Exhibit on View in the Kibel Gallery
October 9, 2009–January 15, 2010
(Note: The School will be closed Dec. 21–Jan. 2.)

"The Radiant Sun: A Portrait of Designer Ruth Adler Schnee" Documentary Film Screenings
click here for film preview
Monday, October 5, 6:15pm
Friday, October 9, 11am and 2pm
Architecture Building Auditorium

Exhibit Opening Lecture + Reception
with Ruth Adler Schnee and Filmmaker Terri Sarris
Friday, October 9, Noon
Architecture Building Auditorium + Kibel Gallery

"Ruth Adler Schnee: A Passion for Color and Design" pays tribute to this important figure, exploring her life, her work, and the challenges she faced as a woman designer. Schnee, who has been called a "Detroit Treasure," helped to bring the Mid-Century Modern movement to Michigan. Her work has been shown by the Detroit Institute of Arts and collected by the Archives of American Art. A film documentary produced in conjunction with this exhibit will be shown in the gallery.

After fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938, Schnee and her family settled in Detroit. After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design and the Cranbrook Academy of Art, she worked in the New York firm of Raymond Loewy in the 1940s. Returning to Detroit, Schnee began creating original textile designs. She collaborated with Buckminster Fuller on the Ford Rotunda in Detroit (1952-53) and Minoru Yamasaki in specifying interior treatments for the World Trade Center (1970-77). In the 1950s, she operated Adler Schnee, a design store committed to bringing modern design to Michigan.

Now in her 80s, Schnee still lives and works in Michigan, designing building interiors and woven textiles for Anzea. She is active in the Detroit design community as a preservation advocate for the city's Modernist history.

Credits
The exhibit design for the Kibel Gallery is a collaboration between three generations of women designers, Mercedes Afshar (M. Arch. 2010), Ronit Eisenbach (Architecture faculty) and Ruth Adler Schnee. Professor Eisenbach also co-produced the film documentary, which was directed and edited by Terri Sarris, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Screen Arts and Cultures at the University of Michigan.

Sponsors
Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation
The Kibel Family
University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching
University of Michigan Institute for Research on Women and Gender
Anzea Textiles

 

Click here for film preview 

 

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