Harry Seidler brought art to architecture, and modernism to Australia. His 1962 design for Blues Point Tower in Sydney's North Shore stands as a testament to his visionary ideas. The 23-storey high-rise, with its exterior influenced by Bauhaus artist Josef Albers, was a game-changer in Australian architecture.
Long before the current trend of transport-oriented development, Seidler argued against urban sprawl, advocating for denser cities with homes near public transport and open spaces. His collaboration with artists and designers like Albers, Marcel Breuer, and Pier Luigi Nervi, are celebrated in the new exhibition opening on Saturday at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney.
Seidler's projects were never complete without a dash of art. Homeowners recalled how he carefully selected paintings to adorn the walls of his creations. At his mother's home, Rose Seidler House in Wahroonga, he even painted a bright-coloured mural himself, reminiscent of those he'd seen in Brazil.
Every Seidler project, regardless of type or scale, featured art handpicked by the architect. At Australia Square, he commissioned sculptor Alexander Calder to design Crossed Blades. The curved walls were adorned with tapestries by Le Corbusier and Victor Vasarely, later replaced by Sol LeWitt's Bars of Colour.
According to architecture historian Kenneth Frampton, 'In his hands, architecture rarely arrived alone.' Dr. Ann Stephen, an art historian, argues that Seidler was a global exemplar of modernism, ahead of his time. 'You had to be a visionary to realize what he did. You can't imagine how conservative Australia was in the late 1940s when Seidler arrived,' she said.
The exhibition, 'Migrating Modernism: The Architecture of Harry Seidler,' features Seidler's extensive diaries and scrapbooks, cross-stitching by his wife Penelope Seidler, including a picture of Blues Point Tower, and the shirt Seidler wore during his internment camp days. Also on display are artworks from the artists he commissioned, photos, architectural models, and drawings, along with rare video footage.
Seidler's journey from refugee to renowned architect is a testament to his determination and talent. Born in 1923 to a Viennese-Jewish family, he was 15 when his family sent him to England following the Nazi annexation of Austria in September 1938. He went on to study carpentry, metalwork, and bricklaying at Cambridgeshire Technical School, where he also learned English.
Although interned as an enemy alien in England, Seidler was later deported to Canada, where he wrote about the harsh conditions in the internment camp, where Nazi soldiers and European Jews were housed together. At 18, he was given conditional release to study architecture and graduated by 21. His wife Penelope, an architect herself, met Seidler in North Sydney in 1957 while lobbying against the area's rezoning for industrial use.
The couple married in 1958, and their partnership in architecture and life lasted until Seidler's stroke in 2005. He passed away in 2006. Australian architect Glenn Murcutt hailed Seidler as one who brought 'art to architecture.' 'Whilst he wasn't everyone's cup of tea... he actually brought a level of architecture that few architects have seen in this country,'" Murcutt said.