“Modernism, Inc.” is a new documentary about legendary American designer and architect Eliot Noyes. You don’t have to be a fan of mid-century modernism, industrial and graphic design like me to love this film. But if you are, this is a must-see. It opens July 19 at IFC in Manhattan. There will be Q&A’s with director Jason Cohn (co-director of 2018’s wonderful “Eames: The Architect and the Painter”) at the 6:50 p.m. screenings on the 19th and 20th. Go here for tickets and showtimes.
Noyes is renowned for re-branding IBM, for designing the IBM Selectric typewriter, for being a member of what became known as “The Harvard Five”–a group of architects who practiced innovative design in New Canaan, Connecticut–and for being the founder of the influential International Design Conference at Aspen (IDCA).
Studying architecture at Harvard in the 1930’s, he was disappointed to find that the school was still teaching the Beaux-Arts design tradition (symmetry, classical ornamentation). He knew about the exciting new ideas being taught at the Bauhaus school in Germany. When one of the key members of that school, Walter Gropius, began teaching at Harvard, Noyes was mentored by him.
Noyes believed that every region of the United States should have a different design strategy based upon the climate of the area. He also thought that American furniture was hopelessly ornate and heavy. “For Noyes,” the narrator says, “beauty derived from the object’s usefulness.” An early job as the head of the industrial design department of MOMA led to his highly influential show called “Organic Design in Home Furnishings” in 1940. This led to fruitful collaborations with two other giants of 20th century design, Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen.
His career was interrupted by World War II. Noyes joined the Army Air Force and helped promote the use of gliders in the European campaign. (He had flown gliders during his college days.) One of the officers he taught to fly was Thomas J. Watson, Jr., son of the CEO of IBM. Noyes ran into him after the war while working at the corporate giant and when the junior Watson took over from his father he put Eliot in charge of their corporate branding.
Noyes’ collaboration with graphic design master Paul Rand (who we learn was not a very pleasant person!) led to a revolution in corporate design and logo strategy. They were appalled by the inconsistency within the company: multiple logos, no design guidelines, confusing directives. What they produced was the first comprehensive design strategy for a company. Noyes went on to remake the design of many other corporations, including the look of Mobil gas stations.
The doc does a remarkable job of telling the parallel story of his career and his family life. His wife had studied architecture, too; she didn’t practice it but had a huge influence on him by giving him notes on his plans. (He worked from his own studio in New Canaan.) Two of his sons recount what it was like to live in the mid-century modernist house he built for his family. Like many occupants of these beautiful homes, there were pluses and minuses. For example, a middle section was not roofed; the bathroom was only in the parent’s part of the house so the kids had to run through the snow in winter to use it!
In 1970 his son Eli (who was a pioneer animator) and Claudia Weill (“Girlfriends”) filmed a documentary of the last Aspen design conference Eliot organized. It was a turning point for Noyes and for American design. A radical San Francisco architect filled a bus full of hippies (the “Ant Farm” collective) and sent them to disrupt the meeting, demanding less attention to the needs of huge corporations and more to the urgency of low-cost housing and environmental concerns. Though Noyes was genuinely curious about these new ideas and remarkably obliging to the uninvited participants, he complained afterwards to Saul Bass (the animator who did the great title sequences for Alfred Hitchcock and Otto Preminger films) that “I’m not political!” Of course, this was the era where “Everything is political!” rightfully became a slogan. He resigned as the President of the IDCA.
Combining a wealth of fascinating footage of his life and work, with incisive insights by his family, friends and leading contemporary designers, “Modernist, Inc.” is an essential and very entertaining study of how one brilliant man changed design theory and practice in the last century.