaic at the entrance to Antwerp Zoo

Coffee and Vinyl

My kind of holiday photo!

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The 500 Hidden Secrets of Antwerp by Derek Blyth is a new indispensable guide book for the weekend visitor.

Bitter sweet - A Taste of Honey at the National Theatre

The 1961 film version of this play is one of the classics of British cinema. Dora Bryan as Helen and Rita Tushingham as Jo made these characters their own and any later version on stage or screen would have to be very very good to match the Tony Richardson directed film. The current production at the National comes very close.

A Taste of Honey was revolutionary when first performed in 1958. With its cast of a single mother, a pregnant teenager, a black sailor and a gay art student it covered issues which still divide today but were incendiary in the 1950's and 60's. Some doubt has been cast on the continuing relevance of Shelagh Delaney's play, that it no longer has the immediacy it had when first written. At the time, single motherhood was deeply shameful, interracial relationships taboo and male homosexuality illegal. Things have changed since then but single mothers are still blamed for many of society's problems, teenage pregnancies increase and recent anti-gay legislation in Uganda, Nigeria and Russia as well as less than liberal attitudes amongst some communities here at home show that things may not have changed that much.

A Taste of Honey is not only about these issues. It is also about loneliness and the need for love and friendship. Helen is not the world's greatest mother but she wants to be loved. Jo does not feel loved by her mother and seeks it with Jimmy, a black sailor. Geoff, the gay student is forbidden to find love and seeks instead a kind of love with Jo. This search for love leads to trouble - Helen may or may not know who Jo's father is and has a string of unsuitable relationships, Jo becomes pregnant to a man she will never see again and Geoff lives in fear of being discovered. Helen may be feckless. She is certainly selfish and manipulative but she does show some feeling for her daughter summed up in a word of warning "Oh Jo, why can't you learn from my mistakes… It takes half your lifetime to learn from your own". Jo chooses not to listen.

Loneliness drives the relationships in the play. Jo ends up pregnant because she doesn't want to spend another Christmas alone whilst Helen goes off with her boyfriend. Helen goes off with a younger, abusive man because she wants security. Geoff pursues the friendship with Jo so as not to be alone. Jo  makes reference to the fear of loneliness saying "I'm not afraid of the darkness outside. It's the darkness inside houses I don't like".

Set in Salford in the 1950's, the play also affords a glimpse of working class life in that period and is one of a number of plays and films of the time that focused on this subject, some of which are amongst the best British drama ever written. Witness Stan Barstow's A Kind of Loving, Allan Sillitoe's Saturday Night Sunday Morning, Nell Dunn's Up the Junction and another of my favourites Stephen Lewis' Sparrers Can't Sing. This was the period of the angry young men - not all of whom were from working class backgrounds. Women writers were far and few between and Delaney was very much on her own, not fitting in with the male crowd, very young, poorly educated and northern. She objected to the description "angry" preferring to describe herself as "restless"!

The current production at the National has Lesley Sharp as Helen and Kate O'Flynn as Jo. Lesley Sharp is positively regal as the still glamorous, still hopeful and aggressively domineering Helen, all poise and pout. O'Flynn is equally convincing as the long suffering daughter, completely believable as a vulnerable but knowing teenager whilst Harry Hepple is extremely moving as Geoff, too scared to stand up to Helen, desperate for love and security but too weak to hold on to it. There is also a great jazz soundtrack. A Taste of Honey runs at Lyttelton Theatre at the National until 11th May. See it.

Art deco in Antwerp

99 Meir, Joseph Selis, 1933

Antwerp is known for its historic centre which dates back to the middle ages, for its connection with Rubens and Flemish painting and for its famous port through which millions of immigrants left Europe seeking a new life in the Americas. Antwerp should also be known for its 20th century architecture, including its rich collection of art deco buildings. 

I recently visited the city for the first time, armed with a google map and tips from an excellent Facebook page called  Art Deco Antwerpen , which is a must for all visitors interested in architecture. This is not a large city and many of the deco highlights are within walking distance of each other. Unfortunately I chose a grey and wet weekend to visit but a warm coat, big scarf, umbrella, camera and regular coffee stops ensured that I thoroughly enjoyed my visit.

