Architect Frank Gehry Celebrated in LACMA Retrospective

Sandra Miska

The work of Los Angeles-based architect Frank Gehry is the subject of a current exhibit at LACMA.  Frank Gehry examines Gehry’s career from his arrival to Los Angeles in 1962 to present day.  Some of his best-known works includes the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, the Walt Disney Concert Hall right here in Los Angeles and his own private home in Santa Monica.

Gehry’s LACMA retrospective focuses on two major themes: urbanism and the development of digital design and fabrication.  It features over 200 drawings, including many that have never been seen publicly, as well as 65 models that “illuminate the evolution of Gehry’s thinking.”

Highlights of the exhibit include “Gehry’s Residence Model,” “Chiat/Day Building Final Model,” “Fondation Louis Vuitton Final Design Model” and “Guggenheim Museum Bilbao,” a design sketch of the riverfront elevation.”

“This retrospective offers an opportunity to reflect on the development of Gehry’s work and to understand the processes of one of the great architectural minds,” says LACMA.

Gehry was born Frank Goldberg in Toronto in 1929.  As a child, he often received pieces of wood from his grandmother, a Polish immigrant, that he would use to build little cities.  In 1947, his family moved to California and changed their name to Gehry.  Frank first studied at Los Angeles City College, before moving on to USC, where he earned his degree in architecture.

After graduation, Gehry served in the United States Army before heading to graduate school at Harvard to study city planning. Unhappy with the program, he made the decision to leave upon learning that one of his professors was secretly designing a palace for Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Gehry briefly lived and worked in Paris before returning to Los Angeles.

Frank Gehry at LACMA opens Sept. 13, 2015 and will be on view until March 20, 2016.