Visionary Architectural Drawings from the Howard Gilman Collection Contributions by Terence Riley [And Others]

The changing of the avant-garde : [brochure] visionary architectural drawings from the Howard Gilman collection Contributions by Terence Riley [and others]

Date 2002

Publisher The Museum of Modern Art

ISBN 0870700049, 0870700030, 9780870700040, 9780870700033

Exhibition URL www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/148

The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history— from our founding in 1929 to the present—is available online. It includes exhibition catalogues, primary documents, installation views, and an index of participating artists.

The Changingof the Avant-Garde:Visionary Architectural Drawings from the Howard GilmanCollection celebrates The Howard Gilman Foundation's generous gift of 205architectural drawingsto TheMuseum of ModernArt in November2000; a selectionof 173are presentedin this exhibition.One of the foremostcollections of visionaryarchitectural drawings in the world, it was assembledin just a few years,between 1976 and 1980,by art patronand collector Howard Gilmanand his curatorPierre Apraxine. The acquisition of this collectionprompted the Museum's Departmentof Architectureand Designto createthe HowardGilman Archive. Also includedin the archiveare keydrawings from the Museum'sholdings that complementthe collection,a number of which are presentedin this exhibition.The Museum'sTrustees thank The HowardGilman Foundationand its Boardof Directors,and above all, acknowledgea sinceredebt of gratitudeto the late art collectorand patronwho, alongwith his visionarycurator, initiated this extraordinary collection.Special thanks also go to DonnaCarlson, Director of Administration,and Astrid Sanai, ResearchAssistant, at the Art Dealer'sAssociation of America,for their essentialresearch on the collectionfor TheHoward Gilman Foundation. Theperiod encompassed by the bulkof the Gilmancollection, the 1960sand 1970s,coincided

COVER AND ABOVE: with oneof the greatestbursts of creativeenergy in architectureever recorded on paper;it was Superstudio.Italian group, 1966-86. the last rally of the heroicvisions of prewarmodernism, and the onsetof what would broadly CristianoToraldo di Francia,born 1941; becomeknown as postmodernism.During the 1960s,a youngergeneration of architectsexpressed GianPiero Frassinelli,born 1939;Alessandro Magris,born 1941;Roberto Magris, born 1935; dissatisfactionwith modernism'sfunctionalist paradigms and exhaustedsocial idioms.Various Adolfo Natalini,born 1941.The Continuous internationalgroups and individuals launched stinging critiques of postwararchitecture and urbanism, Monument:Alpine Lakes. Project, 1969. calling into questionmodernism's orthodoxy. This new generation—the Metabolistsand Arata Perspective:cut-and-pasted printed paper, color pencil,and oil stick on board, Isozakiin Japan;Archigram and CedricPrice in Britain;Yona Friedman in France;Hans Hollein, 18x I8V2"(40.6 x 47 cm) RaimundAbraham, and FriedrichSt. Florianin Austria;and Archizoom,Ettore Sottsass, and Superstudioin Italy—all lookedat Popculture, the first stirringsof the informationage, and the ABOVE: radicalpolitics of the 1960sas tools for transformation.Their vision resulted in globaland some Peter Cook(Archigram). British, born 1936. timeseven nomadic projects that trumpedthe scaleof prewararchitectural projects and ushered Plug-In City: MaximumPressure Area. Project,1962-64. Section (1964): ink and in the megastructuremovement. gouacheon photomechanicalprint, PeterCook's Plug-In City, for example,was oneof the manyvast visionary creations to comeout 32%x 57«/ib"(83.5 x 146.5cm) of Archigram,the radicalBritish architecture collaborative that fosteredthe Britishcounterculture RIGHT: of the period.The Plug-In City was an urbanmegastructure incorporating residences, access routes, GaetanoPesce. Italian, born 1939.Church and essentialservices for its inhabitants.Intended to accommodatechanges necessitated by of Solitude,New York,New York. Project, obsolescence,on an as-neededbasis, the buildingnodes (houses, offices, supermarkets, universities), 1974-77.Longitudinal section: watercolor, ink, color ink, gouache,and graphiteon eachwith a different lifespan,would plug into a main "craneway,"itself designedto last only 5/8" paper,42V4 x 58 (107.3x 148.9cm) forty years.The overall flexible and impermanentform wouldthus reflectthe needsand collective will of the inhabitants.Outside Britain, Friedman in France,like Isozakiin Japan,was devising cities that would hoverabove preexisting ones. While not mobile,these cities would be ableto expandinfinitely in any direction. x*

