Breuer House fundraising reaches $1.25m!

Breuer House Progress

We have raised a little over 1.25 million since last June, thanks to your generosity and the hard work of our stellar team, and we still plan to close by the end of June. We have applications out to a number of foundations and plan to borrow the balance to get to the $2 million purchase price. We would like to make that loan as small as possible, so your support is critical now so we can finish strong. Go to our Save the Breuer House page for more info.

Registered Wellfleet Voters!

Please Come to Town Meeting on May 20th. We have requested 200k towards the restoration costs from Community Preservation Committee funds which will be voted on at Town Meeting. If you’re a Wellfleet voter, please come to town meeting and vote Yes on the CPC article 22.

The Breuer House and Wellfleet History

A Recorded Lecture: To see a recent lecture by Peter McMahon, including archival photos by Tamás Breuer, given at the Wellfleet Library go to: https://ccmht.org/videos

Objects in the Breuer House

An article in the current Provincetown Independent explores some of the intriguing items in the house.

75th anniversary of Forum 49

Weldon Kees addressing a Forum 49 group Provincetown, MA, Summer 1949. Breuer is at the far right. Courtesy of Provincetown Art Association and Museum.

Revisiting ‘Directions in 20th Century Architecture’ Sunday, June 9, 6 - 7.30 pm, at the Hawthorne Barn, 29 Miller Hill Rd. in Provincetown

A panel discussion with images, with Peter McMahon and Prof. Timothy Rohan

Though it is not well remembered, Provincetown briefly became the epicenter of the modern movement in America, during the summer of 1949. Forum 49 consisted of weekly events (exhibits, readings, lectures) in the empty Ford dealership at 200 Commercial st. These included work by Jackson Pollock, Alexander Calder, Adolph Gotlieb, locals like Fritz Bultman and many others. At the time there was still somewhat of a schism between the abstract and traditional artists on the Outer Cape.

On August 18th, 1949, there was a panel discussion called ‘Directions in 20th Century Architecture’ featuring Marcel Breuer, the artist and filmmaker György Kepes, and architect and journalist, Peter Blake, who was then curator for Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art.

The speakers were all engaged in the then-raging debate about whether modern houses should use the materials and methods of vernacular, regional architecture, or employ universal, standardized, machine-made components.

Breuer had just finished building his own experimental house in Wellfleet and one for the Kepes family not far away. Both houses were modest-sized, environmentally sensitive, outposts for art-making and creative congregation.

This summer is the 75th anniversary and there will be a series of events in Provincetown venues to celebrate, dubbed Forum 24.

By coincidence 1949 was the year the Breuer and Kepes houses were finished in Wellfleet and this 75th anniversary coincides with CCMHT’s efforts to purchase and restore Breuer’s house and to re-open it as a platform for scholarship and new creative work. Looking back at the Forum 49 discussions, this talk will explore the relevance of Breuer’s work today, as well as the process of preserving his summer house with its pristine site and fascinating contents.

Hosted by 20 Summers. Speakers are: CCMHT Founder Peter McMahon.

Prof. Timothy Rohan. Department Chair and Associate Professor of American and European Architecture. University of Massachusetts Amherst.

$20 Suggested Donation For tickets go to: https://www.20summers.org/s11

(The June 9th house tour is sold out)

For ticket to other upcoming Forum 24 events go to: https://www.provincetownartgalleryassociation.org/forum-24

For more info on Forum 49 go to:

https://www.gottliebfoundation.org/blog/2022/3/14/a-look-back-adolph-gottlieb-and-forum-49

Peter McMahon will also be speaking at:

July 21, 7pm

Truro Meeting House, July 21, 7pm

(this event is scheduled not yet on their website)

Free and open to the public