Daniel Libeskind papers, 1968-1992

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Summary

Creators:
Libeskind, Daniel, 1946-
Abstract:
The Libeskind archive contains 15 design projects (1970-1991), materials related to Libeskind's teaching at the Cranbrook Academy of Art (1980-1984), manuscripts and publications (1970-1990) and photographs, slides and transparencies (ca. 1968-1990). The Jewish Museum in Berlin (also called Between the Lines in this archive) is the most extensively documented of his designs.
Extent:
60 Linear Feet (52 boxes, 168 rolls, 27 oversize folders, 12 models, 1 folio)
Language:
Collection material is in English and German.
Preferred citation:

Daniel Libeskind papers, 1968-1992, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 920061.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa920061

Background

Scope and content:

The Daniel Libeskind papers, 1968-1992 (ca. 60 lin. ft. in 52 boxes, 168 rolls, 27 oversize folders, 12 models, 1 folio) are comprised primarily of materials - drawings, notebooks, sketches, models, correspondence, press clippings, videotapes, transparencies - documenting the Jewish Museum Extension to the Berlin Museum, 1988-1992, which in this archive is titled Between the Lines.

The collection also contains 14 other design projects (1970-1991), materials related to his teaching at the Cranbrook Academy of Art (1980-1984), some manuscripts and publications (1970-1990), and photographs, slides and transparencies (ca. 1968-1990).

The significance of this collection lies in the inclusion of representative pieces from Libeskind's earlier projects as well as the nearly exhaustive documentation of Between the Lines, the Jewish Museum Extension, up to 1992. Not only are original architectural drawings, sketches, notebooks, and models included, but the collection holds the many revisions and alterations made from those original drawings; what appear to be merely photocopies of original drawings often have subtle modifications indicated on them. One can see the manner in which Libeskind draws from his earlier works for inspiration. The design materials are further informed by the flurry of correspondence which documents the delays and crises that threatened to halt the construction of the museum in the early 1990s.

While the City Edge and Marking the City Boundaries projects are fairly well documented, many of his earlier projects are represented with only a few items. The archive contains several boxes and binders of images of Libeskind's Cranbrook students' designs.

Other items in the archive include copies of his Cooper Union Thesis, Collage, 1970; the set of Venice Biennale competition books, 1985; Gedenkbuch Berlin 6 000 000, a Berlin Museum commemorative book; a musical score (roll 18**); and a videotape (box 52, f.2) featuring architectural critic Charles Jencks, mayor of Berlin Eberhard Diepgen, and Berlin Museum Director Rolf Bothe.

This collection does not include work after Between the Lines, 1992.

The papers are arranged chronologically by project date. Items within each project have been further organized by date.

Biographical / historical:

The architect Daniel Libeskind was born in Lodz, Poland in 1946 and emigrated with his family to Israel. He studied music at the Lodz Conservatory. In 1960, after winning the America - Israel Cultural Foundation Fellowship, he moved to New York to continue his studies in music. While in the United States, however, he changed direction and enrolled in architecture at Cooper Union, studying with John Hejduk and Peter Eisenman. In 1970 he was graduated summa cum laude with a B. Arch. degree. He subsequently earned his Master's degree in History and Theory of Architecture at the School of Comparative Studies at Essex University, England, in 1972 with his thesis Imagination and Space.

In the late 1980s Libeskind founded the studio Architecture Intermundium, Milan, Italy (Founder and Director, 1986-1989), in order to challenge the trend toward what he viewed as the corruption and commodification of architecture. Libeskind's projects reflect his readings in philosophy, his study of music, and, in his best known project, his connection to the Jewish diaspora and the Holocaust.

Libeskind's design for the Jewish Museum Extension to the Berlin Museum (Jüdisches Museum im Berlin Museum), triggered international controversy and earned Libeskind considerable acclaim from architects and architectural critics worldwide. After winning the competition in 1989, it took ten years to build the Jewish Museum Extension (which he titled Between the Lines). The project successfully endured opposition from Mayor Eberhard Diepgen and many of the citizens of Berlin, and weathered the fall of the Berlin Wall. Libeskind and his wife, Nina, launched a letter writing campaign that lobbied members of the Berlin Senate and the Mayor himself. The cornerstone for the Jewish Museum Extension finally was laid on 9 November 1992 and the building completed in January 1999.

Since the Jewish Museum Extension competition, Libeskind has won numerous international architectural awards and competitions as well as commissions for other museums. In 1988 the Museum of Modern Art, New York, included Libeskind (along with architects Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Schumi, and the team Coop Himmelblau) in the exhibition "Deconstructivist Architecture" curated by Philip Johnson and Mark Wigley.

Libeskind has taught and lectured in Australia, Europe, Japan, South America, and United States. The bulk of the teaching materials in this collection is related to his tenure as Head of the Department of Architecture at Cranbrook Academy of Art. His academic appointments also include Visiting Professor at Harvard University, the Louis Sullivan Professorship at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Bannister Fletcher Professorship at the University of London, the Davenport Chair at Yale University, and the Lee Chair at University of California, Los Angeles.

Acquisition information:
Acquired from Daniel Libeskind in June 1992.
Arrangement:

The papers are organized in six series: Series I. Design projects: drawings, notebooks and models, 1979-1992; Series II. Lectures, manuscripts, publications and student work, 1970-1990; Series III. Correspondence, 1983-1992; Series IV. Press clippings, 1990-1992; Series V. Transparencies, ca. 1968-1990; Series VI. tapes, 1980-1991.

Physical location:
Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.
Rules or conventions:
archives, personal papers, and manuscripts

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Terms of access:

Contact Library Rights and Reproductions.

Preferred citation:

Daniel Libeskind papers, 1968-1992, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 920061.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa920061

Location of this collection:
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688, US
Contact:
(310) 440-7390
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