Superstudio,the most poeticand incisivegroup to comeout of Italy duringthe 1960s,was foundedby CristianoToraldo di Francia,Gian Piero Frassinelli, Alessandro Magris, Roberto Magris, andAdolfo Natalini at the heightof the megastructuremovement. Their purely theoretical drawings fromThe Continuous Monument series illustrate their convictionthat by extendinga singlepiece of architectureover the entireworld they could"put cosmicorder on earth."In a numberof these drawings,white, gridded,monolithic structures span the naturallandscape to assertrational order uponit. Superstudiosaw this singularunifying act, unlikemany modern Utopian schemes, as nur turingrather than obliteratingthe naturalworld. With the escalationof the VietnamWar andthe politicaluprisings of the late 1960s,the post war optimismof the megastructure,which hadfailed to produceanything more substantial than paperarchitecture, no longerseemed valid. Flavinglost faith in the technocraticvision of the megastructure,a new generationof architectsturned away from the prewarheroic attitudes and beganexperimenting with new andvaried references. The megastructure, having lost much,if not all, of its avant-gardeappeal, gave way to the rootsof a new avant-garde:postmodernism. While the megastructuralistssought to createnew cities and inventnew socialstructures, the latergeneration often sought to transformculture within the life of the city.Architects in the 1970s suchas RemKoolhaas, Elia Zenghelis, Zoe Zenghelis, and GaetanoPesce seized upon the opportu nity for architecturaland urbaninvention. Pesce's Church of Solitudewas conceivedin reactionto his experienceof New Yorkin the 1970s,where he saw peopleliving together,"helter-skelter in crowds."Fie buried his churchbeneath a vacantlot amidthe towersof the city to providea serene placefor introspectionand contemplation. The silent sanctuaryincorporated small individualcells, a furtherretreat from the city'scorporate and institutionalculture. An excavatedlandscape was, for Pesce,an overlookedspace that couldprovide for people'sfuture needs.

