Art & Art History
Charles Moore: Buildings and Projects
Charles Moore: Buildings and Projects features the work of Charles Moore (born 1925), a preeminent American architect who defied traditional rules. Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and educated at the University of Michigan and Princeton, Moore was a celebrated architect, teacher, and author who held numerous professorial positions throughout his career, including Dean of the Yale School of Architecture. New York Times architecture critic Joseph Giovannini called Moore, “an architectural anti-hero—a Woody Allen among builders—who greatly expanded architecture’s expressive range and helped redefine what was considered its proper subjects.” He also described Moore’s buildings as “rich and complex, like people’s lives, rather than reduced and simple.”
The buildings and projects in this exhibition are subdivided into four categories chosen by Moore himself. The first, Houses for the Architect, contains his own houses. The number of houses is large because Moore was remarkably peripatetic. In these buildings Moore worked out many ideas he later used in structures he created for others. These houses form the core of his work. The second category, Houses as the Center of the World, contains single-family homes designed for others as well as housing projects. The third, Frivolous and Serious Play, is made up mostly, but not exclusively, of large outdoor public projects in which people were asked to participate in an architectural experience, rather than simply observe. The last, Fitting, the largest and most inclusive, contains a variety of building types, each concerned with fitting into its environment, in the broadest sense. For some, environment means landscape, for others, it means older buildings. For all, there is the question of fitting the building into local architectural traditions as well as matching it with the function it must serve. A final group of works presents a selection of drawings of architectural fantasies that Moore has been creating since at least 1971. These last examples are highly personal expressions of architectural ideas that seem to have more and more directly informed his later built work.
For more than thirty years, Moore has created buildings that are humorous, vibrant, and thoughtful. Moore feels that buildings are receptacles for human energy and that every building deserves all the creative and intelligent energy that the architect, contractor, and craftsman can bestow so that it can become a delightful and vital place for its inhabitants. Evident in the drawings and models in the exhibit are images from the past and concepts from today ’s culture and environment that Moore uses to create a sense of harmony and comfort. Moore couples the extensive input of ideas from his clients with his non-dogmatic, fanciful approach to design to produce spaces that are still delightful to experience. To complement Moore’s completed buildings, the exhibition also includes “Memory Palaces”: self-contained, temple-like structures, which allegorically illustrates qualities of architecture.
EXHIBITION ESSAY
Johnson, Eugene J. “Charles Moore: Buildings and Projects, 1949–86.” In Charles Moore: Buildings and Projects, 1949–86. Rizzoli International Publications, 1986.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Charles Willard Moore (born 1925) is an American architect, educator, and writer. His impressive history of teaching began in 1959 at the University of California, Berkeley. He later became the Dean of the Yale School of Architecture from 1965 to 1970. In 1975, he moved to the University of California, Los Angeles, where he continued to teach before finally, in 1985, he became the O’Neil Ford Centennial Professor of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin. With Kent Bloomer, Moore founded the Yale Building Project in 1967 as a way both to demonstrate social responsibility and demystify the construction process for first-year students. The project remains active at Yale.
Moore prefers conspicuous design features, including loud color combinations, supergraphics, stylistic collisions, the re-use of esoteric historical-design solutions, and the use of non-traditional materials such as plastic, (aluminized) PET film, platinum tiles, and neon signs. As a result, his work provokes arousal and demands attention. In addition to being a chief innovator of postmodern architecture and a university educator, Moore is a prolific author, and published a dozen books. Many other books, monographs, and articles document his designs.
Moore was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1947 and earned both a Master’s and a PhD at Princeton University in 1957, where he remained for an additional year as a post-doctoral fellow.
EXHIBITION CHECKLIST
Arthur Andersson
Centennial Pavilion, World’s Fair, New Orleans, LA, elevation, 1982–84
Ink and watercolor on paper, 10 x 16 1/2 in.
Hotel Piazza d’Italia and office building, New Orleans, LA, 1985
Ink and watercolor on paper, 22 1/2 x 30 in.
Williams College Museum of Art and Art Department, Williamstown, MA, east elevation with proposed sculpture
Colored pencil on yellow trace paper, 22 1/2 x 53 1/2 in.
Centerbrook
Williams College Museum of Art and Art Department, Williamstown, MA, (Lawrence Hall) additions, section as built, 1977–83, 1984–86
Ink and watercolor on paper, 22 1/2 x 30 in.
Williams College Museum of Art and Art Department, Williamstown, MA, plan as built, 1977–83, 1984–86
Ink on paper, 22 1/2 x 30 in.
Centerbrook J.P.C. Floyd and Glen
Hood Art Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, model, 1981–85
William Hersey
Piazza d’Italia, New Orleans, LA, perspective of second project, 1975–78
Ink on paper, 27 x 19 in.
Piazza d’Italia, New Orleans, plan of second project, 1975–78
Ink on paper, 30 x 40 in.
