Category Archives: Art and design

Heinrich Kley’s “Road Rage”

Posted on February 7, 2016 by David Brussat

The sketch above, “Gasoline Stallion,” which these days might be renamed “Road Rage,” is one of my favorites by Heinrich Kley (1863-1945), the German illustrator. It was probably drawn early in the 20th century, when automobiles were beginning to overtake … Continue reading →

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Built in major & minor keys

Posted on February 6, 2016 by David Brussat

David Mayernik, who teaches at Notre Dame’s school of architecture and has designed the campus at The American School in Switzerland, overlooking Lake Lugano, recently presented his views on the language of architecture and definitions of the classical and traditional … Continue reading →

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Zaha Hadid gets RIBA medal

Posted on February 5, 2016 by David Brussat

The Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid has received the Gold Medal for Architecture from the Royal Institute of British Architects. She spoke to RIBA upon receiving the award and launched a tirade against tradition. Notwithstanding her complaints, London, where she set … Continue reading →

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Photographs of Lviv, Ukraine

Posted on February 4, 2016 by David Brussat

David Mittell, whose essay “Why I love Lviv” ran here on January 26, has sent some photographs to illustrate the various conditions of architecture in Lviv, which he characterizes – truly – as one of Europe’s most beautiful unknown cities. … Continue reading →

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Schumacher’s Pritzker feint

Posted on February 3, 2016 by David Brussat

Patrik Schumacher, who runs Zaha Hadid’s office and involves himself in the modernist discourse, has used his Facebook page to criticize the Pritzker jury’s choice of Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena. His critique mimics his recent, widely condemned, critique of the … Continue reading →

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Comedia della postal mod

Posted on February 2, 2016 by David Brussat

The humorist and fenestration cleanliness engineer Stevenson Hugh Mields has sent along another First Issue envelope with an engraving of not one but two proposed modernist plans, which he has named “Optical Illusion,” and which I have placed for readers’ … Continue reading →

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Scott Merrill’s Driehaus

Posted on February 1, 2016 by David Brussat

Scott Merrill, an architect best known for his work in Seaside and other New Urbanist communities, has won this year’s Driehaus Prize, annually awarded by the school of architecture at the University of Notre Dame. Named for Chicago philanthropist and … Continue reading →

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Bowdlerizing Mozart

Posted on January 31, 2016 by David Brussat

In a passage from Wolfgang Hildesheimer’s biography, Mozart, the author discusses posterity’s attempt to sanitize the composer, including his operatic music, some of which sang out in the sort of joy that stuffed-shirt guardians of society’s morality can’t abide. But … Continue reading →

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BBC on Mont Saint-Michel

Posted on January 30, 2016 by David Brussat

Yesterday, I got an email from the author and director of a documentary on Mont Saint-Michel being produced for BBC France. Denis Sneguirev asked me whether I could provide him with information about the development of the abbey just off … Continue reading →

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More on the WWI winner

Posted on January 27, 2016 by David Brussat

Yesterday’s announcement of a winner in the open international competition for a national World War I memorial sent me rushing to find out how it had changed since its selection as one of five finalists. And the winner is Joseph … Continue reading →

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