Tag Archives: Architecture & Planning Library

special collections

Fragments d’Architecture

d’Espouy, Hector. Fragments d’Architecture du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance d’Après les Relevés and Restaurations des Anciens Pensionnaires de l’Académie de France à Rome. 2 vols. Paris: C. Schmid, 1897-c. 1925.

Collection: Cret

The French-language Fragments d’Architecture du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance utilizes work produced by novitiate architects studying at the French Academy in Rome to generate an historically fractured vision of the Italian peninsula during the Byzantine, medieval and renaissance periods. Developed under the direction of Hector d’Espouy, winner of the very first Prix de Rome, this volume follows his 1905 publication, Fragments d’Architecture Antique, and includes 180 plates that encompass almost a thousand years of architectural history.

Because students at the Academy generated intricately detailed drawings and plans of Italian monuments as part of their course of study, their work functions to document not only the monuments themselves, but also approaches to contemporary design pedagogy. In perusing these works, one will notice a considerable degree of consistency from plate to plate suggesting a very rigid and systematic drafting instruction.

This consistency is present in the watercolors as well.

As an historical document, the Fragment defy traditional readability. Ecclesiastical and secular buildings are included and organized neither geographically nor chronologically. Typology, style, technique and architectural element are similarly disregarded as organizing factors such that we find tomb and arcade studies intermingled with those rendering façades, campaniles, muqarnas, and mosaics. Nevertheless, these tomes function historically, canonizing certain Italian monuments while providing insight into the curriculum established to train architects.

Library of Congress call number: NA 1111 E7 1925 V.1, V.2

special collections

Le Nouvel Opera de Paris

Garnier, Charles. Le Nouvel Opéra de Paris. Paris: Ducher, 1880.

Le Nouvel Opéra de Paris is a two-volume monograph containing over 100 plates documenting Charles Garnier’s plan and design for the beaux-arts opera house. Assembled by the architect, Le Nouvel Opéra de Paris celebrates the building’s intricate orchestration coalescing technical drawings including plans, sections and details along with black-and-white and color renderings to present a comprehensive dossier. Though the façade and interior rooms receive the most comprehensive treatment, certain more rudimentary elements are also highlighted including windows, staircases, and even house seating.

On the whole, these materials construct a macrocosmic image of the theater. Nevertheless, they appear complete with those finer articulations that render the structure in situ so arresting. This is especially true upon examination of the color plates where saturated contrast distinguishes individual building components from the whole.

Library of Congress call number: NA 6840 F72 P382

special collections

The Petit Trianon Versailles

Arnott, James A. and John Wilson. The Petit Trianon, Versailles: Illustrated by a Series of Measured Drawings and Photographs of the Entire Building, Exterior and Interior; Including a Large Selection of the Furniture, and Various Details of Iron Work and Brass Work, Together with a Historical Account of the Palace, and Descriptive Letterpress. New York: C. Scribner, 1908.

Last summer, the Architecture and Planning Library celebrated its special collection by highlighting a number of books concerning French renaissance architecture. The project ultimately included volumes expanding beyond the scope of the renaissance and even of the expressly architectural, examining materials from the Merovingian period onward, certain items of which were concerned with ceremonial dress, religion, and the nature of architectural scholarship. This summer, we will continue featuring these works, employing a similarly broad perspective as evidenced in this, our first installment, which looks at Wilson and Arnott’s Petit Trianon, a style manual meant to instruct the architect in the intricacies of the burgeoning neoclassic.

Organized from exterior to interior, its 97 plates provide a general overview of the building and document in precise detail specific building elements such as stairwells, railings and panels as well as furniture designs. Though light on text, the early pages of the book provide a sympathetic analysis of life in the Petit Trianon during the reign of Louis XVI, humanizing the infamous Marie Antoinette in palpably anti-revolutionary prose. Subsequent pages provide a detailed overview of each plate or sets of plates organized by object represented. The Petit Trianon combines beautifully rendered plans and details with photographs, succinct descriptions and just the right amount of socially conservative commentary to provide an excellent reference for the architect, historian or culture connoisseur.

Library of Congress call numbers: NA 7736 V7 A8

special collections

Genius der Baukunst

Rave, Paul Ortwin. Genius der baukunst, eine klassisch-romantische bilderfolge an der Berliner bauakademie von Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Berlin: Verlag Gebr. Mann, [1939].

The twenty-three, beautifully reproduced, photographic plates in Genius der baukunst, eine klassisch-romantische bilderfolge an der Berliner bauakademie von Karl Friedrich Schinkel were among first things I noticed when I inspected this title. The book, by German art historian and former director of the National Gallery in Berlin Paul Ortwin Rave (1893-1962), is a study of the Baukademie (1832-1836) in Berlin. Designed by the influential German architect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841), the Baukademie is considered a precursor to modernism due to its cubic, economical facade and bold use of red brick. Schinkel’s work was of special interest to Rave, and he devoted himself to researching and publishing a series of books on the architect. The lovely photographic plates are accompanied by Rave’s interpretation of the building’s sculptural motifs. Because the Baukademie was demolished in 1962 after being irreparably damaged during the Second World War, photographic images and drawings, like those found in Genius der baukunst, are all that remains to document this important and influential building.

Library of Congress call number: NA 1088 S3 F39

special collections

L’art: entretiens réunis par Paul Gsell

Rodin, Auguste. L’art: entretiens réunis par Paul Gsell. Paris: B. Grasset, 1911.

