Amassed during Boyarsky’s tenure as chairman of the Architectural Association (AA) in London from 1971 until his death in 1990, Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association features early drawings by some of the most prominent architects practicing today —Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, and Bernard Tschumi, among many others at Kemper Art Museum. Through a selection of approximately forty prints and drawings that constitutes the bulk of this collection, as well as nine limited-edition folios published by the AA—including works by Peter Cook, Coop Himmelblau, and Peter Eisenman—Drawing Ambience offers a rare glimpse into a pivotal moment in architectural history and the imaginative spirit of drawing that was and continues to be instrumental to the development of the Architecture.
Boyarsky was the influential head of the Architectural Association from 1971 until his death in 1990. “Boyarsky encouraged young architects to embrace the emerging global culture and probe contemporary issues while defining their own visual and spatial languages,” the curators write in a press release. “Central to this approach was Boyarsky’s conception of drawing, which he saw not only as a representational medium, but also a form of architectural inquiry unto itself.”
Is architecture a trade or an art?
For Alvin Boyarsky, the answer was clear. As longtime chair of the Architectural Association (AA) in London, and one of the most influential figures in 20th-century design education, Boyarsky argued that architecture was not only a profession but also an artistic venture — an open, wide-ranging practice that comprises drawing and publication as much as it engages design and construction.
When.- The show opens, September 12, 2014 and runs through January 4, 2015.
Where.- Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, One Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1214, St. Louis, MO 63130, US.
