Memorial to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs, project, New York (Manhattan), New York, Perspective
Louis I. Kahn
American, born Estonia. 1901–1974
1968
A grease-pencil perspective on tracing paper in which Louis Kahn proposes a Manhattan memorial to the six million Jewish victims, using simple monolithic volumes and a framed tree-lined lawn to evoke solemnity and reflection.
Heavy, hatched tree canopies form a shaded foreground that frames squat, blocklike monuments and tiny human figures, so the stones read like distant, silent witnesses in an open, contemplative space.
The drawing captures Kahn’s late-career turn to archetypal geometry and landscape as vessels of civic memory, illustrating how abstract architectural form can be used to embody collective mourning and influence later memorial design.
Medium
Grease pencil on tracing paper
Dimensions
19 1/2 x 25 3/4" (49.5 x 65.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the architect
Accession
577.1981
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
