Category: drawing histories
The Zilsel Thesis: A Review of ‘Strata: William Smith’s Geological Maps’ (2020)
4 May 2021
The Zilsel Thesis: A Review of ‘Strata: William Smith’s Geological Maps’ (2020)4 May 2021
By Stan Allen
In a series of essays and lectures developed between 1939 and 1943, the philosopher of science Edgar Zilsel identified three distinct sources of knowledge in the Renaissance. In the late-medieval period, writes Zilsel, the traditional learning associated with the universities was still theological and scholastic in character. The texts preserved… Read More
14 Wine Street, Bristol
29 April 2021
14 Wine Street, Bristol29 April 2021
By Lee Marable
Whilst leafing through the Drawing Matter collection, this drawing from 1885, by architect Henry Crisp, caught my eye. The drawing depicts a new shopfront and facade to be grafted on to the existing structure of 14 Wine Street, Bristol. Initially, the design struck me as remarkably contemporary and I came… Read More
The Beaux-Arts Tradition
29 April 2021
The Beaux-Arts Tradition29 April 2021
By Basile Baudez and Maureen Cassidy-Geiger
The following text has been excerpted from Living with Architecture as Art, the recently published catalogue of Peter May’s collection of drawings, models and architectural artefacts. The catalogue is edited by Maureen Cassidy-Geiger and published in two generously illustrated volumes. The first volume includes essays by Maureen Cassidy-Geiger, Basile Baudez,… Read More
Order and Uncertainty in Architectural Drawing
26 April 2021
Order and Uncertainty in Architectural Drawing26 April 2021
By Luke Tipene
How we look at architectural drawings is an inherently complicated topic. The issue arises from what we understand to appear and disappear on the page. The field of architecture has spent little time talking about what we see (and don’t see) on the surface of the drawing itself. One could… Read More
Twelve drawings for the Governor’s Palace at Chandigarh
22 April 2021
Twelve drawings for the Governor’s Palace at Chandigarh22 April 2021
Drawing Matter was introduced to José Oubrerie by Stan Allen after publishing his text Just Begin in July 2020. Oubrerie worked for Le Corbusier in his Atelier at 35 Rue de Sèvres from 1957 to 1965. The following text is the second in a series of two transcriptions of informal… Read More
The Palace of the Assembly and Museum at Chandigarh
20 April 2021
The Palace of the Assembly and Museum at Chandigarh20 April 2021
Drawing Matter was introduced to José Oubrerie by Stan Allen after publishing his text Just Begin in July 2020. Oubrerie worked for Le Corbusier in his Atelier at 35 Rue de Sèvres from 1957 to 1965. The following text is the first in a series of two transcriptions of informal… Read More
The Vitruvian Man: with Fresh Eyes
14 April 2021
The Vitruvian Man: with Fresh Eyes14 April 2021
By Niamh Murphy
‘The Vitruvian Man of Leonardo da Vinci as a model of innovative entrepreneurship at the intersection of business, art and technology’ is shown in the first image. This is a ‘modern’ interpretation of the Renaissance drawing as a business model as published in the Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2017. An… Read More
Nancy Holt: Sky Mound
8 April 2021
Nancy Holt: Sky Mound8 April 2021
Nancy Holt (1938-2014) was a member of the earth, land, and conceptual art movements. A pioneer of site-specific installation and the moving image, Holt recalibrated the limits of art. She expanded the places where art could be found and embraced the new media of her time. Across five decades she… Read More
Hans Hollein: From a Distance
7 April 2021
Hans Hollein: From a Distance7 April 2021
On a page of Hans Hollein’s sketchbook, a cluster of adobe buildings climb slowly and modestly above the horizon, seeming to rise out of the earth. The sketch, produced in 1960 during the Austrian architect’s exploration of the western United States, feels unorthodox for Hollein, whose proclivity for radical, anti-Functionalist… Read More
Adam Bede’s ‘Discourse on Building’ (1859)
6 April 2021
Adam Bede’s ‘Discourse on Building’ (1859)6 April 2021
By George Eliot
This speech on building- and on architects- was made by Adam, to Mr Poyser, and comes in Chapter 49 of the novel. It was pointed out to us by the Eliot scholar, Dermot Coleman, who added that ‘it is generally a safe bet that views on such matters expressed by Adam… Read More
Remembering a House in an Indiana Cornfield
31 March 2021
Remembering a House in an Indiana Cornfield31 March 2021
Dear Nicholas, It was wonderful to connect to your seminar and with you. We must catch up soon. I learned a lot from your presentation. And it brought back a flood of memories. Just now I quickly sketched the open plan house my father designed and had built in 1946,… Read More
fala atelier: Seriously Playful
6 May 2021
fala atelier: Seriously Playful6 May 2021
By Jack Huang
Back in December 2018, I received an email with a pdf containing 8 compositions in 1:200 from fala atelier. These were ‘comprehensive drawings’ that they were experimenting with for their 2G publication. They simply wanted to know which I liked, and what I thought about them. Some differ from the… Read More
drawing matter writing prize 2020