Napoleon's Architects
With Barry Bergdoll
On Thursday, May 9, The ICAA hosted Barry Bergdoll, to discuss the renowned work of "Napoleon's architects," Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre Fontaine (1762-1853). Percier and Fontaine were not only the Emperor's official government architects, but two of the most celebrated teachers at the legendary Ecole des Beaux-Arts, responsible for developing the highly influential neoclassical Empire, or Directoire, style of design. This insightful lecture was filmed in its entirety and can now be viewed online.
Berry Bergdoll is Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History at Columbia University and a curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. He is Also the author of the introduction to the recent ICAA publication The Complete Works of Percier and Fontaine, published in partnership with Princeton Architectural Press.
This lecture was presented as part of The Françoise and Andrew Skurman Lecture Series on Classical French Architecture.