Adds a new name to the history of modern architecture: Architect
Jean Welz, a lost artistic genius, lived a hidden life among many famous
names: Le Corbusier, Adolf Loos, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Gabriel
Guevrekian, Tristan Tzara (founder of Dada), and photographer André
Kertész. Jean Welz could not register as an architect in France and
worked "under the table," so credit to him has had to be sleuthed out
through letters, interviews, signed photographs, a portfolio, family
archives, plans, and rare documents.
Endorsements by lead architectural scholars from universities in the
UK, US and Europe, including Tim Benton, a Le Corbusier expert and
Christopher Long, who has published at least a dozen books on Viennese
modern architecture and Adolf Loos. A must acquisition for libraries and
of interest to students.
Tale of discovery, intriguing for the everyday reader: A treasure
hunt in the rich and radical artistic interwar period of the 1920s and
1930s in Paris that then travels across three countries and two
continents over a decade of research. The book feels like a race against
crumbling history told by a filmmaker in vivid detail as he uncovers
Welz's past, his musical and artistic abilities, and his greatest
designs.
First use of exterior béton brut identified: Welz's Maison Zilveli
(Paris 1933) with its airborne main floor, views of Sacre Coeur and the
Eiffel Tower, and the lost, perilous balcony, are bold ideas that will
light up readers' imaginations in this race against crumbling history.
The concrete balcony balanced on a thin blade only 6 cm thick, is the
first use of exterior béton brut identified.
Illustrations and book design: spot color washes, tints, and
highlighted text using period fonts, color plates. 3-D renderings and
axonometric schemes visually bring the architecture to life. Plans and
sketches of unbuilt projects, treatises on art published in South
Africa, and period magazine articles provide important context. Fine
examples of Welz's paintings included, linking his abstract works to his
philosophy of architecture.
Controversies provide press hooks: South Africa's leading modern
architect Rex Martiennsen took unacknowledged cues from a Welz Paris
house to create his best-known design, though at least one of
Martiennsen's colleagues publicly questioned his influences. Jean Welz's
estranged brother Friedrich Welz was an infamously unscrupulous art
dealer in Vienna and an SS officer, made famous in the 1997 Holocaust
restitution case over a set of stolen Egon Schiele works. Major
Aryanization art-theft scandals of the late 1990s involving Friedrich
erupted in the New York Times and U.S. District Court.
Jewish interest story: Jean Welz was a radical who moved from
conservative, fusty Vienna and changed his name from Hans to Jean when
he discovered his "French soul." His first wife was a Jewish fashion
model. An artist with contrasting passions to those of his dealer
brother, Jean's contributions include a gravestone for Marx's daughter,
destroyed by Nazis the day after Paris was occupied in 1940, and freely
giving his skills for a Black South African school under Apartheid. Jean
died never knowing about his estranged brother's Nazi-dealings.