Meir, Antwerp's main shopping street, is home to my favourite deco building in the city. 99 Meir is currently home to Italian fashion designer Massimo Dutti's store. Originally a second Meir branch of Maison Tilquin, manufacturers and purveyors of high quality silver cutlery, it was designed by architect Joseph Selis, and completed in 1933. It is a slim, striking building with numerous deco features making it stand out from its larger neighbours. Constructed from reinforced concrete, the facade features slightly rounded windows and a central pillar topped by a flag pole. The pillar divides the floors in half and has examples of the classic "rule of three" displayed at the top and bottom of the pillar as well as on the flagpole. The door has a striking handle resembling two number threes facing each other.

Selis also designed the original interior including the knife shop, counters and cupboards, some of which remain today due to the protected status of the building. Whilst I was in Antwerp, the store was closed, apparently for refurbishment so I was unable to go inside but it was possible to see the counters and lighting from outside. Clearly, I will have to come again! The building has been the Massimo Dutti store since 2003 and underwent extensive refurbishment from 2002-4 under the supervision of the Department of Monuments and Sites.

Doors, 99 Meir, Joseph Selis, 1933

KBC Tower, 35 Schoenmarkt, Jan van Hoenacker, 1932.

Europe's first skyscraper stands at 35 Schoenmarkt,  a short walk from 99 Meir. Built between 1929 and 1932 and originally the Torengebouw van Antwerpen, the KBC Tower stands 87.5 metres tall, second only in the city to the Cathedral of Our Lady. Reflecting the period architecture of Chicago and New York, it was one of Europe's first buildings with a structural carrying frame, also reflecting practice in the USA. The tower dominates the city centre skyline with its deco-featured soaring facade. Unfortunately, many of the original internal features have been lost. The tenth floor tearoom and beer hall were ripped out in the 1970's and the roof terrace cafe was closed. Things could have been worse. In the 1960's there were plans for complete demolition. A "restoration" took place in the 1970's which included removing the apartments on the upper floors and converting them to offices. Today the tower has retail space on the ground floor and offices at all other levels. 

Despite the losses, the facade can still stop visitors in their tracks with window after window, floor after floor and the stylised figures at the lower levels. The central tower is flanked by two wings, one curved, accentuating the height and narrow waist of the tower. It is known to Antwerp's residents as the Boerentoren or farmers' tower, as at the time of building the most important shareholder was a farmers' co-operative. The architect was Jan Van Hoenacker who designed a number of buildings across Belgium including a theatre, bank office and brewery.

Deco figures on the faced of the KBC building

Many of the buildings featured in this post were constructed close to the time of the 1930 Exposition that took place in both Antwerp and Liege. The Antwerp fair concentrated on maritime and colonial themes whilst Liege focused on industry and science. The Exposition also marked the centenary of Belgium as a sovereign state. Few buildings remain from the Exposition but on the outskirts of the city, the Kristus Koningskirk stands in the middle of the residential area of Kiel. The church was built from 1928-30 and was designed by architect Jos Smolderen. During the exposition the church was used to display Flemish art to visitors from around the world. 

The church has elements from a variety of styles but clearly fits into the modernist/ art deco genre with a particularly striking main clock tower and brickwork reminiscent of the Amsterdam School. Smolderen spent time in the Netherlands during the First World War, seeking refuge in Belgium's neutral neighbour. During this time he had contact with Dutch architectural genius H.P. Berlage. There are other examples of the influence of the Amsterdam School amongst the buildings surrounding the church - a school dating from 1934 as well as a number of residential properties. Kiel is another part of Antwerp to visit again.   

Kristus Koningskirk, Kiel, Antwerp. Jos Smolderen, 1930.

Kristus Koningskirk, Kiel, Antwerp. Jos Smolderen, 1930.

Detail of school in the Kiel district, 1934.

Few cities can boast an art deco style church. Antwerp also has an art deco tunnel! The Saint Anna Tunnel is a pedestrian and cycle route under the Scheldt river. The entrance buildings on both sides of the river were designed by Emiel van Averbeke who also completed the early drawings for the KBC tower. These imposing structures are constructed of yellow brick and have partially glazed pillars on each flank. There are decorative canopies above the entrance and at the top of each building.

