2011-04-21

“Illustrated Architecture Books: Highlights from 500 Years of Theory and Practice,” an exhibition at the University of Illinois at Chicago features seven important works drawn from the collections of The Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  The cooperative exhibit includes one of The Rare Book & Manuscript Library’s copies of the exhibition’s signature work, the Giocondo edition of Vitruvius Pollio (1511), the first illustrated architecture book.

The exhibit at the Richard J Daley Library, Special Collections and Archives opened on March 31, 2011, and runs through June 30, 2011.

More information about the exhibition and the Chicago-wide “Festival of the Architecture Book, 1511-2011” may be found at http://1511-2011.org/ .

From the “Festival of the Architecture Book, 1511-2011” website:

The exhibition of rare illustrated books about architecture and urban design at the Special Collections of the University of Illinois in Chicago will draw on the UIC Burnham and Hammond Collection, on items from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and on generous loans from the private library of Jeffrey Jahns.

Spanning five centuries, the exhibition will explore the major landmarks of architectural publishing, including imprints from Venice, Rome, Paris, London, and Antwerp, as well as Chicago. Among the principal themes of this exhibition will be residential architecture, architectural ornament, and the emergence of modern architectural thought and practice from its classical past.

Exhibition curated by Martha Pollak, Professor of Art History, University of Illinois, Chicago.

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