Scope and Content of Collection
Arrangement note
Biographical/Historical Note
Separated Material
Processing History
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Publication Rights
Access
Digitized Material
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Wim Swaan photograph collection
Creator:
Swaan, Wim
Identifier/Call Number: 96.P.21
Physical Description:
60 Linear Feet
150 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1951-1995
Abstract: A comprehensive collection of approximately 48,000 photographic prints, transparencies, slides and negatives in black-and-white
and color by a self-taught photographer and practicing architect who traveled widely, documenting the art, architecture, and
landscape of the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Western United States. Also included are a small quantity
of correspondence with publishers, agents, colleagues and friends, sales accounts, a manuscript, research notes, and a copy
of his master's thesis.
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 .
Language of Material:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
A comprehensive collection of photographs, approximately 34,450 black-and-white negatives, contact prints and enlargements
and approximately 13,450 color transparencies, slides and prints by a self-taught photographer and practicing architect who
traveled widely and published many large-format books devoted to the art and architecture of various cultures. Included are
a small quantity of correspondence with publishers, agents, colleagues and friends, sales statements, research notes, a manuscript,
and a copy of his master's thesis.
Most images, taken in situ between 1951-1995, reflect Swaan's interest in facades, architectural details and decoration. Main
concentrations include Gothic, Medieval, Baroque and Renaissance Europe, Islamic Spain and Morocco, Turkey, Egypt and Iran,
Ancient Egypt and Greece, Asia, including India, Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal, Japan, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, Pre-Columbian and
Colonial Latin America, and the landscape of the American West.
Arrangement note
The collection is arranged in three series: Series I. Book projects, 1963-1995; Series II. Other photographs, 1951-1995; Series
III. Papers, 1958-1995.
Biographical/Historical Note
1927: Born Willem Albertus Swaan September 6 in Kokstad, South Africa.
1950: Bachelor of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
1950-1951: Travelled in Europe and Egypt. Worked for Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew in London on the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
1952-1960: Returned to South Africa. Worked for Andrews and Niegeman in Cape Town. Moved to H. H. Le Roith and Partners, Johannesburg,
first as an employee, later as partner in charge of design. Projects: apartment buildings, schools, industrial and commercial
buildings.
1958: Master of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Thesis: "Low-cost housing: a survey of economic
and sub-economic housing for the lower-income groups with special reference to housing European families with children in
South Africa," written while Swaan worked as a full-time architect for Le Roith and Partners. Later attended the Yale School
of Organization and Management and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
1959-1960: Studied Zen Buddhism and researched Japanese architecture and landscape design at Chotokuin Zen Temple, Kyoto.
1960: Emigrated to London.
1961: Traveled extensively in Southeast Asia, Iran and the Middle East.
1963: Moved to the United States.
1963-1966: Joined Perkins and Will Architects, New York.
1966: Became a United States citizen.
1966-1968: Sabbatical in Europe.
1971-1972: Eighteen-month tour of Europe.
1972-1981: Partner at Perkins and Will.
1975-1981: Vice President at Perkins and Will.
1979: Elek Books Ltd. sold to Granada Publishing. Published only one other book after this point.
1981: Director of Health Facilities Planning in Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum's New York office. Oversaw the new Veterans
Administration Hospital, Manhattan, addition, and other large health facilities located throughout the United States.
1990: Received a special citation from the American Institute of Architects for distinguished achievement as a historian and
photographer of the art and architecture created by diverse cultures throughout the world.
1994: Retired as Director of Design at Architecture for Health, Science and Commerce, Tarrytown, NY.
1995: Died October 1 of pulmonary fibrosis.
Separated Material
The following books were transferred to the library: Nims, C.F.
Thebes of the Pharaohs. London: Elek Books Limited, 1965.
Swaan, Wim.
Lost Cities of Asia: Ceylon, Pagan, Angkor. London: Elek Books Limited, 1966.
Tucci, Giuseppe.
Tibet. London: Elek Books Limited, 1967.
Hambly, Gavin.
Cities of Mughul India: Delhi, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri. London: Elek Books Limited, 1968.
Anderson, William.
Castles of Europe: From Charlemagne to the Renaissance. London: Elek Books Limited, 1970.
Swaan, Wim.
The Late Middle Ages. London: Elek Books Limited, 1977 (2 copies).
Pollitt, J.J.
Art in the Hellenistic Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Brooke, Christopher and Roger Highfield.
Oxford & Cambridge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Processing History
Lynda Bunting processed the collection and created the finding aid in 1998. Alina Sinetos reprocessed portions of the collection
and revised the finding aid in 2015.
Acquisition Information
Gift of the Willem A. Swaan Estate, received 1996. One binder of images of Latin American sites received in 1999. One box
of images of Latin American sites received in 2000.
Preferred Citation
Wim Swaan photograph collection, 1951-1995, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 96.P.21
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa96p21
Publication Rights
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Digitized Material
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Color transparencies
Contact prints
Copán Site (Honduras)
Decoration and ornament, Architectural
Tikal Site (Guatamala)
Tiwanaku Site (Bolivia)
Usfahan (Iran)
Mogul Empire
Medici, House of
Mecca (Saudi Arabia)
Mayas -- Antiquities
Photographs, Original
Persepolis (Iran) -- Antiquities
Nepal -- Antiquities
Monasteries -- Europe
Thebes (Egypt : Extinct city)
Susa (Extinct city) -- Antiquities
South Africa -- Pictorial works
San Agustín (Huila, Columbia) -- Antiquities
Tibet (China) -- Antiquities
Japan -- Social life and customs
Istanbul (Turkey) -- Antiquities
Machu Picchu Site (Peru)
Landscape photography -- West (U.S.)
Extinct cities -- Mexico
Extinct cities -- Asia, Southeastern
Hundred Years War, 1339-1453
Gelatin silver prints
Decoration and ornament, Islamic
Architecture -- Pictorial works
Europe -- Pictorial works
Diffusion transfer prints
Architecture -- Europe
Architecture -- Byzantine -- Istanbul
Architecture -- Middle East
Architecture -- Latin America
Architecture, Medieval
Architecture, Rococo
Architecture,Islamic
Architecture -- Asia
Acropolis (Athens, Greece)
Architecture, Baroque
Architecture, Gothic -- Europe
Architecture, Hellenistic
Asia -- Antiquities
Art, Medieval
Art, Hellenistic
Art, Flemish
Color slides
Cathedrals -- Europe
Castles -- Europe
Black-and-white prints (photographs)
University of Cambridge
University of Oxford