Alvin Boyarsky was among the most influential figures in 20th-century design education. As longtime chair of the Architectural Association (AA) in London, he argued that architecture was not only a profession, but also an artistic venture — an open, wide-ranging practice that incorporates drawing and publication as much as it engages design and construction.
This fall, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, in collaboration with the RISD Museum in Providence, RI, will present “Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association,” the first public museum exhibition of Boyarsky’s private collection of architectural drawings.
Comprising about 50 pieces, “Drawing Ambience” will feature early, formative works on paper by now-prominent contemporary architects, including Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas and Bernard Tschumi, among others. Also featured will be a selection of folios published by the AA during Boyarsky’s tenure, including work by Peter Cook, Coop Himmelblau and Peter Eisenman.
“Drawing Ambience” opens Friday, Sept. 12. Also opening that evening will be “Encountering the City: The Urban Experience in Contemporary Art,” which investigates how contemporary artists engage the urban landscape. Encompassing painting, sculpture, photography and video, the exhibition will feature the work of internationally renowned artists such as Isa Genzken, Andreas Gursky, Jakob Kolding, Sarah Morris, Gary Simmons and Andrea Zittel.
Rounding out the fall schedule, in the museum’s Teaching Gallery, will be “Picturing Narrative: Greek Mythology in the Visual Arts,” which explores how visual artists have both reflected and influenced the way Greek myths are portrayed and understood.
Sept. 12, 2014-Jan. 4, 2015
“Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association”
Barney A. Ebsworth Gallery
Curated by Igor Marjanovic, associate professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis; and by Jan Howard, curator of prints, drawings and photographs and curatorial chair at the RISD Museum. The exhibition will open at the RISD Museum April 24, 2015.
“Encountering the City: The Urban Experience in Contemporary Art”
Garen Gallery
Curated by Meredith Malone, PhD, associate curator at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.
“Picturing Narrative: Greek Mythology in the Visual Arts”
Teaching Gallery
Curated by Timothy J. Moore, PhD, the John and Penelope Biggs Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Classics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, part of Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, is committed to furthering critical thinking and visual literacy through a vital program of exhibitions, publications and accompanying events. The museum dates back to 1881, making it the oldest art museum west of the Mississippi River. Today it boasts one of the finest university collections in the United States.
The Kemper Art Museum is located on Washington University’s Danforth Campus, near the intersection of Skinker and Forsyth boulevards. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Tuesdays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. first Friday of the month. The museum is closed Tuesdays and University Holidays.
For more information, call (314) 935-4523; visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu; or follow the museum on Facebook and Twitter.
