Esoteric Survey

Northland Shopping Center (1954) by Victor Gruen
Located in Southfield, MI, a Detroit suburb, Northland was the largest shopping center in the country. Alvin Lustig collaborated with Gruen on the identity and signage. Source: Laboratoire Urbanisme Insurrectionnel


It was a big deal. Life magazine even did a big spread on the opening of the center. 

Source: LIFE, 1954


Source: LIFE, 1954


Giraffe family by Malcolm Moran




Source: Laboratoire Urbanisme Insurrectionnel

Alvin Lustig designed the logo and some environmental signage for Gruen.
Image: Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig
Lustig parking lot sign
Image: Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig
Source: Life Magazine, 1954
1956 photo of the Lustig-designed water tower located at the edge of the shopping center.
Photo: Mike Grobbel
Totem by Gwen Lux

Alvin Lustig's uncredited appearance in Maya Deren's experimental silent short 'At Land' (1944).
Lustig would have been 100 this year.

Robinson Jeffers by William Van Wyck (1938).  The first book project by Alvin Lustig. Only 250 were printed.
The Ward Ritchie Press did the printing.
I found these vacation photos of an unknown family who went to the Wayfarers Chapelby Lloyd Wright and to Long Beach.  Why I bought them, I have no idea.

La Gardo Tackett and Van Keppel Green 
Rocker by Hans Mitzlaff & Albrecht Lange. Made in the USSR
Smalls David Stewart pots and iron
Alvin Lustig cover forNew Directions : New Classics 9 -- The Great Gatsby, by F Scott Fitzgerald It's rare to be able to complete a collection. Now what? 
Japanese Postmodern clock by Syohei Mihara

Ficks Folder
Early Paul Tuttle Z chair for California maker Carson Johnson.
 Luther Conover with Tuttle and a couple of foreigners. 
Alvin Lustig
Smalls and more Conover

Alvin Lustig cover forNew Directions : New Classics 25 -- Poems, Wilfred Owen One spendy volume left.
Roland Smith lamp
Fancy French sculpture book
I stayed local, so the pile was light.

Herbert Bayer, lighting and teak
Alvin Lustig
General merchandise My favorite thing from the weekend is the Japanese stand.
My Jean Balmer rock has a new perch.

Designing Home: Jews and Midcentury Modernism  Contemporary Jewish Museum  This exhibition, curated by Donald Albrecht, is a survey of contributions made by Jewish designers, architects and patrons on the midcentury modern America home.  The museum and curators did a great job on the exhibition design.
Guest curator Albrecht couldn't have selected a better group of designers. 
 Alvin Lustig
This Lustig combo deserves another angle.  The textile and Paramount chair are on loan from Elaine Lustig Cohen.
Muriel Coleman The Coleman chair is on loan from the Museum of California Design
George Nelson
George Nelson/Irving Harper marshmallow sofa and Anni Albers textiles
Marcel Breuer
Rudolph Schindler
Ben Seibel
Trude Guermonprez
Ruth Adler Schnee

Elaine Lustig Cohen
Alvin Lustig covers and Eugene Deutch ceramics 
Gregory Ain / Good Design There's a ton of gr