Footnote: The Adventures of Jean Mermoz

I’m going through a pretty mellow moment in my life: tucked away in a small town 120 miles south of Santiago I’ve got loads of time to just sit and write. Despite living in a cave, some of the outside world does trickle in and lately it’s been a name: Jean Mermoz. 

Footnote: Bauhaus Smoking Gun

I’ve arrived to the point in my dissertation where I address a frequent question: “so, these architects are like a Chilean Bauhaus?” It’s an indirect way of saying, “relate your group to something established, something from Europe, something I know!” I get it, the unknown is terrifying. But I couldn’t live with myself as a Latin Americanist art historian if I didn’t try to pry you away from that life preserver. There are few life preservers in my dissertation and most of them have been relegated to footnotes. Like this one about the Bauhaus.

Le Corbusier and Saint Ex

Cool thing I read today: Antoine de Saint-Exupery, beloved author of The Little Prince (1943) piloted Le Corbusier over Argentina and Paraguay in 1929. This experience led Corb to ponder the law of the meander.

Two of the greatest creative minds of the twentieth-century, flying over expanses of South America fills me with wonder. I’m also bummed there are no photos of this event for “Awesome People Hanging Out Together,” because obviously this pair would kill it.