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“The Architecture and Legacy of Pietro Belluschi” Examines the Career of the Oregon Architect

The installation, organized by the architect’s son, originally opened at the Oregon Historical Society in 2012

 

EUGENE, Ore. -- (February 5 2015) – “The Architecture and Legacy of Pietro Belluschi,” on view from February 7 to April 26, 2015, in the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Gallery at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, examines the career of the Portland-based architect. Drawn from the exhibition organized designed and curated by Pietro’s son, architect Anthony Belluschi and his wife, Marti Belluschi, for the Oregon Historical Society in 2012, this exhibition features eight models of Belluschi buildings located in Oregon, many of them built by University of Oregon students, as well as informative panels, a video, and other materials documenting the life and work of one of our region’s most important architects.

 

On Wednesday, February 18, at 5:30 p.m., Anthony Belluschi and Judith Sheine, head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Oregon, will discuss Belluschi and his legacy. A reception will follow. The program is free and open to the public.

 

The exhibition includes multiple panels, each describing a part of Belluschi’s life, a specific building, or building design style.  The models include Portland’s St. Thomas More Catholic Church, Belluschi’s first full-fledged church commission, built in 1940. Other models are of The Sutor House, Portland, 1938; the Equitable Building (now Commonwealth), Portland, 1948; The Belluschi House, Portland, 1948; Zion Lutheran Church, Portland, 1950; First Presbyterian Church, Cottage Grove, 1951; and Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (now The Reserve Building), Portland, 1951.

 

Pietro Belluschi (1899–1994) was one of the leading proponents of Modernist architecture and is known as a prominent contributor to the architectural style known as Pacific Northwest Regionalism.  Born and raised in Italy, Belluschi served in the Italian armed forces during World War I. Following the war, he attended the University of Rome, earning a degree in Civil Engineering in 1922. After moving to the United States in 1923, he continued his education at Cornell University and joined the Portland architectural firm of A.E. Doyle in 1925, quickly rising up the ranks and eventually buying out the remaining partners in 1943.

 

He went on to design contributed to the design of more than 1,000 buildings, many of them in Oregon, including the main building of the Portland Art Museum (1932), the Equitable Building in Portland (1944–47), and the Central Lutheran Church in Eugene (1959). Belluschi was the Dean of the Architecture and Planning School at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1951 to 1965. He was awarded the National Medal of the Arts in 1991 and dies in his Portland home in 1994.

 

The exhibition is made possible in part by a JSMA Academic Support grant.

 

About the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a premier Pacific Northwest museum for exhibitions and collections of historic and contemporary art based in a major university setting. The mission of the museum is to enhance the University of Oregon’s academic mission and to further the appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts for the general public.  The JSMA features significant collections galleries devoted to art from China, Japan, Korea, America, Europe and elsewhere as well as changing special exhibition galleries.  The JSMA is one of six museums in the state of Oregon—and the only university museum--accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

 

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is located on the University of Oregon campus at 1430 Johnson Lane. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens. Free admission is given to ages 18 and under, JSMA members, college students with ID, and University of Oregon faculty, staff and students. For information, contact the JSMA, 541.346.3027.

 

About the University of Oregon

The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.

 

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Contacts Debbie Williamson Smith, Communications Manager, 541.346.0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu

Links: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu