Comments on: Paul Rudolph, Tragic Hero http://hewittarch.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/paul-rudolph-tragic-hero/ A preservation architect looks at the built environment Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:34:12 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Mark Alan Hewitt http://hewittarch.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/paul-rudolph-tragic-hero/#comment-63 Mark Alan Hewitt Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:54:30 +0000 http://hewittarch.wordpress.com/?p=148#comment-63 I used to look at Rudolph's late work and wonder why he had ever achieved a notable reputation, for he designed many bad buildings in the 1970s and 1980s. However, I believe that his 1960s buildings were quite original and profound. All architects borrow, but I think Rudolph synthesized a number of concepts from the "form givers" in his best work. He had an extraordinary imagination, as the Yale building more than demonstrates. I used to look at Rudolph’s late work and wonder why he had ever achieved a notable reputation, for he designed many bad buildings in the 1970s and 1980s. However, I believe that his 1960s buildings were quite original and profound. All architects borrow, but I think Rudolph synthesized a number of concepts from the “form givers” in his best work. He had an extraordinary imagination, as the Yale building more than demonstrates.

]]> By: Confit de Canard http://hewittarch.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/paul-rudolph-tragic-hero/#comment-62 Confit de Canard Sun, 07 Dec 2008 17:45:01 +0000 http://hewittarch.wordpress.com/?p=148#comment-62 Why did Paul Rudolph's work and reputation fade in the years following construction of Yale's Art & Architecture Building (now Paul Rudolph Hall)? Probably because he ran out of stylistic ideas to borrow from Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius and others. One must look to Rudolph's early designs in Sarasota, Florida to find anything in his work pure and original. His houses of the time had a straight-forward, unselfconscious, functional integrity. But after he was elevated to dean of the Yale School of Architecture, it's as if Rudolph needed to prove his credentials as a world-class architect, but lacked a world-class imagination. So he cribbed flourishes from the works of eminent contemporaries, like a crow gathering shiny bits to adorn its nest, and wove them into his Gothic concrete bunkers. Ultimately, however, Rudolph succeeded only in proving his eye for recognizing prototypes worth plagiarizing. Even today, those who can't identify his works' sources applaud. But like Antonio Salieri, he couldn't deceive himself and self-destructed. Is that tragedy or penance? Why did Paul Rudolph’s work and reputation fade in the years following construction of Yale’s Art & Architecture Building (now Paul Rudolph Hall)? Probably because he ran out of stylistic ideas to borrow from Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius and others.

One must look to Rudolph’s early designs in Sarasota, Florida to find anything in his work pure and original. His houses of the time had a straight-forward, unselfconscious, functional integrity. But after he was elevated to dean of the Yale School of Architecture, it’s as if Rudolph needed to prove his credentials as a world-class architect, but lacked a world-class imagination. So he cribbed flourishes from the works of eminent contemporaries, like a crow gathering shiny bits to adorn its nest, and wove them into his Gothic concrete bunkers. Ultimately, however, Rudolph succeeded only in proving his eye for recognizing prototypes worth plagiarizing.

Even today, those who can’t identify his works’ sources applaud. But like Antonio Salieri, he couldn’t deceive himself and self-destructed. Is that tragedy or penance?

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