Price:
This is a free event, but registration is required.
About
Join us for a free book lecture by art historians Dr. Katherine M. Kuenzli and Dr. Kathleen James-Chakraborty on their latest book, “The Belgian Friendship Building: From The New York World’s Fair to a Virginia HBCU.” The book explains how the Belgian Friendship Building, originally constructed for the 1939 New York World’s Fair — and one of only a few surviving buildings from the celebrated exhibition — ended up on the campus of a historically Black university in Richmond. Kuenzli and James-Chakraborty will be joined in discussion by preservation architect and historian Arthur J. Clement.
Kuenzli and James-Chakraborty relate the fascinating story of a distinctly modern structure that has towered over Virginia Union University, in a city characterized by its traditional architecture, for more than 80 years. The structure’s original purposes — to present modern Belgian design and to extol its racist, colonial regime — stand in stark contrast to its dedication in 1941 to Robert L. Vann, longtime editor of one of America’s most illustrious historic Black newspapers. The building is an enduring example of prewar modernism designed by a team of Belgian architects under the direction of Henry van de Velde that has until now been all but forgotten in histories of modern architecture. This multifaceted account ties together the history of modern European architecture, colonial exploitation and African American achievement in a brilliant and compelling case study.
Kuenzli is a professor and chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Wesleyan University. Her publications on modernist art and design span French Impressionism and Belgian Art Nouveau to German Expressionism and the Bauhaus.
James-Chakraborty is a professor of art history at the University College Dublin. She has written widely on modern German architecture, including the Bauhaus, and about global and feminist approaches to the history of architecture.
A book signing will follow the program. This is a free event, but registration is required. Limited free parking is available underneath the Library at 800 East Broad Street. For more information, contact education@lva.virginia.gov.