The interior of the tunnel is charming. Visitors descend a wooden escalator reminiscent of some of the old London Underground stations and then pass through a 572 metres of white tiled walkway. There is also a colourful tiled information panel in the tunnel, giving details of its dimensions and dates of construction. The tunnel was completed in just 22 months and cost the equivalent of one million Euros. Seems like a bargain to me. The grand opening took place on September 10th 1933 with Antwerp Mayor Camille Huysmans officiating and walking through the tunnel, bizarrely followed by 20,000 students!

Detail, entrance Saint. Anna tunnel. Emiel van Averbeke, 1933.

Entrance, Saint Anna tunnel.

Ceramic information panel, Saint Anna tunnel.

Antwerp has many other art deco and modernist buildings to explore and discover. The city is conveniently placed to allow a visit to be combined with Brussels, Amsterdam or even Paris thanks to Eurostar. Below are a few more examples of Antwerp's version of deco.

Retail and office building off Meir

Curved detail of building above

Door to the Tropeninstitut, Nationalstraat

Modern house (I think!) in modernist style in Cogels Osylei.

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Vintage travel - visit Mexico…in 1936!

I visited Mexico for the first time last year, but travellers have been attracted to this special place for a very long time. Some have visited through necessity, including political exiles such as Leon Trotsky who found a home here in 1936, although things ended badly with his assassination in 1940. Mexico has also attracted many artists and writers including Robert Capa, Tina Modotti and Josef and Anni Albers, all of whom either made very long stays here or visited regularly from the United States, inspired by the landscape, people and culture.

During the 1930's and between 1939 and 1945, Mexico attracted new visitors including many political refugees from Europe who chose to sit out the Second World War here in safety as well as extremely wealthy visitors who had formerly summered in Europe where war was raging. The proximity of the United States means that American visitors have always been the most numerous and the image at the top of this post is from a travel brochure produced in 1936 to encourage more tourism from north of the border.

Stamped with the details of the Central Travel Agency at 426 15th Street in Oakland California, the brochure is a charming mixture of beautiful black and white photographs of Mexico's many attractions - cities, markets, volcanoes, the pre-Colombian heritage and one of my favourite Mexico City locations - Xochimilco. The photograph of Xochimilco shows an idyllic scene, devoid of the many brightly coloured boats found there today, with just a few canoes and an open expanse of water.

Customers of Oakland's Central Travel Agency must have been well off. This is no budget package tour that is being offered. The trip begins "…when you board the luxurious train that takes you through to Mexico City…with spacious, inviting, sun parlor lounge and dining cars…shower bath, valet and maid service, soda fountain and radio…". Other benefits included sleeping cars which were "…completely air conditioned, sealed against dirt and the outside weather…". Known as the "Hotel Geneve", this luxurious train delivered travellers to Mexico City from where they were able to visit numerous sites and cities including Puebla, Orizaba, Cordoba, Guadalupe and Teotihuacan, driven by employees of Private Pullman Car Tours of Mexico.  

As well as providing would be travellers with mouth watering information about their tour of Mexico, the brochure also sets out some important practicalities. Early reservations are encouraged and a partial payment of $10 would secure your place. And who says the 1930's were not technologically advanced? OK, there was no internet but you could make your payment through any American Express office, at a local railway station or at a tourist agency. Special rates for children aged 6 to 12 were offered with older children paying the full amount. 

All tour members had to carry a tourist permit which would be provided by American Express and astonishingly, not just visas, but also passports were unnecessary for US citizens! The brochure advises that "travellers cheques are an excellent form in which to carry one's travel funds and they protect the holder against loss or theft…" and it ends with a lovely disclaimer about any loss, injury or damage caused to travellers or their property. So, some things haven't changed in almost 80 years!

Costs for the tours are set out in a table showing prices for departure from a range of US cities (and also Toronto) according to the type of accommodation on the train which ranges from lower berth for two  people at $236.75 per person for those setting out from New York City to a drawing room for three people at $285.75 dollars per person from the same point of departure. I think I'd splash out and get the drawing room! These prices include travel from New York City to Chicago where most of the groups assembled. Other assembly points included San Antonio and St. Louis.

