Exchange: Albert Kahn's European Travel Drawings

Part of: Early Modern European Architecture and Interior Design (6 resources )

Early Modern European Architecture and Interior Design

Renaissance architecture and interior design was characterized above all by a revival of the architectural features and styles of Imperial Rome. As an interest in the classical world spread northward throughout the learned society of Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, architects and classical scholars studied and eventually began to mimic the remaining ruins of the Roman Empire. Though they “posed as imitators of the ancients,”¹ however, early modern architects were also innovators. They created new types of buildings like urban palaces, theaters, and concert spaces. During this time, the structure of the home also transformed dramatically; middle- and upper-class urban homes developed from one- or two-room dwellings attached to shops into detached properties with separate functional rooms like parlors and individual bedrooms. At almost every socio-economic level, therefore, early modern people were finding new ways to transform the architectural spaces around them.²

The new idealized styles of the 15th and 16th centuries were concerned primarily with proportion, symmetry, geometry, and order.³ These qualities provided more than simple visual appeal. In fact, the greatest architectural projects of the early modern era – the urban palaces of the Medici family, the reconstruction of St. Peter’s Basilica, the re-design of the medieval city of Paris by King Henry IV, the concentric canals of Amsterdam – were all funded by powerful individuals and governments who believed that orderly architecture would foster an orderly population. Geometrically-proportioned architecture, particularly in government buildings and palaces, promoted an image of power which was regulated, methodical, and in harmony with natural law.⁴ By contrast, Renaissance artists were also fascinated by ruins, which indicated precisely the opposite qualities and, where they appeared in Renaissance art, often indicated moral, social, or economic decay.

This series of resources combines architectural renderings, design sketches, stage sets, and drawings of interior spaces, as well as a selection of photographs of Renaissance-era buildings. It represents the broad range of early modern conceptions of architecture and interior design across Western Europe.

Sources:

[1] Georges Gromort. Italian Renaissance Architecture. Translated by George F. Waters. London: J. Tiranti & Co. 1922.

[2] Christopher Friedrichs. The Early Modern City, 1450-1750. London: Longman, 1995.

[3] Jacob Burckhardt. The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance. Chicago: Edited by Peter Murray. University of Chicago Press, 1985.

[4] Josef Konvitz. Cities & the Sea: Port City Planning in Early Modern Europe. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1978.

Copyright

Created by

Haley Elisabeth Bowen

Last Updated

January 17, 2019 10:22 a.m.

6 Items in this Learning Collection

Early Modern European Architectural Designs and Drawings

This small sketch presents a view along a waterway that passes beneath a double-arched bridge. The triangular sail of a small boat is visible just before the bridge, moored to the quai next to some sheds. A tall church with a central steeple rises on the right bank in the foreground, and two other tall buildings punctuate the middle ground and distance. The chimneys and rooflines of humbler dwellings appear on the left bank. Despite the urban setting, only a few figures may be glimpsed, including a man crossing the bridge on horseback.

Resource with 101 media

Early Modern Interior Design

Resource with 79 media

Early Modern Stage Sets

Resource with 8 media

Ruins in the Early Modern European Architectural Imagination

Resource with 30 media

Enrique Chagoya: Flipping Europe on its Head

Resource with 4 media

Albert Kahn's European Travel Drawings

Resource with 139 media

Architecture and Buildings

Copyright

Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Created by

David M Choberka

Last Updated

January 17, 2019 10:22 a.m.

16 Items in this Learning Collection

Albert Kahn's European Travel Drawings

Resource with 139 media

Architecture in Photography 1900-1948

View of an unfurnished room, whose walls are decorated with pilasters.

Resource with 40 media

Architecture in photography 1949-1989

Photograph of a white painted post holding up the tin roof of a porch.

Resource with 72 media

Christian Churches

A group of people outside of a church praying because there is no more room inside. The streets are covered with parked cars.

Resource with 195 media

Early Modern European Architectural Designs and Drawings

Resource with 101 media

Early Modern European Architecture and Interior Design

Resource with 212 media

Early Modern Stage Sets

Resource with 8 media

Egypt in 19th Century Photography

Egyptian temple decorated with carved motifs seen from a slight oblique angle.

Resource with 22 media

Italy in 19th-Century Photography

Resource with 81 media

The Modern Metropolis

Resource with 82 media

Religious Buildings

A man attaches wires to a wooden pole in the right foreground; humanoid sculptures adorn a pointed roof and chimney on the left.

Resource with 219 media

Ruins in the Early Modern European Architectural Imagination

Resource with 30 media

The City in Photography 1900-1948

View of an empty street in front of a men's clothing store.

