ICAA Lectures with Barry Bergdoll
The following lectures, which focus on classicism and art in France, are presented as part of The Françoise and Andrew Skurman Lecture Series on Classical French Architecture.
Jean-Jacques Lequeu: The Architectural Imagination in the Age of Reason
Pierre-Francois-Léonard Fontaine, Prix de Rome project 1783.
On April 14, 2020, the ICAA held its first virtual livestream Public Program by hosting Barry Bergdoll, who spoke about the vivid imagination and skillful renderings of draftsman and architect Jean-Jacques Lequeu.
Lequeu completed a number of architectural commissions, but he is perhaps most remembered for his fantastic unbuilt conceptions, which he brought to life in beautiful illustrations. In this lecture, Barry Bergdoll explores Lequeu's legacy, and places him in the context of his time. Watch now.
Opening of the Estates General in the Salle des Menus-Plaisirs du Roi, Versailles, 5 May 1789.
It is often assumed that periods of political upheaval are unproductive in the arts of building. But in fact, the French Revolutionary decade was one of the most vital for new forms of architecture, new definitions of the meanings of architectural form--classical and otherwise--but also the shape of the city and of its citizens. This lecture considers the rethinking of territory, measurement, collective identity, and political organization that accompanied the French Revolution as well as novel new building types and types of urban dwelling.
On Thursday, June 11th, the ICAA hosted Barry Bergdoll, Professor of Art History at Columbia University and former Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, for an online lecture on the French Revolutionary Decade, 1789-1799. WATCH NOW.
Napoleon's Architects: Percier and Fontaine
Trajan's Column, Measured Drawing; Charles Percier, 1788
On Thursday, May 9, 2019 the ICAA hosted Barry Bergdoll, to discuss the renowned work of "Napoleon's architects," Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre Fontaine (1762-1853). Percier and Fontaine were not only the Emperor's official government architects, but two of the most celebrated teachers at the legendary Ecole des Beaux-Arts, responsible for developing the highly influential neoclassical Empire, or Directoire, style of design. This insightful lecture was filmed in its entirety and can now be viewed online.
Learn more about the design and architectural legacy of Percier and Fontaine in ICAA President Peter Lyden's 2018 article, The Enduring Influence of Percier and Fontaine, which summarizes their incredible impact and provides some insight into the process of the ICAA's publication of the definitive collection of their works, The Complete Works of Percier and Fontaine, in conjunction with the Princeton Architectural Press.