Aldo Rossi,Italian, 1931-1997and Gianni Projectsby LeonKrier, Massimo Scolari, and Abrahambecame increasingly personal, often Braghieri,Italian, born 1945,Cemetery of focusingon individualhouses. Scolari turned inward, seeking poetic expression and inspiration SanCataldo, Modena, Italy. 1971-84 Aerial perspective(1971): crayon and graphiteon from the past and personalmemory. His drawingsare purefantasy and often defy explanation. /«" sepia diazotype,24 x 493 (61x 126.4cm) Krier'sprojects, triggered by vernaculararchitecture, are generallysituated in remotelocations suchas mountainsites, deserts, and Mediterraneanislands. Inspired by real circumstanceand dreamstates, they were conceivedfor specificindividuals, such as friends(as in Housefor Rita, for example),or peoplewhom Krier admired from a distance. Thepivotal figure in the changefrom the megastructureto the postmodernis the Italianarchi tect Aldo Rossi,whose project for a cemeteryin Modenaincorporates urban rationalism, archaic historicalforms, and deep emotion, and in whichcultural, rather than global, expression intermingle. Rossidesigned the Cemeteryof SanCataldo in Modenafor a 1971competition that calledfor an extensionto the adjacentnineteenth-century Costa Cemetery. Rooted in an Enlightenmenttypology of a walled structureset on the outskirtsof a town, the cemeteryis a largecommunal structure that recallsthe basicelements of a house.Rossi refers to it as a "housefor the dead,"where LeonKrier. Luxembourg, born 1946.House rooflesswalls and rooms,and open doors and windows, have been designed for thosewho no for Rita.Project, 1969-74. Perspective and plan (1974):ink on paper,8V« x 8V«" longerneed the protectionof a shelter.His forms recall those of the Italianlandscape, paired (20.9x 20.9cm) downto their mostessential geometries. Although this projecthelped usher in postmodernism, Rossihimself would not fit comfortablywithin that movement.He was not interestedin simply reappropriatinghistorical forms, but was, rather,an architectwho deeplyunderstood the role of memoryin the built environment. Theforces unleashed by the demiseof the megastructuremovement and the adventof post modernismremain vital in the world of architecturetoday. In view of this, TheMuseum of Modern Art's HowardGilman Archive is a uniqueand invaluableresource for understandingthe genesisof theseforces and the vectorsof inventionthey launched.It not only providesus with a rare and comprehensiveview of a significantmovement in history,but also with fundamentaldocumenta tion of the root sourcesof architecturetoday. The Trusteesof The Museumof Modern Art PUBLICPROGRAMS would like to extendtheir thanksto The Howard The following programswill be held in conjunctionwith the exhibition TheChanging of the Avant-Garde: GilmanFoundation and its Board of Directors VisionaryArchitectural Drawingsfrom the HowardGilman Collection. for their generoussupport of the Museum's efforts. Above all, we would like to acknowl ARCHITECTURALLYSPEAKING edge a sincere debt of gratitude to the late This series offersthe uniqueopportunity to hear contemporaryarchitects whose work is includedin HowardGilman, who alongwith his visionary the exhibitionspeak about this seminalcollection of visionarydrawings. curator,Pierre Apraxine, initiated this extraordi nary collection. NOVEMBER8 MichaelGraves NOVEMBER15 MichaelWebb of Archigram NOVEMBER22 StevenHoll DECEMBER6 RaimundAbraham The educationalprograms that accompanythe Talksbegin promptlyat 6:30p.m. at the entranceto the exhibitionat MoMA QNS.Tickets are $10,$8 for exhibitionare madepossible by BNP Paribas. members,$5 for studentswith current ID, and are availableon a first-come,first-served basis beginning at 5:30p.m. at the MoMA QNSLobby Ticketing Desk. This exhibitionwas organizedby TerenceRiley, Thisprogram is madepossible by BNPParibas. ChiefCurator, Department of Architectureand Design,with the assistance of Bevin Cline, Assistant Curator,Research and Collections, GALLERYTALKS and Tinadi Carlo,Curatorial Assistant, Research OCTOBER26, 2:00p.m.: "The Changingof the Avant-Garde:Visionary Architectural Drawingsfrom and Collections. the HowardGilman Collection." Sarah Ganz Blythe GalleryTalks are madepossible by the EdwardJohn Noble Foundation and the Leoan d Julia ForchheimerFoundation. DonnaCarlson, Director of Administration, and Astrid Sanai,Research Assistant, at the BROWN BAG LUNCHLECTURES FALL2002 Art Dealer'sAssociation of America, under Join us for informalslide lectureson modernart on Thursdaysfrom 12:30-1:15p.m. You may bring your took important research on the collection own lunch.Admission is $5 at the door.Pick up a voucherfor free admissionto MoMA QNS.Lectures for The HowardGilman Foundation. and registrationare held at the Arts ConsortiumAuditorium at 1 East53 Street,located betweenFifth and MadisonAvenues.

All works reproducedhere are the gift of NOVEMBER14: "The Changingof the Avant-Garde:Visionary Architectural Drawingsfrom the Howard The Howard GilmanFoundation. GilmanCollection." Tina di Carlo

Photoof the drawing by GaetanoPesce: Jacek Formore information about Public Programs, please call (212)708-9781 or 247-1230(TTY), or visit Marczewski,© 2002The Museumof Modern www.moma.org/momalearning. Art, New York;all other photos:Jon Crossand Erica Staton,Digital DesignCollection Project, Luna Imaging,© 2002The Museumof Modern Art, New York PUBLICATION Brochure© 2002The Museumof Modern Art, The Changingof the Avant-Garde:Visionary Architectural Drawings from the HowardGilman Collecti on New York Editedby TerenceRiley. Essays by Sarah Deyongand Marco De Michelis. This book accompaniesan exhibition of Gilman'spreeminent collection, a recent gift to the Museum.The book,which covers the entire collection, includesan interview with PierreApraxine, the collection'sformer curator. 11x 9V2";192 pages; 205 color illustrations MoMAQNS 004Hardcover $45.00, members $40.50 The Museum of Modern Art, Queens 003Paperback $30.00, members $27.00