Beaux Arts and Nineteenth Century French Architecture (1982)

Architecture was taught at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1819 to 1968, by which time the Ecole had outlived its reputation. To the champions of the International Style “Beaux-Arts” was virtually a term of abuse: authoritarian, academic, and stifling to individual talent. A new and more thoughtful approach to the Beaux-Arts is contained in these essays which discuss the organization and teaching methods of the Ecole, in particular the elaborate competition by which one student a year won the Prix de Rome; the ideals of practical planning and fitness for purpose which it inherited from Neoclassicism; the neglected subject of polychromy; and the relation between a literary giant, Victor Hugo, and one of the key Beaux-Arts buildings, Labrouste’s Bibliotheque Ste. Genevieve. The book is illustrated with original drawings from the Ecole’s archives and a wealth of photographs. Condition: Very good in lightly marked dust wrapper