A.G. Rizzoli: Architect of Magnificent Visions

Published to accompany a two-year traveling exhibition opening in March 1997 at the San Diego Museum of Art, this book is the first ever devoted to visionary American artist A.G. Rizzoli (1896-1981), whose elaborate architectural drawings are world-renowned. Chronology. Glossary. Catalogue of the exhibition. 94 illustrations, 36 in color.

Published to accompany a two-year traveling exhibition of A. G. Rizzoli's work, Architect of Magnificent Visions is the exhibition's catalog as well as the definitive study of the life and work of this visionary artist and architect. Working by day as a humble draftsman in a small San Francisco architecture firm, the reclusive Rizzoli created his extraordinary color-ink renderings of his dream city and other visions in secret during his spare time. His meticulous, highly detailed drawings of Gothic cathedrals, skyscrapers, and domes were intended as symbolic architectural stand-ins for people he knew, particularly his mother, whom he worshipfully depicted as an elaborate fortress. Hailed by curators as "the find of the century," Rizzoli's drawings were unearthed 10 years after his death. The 94 illustrations reproduced in this beautiful volume, including 36 in full color, as well as the insightful essays by experts in the study of "outsider" art (artwork typically produced by someone untrained in the arts and that is not associated with any particular artistic or cultural movement), interpret Rizzoli's bizarre life and work in ways accessible to both scholars and the general public.