influences

robert adam

"Schindler's idea of designing the total environment of a building can be traced, in part, to the late-eighteeth-century British architect, Robert Adam..." (Gebhard and Gebhard 1997 p14)

arts and crafts movements

"Along with the English and American Arts and Crafts movements and the Viennese Secessionists, Wright was an essential part of Schindler's background." (Gebhard and Gebhard 1997 p27)

m.h. baille

"...a more direct source for Schindler's notion that the architect should design the complete environment, including its furniture, was the late-nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts movement led by Williams Morris and further developed by M.H. Baille and Charles Rennie Mackintosh." (Gebhard and Gebhard 1997 p14)

irving gill

"Gill's experiments in concrete, especially in tilt-slab construction, influenced both Lloyd Wright and Schindler, and Schindler built his own Kings Road house using this method..." (Scheine 1998 p17)

de stijl

“Schindler could never have developed as he did without an acute awarenss of what was going on in avante-garde European architectural circles during the twenties.” (Gebhard 1972 p77)

"Residential as it might be, his work shows strong traces of Viennese and Dutch (De Stijl) spacial and formal biases; Viennese on one hand because of his training and first professional exposure, Dutch on the other because of similar interest in post-Wrightian spatial and formal organizations." (Koulermos and Polyzoides 1975)

"Schindler's complex spatial language has been labeled 'de Stijl' to describe his arrangement of projecting, receding, and intersecting rectilinear volumes as found in the Oliver House, which reflects the de Stijl aesthetic. According to Paul Overy, 'Whether Schindler was ever directly influenced by de Stijl is difficult to say...he could have arrived at a similar point...quite independently.'" (Gebhard and Gebhard 1997 p26)

josef hoffman

"It appears that during his early years in Vienna, he rejected the work of Hoffman, Olbrich and the Secession and instead gravitated towards the austere classicism of Otto Wagner and the iconoclasm of Aholph Loos..." (Koulermos and Polyzoides 1975)

japan

"The 'honest' exposure of natural finishes and materials, expressed timber structure and shoji-like panels of the interior were deeply marked by Japanese influence, and no doubt the planning too, owed something to the echelon arrangement of Japanese house such as the Katsura Detached Villa in Kyoto." (Weston 2004 p46)

While working on the design of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo for Frank Lloyd Wright, Schindler worked with Arata Endo and Goichi Fujikura (Melendo and others 2014 p41)

adolf loos

“...Schindler fell first under the spell of Wagner and only later under that of Loos; but in the long run (for good or bad) it was Loos who had the more deep and lasting effect on him.” (Gebhard 1972 p18)

“[Schindler] was intrigued by Loos’ manipulation of interior space.” (Gebhard 1972 p19)

"It appears that during his early years in Vienna, he rejected the work of Hoffman, Olbrich and the Secession and instead gravitated towards the austere classicism of Otto Wagner and the iconoclasm of Adolph Loos..." (Koulermos and Polyzoides 1975)

"Residential as it might be, his work shows strong traces of Viennese and Dutch (De Stijl) spacial and formal biases; Viennese on one hand because of his training and first professional exposure, Dutch on the other because of similar interest in post-Wrightian spatial and formal organizations." (Koulermos and Polyzoides 1975)

"The influence of Adolf Loos begins to emerge most clearly in the mid-1930's." (Steele 2005 p15)

Loos influenced Schindler though having an impersonal, private facade and more open interior space as well as the compartmentalization of rooms. (Steele 2005 p15)

“[Schindler] was not willing to admit that there might be a similarity between Gill and his mentor Loos.” (Gebhard 1972 p65)

"Although Schindler's design sensibilities were greatly influenced by the refined geometry of the Vienna Secession, he had also been taught by his first mentor, Adolf Loos, to admire the handcrafted surfaces of primitive architecture." (Warren 2011 p252)

"...his interest in a complex and articulated section bears much indebtedness to Loos' Raumplan." (March and Sheine 1995 p8)

