A Journey through Modernist Architecture

---

26 Sept - 28 Oct at PM Gallery

"A Journey Though Modernist Architecture Exhibition" at Pitzhanger Manor begins this month

A new exhibition celebrating the modernist architecture of one of the greatest German architects of the 20th century, Eric Mendelsohn, opens at PM Gallery, Ealing, West London, on 26 September 2006.

The exhibition, a series of films showing on 12 screens in four groups, takes visitors inside four of Mendelsohn’s major buildings: Schocken department store building, Chemnitz, Germany (1927) Metal Workers’ Union (IGM) Building, Berlin (1929) De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex (1934) B’nai Amoona Synagogue (now the Centre of Creative Arts), St. Louis, USA (1945).

Graham Ellard and Stephen Johnstone’s film sweeps through the iconic buildings, emphasising the use of space and light within each, and the details of Mendelsohn’s designs - the fluidity of handrails, spiralling glass-encased stairwells and sweeping curved walls and windows. The camera is moving constantly, revealing myriad sightlines and, in effect, conducting a roving examination of Mendelsohn’s work.

The German Jewish architect Mendelsohn, who lived in the UK since 1933, is considered one of the most important German architects of the 20th century. His buildings were erected in Germany, the Soviet Union, Norway, England, Palestine and the USA. With his very first buildings, the Einstein Tower in Potsdam, the hat factory in Luckenwalde and the Mosse Building in Berlin, he catapulted himself to the forefront of the avant-garde. He subsequently received numerous commissions to design department stores, commercial buildings, factories, private houses and to plan shop conversions.

The video work, which presents a form of ‘table top’ video sculpture, continues the artists’ questioning of the conventions by which architecture is represented on film and is accompanied by a series of drawings by both artists, not previously shown at Bexhill-on-Sea. Graham Ellard and Stephen Johnstone have collaborated since 1993 and Motion Path further develops the artists’ thirteen-year exploration of immersive environments, film and architecture, video projection and architectural space. Their work has been shown in galleries and museums throughout Europe, including the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Tate Liverpool; Kiasma, Helsinki; Tramway, Glasgow and The Photographers’ Gallery, London.

Pitzhanger Manor, location of the exhibition, was built by Sir John Soane as a place to entertain his friends and display his collection of art and antiquities. Helen Walker, Arts Manager, PM Gallery & House, said ‘The venue for Motion Path is entirely appropriate. Soane was once referred to as ‘the first modernist’ and Ellard and Johnstone’s work complements the entirely innovative and radical design of Pitzhanger Manor and Soane’s own inventive use of space and light.’ The architect Sir John Soane bought Pitzhanger Manor-House in 1800, when he was architect and surveyor to the Bank of England. Soane intended to build his ‘dream’ house, a country villa designed to show off his own architectural style, with stripped classical detail, radical colour schemes and inventive use of light and space. On completion in 1804, Pitzhanger became Soane’s rural retreat, a place to entertain his famous peers, including the artist JMW Turner, at weekends. He displayed his fine art collection at the House, including the eight paintings of Hogarth’s ‘A Rake’s Progress’, purchased in 1802 specifically for display at Pitzhanger. Soane sold the House in 1810 and the collection originally displayed at Pitzhanger can now be found at the Sir John Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London.

Tuesday 26 September-Saturday 28 October 2006.

Admission is free.

PM Gallery, Walpole Park, Mattock Lane, Ealing, W5 5EQ Opening hours: Tues-Fri: 1-5pm; Sat: 11am-5pm; Closed Sundays and Mondays.

For more information telephone 020 8567 1227 or visit www.ealing.gov.uk/pmgalleryandhouse

September 25, 2006