Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany, View of library from below
James Stirling
British, born Scotland 1926–1992
1978
A colored-pencil and graphite tracing by James Stirling that renders an imagined interior elevation of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart library, aiming to turn the building’s structural logic into a theatrical, precisely composed design proposal.
The image arrests you with its translucent tracing-paper glow and pastel palette—vertical ribs and scalloped awnings punctuated by round discs ride a softly undulating base, while small rooftop windows and a stippled sky give the scene a staged, almost theatrical light.
This drawing captures Stirling’s late-1970s method of combining rigorous architectural clarity with playful, stage-like ornament, a key moment in how postwar architects used hand drawing to convey both technical intent and atmospheric experience.
Medium
Graphite and color pencil on tracing paper
Dimensions
31 x 32" (78.7 x 81.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the architect
Accession
394.1982
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
