Louis I. Kahn Exhibition Opens at Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles

On Tuesday, January 25th the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Los Angeles (IIC) celebrated the opening of the first comprehensive exhibition on the cultural connection of the iconic American architect Louis I. Kahn and Italy. Entitled Kahn in Venice, the show was co-organized by the ICC and the Louis I. Kahn collection of the University of Pennsylvania Archives.

The exhibition was designed by Kahn protégés Barton Myers and David Karp, along with Yianna Bouyioukou of Barton Myers Associates. The opening event featured the Oscar nominated documentary My Architect (2003) introduced by writer and director Nathaniel Kahn, son of Louis I. Kahn.

“Of the main objectives of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Los Angeles, the one that recognizes the cultural linkages of Italy and the United States is paramount. Rarely has such a cultural connection existed with a great American artist than that of the late Louis I. Kahn, one of the most important architects of the twentieth century,” stated Alberto Di Mauro, Director of the IIC.

Considered by many to be one of the most influential American architects of the last fifty years, Louis I. Kahn’s work encompassed materiality, light and humanistic values in a manner transcending the limits of architectural form. Born at the turn of the twentieth century in Estonia and raised in humble circumstances in Philadelphia, Kahn studied Beaux Arts architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1924.

However, it was not until he completed the Richards Towers at the University of Pennsylvania and the Salk Institute in California that his contribution was appreciated. It is recognized that his sojourns in Italy in 1928 and 1950 with his observations and extraordinary drawings of its architectural treasures were a for mative source for his unique projects as well as his acclaimed masters class at the University of Pennsylvania. He had challenged and bypassed the popular International Style of the period.

Around the age of fifty Kahn spent four months as Architect in Residence at the American Academy in Rome.
During this short but significant time he experienced the great ruins of the ancient world and resolved that “the architecture of Italy will remain as the inspirational source of the works of the future.” In 1968 Kahn was invited to design his only project in Italy, a conference center for the city of Venice, the Palazzo dei Congressi.

A great meeting hall, it was designed as a theater in the round, sliced lengthwise to accommodate a narrow park site. Kahn designed a bridge-like structure to deal with the soil condition and to spare existing trees. Its later placement spanned the water of the Arsenale site. Unfortunately the project was never realized, joining similar unconstructed efforts of Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. Although Kahn continued a successful career as an architect, educator and lecturer both in the United States and abroad, he passed away unexpectedly in New York on March 17, 1974.

A charcoal sketch of the Palazzo, accompanied by a model, is the centerpiece of the comprehensive collection of Kahn’s travel sketches in Italy. The exhibition will run through March 19, 2011.