K-State professor's exhibit of work by Italian architect on display at seaton gallery until Dec. 1

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Source: Michael McNamara, 785-532-1117, mmc0255@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Diane Potts, 785-532-1090, potts@k-state.edu

Thursday, November 9, 2006

K-STATE PROFESSOR'S EXHIBIT OF WORK BY ITALIAN ARCHITECT ON DISPLAY AT SEATON GALLERY UNTIL DEC. 1

MANHATTAN -- An exhibit exploring the architecture of Italy's public buildings in the first half of the 20th century is going on display at Kansas State University's College of Architecture, Planning and Design.

"Angiolo Mazzoni: Architecture in Motion: Italian Railway and Postal Building Architecture 1928-1943" will be on exhibit in the Chang Gallery of Seaton Hall from Monday, Nov. 13, through Friday, Dec. 1. The gallery is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; admission is free.

Michael McNamara, K-State professor of architecture, organized the exhibition.

Angiolo Mazzoni was an early 20th-century architect who designed more than 100 projects and built more than 40 major public buildings from 1920-1946. Trained in architecture and engineering, Mazzoni had a long and distinguished career as a public architect. In 1920, he entered in the service of the Italian national railway as an intern engineer and rose through the ranks to become the chief engineer/architect of the consolidated state railroad and postal service in 1938.

Among his influences were Russian Constructivism, the Dutch modernists, Eric Mendelsohn and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Mazzoni is distinguished from other early modern Italian architects in his alignment with post-war Futurism. During the 1930s he wrote articles on Futurism and co-wrote the "Futurist Manifesto of Air Architecture" with F. T. Marinetti and M. Somenzi. Like Frank Lloyd Wright and many early European modernists, Mazzoni often designed a wide range of interior details and furniture, including the light fixtures, tables and chairs found in his passenger stations.

The exhibit is supported by two grants from the Graham Foundation and smaller grants from the K-State University Small Research Grant program and the College of Architecture, Planning and Design. It includes basswood models of Mazzoni’s seminal projects and display panels with drawings, text and photographs. McNamara collaborated with a number of K-State architecture graduates to realize the model construction.

The exhibit has been shown in numerous venues, including K-State's Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art. McNamara has been an invited lecturer on the topic across the United States and in Europe.