Williams College Museum of Art and Art Department, Williamstown, MA, early project, view from north
Ink and watercolor on paper, 11 x 17 1/2 in.
Xanadune, St. Simons Island, GA, 1972
Ink on white paper
Xanadune, St. Simons Island, GA, perspective of interior court, 1972
Ink on white paper
Xanadune, St. Simons Island, GA, perspective of interior apartment, 1972
Ink on white paper, 21 x 30 1/2 in.
Charles Moore
Amusement Park, NJ, elevation, 1985
Pen on yellow trace paper, 24 x 78 in.
Amusement Park, NJ, elevations, 1985
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 5 x 16 in.
Amusement Park, NJ, plan with train, 1985
Colored pencil on yellow trace paper, 14 x 24 in.
Amusement Park, NJ, site plan, 1985
Colored pencil on yellow trace paper, 24 x 78 in.
Beverly Hills Civic Center, Beverly Hills, CA, Liberty Window, elevation of entrance, 1982
Ink and watercolor on paper, 55 x 22 in.
Beverly Hills Civic Center, Beverly Hills, CA, elevation, 1982
Ink and watercolor on paper, 32 x 114 in.
Beverly Hills Civic Center, Beverly Hills, CA, elevation of towers and fountain, 1982
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 12 x 12 in.
Beverly Hills Civic Center, Beverly Hills, CA, elevation of fountain wall, 1982
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 12 x 19 in.
Beverly Hills Civic Center, Beverly Hills, CA, elevation of tower, 1982
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 10 1/2 x 6 in.
Beverly Hills Civic Center, Beverly Hills, CA, partial plan with three ovals and palm trees, 1982
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 18 x 27 in.
Beverly Hills Civic Center, Beverly Hills, CA, plan with five ovals, 1982
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 18 x 26 in.
Beverly Hills Civic Center, Beverly Hills, CA, plan with five ovals and watercourse, 1982
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 18 x 37 in.
Beverly Hills Civic Center, Beverly Hills, CA, two elevations of fountain wall, 1982
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 12 x 16 in.
Chicago Fair 1992, site plan, 1985
Ink and watercolor on paper, 41 x 61 1/4 in.
Christmas Cookies, 1983
Cookies, ink, and watercolor on paper, assorted sizes
Fantasy Drawing, 1981
Ink and watercolor on paper, 16 x 19 1/2 in.
Fantasy Drawing/Seaside
Hand-colored lithograph, edition 12/12, 7 x 5 in.
Fantasy Drawing with Rocks, 1977
Ink and ink wash on paper, 8 x 20 in.
Fantasy with Fish, 1971
Pencil, colored pencil, and ink on paper, 16 1/2 x 19 1/2 in.
Fantasy with Floating and Tethered Barge, 1985
Ink and watercolor on paper, 24 x 18 in.
Fantasy with Towers, 1984
Ink and watercolor on paper, 19 x 13 in.
Hermann Park, Houston, TX, elevation, 1982
Ink and watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 1/2 in.
Hoffman House, Dallas, TX, plan and section, 1985
Ink and watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 1/2 in.
Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, model, 1981–85
Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, elevation of Hopkins Center with Domes, 1981–85
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 14 x 22 in.
Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, elevation of Wilson Hall with new screen wall and octagon, 1981–85
Colored pencil on yellow trace paper, 18 x 18 in.
Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, plan of entrance level, 1981–85
Ink on vellum, 24 x 18 in.
Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, plan showing Hood Museum south of Wilson and east of Hopkins Center, 1981–85
Magic marker and yellow trace paper, 18 x 22 in.
Hotel Project, Philadelphia, PA, plan, 1985
Ink and watercolor on paper, 24 x 36 in.
House, Aspen, CO, plan and section
Ink and watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 1/2 in.
Kingsmill on the James, model, 1974
Moore Cabin, Pine Mountain, CA, plan and section, 1983
Ink and watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 1/2 in.
Moore House, Austin, TX, plan/section A, 1985
Ink and watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 1/2 in.
Moore House, Orinda, CA, plan and section, 1962
Ink and watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 1/2 in.
Moore House, Pebble Beach, CA, perspective of entrance, 1954–55
Pencil on white paper, 18 x 23 1/2 in.
Moore House, Pebble B
each, CA, perspective of garden, 1954–55
Pencil on white paper, 18 x 23 1/2 in.
Moore House, Pebble Beach, CA, plan, 1954–55
Pencil on white paper, 18 x 23 1/2 in.
Moore House, Pebble
Beach, CA, perspective of south side, 1954–55
Pencil on white paper, 18 x 23 1/2 in.
Moore House, Essex, CT, plan and section, 1970–75
Ink and watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 1/2 in.
Piazza d’Italia, New Orleans, LA, campanile, four elevations, 1975–78
Pencil on yellow trace, 14 x 16 in.
Piazza d’Italia, New Orleans, LA, campanile and arcades, 1975–78
Ink on paper bag, 10 x 7 in.
