Santa Monica Public Library will present No Longer Forgotten: The Groags, Transplants of Viennese Modernism in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Auditorium at 2 p.m. on Sept. 28 in the Main Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd
Join the Society of Architectural Historians, Southern California Chapter (SAH/SCC), publisher Carrie Paterson, and architecture professor Dr. Laura McGuire for a look at the work of Jacques and Jacqueline Groag, two pillars of Modern architecture who were nearly lost to history.
Jacques and Jacqueline Groag were notable in their fields before the Nazi Anschluss of Austria. The Groag couple fled their native Czechoslovakia to Britain when the Nazis invaded Prague in 1939. Bringing their unique aesthetics to Britain, they were critical participants in the Modern revolution in that country post-war. With many of their works buried in time, no longer extant, or split among five different countries, it took Viennese design scholar Ursula Prokop ten years to trace the important roles they played in the Second “Wiener Moderne”.
McGuire specializes in early- and mid-century architecture and design history. She was a Fulbright Scholar in 2009 and a Richard Plaschka grantee from 2011-13 in Austria. She has spent the last decade working on projects that reflect on Vienna’s unique cultural contributions through immigrant and exiled cultural figures. Paterson is a Los Angeles-based author, editor, and publisher at DoppelHouse Press, which released the Groag book in English in July 2019.
This program is free and open to the public. Seating is limited and on a first arrival basis. For more information, call the Santa Monica Public Library at (310) 458-8600 or visit smpl.org. The Santa Monica Public Library is wheelchair-accessible. For disability-related accommodations, call Library Administration (310) 458-8606 one week prior to the event. Big Blue Bus routes 1, R10 and 18, directly serve the Main Library. The Expo Line and other bus routes stop nearby. Ride your bike. Bicycle parking racks are available at the library.
Submitted by Judith S. Graham, Public Services Librarian
