In the post-war period, Richardson's flamboyant challenge to fashionable ideas about the shape of progress seemed absurd to many, but he touched a popular feeling for quality in the environment that has been continuously growing. In 1958 Richardson completed Bracken House, the old Financial Times building near St Paul's Cathedral, but despite its monumental presence it was virtually ignored by the architectural establishment. The fully illustrated catalogue of approximately 120 pages contains essays by Alan Powers, John Wilton-Ely and Simon Houfe. The exhibition has been sponsored by the Whitbread Trusts, and the Delafield Fund, and is mounted with the continuing support of the Drue Heinz Trust. The RIBA Heinz Gallery is at 21 Portman Sq, W1.
Admission is free.
The Triumph of the Baroque. The opening venue of the follow-up exhibition has been moved to Turin, to the appropriately baroque setting of Filippo Juvarra's Palazzina di Caccia at Stupinighi, and the whole event forms part of Fiat's centenary celebrations. Over 80 models and nearly 400 related paintings, drawings, and other materials have been gathered together from all over Europe, from Russia in the far north to Sicily in the south. Many of the models are not normally on public display and have been conserved especially for this exhibition. Our own two loans have received extensive conservation that would not have been feasible from our own resources.