Background
He was the son of Edgar J. Kaufmann, a wealthy Pittsburgh businessman and philanthropist who owned Kaufmann"s department store, and his wife Liliane.
He was the son of Edgar J. Kaufmann, a wealthy Pittsburgh businessman and philanthropist who owned Kaufmann"s department store, and his wife Liliane.
Attended the School for Arts and Crafts at the American Museum of Applied Art in Vienna, in the late 1920s. He studied painting and typography for three years with Victor Hammer in Florence.
April 9, 1910 – July 31, 1989) is an American architect, lecturer, and author Edgar junior Edgar junior was a resident apprentice in architecture at Frank Lloyd Wright"s Taliesin East School and Studio from 1933 to 1934. According to fallingwater.org, he was particular about spelling his name "Edgar Kaufmann junior".
He served in the United States military during World World War World War II Afterwards, he was director of the Industrial Design Department at the Museum of Modern Art (Museum of Modern Art) in New York City.
From 1963 to 1986, Edgar junior was an adjunct professor of Architecture and Art History at Columbia University. He authored several books on Wright architecture and modern design, and was a contributor to Arts + Architecture journal and Encyclopædia Britannica.
Edgar junior strongly supported his father"s decision to commission Frank Lloyd Wright for the famous 1936 house over Bear Run, in Stewart Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. After his father’s death in 1955, Edgar junior inherited the house, continuing to use and share it as a mountain retreat until 1963. died in 1989.
His ashes were scattered around the property at.
In 1940, Edgar wrote to Alfred Barr of the Museum of Modern Art, proposing the Organic Design in Home Furnishings Competition, won by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen. Edgar"s greatest accomplishment during his tenure at Museum of Modern Art was the "Good Design" program of 1950 to 1955, in which the museum joined with the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, promoting good design in household objects and furnishings.