Of course, independent travel was also possible back in the 1930's and Mexico City had a number of high quality hotels for those able to pay. These included the sadly lost Hotel del Prado, completed in 1933 and designed by Carlos Obregon Santacila in collaboration with Mario Pani Darqui. Severely damaged by the 1985 earthquake, it was subsequently demolished. As well as being the focus of much of the city's social life in the 1930's and 1940's it was also home to Diego Rivera's mural Dream of a Sunday afternoon in Alameda. The mural was rescued from the wreckage of the hotel and now has a home of its own in a specially built pavilion in the Alameda park. Other high quality hotels in Mexico City included the Hotel Geneva with its palm garden, the Hotel Regis with its Italian supper club and the Sanborne Hotel which featured a mural by Rufino Tamayo. Ah those were the days.

Hotel del Prado

Palm garden at the Hotel Geneva

Restaurant at Sanborne Hotel with mural by Rufino Tamayo

Hotel Regis

Times may have changed since my brochure was printed but the invitation on the first page remains true - "…the language and customs of her (Mexico's) people are enticingly different from ours. In the ruins of her monasteries and in the pyramids and buried cities of antiquity she holds the intriguing remains of other cultures and other civilisations. In her mountains, her quaint, romantic cities and towns, and in her languorous sub-tropical climate, Mexico holds the beauties and elements of ever changing interest that make travel delightful…" Probably not the language we would use today but the message holds true and I am marking the calendar until I return in October this year!

You might also like Mexico - a revolution in art 1910-1940, Mexico City Top Ten and Mexico City art deco treasure house.

You can see more pictures of Mexico here.

El Manisero (the peanut vendor) - a Cuban classic

El Manisero, or the Peanut Vendor will be familiar to many people of my age who were taken to the cinema as a child. It was used as the jingle to advertise, well, peanuts before the film began. It was one of a number of adverts that included Kia-ora orange juice and Frankie's hamburgers (the biggest burger under the bun). It was usually followed by those terribly old fashioned adverts for the local taxi company, the undertakers (!) and my home town's only Indian restaurant.

There are more than 160 known recordings of the song which originates from Cuba and is based on the cry of a street seller. Hugely popular over several decades, El Manisero was the first million selling 78rpm recording of Cuban music and also sold over one million copies of sheet music. Both words and music were written by Moises Simon, the Havana born son of a Basque musician. He started early in the music industry, becoming both organist and choirmaster at his church at the age of nine. At 15 he undertook more technical studies, later becoming a concert pianist and director of musical theatre. Establishing a band, playing piano himself and recruiting several leading Cuban musicians, he toured Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Central America during the 1920's. He formed his own jazz band in 1924 and played in the roof garden of Havana's Plaza Hotel. Simons played piano and Julio Cueva was hired to play trumpet whilst the drummer, Enrique Santiesteban also covered vocals. In the 1930's he lived and worked in France, returning to Cuba in 1942 and then moving to Spain  where he died in 1945 aged just 55.

First recorded by Rita Montaner at the end of the 1920's and you can hear her perform the song by clicking on the panel at the top of this post. The lyrics are based on the Cuban street vendor calling style known as pregon with a son rhythm, incorrectly identified on the record label as a rhumba-foxtrot(!), rhumba becoming a general label for Cuban music during the 1930's. Although officially credited to Simons, there are stories that identify one Gonzalo G. de Mello of Havana as the lyricist , although these are generally discounted.

The 160 plus recordings of the song include two versions by iconic jazz musician and band leader Stan Kenton, first in 1947 with his band and later as a piano solo. El Manisero has featured in several films including Duck Soup in 1933 where Groucho Marx whistled the tune. Cary Grant sang it in Only Angels Have Wings in 1935 and Judy Garland sang a catch from the song in the 1954 version of A Star Is Born.

As well as bringing back childhood memories of going to the cinema, listening to El Manisero transports listeners to Havana in the 1920's with its bars, clubs and wonderful music and the heyday of the Afrocubanismo cultural movement. You can find many versions of the song on CD, vinyl or on-line but listen to the very cool Anita O'Day giving it her take in the panel below. And if you want to sing along you can find the English lyrics here.

Soviet Posters of the Silent Screen at London's GRAD

The Three Million Case, 1926, poster by Georgii and Vladimir Stenberg,
 film directed by Aleksander Talanov

On Friday, I visited the Gallery for Russian Arts and Design (GRAD) in London's Little Portland Street. Stepping inside, I found myself in a world of striking, bold, colourful images from the 1920's as I viewed the 30 posters that constitute the current exhibition - Kino/ Film: Soviet Posters of the Silent Screen.

