The Yale School of Architecture presents Gwathmey Siegel: Inspiration and Transformation, the first museum exhibition devoted to the work of Gwathmey Siegel and Associates Architects, one of the most influential architecture firms of the modern period. On view November 14, 2011–January 27, 2012.
With original architectural drawings, historical blueprints, sketches, reproduced drawings, models, photographs, and slide shows, the exhibition examines the close relationship between art and architecture in eight residential and institutional projects by the firm. Five transitional examples are given particular focus: the Gwathmey House and Studio (1965-67), in Amagansett, New York; the de Menil Residence, in East Hampton, New York (1983); the Bechtler Residence, in Zumikon, Switzerland (1993); Glenstone, Potomac, Maryland (2006); and the renovation and restoration of Yale School of Architecture’s Paul Rudolph Hall (formerly known as the Art + Architecture Building), with the addition to it of the Jeffrey Loria Center for the History of Art (2008). Other institutional projects included are the restoration and renovation of Whig Hall, Princeton University (1973); the Guggenheim Museum renovation and annex, New York City (1992); and the addition to the Fogg Museum, Harvard University (1991).
In addition to materials related to specific projects, Gwathmey Siegel: Inspiration and Transformation also includes artifacts and documents from the personal collections of the architects. These include such items as Gwathmey’s scrapbook from his family’s tour of Europe in 1949–50 and his Fulbright Grant notebook from 1962–63, as well as a selection of his student work-unique to the School of Architecture presentation-that reflects the time he spent at Yale studying under Paul Rudolph. Together, these and other personal materials enhance the exhibition’s focus on the role of artworks in specific projects by revealing some of the broader cultural currents at play in American modernist architecture.
The School of Architecture’s presentation of the exhibition coincides with the arrival of the Gwathmey Siegel and Associates Architects records at Yale University Library’s Department of Manuscripts and Archives.
The exhibition was organized by the Cameron Art Museum, in Wilmington, North Carolina, where it was on view from June 2009 to January 2010. It was curated by Douglas Sprunt, former adjunct curator of architecture and design at the Cameron. The Yale showing is organized by Brian Butterfield, director of exhibitions at the Yale School of Architecture.
Yale School of Architecture Gallery
Paul Rudolph Hall
York and Chapel Streets, New Haven, Connecticut