19 - Aldo Rossi

Aldo Rossi (Milan 1931 – 1997 Milan), “Monumenti veneziani” (Venetian Monuments), 1972, ink pen drawings collaged together and colored on fibrous, brownish handmade paper, inscribed “2” in pencil in the lower right corner, as well as monogrammed and dated, 19.4 x 13.3 cm, mounted on backing board and framed under glass in a simple Biedermeier-style wooden frame; overall dimensions: 33.5 x 27.5 cm, limited edition of 2,250 Exhibition: “Aldo Rossi – Isolato Urbano,” Galerie Römer Fine Art, Zurich, Sept. 2 – Oct. 15, 1994, Cat. No. 2 (a 94-page catalog of the same name was published to accompany the exhibition, featuring black-and-white illustrations and an introductory text by Sabine Weder). The creation of this collage coincides with a pivotal phase in Aldo Rossi’s career. It is directly linked to his theoretical work, his teaching activities at the time, and the specific architectural designs of that period. Rather than planning cities purely on functional or technically plausible grounds, he understood the city as a place full of historical memories and archetypal forms. In 1972, the year this collage was created, Aldo Rossi was appointed professor at ETH Zurich after having previously been barred from teaching in Italy for political reasons. At that time, classical modernist architecture was experiencing a global crisis, prompting Rossi and other colleagues to seek a new direction that radically rejected the postwar modernism of the era and pure functionalism in architecture (the Brutalism debate). The resulting Tendenza movement became one of the most influential architectural currents of Italian Neo-Rationalism, as it vehemently rejected the modernist dogma “form follows function.” Its proponents argued that while the functions of buildings change over the decades (a palace becomes a museum, a barracks becomes a university, etc.), the architectural form and structure of the city would remain constant over the centuries. They therefore advocated for the unconditional autonomy of architecture. In this context, Aldo Rossi’s drawings and collages were no longer mere architectural plans but independent theoretical manifestos. He also used them in his teaching to show students how to derive a new architecture from historical forms and memories. In summary, the image should not be understood as a design for a single, specific building, but rather as a reflection on architectural theory. It documents Rossi’s search for an autonomous architecture based on timeless forms, fragments of memory, and rational geometry.