Percival Goodman

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Percival Goodman (born January 13, 1904 in New York City ; died October 11, 1989 ) was an American architect and city ​​planner . He became known primarily because he designed more than 50 synagogues between 1948 and 1983 and is considered a pioneer of modern synagogue art. As an urban planner, Goodman was an advocate of rational planning. In Germany he became famous through his brother the writer Paul Goodman and the jointly written book Communitas .

Life

Percival Goodman was born and raised in New York City , where he began his studies. He received a prize from the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects Paris and then continued his studies in architecture at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris . Goodman established himself as a versatile architect and urban planning expert . From 1946 to 1971 he was Professor of Architecture at Columbia University . Goodman also designed furniture for mass production. In 1932 he illustrated an edition of the book The Golden Ass of Apuleius ( Asinus aureus ), edited by Jack Lindsay at Limited Editions Club , New York. Together with his brother Paul Goodman , he wrote and illustrated the book Communitas in 1947 , which describes a social order of the future. In 1977 Goodman published The Double E , in which he addressed the ecological aspects of urban planning.

As a theoretician of urban planning, Goodman stood for the fact that rational planning would be suitable for building better cities. He criticized the urban planning efforts in his hometown of New York as being too timid and short-sighted. Although he himself was a member of the American Institute of Architects , he criticized the organization because, in his opinion, it was irrelevant since it failed to take moral or political positions.

About his religious background, Percival Goodman himself said that he was an agnostic who was converted by Hitler , which he attributed to the atrocities of the Nazis and his reading of the works of Martin Buber . The synagogues designed by Goodman are small and intimate, which should promote a sense of community unity and participation in religious events. To achieve these effects, he used warm materials such as wood. One of Goodman's trademarks was that he integrated modern sculptures and works of art into his architecture, in their interaction with natural light. The artist was an indispensable contributor to Goodman, to whom he gave an important place in his projects. In this regard, he was a pioneer of modern synagogue art in the United States of America.

Works (selection)

  • with Paul Goodman: Communitas - ways of life and life possibilities of human communities. Cologne 1994: Moll and Eckhardt. ISBN 978-3-926176-59-2 .
  • The Double E , New York 1977: Anchor Press. ISBN 978-0-385128-68-1 .
  • Illustrator for various works

literature

  • Avram Kampf: Contemporary Synagogue Art. Union of American Hebrew Congregations. 2nd edition 1966. ISBN 978-0-685838-15-0 . P .: 37ff.
  • Rohan Saxena Entry Percival Goodman in: Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nd edition. Detroit 2007: Thomson Gale. Vol. 7. p .: 758.
  • Rachel Wischnitzer: Synagogue Architecture in the United States. Jewish Publication Society of America (1955) pp .: 141ff.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Rohan Saxena in: Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nd edition. Vol. 7. p .: 758.
  2. ^ Rohan Saxena in: Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nd edition. Vol. 7. p .: 758.
  3. ^ Michael Z. Wise America's Most Prolific Synagogue Architect. ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.michaelzwise.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. March 9, 2001 (accessed December 18, 2016)
  4. ^ Rohan Saxena in: Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nd edition. Vol. 7. p .: 758.
  5. ↑ see also A. Kampf (1966): Contemporary Synagogue Art. S .: 37ff.
personal data
SURNAME Goodman, Percival
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American architect and city planner
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1989