Customer Reviews

Rice's Architectural Primer

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Matthew Rice draws the way I would like to draw: perfect simplicity of design married to an architect's eye, lines that could easily leap from a good children's book, say, by Maurice Sendak, but that are also worthy of framing and hanging on the wall of the study. The drawings make for wonderful daydreaming. I am an American living in England, close to many of the buildings which Rice includes in this Primer, so the artwork brings a special joy to me. As a historian, too, I delight in his telling details, reminding me of our Greek and Roman heritage in pilaster and herm, and of how vernacular public and private building work metamorphosed over the centuries. I like his snipe at modern cheap ugliness: he understands why cheap is necessary, but argues that beauty could still find a place.

I have given copies of Matthew Rice's book away as birthday, bar mitzvah, and Christmas presents. Recipients have been as delighted as I am. It's a good book to hold, fitting comfortably in one's hand, and is therefore ideal for putting in a backpack for an architectural field trip in town or country, both in Europe and in America.