Cinema was extremely popular in the Soviet Union during the 1920's. Lenin nationalised the film industry in 1919, saying "the art of film is for us the most important of all the arts" recognising the cultural and educational value of the medium and above all, its potential for propaganda purposes. An organisation called Sovkino was established to control the distribution of foreign films - included American films - with profits being used to subsidise local film production. This included films aimed at the non-Russian speaking populations in the eastern Soviet Union and the Caucasus.

Sovkino included a department called Reklam Film, responsible for the production of posters for both foreign and domestic films. Reklam was directed by designer Yakov Rukevsky who sought out and engaged several young artists to create pioneering designs, using strong colour blocking and experimenting with typography to communicate the message of each film. This contrasts with the films themselves which were of course silent and made in black and white.

This period of Soviet cinema which saw the production of classics such as Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin and October and Vsevolod Pudovkin's The End of St. Petersburg also saw the development of techniques such as cinematic montage, repetition, asymmetric viewpoints and dramatic fore shortenings. These techniques were used in producing both the films and posters. The posters were designed for one use only and once the film had been shown, the vast majority were disposed of. Very few remain which makes the current exhibition all the more important.   

Knight's Move, 1924, poster by Georgii and Vladimir Stenberg,
film directed by Raymond Bernard (France)

Outstanding amongst the designers of these works of art, were Georgii and Vladimir Stenberg, sons of a Swedish painter who emigrated to Russia in 1896. Both studied decorative arts at the Stroganoff School from 1912-1917. During this time they also worked in the theatre and organised exhibitions. Influenced by the Futurist poets led by Vladimir Mayakovsky, they produced stencils for propaganda posters during the Civil War, including for the liquidation of illiteracy. Can't argue with that!

From 1918-1922 they worked closely with Aleksander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova and the Working Group of Constructivists, further developing their style and carrying out experiments in the use of texture, surface and colour constructions. Throughout the 1920's they worked in theatre design as well as producing a huge body of work across many media from sculpture to architecture and from designing railway cars to women's shoes! However, their most significant achievements were in graphic design, especially film posters. Their wide knowledge of various media was drawn together in the production of about 300 posters, making use of vibrant colour, geometrical shapes and distorted portions and perspectives. Georgii died in a road accident in 1933, whilst Vladimir continued working until 1963 when his sight began to deteriorate.  

The exhibition includes the simultaneous screening of some of the most important films from the era, including Storm Over Asia, made in 1928 and set in Mongolia ten years earlier. It tells the story of a young Mongolian cheated out of a valuable fox fur by a nasty European capitalist. Our hero goes on to joint the Soviet partisans, helping them to force the occupying British troops out of Mongolia. Note the historical inaccuracy - the British were never in Mongolia. Of course, accuracy and propaganda do not necessarily go together and it is interesting that several films were set in Soviet Asia as a way of indoctrinating the local population to the Bolshevik world view. You can watch the whole two hours and five minutes of it, complete with English captions, here. Another example of this genre is Turksib. Made in 1929 and directed by Viktor Turin, it celebrates the construction of the Turkestan-Siberia railway. The poster which was designed by the Stenberg brothers is featured in the exhibition.

Turksib, 1929, poster by Georgii and Vladimir Stenberg,
fim directed by Viktor Turin

Heroes of the Blast Furnace, 1928, poster by Georgii and Vladimir Stenberg,
film directed by Evgenii Ivanov-Barkov

The importance of labour and the duty for all to contribute to the economy was a key theme of Soviet cinema. The exhibition includes a number of posters from this genre, including the Stenberg's poster for the prosaically named Heroes of the Blast Furnace. Made in 1928, the film was based on a novel by Nikolai Liashko which revolves around the lives and loves of steelworkers. yes, even here there was space for a spot of romance, as long as it was in the cause of glorifying socialist labour. I have to say, the dramatic images of the Stenberg's poster and the shifty eyed "baddie" in the corner would certainly have persuaded me to purchase a ticket!

Similarly, Mikhail Dlugach's poster for Cement, with its silhouetted figure, eerie red face and dramatic staircase immediately grabs our attention and no doubt helped win audiences for another movie in an industrial setting. Dlugach was born in Kiev and studied at the local art school between 1905 and 1917. He joined Reklam Film in 1924, going on to become a member of the Association of Revolutionary Artists, designing pavilions for exhibitions as well as propaganda posters during the Second World War. In 1958 he was involved in producing the Soviet pavilion at the Brussels International Exhibition. He lived to the age of 95 - surviving many changes in the Soviet Union including the many vicious purges of the Stalinist period.

