Arts & Architecture 1945-49

David F. Travers is the former editor and publisher of Arts & Architecture, which he ran from 1962 until 1967. He was a consultant for architects, including The Architects Collaborative, William Pereira, Charles and Ray Eames, and Daniel Mann Johnson & Mendenhall. He was also a founding member of Action for a Better Los Angeles, and served as president of the Architectural Guild at the University of Southern California. He lives in Santa Monica.

How Arts and Architecture paved the way in post-war construction and culture

From the end of World War II until the mid-1960s, exciting things were happening in American architecture. Emerging talents were focusing on innovative projects that integrated at once modern design and low-cost materials. The trend was most notably embodied in the famous Case Study House Program, a blueprint for modern habitation championed by the era’s leading American journal, Arts & Architecture.

The complete facsimile of the ambitious and groundbreaking Arts & Architecture was published by TASCHEN in 2008 as a limited edition. This new curation—directed and produced by Benedikt Taschen—brings together all the covers and the highlights from the first five years of the legendary magazine, with a special focus on the Case Study House Program and its luminary pioneers including Neutra, Schindler, Saarinen, Ellwood, Lautner, Eames, and Koenig.

A celebration of the first brave years of a politically, socially and culturally engaged publication, this special selection is also a testimony to one of the most unique and influential events in the history of American architecture.