The three curriculums of Loos' 'school' were art history, building materials, and interior development. (Mallgrave 1995 p17)

Loos took great pride in teaching this students to design from the inside out. (Mallgrave 1995 p17)

Loos had not yet developed his raumplan concept while Schindler was a student. (Mallgrave 1995 p17)

Loos: "The primary problem should be to express the three-dimensional character of architecture clearly, in such a way that the inhabitants of a building should be able to live the cultural life of their generation succcessfully." (Sarnitz 1995 p21)

"Other than Wagner, Adolf Loos had the greatest influence on Schindler in Vienna." (Sarnitz 1995 p22)

"The revolt against Art Nouveau took place in Vienna in the confrontation between Hoffmann and Loos." (Sarnitz 1995 p22)

Loos denied the presence of art in architecture with the exception of the tomb and the monument (Sarnitz 1995b p29)

"One of the main ideas of Adolf Loos was the notion of the 'Raumplanung' (spatial plan)...  The spatial plan was something new and radical compared to the traditional floor plan, with the intention of accommodating rooms with different ceiling lights [heights?] on different levels." (Sarnitz 1995b p78)

"Schindler quoted the Raumplan as one of his sources for his space architecture." (Sarnitz 1995b p78)

"The impact on Schindler of Wright's work pales beside the deeper influences of his schooling with Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos." (Park and March 2002 p478)

"As an heir to the ideas of Alois Riegl, Gottfried Semper and the Wagnershule in his home town of Vienna, Schindler travelled to the United States in search of Adolf Loos' 'America'." (Moule 1995 p189)

"In the Vienna of his youth, Schindler experienced first-hand three different innovative aesthetic tendencies: the classicising technomodernism of Wagner, the naturalising medievalism of the Secession and the reductive realism of Loos." (Polyzoides 1995 p197)

"...the influence of Loos' raumplan can be seen in Schindler's complex and articulated sections..." (Scheine 1998 p7)

"Although the raumplan was not yet codified and most of Loos' best-known buildings not yet built when Schindler left Vienna in 1914, the influence of Loos' ideas is still clear in Schindler's work." (Scheine 1998 p43)

mackintosh

Schindler in 1934: “Modern Architecture started with Mackintosh in Scotland, Otto Wagner in Vienna and Louis Sullivan in Chicago.” (Schindler 1944a Gebhard 1972 p12)

"...a more direct source for Schinnler's notion that the architecture should design the complete environment, including its furniture, was the late-nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts movement led by Williams Morris and further developed by M.H. Baille and Charles Rennie Mackintosh." (Gebhard and Gebhard 1997 p14)

william morris

"...a more direct source for Schindler's notion that the architecture should design the complete environment, including its furniture, was the late-nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts movement led by Williams Morris and further developed by M.H. Baille and Charles Rennie Mackintosh." (Gebhard and Gebhard 1997 p14)

joseph maria olbrich 

"It appears that during his early years in Vienna, he rejected the work of Hoffman, Olbrich and the Secession and instead gravitated towards the austere classicism of Otto Wagner and the iconoclasm of Aholph Loos..." (Koulermos and Polyzoides 1975)

richard neutra

“It would not be unreasonable to suggest that Neutra’s presence was one of the major forces which encouraged Schindler to rid himself of his bag of fussy Wrightian details which he still used on occasion.” (Gebhard 1972 p93)

alois reigl

"As an heir to the ideas of Alois Riegl, Gottfried Semper and the Wagnershule in his home town of Vienna, Schindler travelled to the United States in search of Adolf Loos' 'America'." (Moule 1995 p189)

gottfried semper

"As an heir to the ideas of Alois Riegl, Gottfried Semper and the Wagnershule in his home town of Vienna, Schindler travelled to the United States in search of Adolf Loos' 'America'." (Moule 1995 p189)

louis sullivan

Schindler in 1934: “Modern Architecture started with Mackintosh in Scotland, Otto Wagner in Vienna and Louis Sullivan in Chicago.” (Schindler 1944a Gebhard 1972 p12)

new mexico

“Pueblo Ribera Court, his own house, and the Popenoe cabin could, within reason, be labelled Pueblo Revival.” (Gebhard 1972 p47)

