Australian Modern Blog
All things Architecture & Design
GENTLE MODERNIST: THE NINE LIVES OF ANATOL KAGAN BY SIMON REEVES
Nov 04, 2014
Drawing from Kagan’s own reminiscences and extensive personal archive, and interviews with family, colleagues and clients, architectural historian Simon Reeves vividly reconstructs the multi-layered life journey of a man who has been described both as ‘the enigmatic Anatol Kagan’ and ‘the gentle socialist who dreamt of a better world’.
Mid-century modernist architect Anatol Kagan (1913-2009) began his childhood in Revolutionary Russia, his young adulthood in Nazi Germany and his architectural career in London. Arriving in Melbourne in 1939, he had already crowded the experience of three lifetimes into his first 25 years. Jewish by race, agnostic by faith and Socialist by politics, this distinctive New Australian spent a decade establishing himself in his adopted homeland, working for leading architects and government departments before starting his own practice in 1949. Kagan rose to become the pre-eminent architect to Melbourne’s thriving post-war migrant community, well-known for luxurious modernist houses for rich Jewish businessmen.
Simon’s new book is available online, through the publisher’s website www.vividpublishing.com.au/anatolkagan/
Drawing from Kagan’s own reminiscences and extensive personal archive, and interviews with family, colleagues and clients, architectural historian Simon Reeves vividly reconstructs the multi-layered life journey of a man who has been described both as ‘the enigmatic Anatol Kagan’ and ‘the gentle socialist who dreamt of a better world’.
Mid-century modernist architect Anatol Kagan (1913-2009) began his childhood in Revolutionary Russia, his young adulthood in Nazi Germany and his architectural career in London. Arriving in Melbourne in 1939, he had already crowded the experience of three lifetimes into his first 25 years. Jewish by race, agnostic by faith and Socialist by politics, this distinctive New Australian spent a decade establishing himself in his adopted homeland, working for leading architects and government departments before starting his own practice in 1949. Kagan rose to become the pre-eminent architect to Melbourne’s thriving post-war migrant community, well-known for luxurious modernist houses for rich Jewish businessmen.
Simon’s new book is available online, through the publisher’s website www.vividpublishing.com.au/anatolkagan/
