Richard Meier - The Atheneum, New Harmony, IN

Richard Meier
in collaboration with  John Begley
The Atheneum, New Harmony, IN
1979
Seven color lithograph on heavy white wove paper
34 x 34 in
Edition 43/75
Signed and dated lower right
Numbered lower left

Maybe the third time is a charm?

New Harmony, IN is a twice failed utopia that has been experiencing a small-town Renaissance as of late. If you are not familiar with the history of this fascinating town on the Wabash River I suggest listening to the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast.

What does this have to do about art? During this mini-Renaissance New Harmony has produced a number of significant buildings by world class architects including the Roofless Church by Philip Johnson, the New Harmony Inn by Evans Woollen, and the building depicted above: the Atheneum by Richard Meier.

The New Harmony Atheneum was completed in 1979 and serves as this historic town's visitors center. When it opened in 1979 it won the Progressive Architecture Award, and in 1982 won the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Award. In 2008 it won the AIA's prestigious Twenty-five Year Award, which is given to no more than one building per year.

Meier was one of The New York Five, a group of modernist architects that help define America's built environment in the latter half of the 20th Century. In 1984 he won the Pritzker Architecture Prize and some of his most notable commissions include the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art.

The work offered here is from 1979 and was done in collaboration with printmaker John Begley. Examples of this lithograph can be found in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum in New York.