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S30 Ep9: Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future | Clip

Aline Louchheim and Eero Saarinen

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Aline Louchheim, an art critic at the New York Times, quickly developed a strong relationship with Eero Saarinen.

Major funding for American Masters — Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future is provided by the A. Alfred Taubman Foundation. Additional funding is provided in part by American Institute of Architects, National Endowment for the Arts, The Durst Family, Vital Projects Fund, Eric and Katherine Larson Family Fund, MCR Development LLC, Gerald D. Hines, Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown, KieranTimberlake, KPF Foundation, and Daryl and Steven Roth Foundation.

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Major support for American Masters is provided by AARP. Additional funding is provided by Rosalind P. Walter, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Judith and Burton Resnick, Ellen and James S. Marcus, Lillian Goldman Programming Endowment, The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, Vital Projects Fund, Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family, The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, Lenore Hecht Foundation, Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation, and public television viewers.

Features

Clip | Eero Saarinen and Aline Louchheim’s Shared Ambition
Clip | Eero Saarinen’s Design of the CBS Building in New York City
Clip | How Eero Saarinen Imagined the Ingalls Rink at Yale
Clip | Conquering gravity with Saarinen at the TWA Flight Center
Clip | Eero Saarinen’s Revolutionary Design of the Dulles Airport
Clip | Eliel and Eero Saarinen’s Work on First Christian Church
Clip | Eero Saarinen’s Design of the MIT Chapel
Clip | Reconstructing Eero Saarinen’s MIT Chapel
Clip | Marking Man’s Time on Earth at General Motors
Eero Saarinen’s Search for Architecture
Clip | Eero and Eliel Saarinen Compete for St. Louis
Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future - Trailer
About the Film
TRANSCRIPT

Aline Louchheim was an art critic at the New York Yimes and she had written an article about Eliel Saarinen and she suggested to her editor that they do a story on Eero Saarinen. She took the train to Detroit to meet and interview Eero Saarinen and of course it was a very - turned out to be a very significant meeting. I remember the first time we were alone together then sneaking into Cranbrook and the darkroom and the black coat at the threshold and making love for the first time - hurriedly but so that we both knew this was only the first time. Then the drive to the airport, and I looked at you very intently and thought how much I did want to see you again. It is difficult for me to express how terribly pleased I am that you seem to like me more than you anticipated because I really seem to like you.

I know it seems astonishing that we should this quickly have reached this degree of love. I remember how sweetly you said to me, 'It's so quick that it wouldn't make any sense to anyone else but it makes sense to me.' It makes sense to me too, darling.

First, I recognize that you're very clever - that you are perceptive, that you are generous, that you are beautiful, that you have a marvelous sense of humor, that you have a very, very beautiful body, that you are unbelievably generous to me, that the more one digs the foundations, the more and more one finds the solidest of granite for you and I to build a life together upon.

She was married and, by then, divorced.

She had two teenage sons. For whatever reason they seemed to have a very instant chemistry. They were also very interested in each other intellectually, and Aline could discuss whatever he was working on at the office.

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