New Haven, Connecticut.- The Yale School of Architecture is proud to present “Massimo Scolari: The Representation of Architecture, 1967–2012”, on view at the school’s gallery from February 6th through May 4th. The exhibition is the first U.S. retrospective since 1986 of the eminent Italian architect, artist, and designer. The exhibition explores the arc of Scolari’s career from 1967 to 2012, with some 160 paintings, watercolors, and drawings, most with architectural and urban subjects; a scaled-down iteration of a monumental sculpture created for the 1991 Venice Biennale; and ten architectural models. Together, these illuminate the complex, ongoing interaction in Scolari’s work between architecture and its methods and mediums of representation.
Curated by Mr. Scolari, “Massimo Scolari: The Representation of Architecture, 1967–2012” includes 57 display panels, each devoted to a specific project or recurring theme within Scolari’s lifetime of work. The exhibition makes clear Scolari’s radical questioning of some of the most deeply rooted assumptions of architecture, especially those that link architectural representation to the physicality of its constructions. To show how Scolari developed his theoretical position, and to trace some of the key moments in his artistic trajectory, the retrospective highlights the diverse contexts in which his work has unfolded, ranging from his time as a student at the Politecnico di Milano, in the late 1960s, to his collaboration with Aldo Rossi, from 1968 to 1972; his participation in the landmark 1980 Venice Biennale, Strada Novissima; and his teaching at the Universitario di Architettura Venezia, from 1973 to 2006.
Since 2006, Scolari has been Davenport Visiting Professor of Architecture at Yale. Massimo Scolari is an educator, scholar, editor, artist and designer. He was Professor at the University Institute of Architecture in Venice until 2000. He has served as Visiting Professor at Cornell University , the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, Cooper Union, Royal College of Art London, Technische Universitaet Wien, Harvard University , Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura Barcelona , UCLA, and the Royal Danish Academy Copenhagen. He has written extensively about the history of architectural representation. He has been on the editorial staff of Controspazio, Casabella and Lotus International. He was editor of Eidos and the Architecture Series by Franco Angeli. Scolari’s paintings, drawings and installations have been exhibited in Europe , Japan and the U.S. He participated in the Trienale in Milan and the Biennale in Venice . He has designed furniture for Giorgetti and products for Allessi. After retiring from his professorship in Venice , Scolari earned his pilot’s license. He currently lives in Venice .
Yale’s architecture programs are an outgrowth of a longstanding commitment to the teaching of the fine arts in the university. “Art was first taught at an American college or university in 1869 when the Yale School of the Fine Arts was established. Yale alumnus and educator Andrew Dickson White was offered the post as the first dean of the school, but turned it down to be the first president of Cornell University. Even earlier, in 1832, Yale opened the Trumbull Art Gallery, the first college-affiliated gallery in the country. The Department of Architecture was established in the School of the Fine Arts in 1916. In 1959 the School of Art and Architecture, as it was then known, was made into a fully graduate professional school. In 1972 Yale designated the School of Architecture as its own separate professional school.” The School is housed in the masterwork of its former Dean, Paul Rudolph. Rudolph Hall, formerly the Yale Art and Architecture Building, was rededicated and reoccupied in November 2008 following an extensive renovation and addition. Yale’s core program has always stressed design as a fundamental discipline. While initially associated with Beaux Arts pedagogy, the school adopted a close affiliation with other modes of fine art, including sculpture, graphic design, painting and furniture design. One of its most illustrious early graduates, Eero Saarinen, produced a wide variety of student projects ranging from medals and currency to campus and monumental buildings. When the Art and Architecture Building became its home, Paul Rudolph’s design reflected this close integration between various fine art departments. The famed department of Graphic Design contributed consistently to architecture posters, publications and exhibits, particularly to Perspecta, Yale’s ground breaking student journal. Exhibitions at the Yale School of Architecture are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The Gallery is closed on Sunday. Visit the school’s website at ...http://www.architecture.yale.edu