Image Credits:
Drawing of UNESCO 4th Building/Marcel Breuer Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library
In late March, the Syracuse University Library launched the Marcel Breuer Digital Archive [2] with more than 30,000 drawings, photographs, letters, and other materials related to the early career of Marcel Breuer. The accessible and easy to use website archives materials created prior to 1955 and includes resources from several institutions including the Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Harvard University, the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution, the University of East Anglia, and the Vitra Design Museum.
Image (R): Photo of Marcel Breuer and Eero Saarinen/Marcel Breuer Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library.
The digital archive, which joins materials that were previously geographically dispersed, allows users to access zoomable high-quality images that can be expanded to a crisp highly-detailed full screen view. From rendering pencil sketches like the drawing of the UNESCO headquarters in Paris (1958) to highly detailed construction drawings, Breuer's work and ideas are communicated quickly and seamlessly.
While creation of the website and digitization of materials was funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, the Library continues to seek funding for the second phase of the project. To search the Marcel Breuer Digital Archive or for information on the project and archival materials, visit the website [2].Images (L): Postcard from Alex Calder to Breuer/Marcel Breuer Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library.
