Robin Middleton (architectural historian)

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Robin D. Middleton (born 1931) is a British architectural historian, described as a leading authority on 18th-century French architecture and architectural theory by the University of Cambridge where he studied and worked. [1] He is Professor Emeritus of Columbia University [2] and was editor of Architectural Design and also head of general studies at the Architectural Association in London before he moved to New York City in 1987, where he still resides. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Middleton was born in South Africa but moved to England in the 1950s. He trained as an architect at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg [2] and was a doctoral student under Nikolaus Pevsner at Cambridge University. [4] He was awarded a PhD in 1958 with a thesis on the French architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and the rational gothic tradition. [2]

His contributed to the rediscovery of a sustained interest in the structural finesse of Gothic architecture in 17th-century France, prompting a concern for the expression of structure in architecture, which, transposed into classical terms, took the form of the introduction of free standing columns in church architecture. The prime promoter of this practice was the Abbé Jean-Louis de Cordemoy, virtually unknown, the subject of two articles by Middleton in the Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes in 1962 and 1963. The notion served as a preamble, as it were, to Viollet-le-Duc’s explorations of structural expression as the basis of good architecture in the 19th century.

Career

Middleton was technical editor of Architectural Design from 1964 to 1972 and introduced a section Cosmorama that replaced the News section in July 1965. It was ‘a commentary on buildings or on events throughout the world that impinge upon architecture’ [4] and was printed on non-glossy rough paper, embracing topics such as new materials, ecology, disposability and electronic technology. [5]

Middleton was head of general studies at the Architectural Association, London, and librarian and lecturer in the Department of History of Art at Cambridge University from 1972 to 1987. He joined the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University in 1987. [2]

Middleton appeared in the TV series Art of the Western World in 1990 in two episodes exploring the Neo-Classical revival in 18th century France and England. [6]

A festschrift in his honour, entitled Fragments: Architecture and the Unfinished: Essays Presented to Robin Middleton, [7] was published in 2006 upon his retirement. [8]

Archival holdings

A 1969 photographic portrait of Middleton taken by Monica Pidgeon is held by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) [9] and papers of Robin Middleton are held in the archive of Columbia University Libraries. [10] 35mm slides from Middleton's collection of original architectural photographs and research images were digitized by the Media Center for Art History at Columbia University. [11] Photographs attributed to Middleton are held in the Conway Library at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, whose archive, of primarily architectural images, is in the process of being digitised under the wider Courtauld Connects project. [12]

Personal life

While at university in South Africa, Middleton met Denise Scott Brown (née Lakofski) and her first husband Robert Scott Brown and they became firm friends, sharing the same interests. In 1956, she and her husband embarked on a six month trip to Italy on a route devised by Middleton to explore mannerist art and architecture. [13] Middleton would later live with Scott Brown’s sister, the artist and architect, Ruth Lakofski (1933–2009), in East Village, New York for "many, many years". [14]

Selected publications

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References

  1. ↑ Admin, LibGuides. "LibGuides: Architecture & History of Art: History". libguides.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Robin D. Middleton | Department of Art History & Archaeology". arthistory.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  3. ↑ "ROBIN MIDDLETON'S REMARKABLE EAST VILLAGE HAVEN FOR BOOKS". archive.pinupmagazine.org. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  4. 1 2 Parnell, Steve (2012). "AR's and AD's post-war editorial policies: the making of modern architecture in Britain". The Journal of Architecture. 17 (5): 763–775. doi: 10.1080/13602365.2012.724858 . S2CID   145691161.
  5. ↑ "Portable utopias". www.eurozine.com. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  6. ↑ Art of the Western World (TV Series 1989– ) - IMDb , retrieved 2022-08-25
  7. ↑ https://worldcat.org/en/title/255351341
  8. ↑ "9780500342145: Fragments: Architecture and the Unfinished: Essays Presented to Robin Middleton - AbeBooks - Barry Bergdoll; Werner Oechslin: 0500342148". www.abebooks.com. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  9. ↑ "Robin Middleton". RIBApix. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  10. ↑ "Robin Middleton papers, 1931-2005". Avery Drawings & Archives Collections, Columbia University Libraries Finding Aids. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  11. ↑ "Special Collection: Slides of Professor Robin Middleton". Media Center Image Database. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  12. ↑ "Who made the Conway Library?". Digital Media. 2020-06-30. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  13. ↑ "2018 Denise Scott Brown". www.soane.org. 2020-11-20. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  14. ↑ Reed, Peter. "Oral history interview with Denise Scott Brown, 1990 October 25-1991 November 9". Smithsonian Archives of American Art.
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