Eames Retrospective Opens at London's Barbican

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A much anticipated retrospective—The World of Charles and Ray Eames—opens today at London's Barbican Centre. The show, curated by Catherine Ince and designed by 6a architects, surveys the careers of Charles (1907-1978) and Ray (1912-1988), and the extraordinary body of work prodced by the Eames Office: a ‘laboratory’, active for over four decades, in which the Eameses, their collaborators and staff produced "an array of pioneering and influential work – from architecture, furniture, graphic and product design, to painting, drawing, film, sculpture, photography, multi-media installation and exhibitions, as well as new models for education."

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From the 380 works on display—many of which have not until now been exhibited in the United Kingdom—this exhibition "offers an opportunity to re-examine their work and legacy, alongside the legacy of post-war Modernism." Using contextual material and a wealth of artifacts from their professional and personal archive, the exhibition highlights their collaborations with their "immediate circle": Buckminster Fuller, Alexander Girard, Sister Corita Kent, George Nelson, Isamu Noguchi, Eero Saarinen, Saul Steinberg, and Billy Wilder. Structured thematically, it "presents a complex portrait of these internationally celebrated designers in the context of the inner world of their office and network, alongside the political, cultural and social conditions which enabled and influenced their work."