From the Inside Flap
RIBA Drawings Monographs Ern? Goldfinger This RIBA Drawings Monograph on Ern? Goldfinger is timed to coincide with the National Trust's opening of 2 Willow Road, Hampstead, London, the most significant of Goldfinger's pre-war works and his former home. Of all the architects whose drawings and papers the RIBA holds, Goldfinger's comprise the largest and most comprehensive single collection, and the selection presented here demonstrates both the vast scope and the consistency of a career which sheds light on the development of Modernism in Britain. There are drawings to represent all Goldfinger's key concerns and major projects, from the interior and furniture designs of the twenties and thirties, the exhibition designs for the Army Bureau of Current Affairs during the war years, to the more infamous high-rise mass-housing schemes and urban planning projects of the post-war years (Elephant and Castle, Rowlett Street and Edenham Street). The drawings themselves range from impressionistic sketches exploring initial design ideas to more formal finished drawings, and demonstrate a free approach to media which incorporates pencil, pen, watercolour, gouache, charcoal, crayon and collage. Accompanying these illustrations Robert Elwall's sensitive and carefully researched introduction and captions examine Goldfinger's life and work in light of the current reassessment of post-war architecture. RIBA Drawings Monographs focus on the work of significant architects represented in the RIBA Drawings Collection and illustrate the importance of drawing both in the process of design and as a unique visual record. The RIBA Drawings Collection is the national collection for architectural drawings that range from the sixteenth century to the present day. It includes sketchbooks, albums, working and contract drawings, student and competition designs, and drawings made for presentation, exhibition and publication: both for buildings and the decorative arts.
About the Author
Robert Elwall read history at Trinity College, Oxford, and is now Photographs Curator of the British Architectural Library, RIBA. He has curated numerous architectural exhibitions including Unlocking the Thirites (1979) and Pavilions Near and Far (1992), as well as Bricks and Beer (1983) and Photography Takes Command: The Camera and British Architecture (1994) for both of which he wrote the accompanying books. He has also published numerous articles on architecture and photography.
