The Jewish-born Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer is
probably best-known for his brutalist design of New
York City’s Whitney Museum of American Art
completed in 1966. However, Breuer’s revolutionary
experimental house designs during the McCarthy era
and its Cold War politics in the early 1950s to the
The Jewish-born Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer is probably best-known for his brutalist design of New York City’s Whitney Museum of American Art completed in 1966. However, Breuer’s revolutionary experimental house designs during the McCarthy era and its Cold War politics in the early 1950s to the
radical Vietnam war years and free love of the late
1960s have garnered far less attention, though they
remain a potent chapter in American architecture,
particularly in the Connecticut suburbs of New York.
Breuer’s Bohemia explores an enclave of houses
commissioned by a community of left-wing
radical Vietnam war years and free love of the late 1960s have garnered far less attention, though they remain a potent chapter in American architecture, particularly in the Connecticut suburbs of New York. Breuer’s Bohemia explores an enclave of houses commissioned by a community of left-wing
intellectuals led by the industrialist Rufus Cole
Stillman, Breuer’s personal Medici and a partisan for
change. Stillman was an enforcer of modernism
whose obsession with building “in his own time” flew
in the face of a conservative postwar establishment
that favored the status quo. Breuer and his assertive
intellectuals led by the industrialist Rufus Cole Stillman, Breuer’s personal Medici and a partisan for change. Stillman was an enforcer of modernism whose obsession with building “in his own time” flew in the face of a conservative postwar establishment that favored the status quo. Breuer and his assertive
patrons challenged New England tradition with a plan
to build or influence the building of houses, schools,
factories and libraries that represented the modern
liberal reformist future they collectively envisioned. An
architecturally visual film, tragedy and heartbreak
nevertheless belie its narrative as Breuer’s hard driving
patrons challenged New England tradition with a plan to build or influence the building of houses, schools, factories and libraries that represented the modern liberal reformist future they collectively envisioned. An architecturally visual film, tragedy and heartbreak nevertheless belie its narrative as Breuer’s hard driving
patrons struggle with personal fallibility and loss.
It was a time of bohemian pleasure with raucous
parties, heavy drinking and adultery but also
homophobia and suicide. Breuer’s Bohemia stitches
together the progressive social fabric supporting
these iconic works of residential architecture while
patrons struggle with personal fallibility and loss. It was a time of bohemian pleasure with raucous parties, heavy drinking and adultery but also homophobia and suicide. Breuer’s Bohemia stitches together the progressive social fabric supporting these iconic works of residential architecture while
illuminating the stories of the individuals that insisted
on Breuer-designed homes. As Breuer and his firm
were going global, the film also shows how the
architect was a champion of diversity and inclusivity,
hiring many women which was highly unusual at that
time. The women, particularly those of color, included
illuminating the stories of the individuals that insisted on Breuer-designed homes. As Breuer and his firm were going global, the film also shows how the architect was a champion of diversity and inclusivity, hiring many women which was highly unusual at that time. The women, particularly those of color, included
Beverly Loraine Greene, the first Black woman
licensed to practice architecture in the US.
With an immersive original score by composer
Sacha Puttnam and sweepingly beautiful
cinematography, Breuer’s Bohemia sheds light
on a beloved architect and a fascinating community of
utopian dreamers in postwar America.
Beverly Loraine Greene, the first Black woman licensed to practice architecture in the US.