Eames: The Architect & The Painter Page #15

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BEEBE:
I think their marriage,

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it was a mystery to everybody,

in a way.

1303

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They were emotionally

extremely bonded.

1304

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But he found excitement

and thrills outside of Ray,

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and outside of the Office,

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which was really

crushing to her.

1307

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WECHSLER:
I met him when he was

on the visiting committee

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forthe architecture department

at M.I.T.

1309

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And I was a young

assistant professor.

1310

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Charles said, "Let's experiment

1311

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with some films on art."

1312

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I have many, many letters,

extraordinary letters.

1313

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Because we didn't live

in the same city,

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we tried to see each other

as we could.

1315

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He had come to London,

1316

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and I was there,

and I could not get away.

1317

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And he said, "I will come

and stand in front of the house

1318

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at a certain time," and I

slipped out of this

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rather formal dinner,

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and there he was, and we just

looked at each other.

1321

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We had a very profound love

for each other.

1322

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He wanted very much

for us to get married

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and to have a child,

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and to close...

he wanted to close

1325

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the Eames Office in Venice,

1326

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which he found very burdensome,

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and for us to open an office

together in New York.

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And I made a decision...

1329

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and I don't know if was

the right decision...

1330

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that I couldn't do it to Ray.

1331

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Because I had a friendship

with her,

1332

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but above all because they had

been together so long,

1333

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and I knew how much

she depended on him.

1334

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And I said, "I can't do it."

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BEEBE:
Ray dealt with it

very privately.

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She was hurt deeply,

1337

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but she wasn't

the kind of person

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who would have said,

"It's me or her."

1339

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OPPEWALL:
I don't think

she wanted to leave.

1340

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I think itwas something

that she had to accept.

1341

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This wasn't the era

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of easy-come, easy-go

relationships.

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01:
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There was too much

shared life and community,

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and the fact that he, you know,

1345

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had other relationships outside

of the Office...

1346

01:
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he seemed to be constructed

that way.

1347

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KIRKHAM:
But there is a position

that I think is nonsense,

1348

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which is to say that because

Charles was having

1349

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a relationship

with somebody else

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that he couldn't then carry on

a collaboration with Ray.

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I mean,

that clearly didn't happen.

1352

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FRANCO:
In fact, Charles and Ray

were about to collaborate

1353

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on the largest,

most complex project

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the Office would

ever undertake.

1355

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Forthe nation's bicentennial

celebration in 1976,

1356

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the Eames Office designed

1357

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"The World

of Franklin and Jefferson,"

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a traveling show made up

of three films,

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40,000 words

translated into four languages,

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and thousands of photographs

and objects,

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including a stuffed bison.

1362

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When "Franklin and Jefferson"

opened in Paris,

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it was seen by 50,000 people

in two months.

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More than a thousand visitors

saw it each day

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in London and Warsaw.

1366

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But when it came to New York,

1367

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the reception was different.

1368

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ALBRECHT:
When it appeared at

the Metropolitan Museum of Art,

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iThe New York Times/i reviewed it,

and the headline was,

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"What Is This Stuff

Doing at the Met?"

1371

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Ltwas one of the first times

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the Eameses were ever

criticized.

1373

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It had an enormous

amount of text.

1374

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Nobody could have possibly read

it all, it was so dense.

1375

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WURMAN:
This show was

a bit picky for me,

1376

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too many little objects

that I would remember none.

1377

01:
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It was too many things to see.

1378

01:
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I can remember about ten things.

1379

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He knew so much

about all these things,

1380

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he couldn't edit out something.

1381

01:
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These are things

of the period

1382

01:
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and of the time,

from Mount Vernon.

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WURMAN:
They were all

so interesting to him,

1384

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and he was familiar with them,

1385

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and he could see all these

connections.

1386

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But you can't keep it all

in your head

1387

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if you're not

that familiarwith it.

1388

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OPPEWALL:
You could

call itclutter, butthat's not

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what Charles

would have called it,

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because clutter is

just stuff that's

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dropped and abandoned

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