The book review appeared in A&B 10'2021
Who was Ludwig Mies van der Rohe? An architectural genius? An uncompromising visionary? An arrogant womanizer? A narcissistic buffoon? The comic strip "Mies" is an attempt to answer the oft-asked question: can a great creator be a small man at the same time? An intriguing attempt, although not free of certain shortcomings.
Comics about architects and architecture occupy a small, almost imperceptible part of the mighty universe of picture novels. Could it be that the form, which was introduced to museums and galleries in the 1960s by Roy Lichtenstein, is still not serious enough to tell the fate of great builders? Appropriate to depict the fate of imaginary superheroes in tight leotards, but inappropriate for the history of Le Corbusier or Karl Friedrich Schinkel?
On the Polish market, the breakthrough was the booklet about Robert Moses, published by the Center for Architecture. "The Hidden Ruler of New York" presented a little-known side of architecture - the political backstage of great projects. Its protagonist, like the father of Bruce Wayne (Batman) wanted to heal New York - Gotham City. Traditional, but at the same time free from trite illustration, the narrative and the graphic form, which harmonized with it, showed the ambiguity of the hero and his actions. They stimulated reflection. Therefore, all the more eagerly I reached for the comic book dedicated to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
The Polish publishers of the comic book by Spanish artist Agustín Ferrer Casas decided to give it a subtitle, the purpose of which was probably to explain to the potential viewer that here lies before them the story of "the complicated life of a minimalist architect." However, it is hard to resist the impression that the original title "Mies" better conveyed the essence of the book. It suggested a certain mystery. He was as minimalist as van der Rohe's mature works. It represented an emanation of the architect's ego. Finally, it evoked distant associations with classic comic book series about superheroes.
The 
covers of the comic book "Mies. The Complicated Life of a Minimalist Architect" © © Architecture Center.
© Center for Architecture
Indeed, the institution of the superhero is inextricably linked to the phenomenon of pictorial history. Can we consider Mies as one of them? As a super-architect wielding a mysterious superpower? If so, then his counterpart should be sought among schwarzcharacters of the likes of Wilson Fisk or Harvey Dent. Van der Rohe is an arrogant womanizer. Convinced of his own genius, an egotist. A man who, according to his friend Philip Johnson, "would make a pact even with the devil himself for good design." Is this what a superhero of modernism looks like?
Mies' cyrograph was to become the designs for the Reichsbank and the German pavilion for the 1935 World Exposition in Brussels. As Celina B. Welch, van der Rohe floated plans to become "the architect of Germany." Interestingly, Walter Gropius had similar ambitions. Could it be that they were the source of the long-standing animosity between the two Bauhaus directors, which began while they were still in Peter Behrens' studio and continued long after the war, when Gropius was teaching at Harvard and van der Rohe at the much less prestigious Illinois Institute of Technology?
Van der Rohe wanted his "Schinkelian modernism" to become an architectural manifestation of national pride and power. To this end, he undertook an ambiguous game with the devil himself. He sought to satisfy his demands and ambitions. He sought the Aryan spirit of modernism. He even incorporated the swastika into his minimalist designs. Despite the architect's efforts, however, Satan trampled on the cyrograph and rejected the designer's soul offered to him. This is not the only ambiguity in the story of the minimalist architect.
When we meet Mies van der Rohe, the acclaimed architect is already an ailing old man who flies to West Berlin on a Pan-Am airplane for the groundbreaking ceremony of his latest creation - the Neue Nationalgalerie building. He is accompanied by a young designer, Dirk Lohan, the creator's grandson. Van der Rohe in Casas' comic strip has nothing of a kindly old man spinning a nostalgic tale of the old days. On the contrary, he appears as a rubbishy retching, martini-swilling antipathetic narcissist, who fondly sweeps the silhouettes of stewardesses with his eyes, recalling his many romances. Despite the passage of time, he still harbors resentments and overlooks his own mistakes. "I always do everything to the best of my ability!" - he says. - "I'm just an architect!"
The way the character is portrayed and the narrative is conducted are certainly among the comic's strongest points. The author breaks the school scheme of "born - created - died", and instead of the only right and seemingly objective History, presents fragments of various individual stories. Their source is the memory of Mies van der Rohe, which often turns out to be unreliable or selective. The architect keys, loses threads or connects them in surprising ways. Unobvious associations and digressions entwine memories of events and accompanying emotions. It is only up to us to decide which thread we will consider real and which will be the architect's creation.
© Architecture Center
Unfortunately, the simple graphic form of the story does not present as high a level as its script. The world of comics offers a wide spectrum of possibilities. From Rosinski's fine line, through jagged shapes coming out of Enki Bilal's hand, Frank Miller's non-obvious compositions to Robert Crumb's brutal satire. Mies had the misfortune that the illustration of his life was undertaken by an author operating with a line with little individualization. Presenting a creative mannerism characteristic of educational cartoons with their excessive literalism. This is a pity, because, after all, one can easily imagine the story of Mies van der Rohe told with drawings in the convention of black-and-white graphic minimalism ("less is more!") or expressionism of the 1920s.
"The Complicated Life of a Minimalist Architect" is worth reaching for even if you are not a fan of comic books - if only to try to answer the question yourself, is the story of van der Rohe in fact the story of a minimalist architect? Or perhaps of an idealist who was ready to sacrifice everything for his uncompromising vision of architecture? An egotist who reckoned with no one and nothing in pursuit of his greatest dream - the construction of a "cathedral"?
Agustín Ferrer Casas' comic strip prompts reflection on the essence of the architectural profession. Charles Jencks, in one of his books, included a drawing of a column on which appear three sentences "Less is more", "Less is bore", "I am a whore". Their authors are van der Rohe, Robert Venturi and Philip Johnson, respectively. The author intended them to show the evolution of creative attitudes in the 20th century. After reading "The Complicated Life of a Minimalist Architect," I have the irresistible impression that Johnson's mischievous, self-deprecating words are much more true than we would be inclined to believe....
Błażej Ciarkowski
Illustrations provided courtesy of Architecture Center Publishing.
