September 13 through December 14, 2003
Sert Gallery (More about the Sert Gallery)

Josep Lluís Sert. Courtesy of the Sert Collection of the Frances Loeb Library. Graduate School of Design, Harvard University.

In 1953, Josep Lluís Sert became the dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD), inaugurating a variety of innovative programs within the school while concurrently acting as principal of his own architectural firm. This exhibition includes archival resources from the Special Collections Department of the Frances Loeb Library at the GSD. These materials provide an introduction to his work as the architect of the Spanish Pavilion of 1937, the Miró Studio, the Fundacio Miró, and the Fondation Maeght, and as an advocate for the construction of Le Corbusier's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, which houses the gallery in which this exhibition takes place. This overview of Sert's professional practice is complemented by a selection of his gifts to the Harvard University Art Museums; these artworks represent both his aesthetic philosophy and his enduring friendships with Le Corbusier, Miró, Calder, and Léger.

An exhibition exploring urban design, a concept introduced by Sert during his deanship at Harvard, will also be shown at the Harvard Design School. Josep Lluís Sert: Architect of Urban Design, 1953-1969 will include drawings, plans, manuscript materials, photographs, and models, largely drawn from the archival holdings of the Josep Lluís Sert Collection of the Frances Loeb Library. This exhibition, which runs from October 6 through November 19, will document Sert's work as a planner in Latin America as well as his subsequent work as architect and urban designer in the United States.

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