Carlo Scarpa

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Robert McCarter

Phaidon Press, London, 2013, English

Nonfiction, Art and Cultural History; Nonfiction, Architecture

11.4 x 9.8 inches, hardcover, 288 pages, 175 color and 175 black-and-white illustrations

ISBN: 9780714848006

Suggested Retail Price: $125.00

From the Publisher. Italian architect Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978) is a unique figure in the Modern movement and even today his work continues to challenge accepted notions of modern architecture. While intensely revered as an architect of immense detail and consideration, no comprehensive monograph has been produced on this scale to date - nothing that approaches the breadth and depth covered by this title.

With an illuminating text by Robert McCarter, who has developed a reputation and following for his meticulously researched, experentially-based, and jargon-free accounts of key figures in Modern architecture, this book provides the definitive study of Scarpa's many accomplishments, including such works at the Canova Museum, the Castelvechhio Museum and the Brion Cemetery, among others.

Scarpa possessed an exceptional understanding of raw materials, and from 1933 to 1947, was artistic director of Venini – one of the most prominent producers of Venetian glass – before beginning his career as an architect. His architecture is steeped in the culture of his home city of Venice, and also takes elements from Japanese culture and numerology. To a degree unmatched by any other Modern architect, Scarpa stood in two worlds, the ancient and the modern, and his architecture, so representative of time and place, is particularly shaped by the experience of the inhabitant. To this end, McCarter's extraordinary exploration of Scarpa's works take the reader through analysis of process and design as well through tailor-made experiential "walk-throughs" of over 15 critical projects.

With the outcome often largely unforeseen at the outset, for Scarpa the production of sketches and drawings allowed a constant engagement in the act of design and making throughout a building's conception. A significant number of these beautiful drawings, from throughout Scarpa'a career, form a key individual section of the book. Over 400 images and architectural drawing of Scarpa’s projects (including glass designs, interior renovations and housing), environments (from his beloved canals of Venice to the mountains of the northern Veneto) and influences (from Palladio and Frank Lloyd Wright to artists Paul Klee and Josef Albers) give life to the explorative text.

Carlo Scarpa also features a complete list of works, including all realized and unrealized works of architecture and design. This unrivaled monograph presents the entire career of one of the universally recognized modern masters of architecture. For Scarpa, only a rich appreciation of a region's history and culture could lend an architect the ability to design for a particular place. With it's impressive scope, Carlo Scarpa, presents the reader with a full account of the Italian architect's work and influence, making the book itself a unique product that both embraces and embodies the traditions of this celebrated architect.

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