Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. With an Introduction by Vincent Scully.

VENTURI, Robert (1925-):

Published by New York: Museum of Modern Art, in association with the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago. Distributed by Doubleday, Garden City, 1966., 1966

About this Item

First printing. 143 pp; 350 illus. Original cloth. Near Fine, in near fine dust jacket (unclipped). The Museum of Modern Art Papers on Architecture 1. 'A controversial critic of the blithely functionalist and symbolically vacuous architecture of corporate modernism during the 1950s, Venturi has been considered a counterrevolutionary. He published his 'gentle manifesto,' Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture in 1966, described in the introduction by Vincent Scully to be 'probably the most important writing on the making of architecture since Le Corbusier's 'Vers Une Architecture', of 1923.' Derived from course lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, Venturi received a grant from the Graham Foundation in 1965 to aid in its completion. The book opened the way for a new appreciation of architectural history as inspiration for new designs, and made a case for 'the difficult whole' rather than the diagrammatic forms popular at the time. The book has been translated and published in 18 languages' (Wikipedia).

Seller Inventory # 22776

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. With an Introduction by Vincent Scully.
• Publisher: New York: Museum of Modern Art, in association with the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago. Distributed by Doubleday, Garden City, 1966.
• Publication Date: 1966
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine