1950
Hope Makler at the Barnes
Hope Makler attends the Barnes Foundation from 1955-57.
1950
1950
1950
Group 55
Group 55: Association of Philadelphia painters, composers, architects and art historians meet monthly on Friday evenings at the Lecture Hall, Philadelphia Free Library. Several hundred attend. Participants include Doris Staffel, Quita Broadhead, Jane Piper, Sam Fried and composers George Rochberg, Joseph Castaldo and Vincent Persichetti
Topics: “Expressive Uses of Space,” “What do Abstract Forms Communicate?” “Artist’s Vision and the Public’s Views,” “New Dimensions of Man” Sam Feinstein, MA: Fields Publishing, 2008 p. 104
1950
Jungian Influence in Philadelphia
Heavy Jungian influence in Philadelphia. Analytical Psychology Club of Philadelphia meets at 2008 Chancellor Street that serves as Jung Center of Philadelphia. Influential members include Anne Tyng and Barbra Crawford. Patricia Stark Feinstein, Sam Feinstein, MA: Fields Publishing, 2008 p. 105
1950
"Decorated Shed"
Robert Venturi comes back from Rome after two years and begins working in Louis Kahn’s office. In 1956 Wharton Esherick and Louis Kahn collaborated on a building on Esherick’s Paoli property. With its nonfunctional allusion to dovetail joinery, it was literally a decorated shed, a kind of signifier as to the use of the building within. As an idea, this surface ornamentation applied to an architectural façade quickly had significant ramifications via Denise Scott Brown's concept of the “Decorated Shed,” one of the tenets of postmodernism.
1950
Cameo Records
December 1956 – Bernie Lowe and Kal Mann found Cameo Records. Hits were generated by a relationship with Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.
1950
Clark-Dilworth Era
After Mayor Joseph S. Clark runs for United States Senate, Richardson Dilworth runs for and wins the mayorality. A period of reform begins; Independence Mall and Society Hill emerges, the Chinese Wall is torn down and the Penn Center created.
Richardson K. Dilworth becomes 91st Mayor of Philadelphia from 1956 to 1962. Dilworth
was at the forefront of a post-World War II reform movement leading to the adoption of a modern city charter consolidating city and county offices and introducing broad scale civil service examinations to replace the existing patronage system.
Clark and Dilworth introduced a variety of reforms and innovations including extensive high-rise public housing that was later condemned as a breeding ground for poverty and crime. They greatly strengthened the city planning function retaining Edmund Bacon as Executive Director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. The Clark-Dilworth era is recognized as a high water mark for planning, during which the decline of Center City Philadelphia as a commercial, residential center was reversed and priority was given (particularly during Dilworth's administration) to saving the city's historic and irreplaceable Society Hill district.
1950
1950
1950
1950
1950
1950
1950
1950
1950
Comets Riot
February 5, 1957 Bill Haley & The Comets disembark from the Queen Elizabeth in Southhampton to be the first major American Rock and Roll band to perform in Europe. The tour sets off riots, making an impression on Paul McCartney, Graham Nash and Pete Townsend.
1950
Furniture by Craftsman
February 15–April 7, 1957, Furniture by Craftsmen, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York includes Nakashima. Catalog
1950
American Bandstand Goes National
August 5, 1957 American Bandstand goes national with Dick Clark. In the first move to tame down rock 'n' roll by society ABC television launches the national version of a Philadelphia program called “American Bandstand” which winds up promoting the more wholesome side of rock.
Contribute to the Chronology
We welcome public contributions to this chronology! Please email Sid Sachs at ssachs@uarts.edu with a reference to your contribution.