"It was R.M. Schindler...who translated the plastic surface effects and the projecting vegas of Pueblo architecture into a highly original form, first in his project for the Martin house at Taos, New Mexico (1915), then in his Pueblo Ribera apartments at La Jolla (I923), and in the concrete walls of his own house in Hollywood (I922)." (Gebhard 1967 p146-7)

spanish mission/colonial revival

"The first phase, that of the Mission Revival, became closely interwoven with the American Arts and Crafts movement, with the influence of Sullivan and Wright, and with the work of the early twentieth-century Rationalists, especially that of Irving Gill." (Gebhard 1967 p131)

"...the second phase of the Spanish Colonial Revival shared many points in common with the West Coast work of Frank Lloyd Wright, of R.M. Schindler, and of Lloyd Wright. Finally, it can be convincingly argued that there was a meaningful give-and-take between the early 'Modern' work of the 1930s—of Richard Neutra, of Gregory Ain—and the late aspect of the Spanish Colonial Revival." (Gebhard 1967 p131)

"...it was the stucco-sheathed structure—with its broad areas of uninterrupted surfaces—which in fact and in myth have come to typify the buildings of Southern California..." (Gebhard 1967 p131)

"The Spanish Colonial buildings were thought of primarily as sculptural masses existing in space; while the buildings of R.M. Schindler, Richard J. Neutra, and later of Gregory Ain and others were expressive of interior volume defined by thin, rectangular surfaces." (Gebhard 1967 p147)

“...by 1939 Schindler had borrowed quite a bit from both Mission and Spanish Colonial Revivals.” (Gebhard 1972 p46)

vienna secession

"It appears that during his early years in Vienna, he rejected the work of Hoffman, Olbrich and the Secession and instead gravitated towards the austere classicism of Otto Wagner and the iconoclasm of Aholph Loos..." (Koulermos and Polyzoides 1975)

"In the Vienna of his youth, Schindler experienced first-hand three different innovative aesthetic tendencies: the classicising technomodernism of Wagner, the naturalising medievalism of the Secession and the reductive realism of Loos." (Polyzoides 1995 p197)

"Along with the English and American Arts and Crafts movements and the Viennese Secessionists, Wright was an essential part of Schindler's background." (Gebhard and Gebhard 1997 p27)

otto wagner

Schindler in 1934: “Modern Architecture started with Mackintosh in Scotland, Otto Wagner in Vienna and Louis Sullivan in Chicago.” (Schindler 1944a Gebhard 1972 p12)

“...Schindler fell first under the spell of Wagner and only later under that of Loos; but in the long run (for good or bad) it was Loos who had the more deep and lasting effect on him.” (Gebhard 1972 p18)

"It appears that during his early years in Vienna, he rejected the work of Hoffman, Olbrich and the Secession and instead gravitated towards the austere classicism of Otto Wagner and the iconoclasm of Aholph Loos..." (Koulermos and Polyzoides 1975)

Wagner: "Well conceived construction is not only the prerequisite of every architectural work, but it also, and this cannot be repeated often enough, provides the modern creative architect with a number of positive ideas for creating new forms—in the fullest meaning of this word." (Mallgrave 1995 p15)

Wagner on Wright after the Wasmuth portfolio came out: "Gentlemen, this is an architect better than I." (Sarnitz 1995 p26)

Wagner gave studio critiques and discussed new books and magazine publications (Sarnitz 1995 p26)

Wagner was considered the top architect of Austria (Sarnitz 1995 p26)

Wagner only accepted 12 students a year (Sarnitz 1995 p26)

Wagner used the word 'poetry' when describing architecture (Sarnitz 1995 p26)

