Frederick Jacob Kiesler (September 22, 1890 – December 27, 1965) was an Austrian-American architect, theoretician, theater designer, artist and sculptor.

Biography

Kiesler was born Friedrich Jacob Kiesler in

Czernowitz Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivtsi serv ...

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

(now

Chernivtsi Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...

, Ukraine). From 1908 to 1909, Kiesler studied at the

Technische Hochschule A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ) ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. From 1910–12, he attended painting and printmaking classes at the

Akademie der bildenden Künste The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. In the second half of the 19th centur ...

, both in Vienna. In July 1913, Kiesler quit the academy without having earned a diploma. He married Stefanie (Stefi) Frischer (1897–1963) in 1920, and they moved to New York City in 1926, where he lived until his death. "In December, Friedrich Kiesler became a naturalized American citizen and changed his name to Frederick John Kiesler." Kiesler collaborated there early on with the

Surrealists Surrealism is an art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and id ...

, and with

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

. His writing was extensive, and his theoretical work embraced two lengthy manifestos, the article "Pseudo-Functionalism in Modern Architecture" (''

Partisan Review ''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a left-wing small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affi ...

'', July 1949) and the book ''Contemporary Art Applied to the Store and Its Display'' (New York: Brentano, 1930). Stefi Kiesler died in September 1963. In 1964, the year before his death, Kiesler married Lillian Olinsey, his longtime secretary and confidante, as Stefi had advised him to do while she was still living. In May 1965, he traveled to Jerusalem for the inauguration of the

Shrine of the Book The Shrine of the Book (, ''Heikhal HaSefer'') is a wing of the Israel Museum in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem that houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Aleppo Codex, among others. History The building was constructed in 1965, funded by ...

; seven months later he died in New York City.

Design and architectural career

Kiesler was productive as a theater and art-exhibition designer in the 1920s in Vienna and Berlin. In 1920, he started a brief collaboration with architect

Adolf Loos Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos (; 10 December 1870 – 23 August 1933) was an Austrian and Czechoslovak architect, influential European theorist, and a polemicist of modern architecture. He was inspired by modernism and a widely-known c ...

and, in 1923, became a member of the

De Stijl De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...

group in 1923. Kiesler was friendly with many of the major figures of the European

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

, which may have influenced his heretical approach to artistic theories and practices. Already in 1922, Kiesler created a multimedia design for the Berlin production of

Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright, critic and journalist. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel '' War with the Newts'' (1936) and play '' R.U.R.'' (''Rossum' ...

's ''Rossum’s Universal Robots''. Kiesler used a kinetic design that included moving side screens and a 2.5 metre iris. Moreover, film sequences were projected onto a waterfall, making it the first production in history that married media projection and flowing water. Kiesler organised the Internationale Ausstellung neuer Theatertechnik in Vienna in 1924 and on September 24, 1924 arranged the world premiere of the 16-minute film ''

Ballet mécanique ''Ballet Mécanique'' (1923–24) is a Dadaist, post-Cubist art film conceived, written, and co-directed by the artist Fernand Léger and the filmmaker Dudley Murphy (with cinematographic input from Man Ray).Chilvers, Ian & Glaves-Smith, John ...

'', directed by

Dudley Murphy Dudley Bowles Murphy (July 10, 1897 – February 22, 1968) was an American film director. Early life Murphy was born on July 10, 1897, in Winchester, Massachusetts, to the artists Caroline Hutchinson (Bowles) Murphy (1868–1923) and Herma ...

and

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

, with

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...

. In November 1975, Lillian Kiesler, Frederick's second wife, found Léger's original spliced 35mm, 16-minute version of the film in the closet of their week-end house in the

Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End (Long Island), East End of Long Island, consist of the town (New York), towns of Southampton (town), New York, Southampton and East Hampton (town), New York, East Hampton, which together compose the South Fork ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, near New York City. This version, restored by

Anthology Film Archives Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the film preservation, preservation, film studies, study, and film distribution, exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent film, independent, experimental film, ex ...

, has since been included in the documentary film compilation ''Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1893–1941'' (released as a seven-disc DVD set by Image Entertainment, October 2005). The music for the film was originally composed by

George Antheil George Johann Carl Antheil ( ; July 8, 1900 – February 12, 1959) was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author, and inventor whose modernist musical compositions explored the sounds – musical, industrial, and mechanical – of the ear ...

