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Bad Gays

Philip Johnson

Bad Gays

Huw Lemmey & Ben Miller

History

4.5934 Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2020

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Philip Cortelyou Johnson may be more responsible than anyone for the shift from Modernism as a new way of living to Modernism as an elite bauble. Born into immense power and privilege, he was a deeply committed elitist, and dilettante fascist, who used his money and connections to whitewash his youthful (and ongoing) embrace of Hitler in specific and far-right politics in general. As a key curator and preacher of the Modernist gospel in the United States, he was central in divorcing the style from its egalitarian political aspirations. In response to criticism, he said: “I am a whore. Very well paid.” Visit our website for T-shirts, an episode archive, and more information about the show. ----more---- SOURCES: Fixsen, Anna. “The Power and Paradox of Philip Johnson.” Metropolis, December 3, 2018. https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/philip-johnson-biography-mark-lamster-interview/.   Goldberger, Paul. “A New Biography of the Architect Philip Johnson, the ‘Man in the Glass House.’” The New York Times, December 20, 2018, sec. Books. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/books/review/mark-lamster-philip-johnson-man-in-the-glass-house.html.   Johnson, Philip, Robert A. M. Stern, and Kazys Varnelis. The Philip Johnson Tapes: Interviews by Robert A.M. Stern. 1st ed. New York: Monacelli Press, 2008.   Kaiser, Charles. The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America. 1. Grove Press ed. New York: Grove Press, 2007.   Lamster, Mark. The Man in the Glass House: Philip Johnson, Architect of the Modern Century. First edition. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2018.   Ravenscroft, Tom. “Bjarke Ingels Meets Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro to ‘Change the Face of Tourism in Brazil.’” Dezeen, January 17, 2020. https://www.dezeen.com/2020/01/17/bjarke-ingels-jair-bolsonaro-brazil-president/.   ———. “Criticism of Jair Bolsonaro Meeting Is ‘an Oversimplification of a Complex World’ Says Bjarke Ingels.” Dezeen, January 23, 2020. https://www.dezeen.com/2020/01/23/jair-bolsonaro-bjarke-ingels/.   Schulze, Franz. Philip Johnson: Life and Work. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1996.   Stern, Mark J. “‘The Glass House’ as Gay Space: Exploring the Intersection of Homosexuality and Architecture.” Inquiries Journal 4, no. 06 (2012). http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/651/the-glass-house-as-gay-space-exploring-the-intersection-of-homosexuality-and-architecture.   Wainwright, Oliver. “‘Norman Said the President Wants a Pyramid’: How Starchitects Built Astana.” The Guardian, October 17, 2017, sec. Cities. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/oct/17/norman-foster-president-pyramid-architects-built-astana.   ———. “The Despot Dilemma: Should Architects Work for Repressive Regimes?” The Guardian, January 27, 2020, sec. Art and design. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jan/27/despot-dilemma-should-architects-work-for-repressive-regimes-bjarke-ingels.   Wortman, Marc. 1941: Fighting the Shadow War: A Divided America in a World at War. First edition. New York, NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2016.   ———. “Famed Architect Philip Johnson’s Hidden Nazi Past.” Vanity Fair. Accessed April 27, 2020. https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2016/04/philip-johnson-nazi-architect-marc-wortman.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to Badgays, a podcast all about evil and complicated queer people in history.

0:21.4

My name's Hugh Lemmy. I'm an author and writer. And I'm Ben Miller, a podcast all about evil and complicated queer people in history. My name's Hugh Lemmy.

0:22.5

I'm an author and writer.

0:23.9

And I'm Ben Miller, a writer, researcher, and member of the board of the Shvullis Museum in Berlin.

0:29.0

Last week, we discussed the art forger, Elmer de Horri.

0:32.3

Who we discussing this week, Ben?

0:35.1

Well, I want to open this episode by conjuring up two images.

0:40.5

Listener, wherever you are, I want you to close your eyes and imagine a stylish gay apartment.

0:46.6

What do you see?

0:48.4

Smooth, clean lines, mid-century furniture?

0:51.9

Maybe you're envisioning something like the glass house, designed by this

0:55.3

week's subject, the architect Philip Cortilieu Johnson, walls of uninterrupted sheets of clear glass,

1:02.0

a life-staged free of conventions. Now imagine a different image. Five sweaty men stand uncomfortably

1:09.3

on a line. The two in the center are dressed quite

1:12.1

differently from one another. The one on the right, in a black suit jacket and black t-shirt,

1:17.0

is the Danish architect, Bjorka Ingalls, famed for his much-hyped contributions to sustainable

1:21.7

design and infrastructure. To his left, in a suit and tie, stands the fascist president of Brazil, Hire Bolsonaro.

1:29.3

When this picture was taken, Ingalls was visiting Brazil and consulting with Bolsonaro to investigate sustainable tourism.

1:36.3

The last months, said the architect, have shown with jarring clarity that the social challenges of northeast Brazil are beginning to translate into ecological challenges. Presumably he was referring to fires caused by clear-cutting rainforest.

1:48.0

In the last months, Bolsonaro has only recommitted to clear-cutting more rainforest,

1:53.0

dispossessing the remaining indigenous tribes of their lands.

1:56.0

He is, in other words, not precisely, sustainable.

...

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