200px, ''Architecture Without Architects'' cover
''Architecture Without Architects: A Short Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture'' is a book based on the
NYC
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
MoMA exhibition of the same name by
Bernard Rudofsky
Bernard Rudofsky (April 19, 1905 - March 12, 1988) was an Austrian American writer, architect, collector, teacher, designer, and social historian. His most notable work is '' Architecture Without Architects: A Short Introduction to Non-pedigreed A ...
originally published in 1964. It provides a demonstration of the artistic, functional, and cultural richness of
vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. This category encompasses a wide range and variety of building types, with differing methods of construction, from around the world, bo ...
.
Previous research
Rudofsky had long been interested in vernacular architecture. In 1931 he completed his dissertation on vernacular concrete architecture on the Greek
Cyclades
The Cyclades (; el, Κυκλάδες, ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name ...
islands. He was convinced that modernism, but especially modern architecture got out of touch with the needs, and sensuality of mankind.
NYC MoMA exhibition
After having curated the highly controversial NYC MoMA-show "Are Clothes Modern?", an exhibition where Rudofsky argued that clothing lacked utility, and - due to its highly artificial nature - even had harming effects on the human body, Rudofsky developed the exhibition Architecture Without Architects, that was from 11 Nov. 1964-7 Feb. 1965 on show at the NYC MoMA. In 200 enlarged black-and-white-photographs, he showed various kinds of architectures, landscapes, and people living with or within architectures.
Shown without texts or explanations, the visitors were just confronted with imagery that showed indigenous building traditions, which were very much at odds with the ideas of architectural modernism which had been promoted through NYC MoMA's
Philip Johnson
Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect best known for his works of modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the po ...
in his famous 1932 exhibition "Modern Architecture. International Exhibition". Although the show was heavily criticised, it became one of the most successful exhibitions in the history of the NYC MoMA.
See also
*
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. This category encompasses a wide range and variety of building types, with differing methods of construction, from around the world, bo ...
References
Museum of Modern Art (New York City) exhibitions
1964 non-fiction books
Architecture books
Vernacular architecture
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