, who used it to create a separate concert piece, also named ''Ballet mécanique'', which premiered in Paris in 1926. His architectural designs include the Film Guild Cinema (1929) in New York City and, with Armand Phillip Bartos, the

(1965) in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, Israel. From 1937 to 1943, Kiesler was the director of the Laboratory for Design Correlation within the Department of Architecture at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where the study program was more pragmatic and commercially oriented than his deep, theoretical concepts and ideas, such as those about "correalism" or "continuity," which concern the relationship among space, people, objects and concepts. For his object designs, such as the biomorphic furniture in his Abstract Gallery room of

Peggy Guggenheim Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemianism, bohemian, and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who we ...

’s ''

The Art of This Century Gallery The Art of This Century gallery was opened by Peggy Guggenheim at 30 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City on October 20, 1942. The gallery occupied two commercial spaces on the seventh floor of a building that was part of the midtown arts ...

'' art salon (1942), for example. For it, he sought to dissolve the visual, real, image, and environment into a free-flowing space. He likewise pursued this approach with his “ Endless House,” exhibited in maquette form in 1958–59 at

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

. The project stemmed from his shop-window displays of the 1920s and his Film Guild Cinema in New York City, mentioned above. Pursuing display and art-gallery work, he was a window designer for

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...

from 1928 to 1930. Earlier in his career in Europe, Kiesler invented the 1924 L+T (Leger und Trager) radical hanging system for galleries and museums. His unorthodox architectural drawings and plans that he called "polydimensional" were somewhat akin to Surrealist automatic drawings. He designed some intriguing furniture, a few pieces of which were featured in the yearbook of the short-lived American Union of Decorative Artists and Craftsmen (AUDAC); he was a founding member of the organization in 1930. Some models of the furniture — none of which was reproduced in numbers as intended — have been posthumously manufactured in limited quantities by various firms in Europe since 1990. The most popular has been the cast-aluminum "Two-Part Nesting Table" (1935).

Galaxies and installational works

During the 1950s, Kiesler created a series of paintings called ''Galaxies'', which translated his vision of space into multi-paneled installations that protruded from the wall. Combining painting, sculpture and drawing, the ''Galaxies'' were presented as grouped units. To Kiesler, the space between the different parts was just as important as the paintings themselves, marking a reflection of the “inner necessity” of the work as a whole. He noted that it was the same as what “breathing is to our body reality.” Kiesler wrote further: These multi-paneled paintings were also sparked by the artist's response to the political and social upheaval of his time. Conceived only a few years after the atomic bombings of

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

and

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

, Kiesler described his inspiration for the ''Galaxies'' as follows: Kiesler’s body of sculptural works also incorporate similar philosophies, uniting individual pieces with specific placements, further illustrating his theories of human-design relationships. His installation of ''Us, You, Me'' (completed 1963–65), included pieces in bronze, aluminum, wood, granite, and concrete in various sizes, and was shown at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

/Times Square Gallery (2004), The Parrish Art Museum (2003), and the University of Iowa Museum of Art (1995). The idea of sculpture as a landscape in ''Us, You, Me'' reflects upon Kiesler’s history with stage design, and the subject matters marking underlying anxieties of modern life. Kiesler’s final sculpture ''Bucephalus'', inspired by Alexander the Great’s battle horse, was to be entered by the viewer and used as a grotto for meditation. The sculpture was conceived in concrete and mesh by Kiesler and his assistant, Len Pitkowsky, between 1962–1965 and was posthumously cast in aluminum at the Polich Tallix Foundry, Rock Tavern, New York between 2006–2008.

Legacy

Kiesler was often shunned by his peers, although he was chosen in 1952 as one of "the 15 leading artists at mid-century" by The

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

and in 1957 became a fellow of the Graham Foundation in Chicago.

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i architects disapproved of his and Bartos's serving as the architects for the

(1957–65) because they were not Israelis, even though they were

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. Further objections to Kiesler were that he had not completed his architecture studies and had built no structures, despite having been a licensed architect in

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

since 1930. One of his colleagues at Columbia University joked: "If Kiesler wants to hold two pieces of wood together, he pretends he's never heard of nails or screws. He tests the tensile strengths of various metal alloys, experiments with different methods and shapes, and after six months comes up with a very expensive device that holds two pieces of wood together almost as well as a screw". The Austrian Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation was established in 1997 in Vienna with the acquisition of Frederick Kiesler's estate by the Republic of Austria, the City of Vienna and several private benefactors. Its task is to research Kiesler's legacy and to inscribe it into current architectural and artistic production. At the express wish of Frederick Kiesler’s widow Lillian, the Austrian Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts was endowed in 1997. The prize is endowed with 55,000 euros and is presented biennally alternately by the Republic of Austria and the City of Vienna. An international jury of experts, comprising theorists, artists and architects, bestows the prize for “extraordinary achievements in architecture and the arts that relate to Frederick Kiesler’s experimental and innovative attitudes and his theory of ‘correlated arts’ by transcending the boundaries between the traditional disciplines.” Recipients are: * Frank O. Gehry (1998) * Judith Barry (2000) *

Cedric Price Cedric Price FRIBA (11 September 1934 – 10 August 2003) was an English architect and influential teacher and writer on architecture. Early life and education The son of the architect A.G. Price, who worked with Harry Weedon, Price was b ...

