This show, in all honesty, was an excuse to take a closer look at the Bailey house (1953), one that I had only passed by once before many years ago. Though I wasn't able to go inside nor view the show in its entirety, the transparency of the home and its openness afforded a fairly complete look. Along the way, some of the ceramic objects were quite nice and nicely appointed. I particularly liked the concrete/ceramic bench with the cantilevered section. While it may not have exactly fit the context of midcentury formally, it did so I believe in idea; something about it recalls Frank Lloyd Wright. I guess it was the stepped falling sections akin to Fallingwater (1935). In fact, on the note of falling water as I learned after visiting, the moat around the Bailey House used to pump water onto the roof only to fall down the sides; it was designed for cooling the house which didn't have eaves. What a great way to utilize form and function; I bet it sounded nice too. This use of water to surround a building also led me to think about the moat at LACMA that was part of the original, 1965 design. Currently, with such a tenuous relationship to water in this region, it's unfortunate to think how this must change. In fact, I was surprised that this moat wasn't empty and filled with river stones like, for example the ones inside LACMA's Japanese Pavilion, itself designed by Bruce Goff (1978-88). Of course, this Japanese tradition of using compilations of rocks to suggest water (movement and current) is well-established. In fact such uses can be found at this very Bailey house, but in more restrained form. So, if there were a way to bring this about full circle, it would be to wonder about an art exhibition titled "Modernism," held within and without one of the quintessential mid-century modernist dwellings. Curious because the art objects were less "modernist" than they were something else which, whether or not purposeful, heightened the modern clarity that is the Case Study House 21.
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