Art and architecture: which comes first?
CHAPTER 1: Introduction
Chapters
Architecture can inform a work of art in a number of ways: in its conception, its construction, and its eventual presentation. The works gathered here illustrate the range of influences architecture can have on the meaning of an artwork: where it was commissioned to be displayed, what building(s) it references, and the structures it engages physically or evokes mentally. Although often invisible to the average viewer, bringing an artwork’s architectural past to the fore can help the way we understand it long after parting from its original setting.
Image credit:
Stuart Davis
Lawn and Sky, 1931 (detail)
Oil on canvas
The Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin
Gift of Mari and James A. Michener, 1991
1991.205