Lucius Burckhardt
(1925–2003)

Lucius Burckhardt, works from the series ”Landschaftstheoretische Aquarelle” (Landscape-theoretical aquarelles, between 1970 and 1995), watercolor and pencil on paper, Collection Basel University Library, installation view, Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA)—Pireos Street (“Nikos Kessanlis” Exhibition Hall), Athens, documenta 14, photo: Yiannis Hadjiaslanis

Lucius Burckhardt, works from the series ”Landschaftstheoretische Aquarelle” (Landscape-theoretical aquarelles, between 1970 and 1995), watercolor and pencil on paper, Collection Basel University Library, installation view, Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA)—Pireos Street (“Nikos Kessanlis” Exhibition Hall), Athens, documenta 14, photo: Yiannis Hadjiaslanis

Lucius Burckhardt, works from the series ”Landschaftstheoretische Aquarelle” (Landscape-theoretical aquarelles, between 1970 and 1995), watercolor and pencil on paper, Collection Basel University Library, installation view, Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA)—Pireos Street (“Nikos Kessanlis” Exhibition Hall), Athens, documenta 14, photo: Yiannis Hadjiaslanis

Lucius Burckhardt, works from the series ”Landschaftstheoretische Aquarelle” (Landscape-theoretical aquarelles, between 1970 and 1995), watercolor and pencil on paper, Collection Basel University Library, installation view, Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA)—Pireos Street (“Nikos Kessanlis” Exhibition Hall), Athens, documenta 14, photo: Yiannis Hadjiaslanis

Lucius Burckhardt, works from the series ”Landschaftstheoretische Aquarelle” (Landscape-theoretical watercolors), 1970–95, watercolor on paper, Collection Library of the University of Basel, installation view, Neue Galerie, Kassel, documenta 14, photo: Milan Soremski

On view is a small selection from over 800 watercolors, “Landschaftstheoretische Aquarelle,” made by the Swiss Renaissance man Lucius Burckhardt during his decades-long tenure as professor of sociology in the architecture department of the University of Kassel. Together, these watercolors serve as a hands-on “theory of the landscape” centered around one of the fundamental questions that accompanied Burckhardt throughout his teaching life: “Warum ist Landschaft schön?” or “Why is landscape beautiful?” Notwithstanding the many hundreds of books written in response to this query, perhaps this is a question that only paint can answer.

Posted in Public Exhibition