Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association

Boyarsky was chairman of the Architectural Association (AA) in London from 1971 until his death in 1990. In that time he transformed the AA into what the school acknowledges as "a major international cultural institution...embarking upon a highly ambitious program of exhibitions, catalogs and publications." The professors that Boyarsky brought to the AA in that time is now a who's who of influential architects and writers: Robin Middleton, Charles Jencks, Elia Zhenghelis, Bernard Tschumi, Peter Cook, Dalibar Vasely, Joseph Rykwert, and Daniel Libeskind, to name a few. Many students also continued at the AA as professors, including Zhengelis’s student Rem Koolhaas, his own student Zaha Hadid, and Bernard Tschumi's student Nigel Coates.

So it's no surprise to see these and other architect's drawings in the collection of Boyarsky, but it is a treat to be able to see the drawings of roughly 35 architects in one place. Others who will be on display at Washington University's Kemper Museum this fall include Peter Cook, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, John Hejduk, Daniel Libeskind, Peter Salter, Superstudio, Shin Takamatsu, Michael Webb, Peter Wilson, and Lebbeus Woods.

After its run at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis from September 12, 2014, to January 4, 2015, Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association will head to Rhode Island to be exhibited at the RISD Museum from April 24 to August 2, 2015.