Ancient Wisdom and Modern Knowhow: Learning to Live with Uncertainty

Robert Maxwell

Hardcover | 19.69 x 1.91 x 26.04 cm | 192 pp

Artifice | 2013 | 9781908967145

In Ancient Wisdom and Modern Knowhow, Maxwell considers the notion of doubt encountered by the modern architect. In ten chapters that draw upon writers and topics as diverse and engaging as Andre Malraux and his concept of the Musée Imaginaire, Colin Rowe and his exploration of Mannerism in Modern Architecture as well as Rowe’s book with Fred Koetter, Collage City, and examining works by artists including Albrecht Dürer, Picasso and Duchamp and architects including James Stirling, Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry and Daniel Libeskind. Maxwell is adept at moving between the examination of modern and contemporary architecture, art, literature and music through a range of ideas and concepts, to create an engaging and provocative thesis.

Robert Maxwell, Emeritus Professor of Architecture at Princeton University is a respected scholar whose critical writings articulate the role architecture plays in contemporary culture.