Piazza d’Italia, New Orleans, LA, elevation of campanile and arcade, 1975–78
Ink on napkin, 5 x 10 in.
Piazza d’Italia, New Orleans, LA, elevation of campanile, 1975–78
Ink and watercolor on paper, 22 1/2 x 30 in.
Piazza d’Italia, New Orleans, LA, elevations of campanile, 1975–78
Pen on napkin, 4 x 4 in.
Rudolph House II, Williamstown, MA, model, 1979–81
Sea Ranch, interior perspective of single unit, 1963–65
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 13 x 23 in.
St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Pacific Palisades, CA, perspective of interior, 1979–83
Watercolor on paper, 18 x 12 in.
St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Pacific Palisades, CA, model, 1979–83
St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Pacific Palisades, CA, section, 1979–83
Ink and watercolor on paper, 27 x 40 in.
St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Pacific Palisades, CA, workshop drawing, 1979–83
Magic marker and collage on blueprint, 24 x 36 in.
Tegel Harbor Housing, Berlin, West Germany, Strasse 7, elevation, 1980
Ink and watercolor on paper, 18 x 107 in.
Tegel Harbor, Berlin, West Germany, elevation of housing J, 1980
Colored pencil on paper, 12 x 18 in.
Tegel Harbor, Berlin, West Germany, elevation of housing K, 1980
Ink and watercolor on paper, 25 x 88 3/4 in.
Tegel Harbor, Berlin, West Germany, housing model, 1980
Cardboard, 22 x 8 in.
Tegel Harbor, Berlin, West Germany, elevation of library, 1980
Ink and watercolor on paper, 28 x 40 in.
Tegel Harbor, Berlin, West Germany, section and perspective of library, 1980
Ink and watercolor on paper, 28 x 40 in.
Tegel Harbor, Berlin, West Germany, site plan, 1980
Ink and watercolor on paper, 28 x 40 in.
Williams College Museum of Art and Art Department, Williamstown, MA, bird’s-eye view of courtyard
Ink on trace paper
Williams College Museum of Art and Art Department, Williamstown, MA, project for polychromy in atrium
Watercolor on paper, 11 x 8 1/2 in.
Xanadune, St. Simons Island, GA, site plan, 1972
Pencil on white paper, 48 x 30 in.
Xanadune, St. Simons Island, GA, model, 1972
Charles Moore Associates and Urban Innovations Group with August Perez Associates
Piazza d’Italia, New Orleans, LA, Piazza/Square, 1975–78
Charles Moore with Richard Chylinski
Burns House, Santa Monica,
CA,
plan and section, 1972–74
Ink and watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 1/2 in.
Charles Moore with Richard Chylinski and Urban Innovations Group
Moore, Rogger and Hofflander Condominium, Los Angeles, CA, plan and section, 1975–78
Ink and watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 1/2 in.
Charles Moore with Robert Harper
Rudolph House II, Williamstown, MA, perspective of living room with dome, 1979–81
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 14 x 17 in.
Rudolph House II, Williamstown, MA, four sketches for dome, 1979–81
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 14 x 33 1/2 in.
Charles Moore with Warren Fuller/ Moore, Lyndon, Turnbull, Whitaker
Otus House, Berkeley, CA, plan and section, 1963
Ink and watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 1/2 in.
Charles Moore and William Turnbull with Guust Perez Associates, Kent Bloomer, Leonard Salvato and Arthur Andersson and Urban Innovation Group
Wonderwall, World’s Fair, New Orleans, LA, elevation, 1982–84
Ink and watercolor on paper, 18 x 116 in.
Charles Moore and William Turnbull
Sea Ranch, east elevation, 1963–65
Pencil on trace paper, 12 x 25 in.
Sea Ranch, grading, 1963–65
Colored pencil on paper, 27 1/2 x 36 1/2 in.
Sea Ranch, north elevation, 1963–65
Pencil on white trace paper, 12 x 27 in.
Sea Ranch, plan of condominium, 1963–65
Pencil on white trace paper, 42 x 26 in.
Sea Ranch, south elevation, 1963–65
Pencil on white trace paper, 12 x 27 in.
Sea Ranch, west elevation, 1963–65
Pencil on trace paper, 12 x 27 in.
Charles Moore Associates with Richard Oliver, Mary Ann Rumney, and Robert Yudell
Xanadune, St. Simons, GA, 1972
William Turnbull
Sea Ranch, Sea Ranch, CA, axonometric plan of bathroom and kitchen unit, 1963–65
Pencil on yellow trace paper, 14 1/2 x 23 in.
PRINT COLLATERAL
Flyer: Charles Moore: Building and Projects
EXHIBITION SUPPORT
Charles Moore: Buildings and Projects is supported by the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Art and Design’s College of Architecture, Art, and Urban Planning.
Funding for this exhibition is also made possible by the Graham Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council.