Pritzker architecture prize, The

Carnegie, Nov/Dec 1999

Kenneth Clark once told Colin Amery that we can tell more about a civilization from its architecture than from anything else it leaves behind. Amery, architecture critic for the London Financial Times, repeats the statement in the catalogue celebrating the exhibition The Pritzker Architecture Prize 1979-1999, on view in Heinz Architectural Center November 6, 1999, through February 27, 2000.

Considered the Nobel Prize of architecture, the award was established in 1979 by Chicago's Pritzker family, owners of the Hyatt Hotel chain, to honor a living architect for a distinguished body of completed buildings. The exhibition includes photographs, models, drawings and other documentation of projects completed by the 22 winners (two architects shared the prize in 1988). It is the first such exhibition to bring together works by all the laureates, and can be considered a discerning overview of the architecture of our time.

The prize is highly regarded because of the rigorous process by which the jury selects winners, and for its significant monetary award. Any architect can be nominated (1988 winner Gordon Bunshaft nominated himself), but nominees must have completed at least ten built structures. The jury of architects and other cultural figures travels around the world to see the works under consideration because, as juror and architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable commented, "the buildings can't come to see us."

To date, the Pritzker winners include architects from twelve countries on four continents. Their work represents a variety of styles, revealing the pluralistic character of contemporary architecture. Featured in the exhibition are projects by LM. Pei, with his new entrance to and expansion of the Louvre; Frank Gehry, whose Guggenheim Museum is drawing crowds to Bilbao, Spain; and Renzo Piano, who is represented by the JeanMarie Tjibaou Cultural Center in Noume, New Caledonia. Also featured is the recently completed conversion of Berlin's Reichstag, designed by 1999 laureate Lord Norman Foster.

Architecture is what Bill Lacy, Executive Director of the Pritzker Prize, calls a "hybrid profession-the most scientific of the arts and the most artistic of the sciences." By viewing these works together, visitors will see a collection that embodies the qualities of "Firmness, Commodity and Delight"traits revered in architecture since classical times and stressed in the credo of the Pritzker Prize.

One of Pittsburgh's favorite holiday traditions, the towering Christmas Trees decorated by the Women's Committee of Carnegie Museum of Art, will open December 2 in the Hall of Architecture. The theme of the trees this year, Centuries Gone By, will portray decorations from five historic periods: Celtic, Medieval, Renaissance, the Age of Discovery, and Victorian.

All of the ornaments are handmade by the committee members, after months of research. "We really do learn a lot," says Susanne Wilkinson, Chair of the Christmas Trees for 1999. "We chose the theme this year to celebrate the approaching end of the millennium, and to focus on the idea of carrying this tradition into the future." The Women's Committee began installing and decorating the trees over 30 years ago. The trees are on view through January 6, 2000.

Along with the trees, the beautiful nativity scene, the Neapolitan Presepio, will also be on view. Its more than 100 figures, made in Italy between 1700 and 1830, represent the Neapolitan concept of the nativity in a scene of village life.

The Women's Committee will host a preview party on December 1 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Enjoy drinks and hors d'oeuvres, and be among the first to see the trees. Tickets are $35 and must be bought in advance. Call 412/421-4071.

Pittsburghers have admired the work of James McNeill Whistler since Carnegie Museum of Art's first International. The museum's collection of Whistler's prints, which traveled throughout the United States and Canada before opening in Pittsburgh in August, will be on view until January 23, 2000.

This exhibition is organized by The Art Institute of Chicago and made possible by the Hyatt Foundation. The programs of the Heinz Architectural Center are made possible by the generous support of the Drue Heinz Trust.