Hans Hollein at Drawing Matter

A research guide to the collections

Editors and Nicholas Olsberg

A selection of Hollein material in the Drawing Matter Collections. Photo: Jesper Authen

The Austrian architect Hans Hollein (1934–2014) studied under Clemens Holzmeister at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, and then at the Illinois Institute of Technology and the College of Environmental Design at the University of California Berkeley. With the sculptor and designer Walter Pichler he introduced a body of experimental and utopian ideas in an exhibition at the Galerie nächst St. Stephan in Vienna in 1963. He opened a practice in 1964, and worked both theoretically and practically in built works and theatre and product design, and as a teacher and curator, throughout the world, with his thematic exhibitions and designs for museum buildings for art and science attracting special notice.

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Drawings, 1959–1969


Study Sketches toward a utopian architecture, c.1959–1964

Twenty-four sheets of study drawings, many entered in sketchbooks that were later broken up by the architect, deriving from his travels and investigations in the United States and soon after, observing built forms in the desert landscape and imagining ideal cityscapes and structures, some adapted from those observations. The majority of the selection was curated in consultation with the artist’s estate to represent a core of ideas in process at a turning point in the architect’s thinking. Much of the inquiry shown took further shape in the 1963 collaborative exhibition with Walter Pichler.

Hans Hollein (1934–2014), view of Second Mesa, Arizona, 1960. Black ink on wove paper, 329 × 418 mm. DMC 2490.15.
Hans Hollein (1934–2014), City, Communication Interchange, 1962. Pencil, pen and black ink on wove paper, 329 × 418 mm. DMC 2490.18.
Hans Hollein (1934–2014), perspective sketch of church, 1959–1964. Coloured crayons on very thin wove paper, 210 × 295 mm. DMC 2490.21.


Monument for Ettore Bugatti: Section for the first version, 1969

Hans Hollein (1934–2014), Section of monument with model of Bugatti Royale car, Monument for Ettore Bugatti, 1969. Pencil and coloured crayon over print, on thin wove paper, 209 × 297 mm. DMC 2448.


Graphic Material and Catalogues, 1970–1972

Alles ist Architektur: Eine Austellung zum Thema Tod, 1970

A limited-edition artist portfolio with prints and pressed botanical specimens, issued at the time of the exhibition in Mönchengladbach.

Hans Hollein (1934–2014), Alles ist Architektur, exhibition catalogue, 1970. Printed publication in cardboard box with dried leaves. 205 × 161 × 29 mm. DMC 3316.1.
Hans Hollein (1934–2014), Alles ist Architektur, exhibition catalogue, 1970. Printed publication in cardboard box with dried leaves. 205 × 161 × 29 mm. DMC 3316.1.

Casabella, November 1972

A copy of issue no. 371 of Casabella, in which he appears largely through product and display design.

Casabella rivista di urbanistica architettura e disegno industriale, issue no. 371, 1972. Print, 310 × 245 mm. DMC 3082.2.

Catalogue for his Austrian exhibition at Venice Biennale, 1972

Hans Hollein (1934–2014), Catalogue for his Austrian exhibition XXXVI Biennale Venice, 1972. Print, 219 × 229 × 5 mm. DMC 3316.2.
Hans Hollein (1934–2014), Catalogue for his Austrian exhibition XXXVI Biennale Venice, 1972. Print, 219 × 229 × 5 mm. DMC 3316.2.


Additions and amendments to the research guides are welcomed at editors@drawingmatter.org.