Following is a look at new architecture books of note:
– ”Hector Guimard,” by Maurice Rheims, with photographs by Felipe Ferre (Harry N. Abrams, 234 pages, $49.50).
As France`s foremost Art Nouveau architect around the turn of the century, Guimard is best known for his sinuous Paris Metro stations, a number of which are still among the city`s most instantly recognizable landmarks. Yet he also designed hotels, apartment houses, schools, furniture, hardware and even cemetery monuments.
The chief appeal of this book is that Ferre has freshly and skillfully photographed most of Guimard`s important buildings (29 of them) as they appear today. Rheims` complementary text is authoritative, concise and free of academic babble.
– ”Joseph Maria Olbrich,” with texts by Peter Haiko and Bernd Krimmel
(Rizzoli, 517 pages, $95).
Olbrich was a founder of the Vienna Secession, which advanced a Germanic equivalent of Art Nouveau that today looks part Hansel and Gretel, part Berchtesgaden and part Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
This stunningly produced portfolio brings together three volumes covering Olbrich`s oeuvre originally published in Europe between 1901 and 1914. Its photographic plates, color renderings and other drawings carry considerable force and charm. The text, in English, is minimal but supportive and includes a complete catalogue of Olbrich`s work.
– ”Hendrik Petrus Berlage: Complete Works,” by Sergio Polano (Rizzoli, 266 pages, $65).
Berlage distinguished himself with many important European structures in the late 1800s and until his death in 1934. This volume`s essays and illustrations treat the best known of them, such as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, as well as projects of lesser stature. The book is a solidly welcome addition to the Berlage literature.