Wagner approached architecture as a question of functional, rational, and mechanical processes where the artistic component is one variable, a theoretical fucntionalism (Sarnitz 1995 p29)

"Two components characterise the projects in the Wagnerschule: (1) geometric reduction of formal elements; and (2) structural elaboration and significance." (Sarnitz 1995 p29)

"...the problem-solving approach of the Wagnerschule..." (Sarnitz 1995b p78)

"The impact on Schindler of Wright's work pales beside the deeper influences of his schooling with Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos." (Park and March 2002 p478)

"As an heir to the ideas of Alois Riegl, Gottfried Semper and the Wagnershule in his home town of Vienna, Schindler travelled to the United States in search of Adolf Loos' 'America'." (Moule 1995 p189)

"In the Vienna of his youth, Schindler experienced first-hand three different innovative aesthetic tendencies: the classicising technomodernism of Wagner, the naturalising medievalism of the Secession and the reductive realism of Loos." (Polyzoides 1995 p197)

frank lloyd wright

Schindler: "Shortly after my revelation in the mountains a librarian in Vienna handed me a portfolio—the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Immediately I realised that—here was a man who had taken hold of this new medium. Here was 'space architecture'... Here was the first architect." (Schindler 1935a)

"[Frank Lloyd Wright] was the most important influence in his life." (McCoy 1960 p151)

“[Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wasmuth portfolio], Wagner’s Modern Architecture, and Loos’ Ornament and Crime were the main theoretical baggage which Schindler had collected amd carried with him whe he left for the United States.” (Gebhard 1972 p14)

"We know that the Wasmuth publication of Wright's Prairie work helped chart the course of modern European design. And not only did de Stijl and the Bauhaus imbibe its principles, but it also excited, among numerous others, such young architects as Schindler and Neutra, who, after a pilgrimage to Wright's Taliesin, carried much of its essence to their work in Los Angeles." (Hines 1972a p334)

"His apprenticeship with Wright helped him crystallize his ideas about the nature of his practice." (Koulermos and Polyzoides 1975)

"From 1921 to 1925, he produced a number of houses that are heavily indebted to his experiences with Wright. Unlike his Dutch contemporaries, Schindler did not see in Wright the opportunity to copy polemic form in order to arrive at preconceived notions of classical order. Schindler apprenticed with Wright and picked up from him variety of specific attitudes: an emphasis on expressive massing, combinations of natural and artificial materials, relationships among enclosed, covered, and open spaces, a dependance on high technology, spatial diversity, and plasticity, etc.

"But more than that, he came to respect the idea of overall integrity in a work of Architecture. The quality of internal consistency of a building and the importance of the relationship between nature and artifact in Architecture were never abandoned by Schindler throughout his life." (Koulermos and Polyzoides 1975)

"Schindler's programme is a direct reference to Wright's architecture, as the Schindler-Neutra correspondence confirms." (Sarnitz 1995b p80)

"Along with the English and American Arts and Crafts movements and the Viennese Secessionists, Wright was an essential part of Schindler's background." (Gebhard and Gebhard 1997 p27)

"...Wright's buildings' relationship to exterior space, the horizontality and low continuous datum, the use of clearstory windows, the early experiments with concrete were clearly lessons Schindler absorbed into his own work." (Scheine 1998 p7)

"The impact on Schindler of Wright's work pales beside the deeper influences of his schooling with Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos. Any effect from working for Wright was probably more negative than positive." (Park and March 2002 p478)

zigzag moderne

Schindler in a letter to Frank Lloyd Wright dated August 2, 1929: "Quite a few of the large firms here are trying to 'modern' and the zigzag is running riots." (Sawelson-Gorse 1997 p86)

Schindler influenced by Zigzag Moderne, also called Jazz Modern. (Gebhard 1972 p54)

misc

Schindler’s drawings, at least, were influenced by Klimt, Kokoschka, and Schiele (Gebhard 1972 p13)