“James Frazer Stirling - Notes from the Archive. Crisis of Modernism”.

James Frazer Stirling (1924–1992) is regarded as one of the most influential and innovative architects of the second half of the 20th century. The exhibition at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart is the first comprehensive presentation dedicated to his work in Germany. Models, plans, sketches, photographs and a wide range of previously unpublished archival material cast a fresh light on James Stirling. James Stirling’s masterpiece – the Neue Staatsgalerie – has long been recognised as a classic of museum architecture. As the largest exhibit of the presentation, it can be explored in a multitude of ways. During the exhibition the Stirlingwalk invites you to explore the architecture of the Staatsgalerie and the surrounding buildings by Stirling via QR-codes.

INTRODUCTION TO THE EXHIBITION

[1]
The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart presents the first major retrospective in Germany of the renowned British architect, teacher and Pritzker Prize laureate James Frazer Stirling (1924–1992). The exhibition presents a chronological survey of the architect’s work from his student days in Liverpool and his close study of Le Corbusier to his architectural language of the 1970s and 80s which gave expression to his lifelong interest in the interplay between tradition and modernity. More than three hundred original architectural drawings, models and photographs as well as a wide range of previously unpublished archival material are drawn from the James Stirling/Michael Wilford fonds at the CCA.

[2 + 3]
Stirling’s exquisite architectural drawings conjure highly evocative visions of buildings: Among them are spectacular designs such as the trio of radically modern university buildings – the Engineering Building of Leicester University (1959–1963), the History Faculty Library in Cambridge (1964–1967) and the Florey Building for Queen’s College at Oxford University (1966–1971) – with their innovative, Constructivism-inspired mix of concrete, steel, glass and brick. Also documented are projects and buildings James Stirling’s as the Olivetti Training Centre in Haslemere, Surrey, (1969–1972) which looks forward to the formal repertoire of the Staatsgalerie; museums in London (Clore Gallery at Tate Britain, 1980-1986) and Harvard (Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 1979–1984); the Social Science Research Centre in Berlin as a ‘city within a city’ (1979–1987); the competition entry for the Bibliothèque de France (1989) with its references to the architecture of the French Enlightenment, and the Braun Headquarters in Melsungen, Germany (1986–1992). A number of rarely shown or even unknown projects from Stirling’s forty-year career attest to the architect’s creative interest in urban development and to the continuous evolution of his architectural language.

[4]
There can be no more appropriate venue in Germany for the first comprehensive exhibition of Stirling’s archive. Although initially the object of heated controversy, the Neue Staatsgalerie is now universally accepted as James Stirling’s masterpiece and a classic of museum architecture. It is the largest exhibit of the presentation and can be enjoyed in a multitude of ways. In Stuttgart the exhibition was staged by Peter Daners and supplemented with architecture-related works from the collection.

“James Frazer Stirling - Notes from the Archive. Crisis of Modernism” has been curated by Anthony Vidler, Dean and Professor of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union, New York. The exhibition will be presented at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal in spring 2012. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated book, published by the Canadian Centre for Architecture and Yale Center for British Art, in association with Yale University Press, and supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

[Image 1] James Frazer Stirling, House for the Architect: model, probably late autumn 1948, © James Stirling/Michael Wilford fonds, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal
[Image 2 - left] James Stirling and Partner, British Olivetti Headquarters, Milton Keynes: interior perspective (detail), 1970–1974, © James Stirling/Michael Wilford fonds, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal
[Image 3 - right] James Frazer Stirling, A Forest Ranger’s Lookout Station: perspective, section, elevation and plans (detail), spring 1949, © James Stirling/Michael Wilford fonds, Canadian Centre for Architecture
[Image 4] James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates, Clore Gallery, Tate, London: study model for the east elevation, 1978–1986, © James Stirling/Michael Wilford fonds, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal

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JAMES STIRLING

James Stirling. Born in Glasgow in 1924, James Frazer Stirling grew up in Liverpool. From 1946 to 1950 he studied architecture at the Liverpool School of Architecture, where Colin Rowe was among his teachers. After attaining his degree he took a position at the School of Town Planning and Regional Research in London.

From 1953 to 1956 he was on the staff of the influential firm of Lyons, Israel and Ellis. In 1955 he began teaching at the Architectural Association. From 1966 onwards he also taught at the Yale School of Architecture as Davenport Visiting Professor of Design. Later he was appointed to teach the architecture class at the Düsseldorf Academy. He received various distinctions in the course of his career, including the Aalvar Aalto Medal (1978), the Golden Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1980) and the Pritzker Prize (1981). Shortly before his death in 1992 James Stirling was knighted by the Queen.

James Stirling worked with a number of partners, among them James Gowan from 1956 to 1963, and from 1971 onwards Michael Wilford, who carried on the firm James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates after Stirling’s death. A number of his projects such as the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart and the Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg could only be realized posthumously.

Throughout his life, the interpretations and assessments of Stirling’s works varied greatly, and architectural critics assigned them to a range of different styles and currents. Terms such as Brutalism and Post-Modern – which Stirling had rejected for his work – were repeatedly proposed as a means of categorizing his various work phases. Actually, however, the new survey of his oeuvre clearly reveals that James Stirling’s architecture defies unequivocal classification and constantly oscillates between the poles of “abstraction” and “representation” which, according to Stirling himself, can also be defined as the “monumental informel” in his oeuvre.