L’art: entretiens réunis par Paul Gsell is a collection of conversations between Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), the French sculptor, and Paul Gsell (1870-1947), a journalist and art critic. Edited by Gsell and written in the literary interview style, L’art contains Rodin’s views on such varied topics as the meaning of art, the relationship between sculpture and poetry, painting, and music, his philosophy of life, and his opinions on other artists. The book also includes nearly eighty black-and-white illustrations of Rodin’s sculptures, drawings, and prints. Although L’Art is considered a classic and has been translated and re-printed many times over, what really captured my attention in this book was the inscription on the flyleaf, La beaute – “c’est le caractere et l’expression.” Rodin. An autograph from Rodin, himself!

Library of Congress call number: N 7445.3 R63 1911

special collections

The Designs and Drawings of Antonio Gaudi

Collins, George R. and Juan B. Nonell. The designs and drawings of Antonio Gaudi. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983.

The Designs and Drawings of Antonio Gaudi is not a rare, or even particularly old book. However, unlike many of the other popular titles on Antoni Gaudí y Cornet (1852-1926) filled with the same, postcard-worthy, but tired photography, Collins and Nonell’s book is comprised of full-size and partially reduced reproductions of the architect’s sketches, drawings, and blueprints. The large folio size and clear layout conceived by art director and designer Frank J. Mahood allow Gaudi’s whimsical style to speak for itself and culminate in a book that is a delight to flip through. The Designs and Drawings of Antonio Gaudi might seem slim, with only eighty-three pages and seventy plates, but that represents the entirety of Gaudí’s work that survives on paper. Gaudi preferred to create scale models for his designs and rarely drew detailed plans. Additionally, the bulk of the original drawings and blueprints that he did create were completely destroyed during the Spanish Civil War when Anarchists set fire to his studio.

Library of Congress call number: -Q- NA 1313 G3 C63 1983, c.2

library

Georgian Architecture for Blake

Professor Emeritus Blake Alexander was a great admirer of classical architecture.  His personal library, which he donated to the Architecture & Planning Library and is currently being processed, contains many important titles that focus on British architecture, including many of Nikolaus Pevsner’s The Buildings of England.Shortly after he passed away last December, I was asked by Fred Heath, vice-provost to UT Libraries to select a book that would be purchased in Blake’s memory.  I believe he would have enjoyed my selection: Georgian Architecture in the British Isles 1714-1830.  Published last year by English Heritage, this is revised and expanded edition for the original 1993 Georgian Architecture also by James Stevens Curl.  The book includes extensive illustrations including plans, sections and elevations as well as renderings and contemporary photos.  The select bibliography spans 12 dense pages that will clear offer a wealth of options for further readings.  More information about this title can be found on the author’s website. Georgian Architecture in the British Isles 1714-1830
special collections

Neue Formen: Dekorative Entwürfe für die Praxis

Eckmann, Otto. Neue formen: dekorative entwürfe für die praxis. Berlin: Max Spielmeyer Verlag, [1897?].

One of the most beautiful works I encountered when perusing the Martin S. Kermacy Collection was Neue Formen: Dekorative Entwürfe für die Praxis by Otto Eckmann. Otto Eckmann (1865-1902), a German painter and designer, was an influential member of the German branch of Art Nouveau known as Jugendstil. Although Eckmann was classically trained at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Hamburg and Nuremberg, in 1894 he abandoned landscape painting to fully focus his attention on the applied arts. He began working for publications such as Pan and Jugend, the German art magazine from which Jugendstil derives its name, while also designing tapestries, metalwork, logos, and fonts. Two of his fonts, Eckmann-Schrift and Fette Eckmann, are amongst the most prominent of the surviving Jugendstil fonts.

Neue Formen was probably published in 1897 during the period when Eckmann was teaching ornamental painting at the Unterrichtsanstalt des Kunstgewerbemuseums Berlin, the training institution affiliated with the Museum of Decorative Arts. The book, a large portfolio, consists of a brief introduction followed by 10 color plates. The illustrations, which range from floral motifs to frolicking flamingos, are inspired by Eckmann’s study of Japanese prints and printmaking techniques.

Library of Congress call number: -F- N 6888 E27 A4 1897

special collections

Treasures from the Martin S. Kermacy Collection

The Martin S. Kermacy Collection is a collection of architectural books assembled by Martin S. Kermacy (1915-2007), a distinguished professor in the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture from 1947 to 1983. The collection, which encompasses 464 volumes, was accessioned in 1998 along with the architectural drawings (prints), photographs, slides, maps, and art currently housed in the Alexander Architectural Archives. Although the primary focus of the Martin S. Kermacy Collection is the Austrian Secession, it also contains rare and important imprints on artists and architects from around the world.

I have spent the past school year continuing a project, first begun by Alana Verminski in the spring of 2011, to add provenance notes to all of the titles in the collection. This was done in order to enable greater access to the Martin S. Kermacy Collection and enhance awareness of Professor Kermacy’s generous gift to the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. Although this type of cataloging could quickly become tedious, I was never bored because the books in the collection are so remarkable. Each week this blog will spotlight one of the rare, important, beautiful, or simply interesting treasures I found in the Martin S. Kermacy Collection. Stay tuned!

event, exhibition, library, News Items

Library celebrates Battle Hall Centennial at Explore UT

Come enjoy a special centennial exhibit “Our Landmark Library: Battle Hall at 100,” featured in the Architecture & Planning Library’s reading room. The exhibit revisits the history of the university’s first dedicated library space on campus through imagery drawn from sources including the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, the Alexander Architecture Archive, the New-York Historical Society and the Library of Congress.  An accompanying online exhibit offers additional images and information conveying the story of the building from conception to completion.   The Architecture and Planning Library will be open from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm.