Boston Athenæum
NEW ACQUISITION: BOSTON MODERNIST ARCHITECTURE
One of the core missions of the Boston Athenæum’s Prints & Photographs Department is to document the history of Boston’s built environment. The collection is particularly strong in imagery of nineteenth-century Boston and New England buildings but documentation of twentieth-century structures has been less comprehensive. To address this, the Department recently acquired a unique portfolio of photographs of major modernist buildings in the Boston metropolitan area built between 1937 and 1977. The portfolio is comprised of 45 color photographs taken between 1984 and 2013 by the architectural photographer Bruce T. Martin and printed specifically to the Athenaeum's specifications. Inspiration for the portfolio came from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s booklet Boston Modern: The Spirit of Reinvention (2010) with photographs by Mr. Martin and text by David Eisen.
The Curator of the Department, Catharina Slautterback, worked with Mr. Martin in selecting buildings and photographs to create a one-of-a-kind portfolio. To demonstrate how modernist principles were applied to different building types, examples were chosen of academic, civic, commercial, ecclesiastical, and residential architecture. Well-known modernist buildings, such as City Hall and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, were selected as well as lesser known structures such as the Massachusetts Teachers Association building at 20 Ashburton Place. In addition, the work of many different architects is represented in the portfolio, from Walter Gropius and José Luis Sert to Benjamin Thompson, the Architects Collaborative (TAC), and F. A. Stahl & Associates.
In compiling the photographs for this portfolio, it was interesting to note the large number of modernist buildings in the Boston area. Admittedly, these structures have not always been well-loved by the general public, and many of the buildings in this portfolio remain controversial today. Reviled or loved, a visual record of these buildings reveals how integral these structures are to the physical fabric of our city. Boston Modernist Architecture enhances our understanding of the important role mid -twentieth century architecture has played in defining Boston’s built environment.
Boston Modernist Architecture was acquired in honor of the architect and Athenæum trustee emeritus, James Volney Righter, for his love and knowledge of Boston architecture.
Catharina Slautterback, Curator of Prints & Photographs, Boston Athenæum