Housing, project (Elevation)
Alessandro Mendini
Italian, born 1931
1971
A mixed-media architectural elevation in which Mendini printed a classical housing façade on a translucent polymer sheet and taped it over a sunset lithograph to propose a poetic, theatrical alternative to conventional architectural drawings.
The image hits you with a glowing orange sunset seen through a translucent overlay so that the precise, engraved lines of a symmetrical, columned façade—pediment, roundels and sash windows—float like a ghosted stage set, with visible strips of tape and the sun oddly aligning behind the roof giving the composition a staged, fragile feeling.
Made in 1971, the piece exemplifies Mendini’s postmodern turn—collaging drawing and photography to contest modernist orthodoxy and to push architecture toward symbolism, narrative and visual play.
Medium
Printed polymer sheet with tape on lithograph
Dimensions
20 x 22 1/2" (50.8 x 57.2 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation
Accession
1219.2000
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
