Reinterpreting Venice: The Architecture of Carlo Scarpa 1906-1978
Reinterpreting Venice: The Architecture of Carlo Scarpa 1906-1978
A talk with Richard Murphy, architect and lecturer, followed by a Q&A led by Valeria Carullo, Curator, RIBA
Tuesday 27 January at 6.30pm – 8pm
(doors open at 6.05pm for a 6.30pm start)
The Gallery, 70 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EJ
Carlo Scarpa was born in Venice in 1906 and lived half his life there, being educated at the Accademia di Belle Arti where he later taught. With two exceptions (in Palermo and Zurich) all his built projects are found in Venice or in the Veneto. When he died in 1978 there were no books on him. Today there are over sixty, a remarkable figure for a man who built comparatively little.
In this talk, Richard Murphy, a practicing architect and authority on Carlo Scarpa, will ask firstly the question why was nothing substantial published in his lifetime? And secondly, why is there so much interest in him today? One of the strands of that enquiry must be his achievement in reinterpreting in a contemporary way the phenomenon of the city of his birth. In particular his projects at the Querini Stampalia, the Olivetti showroom and the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona.
Richard Murphy is a practicing architect, lecturer, and director of Richard Murphy Architects in Edinburgh. An authority on Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978), Murphy completed a comprehensive survey of Scarpa’s Castelvecchio Museum in Verona (1986-87), producing over eighty drawings—the only full record of the building. He curated exhibitions on Scarpa’s work and received a UK research grant to study Scarpa’s archives. His book Carlo Scarpa and Castelvecchio (1990) remains the definitive guide. Murphy also was the author of Phaidon’s Architecture in Detail volume on the Querini Stampalia (1993) and lectures worldwide on Scarpa. His expanded book Carlo Scarpa and Castelvecchio Revisited (2017; 2nd edition 2022; Italian edition 2024) has been hailed as “a masterpiece”.
Valeria Carullo is Photographs Curator at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). She writes and lectures on both architectural and photographic subjects, and her principal area of research is the relationship between modern photography and modern architecture in the inter-war years. She led two C20 Veneto trips focusing on the work of Carlo Scarpa.
This is a joined event with Venice in Peril Fund.
Includes a glass of prosecco.
If you can't make it in person, there's an online version of the event too.
C20 Society Member £20;
Non-Member £25;
Young C20 member + guest Free*;
Student + guest £5 **
*For Young C20 members, please email lukas@c20society.org.uk to secure a place.
**For student pricing please select from the dropdown option next to ‘membership number’ on the booking form below.
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Note: This event is hybrid and is being run both in-person at Cowcross Street Gallery and online via Zoom. The event will be recorded and offered as a catch-up lecture for those who have booked and will be available for two weeks.
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The Twentieth Century Society is an IHBC (Institute of Historic Building conservation) recognised CPD provider.
The Twentieth Century Society is a registered charity, no 1110244
Image above: Palazzo Querini Stampalia. Photo by John East.