(2002) * Asypmptote / Hani Rashid + Lise Anne Couture (2004) *

Olafur Eliasson Olafur Eliasson (; born 5 February 1967) is an Icelandic–Danish artist known for sculptured and large-scaled installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer's experience. In 1995, ...

(2006) *

Toyo Ito is a Japanese architect known for creating conceptual architecture, in which he seeks to simultaneously express the physical and virtual worlds. He is a leading exponent of architecture that addresses the contemporary notion of a "simulated ...

(2008) * Heimo Zobernig (2010) *

Andrea Zittel Andrea Zittel (born 1965) is an List of American artists, American artist based in Joshua Tree, California, Joshua Tree, CA. Her art and community work encompasses modes of living and design practice in an ongoing investigation that explores the ...

(2012) *

Bruce Nauman Bruce Nauman (born December 6, 1941) is an American artist. His practice spans a broad range of media including sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking, and performance. Nauman lives near Galisteo, New Mexico. Life and work ...

(2014) * Andrés Jaque (2016) *

Yona Friedman Yona Friedman (5 June 1923 – 20 February 2020) was a Hungarian-born French architect, urban planner and designer. He was influential in the late 1950s and early 1960s, best known for his theory of "mobile architecture". In 2018, on his 95th bir ...

(2018) * Theaster Gates (2021) * Junya Ishigami (2024)

Exhibitions

* "Galaxies by Kiesler", Sidney Janis Gallery, New York City, September 27 – October 19, 1954 * "Frederick Kiesler", Hochschule für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, 1975 * "Friedrich icKiesler—Visionär, 1890–1965", Museum moderner Kunst, Vienna, and touring, from 1988 * "Friedrick icKiesler",

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, New York City, 1989 * "Frederick Kiesler: arte, architettura, ambiente", Milan, Italy, 1995 * "Friederick icKiesler: artiste-architecte",

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

, Paris, July 3 – October 21, 1996 * "Frederick J. Kiesler: Endless Space", MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House, Los Angeles, December 6, 2000 – February 25, 2001 * "Frederick Kiesler: Co-Realities", Drawing Center, New York City, 2008 * "Die Kulisse explodiert. Friedrich Kiesler und das Theater", Österreichisches Theatermuseum, Vienna, October 25, 2012 – February 25, 2013; traveled to Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, March 20 – June 23, 2013 * "Frederick Kiesler: Life Visions",

Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna The MAK – Museum of Applied Arts (German: ''Museum für angewandte Kunst'') is an arts and crafts museum located at Stubenring 5 in Vienna's 1st district Innere Stadt. Besides its traditional orientation towards arts and crafts and design, the ...

, 2016 * "Inside the Endless House. Re-Reading Friedrich/Frederick Kiesler", MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst / Gegenwartskunst, Vienna, June 15 – September 25, 2016 * "Friedrich Kiesler: Architect, Artist, Visionary",

Martin-Gropius-Bau Martin-Gropius-Bau, commonly known as Gropius Bau, is an important exhibition space in Berlin, Germany. Originally a museum of applied arts, the building has been a listed historical monument since 1966. It is located at 7 Niederkirchnerstraße ...

, Berlin, March 11 – June 11, 2017 * "Frederick Kiesler: Us, You, Me", Kunsthaus Zug, Zug, February 25 – May 26, 2024 * "Frederick Kiesler: Vision Machines",

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. Notable Jewish museums include: Albania * Solomon Museum, Berat Australia * Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourn ...

, New York, April 25 – July 28, 2024

References

Sources

The Austrian Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation

External links

*
Austrian Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation website

Shrine of the Book in Israel Museum

''Two Projects by Frederick Kiesler''
a film by Heinz Emigholz, Austria/Germany 2006/09 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiesler, Frederick 1890 births 1965 deaths Artists from Chernivtsi 20th-century American architects Columbia University faculty TU Wien alumni Austrian Jews Bukovina Jews American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni Architectural theoreticians