Interested in industrial design, husband and wife creative teams, designs with lasting influence? Then check out: Eames: The Architect & the Painter (2011), written by Jason Cohn, directed by Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey.
This is probably one of the best documentary/biography films I’ve seen. Beyond the history and collaboration of this couple and the people who worked with them, this bio covers a lot of ground capturing both the depth and breadth of their work: from the famous Eames Chair to the fun films they created such as Toccata for Toy Trains (1957); their 1959 film Glimpses of the U.S.A. commissioned for and presented at the American National Exhibition in Moscow during the Cold War; to their design for the IBM Pavillion at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York; to one you may have all seen in science class, Powers of Ten (1968).
The directors make great use of 85 minutes. I was never bored neither did I feel things were left out or glossed over. They make use of footage from the Eames design studio in Venice, CA; interviews with the design team, colleagues, clients, friends; newsreel footage and clips from Eamse’s films.
The Eames chair along with other Eames furniture designs are still available from Herman Miller. The design is solid, works and is continues to be used. An original commands around $7,000.00 at auction. Eames furniture has been on exhibit and is part of the collection at MoMA.
Glimpses of the U.S.A. was actually a complex display of seven screens, twenty-by-thirty feet each, suspended in Buckminster Fuller’s Golden Dome.
I recommend this movie and would happily watch it again. Hope you like it!
Check out also: interview by Madame L’Amic of the Musée des Arts Decoratifs: “How Does Charles Eames Define Design?”