Cement, 1927, poster by Mikhail Dlugach,
film directed by Vladimir Vilner

2014 has been designated UK/ Russia year of culture. This exhibition is one of the first events in the year long festival. If the rest of the programme meets this standard, it will be a year to remember. Host gallery, GRAD is gaining a reputation for high quality exhibitions - including the recent show of Soviet era travel posters. Londoners are extremely lucky to have small galleries such as GRAD and my favourite, Ben Uri so easily accessible to them. The posters in the current exhibition are the property of Antikbar, dealers in antique posters. Their website is a show in itself!

You might also like Soviet posters of the 1920's and 1930's - visions of utopia at the Pushkin House or Moscow avant-garde, constructivist architecture and the new Tretyakov Gallery

Picture Post 22 - 5 Frug Street, Tel Aviv

Beit Shami, 5 Frug Street, Tel Aviv

Earlier this week I booked my annual Israel visit. As usual, I will spend most of my time in Tel Aviv, my favourite city in the world, and the site of the world's largest collection of Bauhaus buildings. To keep me going until then, and to get through the cold London winter, here is a little reminder of Tel Aviv's architectural heritage.

Tel Aviv has a UNESCO World Heritage Site listing for its Bauhaus buildings Frug Street has a number of interesting buildings, but Beit Shami, an apartment block at number 5 is outstanding and forms part of the UNESCO listing. It has a stairwell that stops passers-by in their tracks with its extraordinary external concrete fins that cover the steel framed window behind. The fins are cut diagonally away from the main structure, ensuring that number 5 draws the attention of all visitors to the street, as well as protecting the interior from the strong middle eastern sunlight. I am told that at certain times of day this produces interesting shadows inside the building, thus being both a decorative and functional design element. They also give the building its nickname, the thermometer. I have never yet been able to see inside…maybe next time I am there?

Built in 1936 and designed by architect Yehuda Liolka, the house has stood up well to the extreme humidity, strong sunshine and salt-laden atmosphere of Tel Aviv and has clearly been well maintained - much more so than several of the other Bauhaus buildings in the city.

In addition to the fins (or thermometer depending on your preference!), Beit Shami also has those wonderful Bauhaus balconies designed to give residents some outdoor space and the communal roof area. When these apartment blocks were being built in the 1930's, shared space was provided in order to encourage some degree of communal living, not unlike that practised in the Soviet Union. House committees were set up to make decisions about maintenance and care of the building and to deal with disputes between residents. Today some of these spaces are disappearing, being sold off to allow an additional floor to be built in order to fund much needed renovation and repair to the original buildings. There are strict regulations relating to this, with new build being recessed from the facade of apartment blocks in order to maintain the original streetscape.

The Bauhaus Center at 99 Dizengoff organises weekly guided Bauhaus tours on Friday mornings, several of which include the exterior of 5 Frug Street. For the more independent traveller, or for those who can't make a Friday, you can hire a headset from the Center and take a self-guided tour. So, ticket booked…I just have to wait until June now! 

The thermometer!

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Dorel Livianu - a Jewish Romanian musical interlude

Youtube has to be one of the best things about the internet, giving free access to film and sound recordings from all over the world, both current and historical, and enabling serendipitous discovery of cultural treasures. From time to time I like to trawl youtube using random search terms and when looking recently for some information on Romanian Jewish music I chanced upon several recordings by the singer Dorel Livianu.

I have written about Jewish music from Romania before, but Livianu was new to me. Born in Bucharest in 1907 he was something of a child prodigy playing the part of the little trumpet boy in Verdi's Aida at just 7 years of age. He went on to study with Massini at the Bucharest Music Conservatory before being snapped up by Columbia Records and His Master's Voice (HMV). There is a rich archive of his many recordings - the Dorel Livianu Virtual Museum of Audio Recordings also accessible on youtube by searching under his name. I particularly like this recording of Ce face asta sear tu? (What are you doing tonight?), a romantic, tango influenced song recorded in the 1930's in Romanian (you can here it by clicking on the embedded file above). The interplay of the violins with the other instruments and Livianu's phrasing take the listener back to a more elegant time, but one which was drawing to a terrible close.

