House for Venice Biennale project, Venice, Italy (Aerial view)
César Pelli
American, born Argentina. 1926–2019
1976
A photomontage imagining César Pelli’s 1976 proposal for a 'House for Venice' at the Biennale, using collage to visualize a contemporary architectural insertion into Venice’s canal fabric.
Seen from above, the composition reads like a geometric island—sharp rectilinear roofs, platforms and cast shadows that feel startlingly modern against the sinuous waterways and dense, historic rooftops of Venice.
The piece shows how architects in the 1970s employed photomontage to make persuasive, site-specific proposals in historic settings, shaping both the visual rhetoric of design and debates about preservation versus contemporary intervention.
Medium
Photomontage
Dimensions
40 x 40" (101.6 x 101.6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the architect in honor of Philip Johnson
Accession
386.1996
Art Terms
Exhibitions
