Exhibition

Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association

September 12, 2014 - January 4, 2015
Barney A. Ebsworth Gallery

Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association presents the first public museum exhibition of architectural drawings from the private collection of the noted educator Alvin Boyarsky. Amassed during Boyarsky’s tenure as chairman of the Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) in London from 1971 until his death in 1990, the collection 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. 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 field.

Coorganized with the Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design (RISD Museum), the exhibition will debut at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum and then travel to Providence, where it will be on view from April 24 to August 2, 2015.

Support for Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association is provided by the William T. Kemper Foundation; the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; the Regional Arts Commission; the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; and members of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

The exhibition is curated by Igor Marjanovic, associate professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Art, and Jan Howard, curator of prints, drawings, and photographs and curatorial chair at the RISD Museum.

Read the Press Release >>

Media Coverage

The Kemper's "Drawing Ambience" Blurs the Line Between Art and Architecture

Early Drawings by Famous Architects

Exhibition to Showcase the Early Drawings of Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, and More

The Curious, Formative Drawings of Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, and Other Renowned Architects

'Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association' opens at the RISD Museum

Back to the Drawing Board

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