Viollet-le-Duc Drawing Worlds is the first major U.S. exhibition dedicated to the life and work of visionary architect, designer, and theorist Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879). Bringing together nearly 150 drawings and objects, the majority of which have never before been on view in the U.S., the exhibition highlights Viollet-le-Duc’s prolific work as a draftsman and the centrality of drawing to his practice. A transformative figure in the history of modern architecture, today he is best known for his restoration of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.
Viollet-le-Duc endeavored to restore not only the buildings but also the spirit and vitality of an idealized Middle Ages, which meant that he never felt confined to merely reproduce what once stood. The exhibition—which includes stunning sketches from the architect’s travels to Italy and through the Alps—reveals how his art was inextricably intertwined with his social and political beliefs rooted in a strong sense of national and ethnic identity. Offering a chronological path through Viollet-le-Duc’s career, the exhibition examines his body of work from early drawings imagining bygone worlds in their golden age; to his mid-career restoration campaigns that defined the modern experience of Gothic France; and to his late drawings that blur the lines between geology and architecture.
Viollet-le-Duc endeavored to restore not only the buildings but also the spirit and vitality of an idealized Middle Ages, which meant that he never felt confined to merely reproduce what once stood. The exhibition—which includes stunning sketches from the architect’s travels to Italy and through the Alps—reveals how his art was inextricably intertwined with his social and political beliefs rooted in a strong sense of national and ethnic identity. Offering a chronological path through Viollet-le-Duc’s career, the exhibition examines his body of work from early drawings imagining bygone worlds in their golden age; to his mid-career restoration campaigns that defined the modern experience of Gothic France; and to his late drawings that blur the lines between geology and architecture.