Although enjoying success in the 1930's with a number of recordings, he was restricted to performing at Bucharest's Jewish Theatre Barasheum  (later the Jewish State Theatre) during the war years when Jewish artists were debarred from other theatres. Things deteriorated further for Livianu when he was deported to a camp in Transnistria for a period of eight months and where he survived due to his fame. Transnistria is a little known part of Europe but one to where more than 130,000 Romanian Jews were deported during the Second World War. The vast majority were either murdered or died due to the appalling conditions whilst the same fate befell man thousands of the Ukrainian Jews who lived there.

Livianu appears to have been more fortunate than many as his wife, Mella Silberstein who he married in 1939 also survived and together they had a child, David Bogdan, born in 1955. After the war, he spent time in both Israel and the United States, but his heart appears to have remained in Romania, hence the creation of the vocal archive which includes recordings in both Yiddish and Romanian. His repertoire was wide and included pop and folk music, tango, foxtrot and romanta - a Romanian genre sung in a poetic or sentimental mood, often to piano and guitar. Another Romanian singer, Marin Teodersecu, known as Zavaidoc, made this form popular between the First and Second World War.

Livianu also recorded a version of the famous yiddish song Romania Romania. This is one of the most widely known yiddish popular songs of the period. You can read more about the song and its history here, as well as hearing some other versions of it. He guested on several top US radio shows, eventually settling there in 1967. The man Colombia Records labelled the golden voice of Romania died in 1997, aged 89.

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Casa Barragan and Casa Gilardi - architectural masterpieces in Mexico City

Casa Barragan, the former home and studio of architect Luis Barragan was one of the many reasons that drew me to visit Mexico City. I had seen many pictures of the house at Calle General Francisco Ramirez 14, with its pink, red and white roof pillars and cool quiet interiors. I contacted Casa Barragan a long time in advance to reserve a place on one of the guided tours and pored over my map of Mexico City working out how to get there from my hotel in the city centre. Finally, on December 12th last year, I made my way there via the metro and a short walk through the streets of the Colonia Ampliacion  Daniel Garza. 

Casa Barragan is in a quiet, not particularly affluent street, but it is a place of pilgrimage and one group of visitors was leaving as I arrived. There is a small entrance fee and visitors are allowed to take photographs in return for a further payment of 500 pesos, which is about 23 pounds sterling. I gladly paid and am happy that I have a photographic record to remind me of my visit. The money goes to the upkeep of the house.

Coloured pillars on the roof of Casa Barragan

Luis Barragan, perhaps Mexico's most well known architect was born in Guadalajara in 1902. He studied engineering at the Free Engineering School and in 1927 built his first houses in the city. In 1925, he visited Europe and became acquainted with and inspired by the work of Ferdinand Bac. This influence generated references to Latin-Mediterranean influences in Barragan's early work that can be seen in the two houses of his that I visited in Mexico City. He relocated to Mexico City in 1935 and designed several private houses and gardens.

Casa Barrragan was built from 1947 to 1948, on a rectangular plot of land measuring 700 square metres. The house is a compact block with an undecorated and closed facade, intentionally projecting an air of anonymity and acting as a boundary to the external space. The interior is the opposite of this with unusual and interesting visual and spatial relationships as well as sometimes stunning use of light. The house has clear divisions between public and private spaces with a very "public" entrance area and lobby from which the visitor must wait to be invited into other parts of the house. The living areas of the house also have "public" and "private" divisions, with for example a spacious dining room for when guests were invited to dine but also a small, simple, even spartan dining space for when Signor Barragan dined alone.

Screens, stairs and light are used to define spaces and to give opportunities for spaces to serve different functions or have a different feel throughout the course of the day. The ground floor library includes screens (and furniture) made from pig skin that close off areas for study and quiet contemplation as well as a staircase without a bannister leading to the mezzanine level. The rich brown wood, the yellow carpets and the white walls play with the light, changing the mood throughout the course of the day.

A view into the library, Casa Barragan

Dining room and garden, Casa Barragan

Barragan was also an accomplished landscape gardner and Casa Barragan's garden is an important part of the house. Accessed through large windows at the rear of the communal dining room, it is semi-overgrown with tall trees providing shade and again playing with the light. The garden would have been used during dinner parties, the proximity to the dining room allowing guests to stroll in and out, whilst a hidden speaker in the external wall would have allowed them to enjoy music at the same time. Barragan clearly had a passion for music and there are turntables in several of the rooms viewed on the tour.