Resource with 50 media

Albert Kahn's European Travel Drawings

Albert Kahn (1869-1942) was one of the most prominent architects of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a young man he was awarded a scholarship to travel through Europe for a year. This collection of his graphite drawings provides a fascinating glimpse into a young American architect's encounter with the architectural heritage of the Renaissance.

Upon his return to the United States, Kahn founded his own firm, Albert Kahn Associates, and embarked upon a fruitful career. His legacy spans from the Ford Motor plants in Highland Park to the art deco Fisher Building in Detroit. He also designed many of the buildings on the University of Michigan's central campus, including the Burton Memorial Tower, Hill Auditorium, Hatcher Graduate Library, and the William L. Clements Library.

Albert Kahn
Chartres
Ink over watercolor on beige paper
12 15/16 in x 8 3/16 in (32.86 cm x 20.8 cm)
Transferred from the College of Architecture and Design, 1972—Gift of the Family of Albert Kahn: through Dr. Edgar A. Kahn; Mrs. Barnett Malbin; Mrs. Martin L. Butzel

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Albert Kahn
Angers
graphite on paper
13 ⅛ in x 8 9/16 in (33.34 cm x 21.75 cm)
Transferred from the College of Architecture and Design, 1972—Gift of the Family of Albert Kahn: through Dr. Edgar A. Kahn; Mrs. Barnett Malbin; Mrs. Martin L. Butzel

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Albert Kahn
Laval
graphite on paper
13 ⅞ in x 8 ⅝ in (35.24 cm x 21.91 cm)
Transferred from the College of Architecture and Design, 1972—Gift of the Family of Albert Kahn: through Dr. Edgar A. Kahn; Mrs. Barnett Malbin; Mrs. Martin L. Butzel

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Albert Kahn
Bits from S. Pierre Caen
graphite on paper
13 ¾ in x 8 ⅜ in (34.92 cm x 21.27 cm)
Transferred from the College of Architecture and Design, 1972—Gift of the Family of Albert Kahn: through Dr. Edgar A. Kahn; Mrs. Barnett Malbin; Mrs. Martin L. Butzel

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Albert Kahn
Study of Architectural Designs
graphite on paper
9 3/10 in x 13 ⅝ in (23.65 cm x 34.61 cm)
Transferred from the College of Architecture and Design, 1972—Gift of the Family of Albert Kahn: through Dr. Edgar A. Kahn; Mrs. Barnett Malbin; Mrs. Martin L. Butzel

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Albert Kahn
Untitled
graphite on paper
14 ¼ in x 8 11/16 in (36.2 cm x 22.07 cm)
Transferred from the College of Architecture and Design, 1972—Gift of the Family of Albert Kahn: through Dr. Edgar A. Kahn; Mrs. Barnett Malbin; Mrs. Martin L. Butzel

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Albert Kahn
Near London
graphite on paper
7 ½ in x 5 3/16 in (19.05 cm x 13.18 cm)
Transferred from the College of Architecture and Design, 1972—Gift of the Family of Albert Kahn: through Dr. Edgar A. Kahn; Mrs. Barnett Malbin; Mrs. Martin L. Butzel

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Albert Kahn
Pratovicchio
graphite on paper
11 3/10 in x 7 ⅜ in (28.73 cm x 18.73 cm)
Transferred from the College of Architecture and Design, 1972—Gift of the Family of Albert Kahn: through Dr. Edgar A. Kahn; Mrs. Barnett Malbin; Mrs. Martin L. Butzel

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Albert Kahn
Poitiers
graphite on paper
11 7/16 in x 7 ½ in (29.05 cm x 19.05 cm)
Transferred from the College of Architecture and Design, 1972—Gift of the Family of Albert Kahn: through Dr. Edgar A. Kahn; Mrs. Barnett Malbin; Mrs. Martin L. Butzel

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Albert Kahn
Vezelay
graphite on paper
11 ¼ in x 7 ½ in (28.58 cm x 19.05 cm)
Transferred from the College of Architecture and Design, 1972—Gift of the Family of Albert Kahn: through Dr. Edgar A. Kahn; Mrs. Barnett Malbin; Mrs. Martin L. Butzel

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Albert Kahn
Tours
graphite on paper
14 4/5 in x 9 ¼ in (37.62 cm x 23.5 cm)
Transferred from the College of Architecture and Design, 1972—Gift of the Family of Albert Kahn: through Dr. Edgar A. Kahn; Mrs. Barnett Malbin; Mrs. Martin L. Butzel

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Albert Kahn
Untitled
graphite on paper
17 7/16 in x 12 in (44.29 cm x 30.48 cm)
Transferred from the College of Architecture and Design, 1972—Gift of the Family of Albert Kahn: through Dr. Edgar A. Kahn; Mrs. Barnett Malbin; Mrs. Martin L. Butzel

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