Rembrandt & Bucky: Who "painted" what?

[Gerry in Quebec]

Bucky reminds me of Rembrandt, the famous Dutch painter. Both were visual geniuses. Neither was financially enriched by his life-long achievements. Both inspired their students, friends, colleagues. In each case, there was confusion over who -- teacher or student -- "painted" what.

 

Here's a snippet about the authorship of works attributed to Rembrandt.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt

 

"In 1968 the Rembrandt Research Project began under the sponsorship of the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Scientific Research; it was initially expected to last a highly optimistic ten years. Art historians teamed up with experts from other fields to reassess the authenticity of works attributed to Rembrandt, using all methods available, including state-of-the-art technical diagnostics, and to compile a complete new catalogue raisonné of his paintings. As a result of their findings, many paintings that were previously attributed to Rembrandt have been removed from their list, although others have been added back. Many of those removed are now thought to be the work of his students."

 

I wonder if it's still possible to sort out who "designed" which 20th century dome. After all, the trail is still pretty fresh -- nothing like the 300-year hiatus facing Rembrandt scholars. Unfortunately, not all that much has been said, here or elsewhere, to nail down the notion of what exactly it means, and whose talents go into, the "design" of a geodome. For the big projects, can't we assume it was teamwork?

 

- Gerry in Quebec 

[Gerry in Quebec]

And I should have added: Please keep up your contributions, Katrina, about the work of your father, T.C. Howard. The domes he designed and built are gorgeous.

[Katrina Fairley]

Bucky did not design any of Synergetics, Inc domes!  He never lived in Raleigh, NC.  He did not own any of Synergetics, Inc after 1958.  Bucky owned Geodesics, Inc and the early domes for the Marines were designed by multiple design school students or a few architects that worked for Geodesics, Inc in Raleigh, NC.  Shoji Sadao designed and built the cardboard domes that won gran primo in Milan 1954.  TC Howard designed the Kabul Dome 1956.  John Caldwell designed several of the Marine domes for Geodesics, Inc.  Bucky did NOT DESIGN any actual dome.  Name a dome and I will find out the ARCHITECT. 

On Monday, August 31, 2015 at 6:44:13 PM UTC-4, Gerry in Quebec wrote:

[Katrina Fairley]

Yes they are!  So why don't you write a book!

[Gerry in Quebec]

Well, I guess I painted myself into that Dutch corner.

[norm...@gmail.com]

On Saturday, September 5, 2015 at 6:06:48 AM UTC+8, Katrina Fairley wrote:

Bucky did not design any of Synergetics, Inc domes!  He never lived in Raleigh, NC.  He did not own any of Synergetics, Inc after 1958.  Bucky owned Geodesics, Inc and the early domes for the Marines were designed by multiple design school students or a few architects that worked for Geodesics, Inc in Raleigh, NC.  Shoji Sadao designed and built the cardboard domes that won gran primo in Milan 1954.  TC Howard designed the Kabul Dome 1956.  John Caldwell designed several of the Marine domes for Geodesics, Inc.  Bucky did NOT DESIGN any actual dome.  Name a dome and I will find out the ARCHITECT. 

Hi, I'd be interested to see what you find out about the plydome: http://www.google.com/patents/US2905113

thanks 

 

[Katrina Fairley]

Plydome was another one of Bucky's companies.  TC Howard of Synergetics, Inc did quite a bit of the research and study models for the company (which was on paper only -not an actual place)  Robert Marks first book has several photos.   Al Miller ( Pease domes) and Ken Olsen made a few plydomes -Better Homes and Gardens.  
Again, Gerry a Book would be nice-  have thousands of slides, photos, drawings and a humorous father with a plethora of tall tells!