Charles & Ray Eames: Magazine

Among other things, the move to California was motivated by conditions brought on by the Second World War. While the United States had not yet entered the war, the American economy was already affected. With plywood in heavy demand in many spheres of war-related production, costs quickly rose, halting all attempts to mass produce Eames and Saarinen’s designs. At the same time, Eames knew that he and his expertise on the molding of plywood in complex curved forms could lead to orders from defense-related firms, many of which were then in California.

Eames’ expectations were not impracticable. He won several contracts from the US Navy, which led to the production in 1943 of a full-size fuselage for a hydroplane and prototypes of an airplane pilot seat, stretchers for carrying the wounded and arm and leg splints, all of molded plywood. The splints were the only idea that were mass-produced.

Another and perhaps more important consequence of the move to Los Angeles was the exposure of Ray and Charles Eames to the busy world of modern architecture and architectural thinking in Los Angeles. Since the 1920s, led by Austrian immigrants Rudolph M. Schindler and Richard Neutra, Los Angeles was a center of modern trends in architecture. Moreover, Arts & Architecture, then the most important US publication of its type, was based in Los Angeles. Last but not least, Herbert Matter, a prominent avant-garde photographer and graphic designer, also lived in Los Angeles then. His wife, Mercedes Matter, was a good friend of Ray Eames and had studied with her under Hans Hofmann.

At first, the Eameses rented an apartment in a house designed and built by Neutra, who was both the architect and their landlord. Gregory Ain, an architect and student of Neutra, also worked at their office. The Eameses became friends with Herbert Matter, and he took many photographs of their work. In some of them, objects made by the Eameses are seen together with sculptures made by Herbert Matter’s friend, Alexander Calder. One of Calder’s sculptures stood in the Eames home. John Entenza, the editor-in-chief of Arts & Architecture, also become a friend of the Eameses. Ray Eames produced several covers for his magazine.

Entenza and his magazine’s most ambitious undertaking was the Case Study Houses project. With the war almost over, Entenza understood that a plethora of young war veterans would be in the market for new homes after returning. The idea of the Case Study Houses was to demonstrate the advantages in cost and comfort of houses built in new ways. The magazine bought several building plots in Los Angeles and commissioned local modernist architects to design and build model homes on them. Each house was featured in the magazine twice — as a project and then as a fully ready home. After the houses were built, they were opened to visitors and eventually sold. While the project did not raise much money for the magazine, it provided much to write about. The magazine bought several building plots in Los Angeles and commissioned local modernist architects to design and build model homes on them.

Charles Eames took part in the CSH project, building two almost adjacent houses. He designed the first, known as CSH#8, alone and the second, CSH#9, with Eero Saarinen. Unlike the other homes in the project, these houses were not meant to be sold. The Eameses moved into No. 8, and John Entenza into No. 9, though he did not remain long. The Eameses lived in No. 8 for the rest of their lives. While Charles and Ray did not have children of their own, Lucia Eames, Charles’ daughter from his first marriage, would come to live with them. The home now is occupied by Lucia’s children, the grandchildren of Charles Eames.

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