A uniquely personal biographical account of Louchheim's life and work
that takes readers inside the rarified world of architecture media
Aline B. Louchheim (1914-1972) was an art critic on assignment for the
New York Times in 1953 when she first met the Finnish-American
architect Eero Saarinen. She would become his wife and the driving force
behind his rise to critical prominence. When Eero Met His Match draws
on the couple's personal correspondence to reconstruct the early days of
their thrilling courtship and traces Louchheim's gradual takeover of
Saarinen's public narrative in the 1950s, the decade when his career
soared to unprecedented heights.
Drawing on her own experiences as an architecture journalist on the
receiving end of press pitches and then as a secret publicist for
high-end architects, Eva Hagberg paints an unforgettable portrait of
Louchheim while revealing the inner workings of a media world that has
always relied on secrecy, friendship, and the exchange of favors. She
describes how Louchheim codified the practices of architectural
publicity that have become widely adopted today, and shows how, without
Louchheim as his wife and publicist, Saarinen's work would not have been
nearly as well known.
Providing a new understanding of postwar architectural history in the
United States, When Eero Met His Match is both a poignant love story
and a superb biographical study that challenges us to reconsider the
relationship between fame and media representation, and the ways the
narratives of others can become our own.
