INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE 1924 – 1934
M. L. Anderson [Editor], Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, R. A. [foreword]
[RIBA] M. L. Anderson [Editor], Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, R. A. [foreword]: INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE 1924 – 1934 [Catalogue to the centenary exhibition of the Royal Institute of British Architects 66 Portland Place London W1]. London: Royal Institute of British Architects, 1934. First edition. Quarto. Printed wrappers. 153 + 1 [lii] pp. 5 color plates, 33 black and white photo reproductions. Title page features Eric Gill’s RIBA centennial medallion printed in red. Original cover design by John Farleigh. Wrappers spotted and lightly worn at spine junctures, trivial pencilled marginalia throughout, Gavin Stamp’s bookplate inside front wrapper. A very good or better copy.
7.25 x 9.75 softcover catalog with 154 pages of illustrtaed text, 53 pages of advertisments, and 5 color plates. Catalog of an ambitious exhibition organised by the RIBA to mark its centenary, running to 1242 photographs of contemporary buildings and projects not just by British architects but by all the leading architects then in practice in Europe and further afield. As was customary at the time, only a small number of these were reproduced in the catalog, but the overall character of the exhibition is clear.
Includes short essays on aspects of architecture with contributions from H. S. Goodhart-Rendel, Vernon Crompton, Raymond McGrath and E. Maxwell Fry. Includes work by Giles Gilbert Scott, W. M. Dudok, Gunner Asplund, Alvar Aalto, Antonin Raymond, J. J. P. Oud, Hans Scharoun, and others.
Grey Wornum designed the Royal Institute of British Architects 66 Portland Place in the height of Art Deco style. He is also known for his contributions to the original RMS Queen Elizabeth liner and for his layout of Parliament Square. He was supposed to co-ordinate the street decorations for Edward VIII’s Coronation, which of course was cancelled when the King abdicated. The headquarters at 66 Portland Place opened in 1934 and coincided with the publication of this exhibition catalog.
John Farleigh (British, 1900 – 1965) apprenticed to the Artists’ Illustrators Agency and later studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London, learning engraving from Noel Rooke. He taught for many years at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. A founder and long time Chairman of the Crafts Centre of Great Britain, his influence on the standing of art in Britain was enormous. He was a tireless populiser: working for commercial publishers and for London Transport far more than for private presses. In 1941 he was commissioned by the British Council to design the title page of the catalogue for Exhibition of Modern British Crafts, but he was also a deep-thinking artist who constantly experimented to produce works in a variety of styles that showed his fluid and brilliant use of line.