Other outside spaces play an important part in the feel or emotion of the building. Barragan's studio is accessed though a courtyard which has a small pool, besides which he displayed many ceramic pots, whilst the roof (possibly my favourite area) fulfilled his theory that it should be possible to see the sky and nature from one's home. The roof has been described as a facade looking skywards and is a real symbol of his architectural philosophy. Completely enclosed and hidden from the street, it is an extremely quiet and peaceful space brought alive by the clear view of the sky, the natural sunlight and their effect on those pink, red and white columns. The effect of this had me letting out a deep sigh and thinking I would be happy to stay up there forever. Just imagine spending an afternoon there with a book and a pot of strong coffee (or something even stronger if you prefer).

Window of the studio, Casa Barragan

Barragan complemented his architectural design with careful collection and display of possessions.  The house contains many works of art including pieces by Mathias Goeritz, Jesus "Chuco" Reyes and Miguel Covarrubias. His strong religious commitment is demonstrated by a number of religious paintings including crucifixions. There are books in almost every room and even the careful placing of two vases in the window of his studio is carried out to produce an effect or emotion. 

The house is run as a museum and is the property of the regional government of Jalisco (Barragan's home area)and the Fundacion de Arquitectura Tapatia Luis Barragan. My tour was led by an extremely knowledgeable member of staff who was able to advise me of another Barragan house just a short distance away. Casa Barragan also has a small shop where books, cards and other Barragan memorabilia can be purchased. The house was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2004.

Casa Gilardi from Calle General Leon.

Casa Gilardi is a short distance away at Calle General Leon 82. It is a private house but visitors are welcome with an appointment. There is a small entrance fee of 200 pesos. Not only did the staff at Casa Barragan tell me about the house, they also called ahead and put me in a taxi to make sure I got there! Now that's what  call service.

I was met and welcomed at the door by one of the current residents who happily showed me around the areas of the house open to visitors - which is almost all of it as only the bedrooms are kept private. He answered my many questions knowledgeably and thoughtfully and spoke about the wonderful privilege of living in such a beautiful house. He is training to be an architect!

Casa Gilardi was Barragan's final residential project and was built between 1975 and 1977 on a plot measuring just 10 by 35 metres. It contained a jacaranda tree which the client Francisco Gilardi wished to retain in addition to his wanting an indoor swimming pool. Barragan managed to deliver both requirements and as with his own home made use of light and colour to surprise and delight both the resident and visitors. 

One of the highlights of my entire Mexico trip was seeing the small but deep indoor swimming pool at the rear of the house, accessed by a corridor leading from the street entrance. The corridor itself stops the visitor in his or her tracks as a series of vertical apertures filter bright Mexican sunlight onto the yellow painted interior walls and window frames, creating extraordinary effects. And then there is the pool itself with its blue, red and white painted walls and the spectacular effects of the light filtering in from the ceiling. My host allowed me to take pictures and I couldn't believe my luck in capturing the light bouncing on to and along the water, creating a solid white line on the wall and along the surface of the pool. Imagine being able to swim here every morning. If the door from the lobby is left open it is possible to see both the light in the corridor and the swimming pool walls at the  end of it. The residents get to see this every morning!

A trip to the external upper level gave me a view of the courtyard and the jacaranda tree that Francsico Gilardi was so anxious to preserve. And he was right. The tree illustrates Barragan's philosophy of integrating the internal and the external and of bringing nature into the living spaces. It is also visually pleasing with its green leaves contrasting with the pink, white and blue of the adjacent walls.

The narrowness of the building must have challenged Barragan in his efforts to accommodate all of his client's requirements over the three floors of the house. He struggled somewhat over where to place the dining room before deciding on putting it beside the swimming pool. This makes it a focus of the ground floor and also enables the residents and guests to easily move outside to the adjoining patio and the jacaranda tree.  

One of the best things about travel is the occasional unexpected opportunity to see or do something that you hadn't planned on and which proves to be one of the highlights of your trip. My tour of Casa Gilardi falls into that category. And this was my first day in Mexico City!

The jacaranda tree and a rear view of Casa Gilardi.

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You can see more pictures from Mexico City here