James Gowan studied at the Glasgow School of Art and Kingston School of Architecture where he was taught by Philip Powell of Powell & Moya, who subsequently employed him on the winning entry to the Skylon Competition for the Festival of Britain in 1951. Following a period working on Stevenage New Town, he joined Lyons Israel Ellis, where he met James Stirling. They were quickly established as one of the most radical practices of their generation when they designed Langham House Close on Ham Common (West London) in 1958 — a reaction against all that had gone before them. Gowan and Stirling took equal parts in the design of their early projects, culminating with the 1963 Engineering Building at the University of Leicester, considered the first postmodernist building in Britain. Shortly after the building was completed, the two split acrimoniously, Stirling taking the lion's share of the credit. The Engineering Building represented a massive shift from the postwar era's functionalist doctrines, bringing in forceful geometries and dynamic structural feats in what was subsequently called the 'engineering style'. Two cantilevered lecture theatres are topped by a pair of glazed towers, clad in red Dutch tiles, monolithic wedges inspired by the superstructure of an aircraft carrier; the workshop building is surmounted by a crystalline roof with rippling waves that let in north-facing light. An almost Gothic feel to the design, with concrete columns supporting the building like mediaeval flying buttresses, was later described by Gowan as "the Picasso profile with the big eye slapped on the front". The visually stunning and highly practical building caused the architects to be awarded the Reynolds Award from the American Institute of Architects and was Grade II* listed in 1993.
James Gowan FRIBA Blue Mill at Backbarrow Modernist Architect Leicester
By James Gowan
Located in London, GB
Post-war architect partner of architect Sir James Stirling, together they created Britain's first post-modernist building, Gowan being the talented shy ...
Oil
James Gowan FRIBA Fountains Abbey Modernist Architect Leicester Engineering
By James Gowan
Located in London, GB
Post-war architect partner of architect Sir James Stirling, together they created Britain's first post-modernist building, Gowan being the talented shy ...
Oil
$495
H 12 in W 14 in D 2 in
Vintage American Modernist Framed Landscape Signed Fall River Scene Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist landscape oil painting. Oil on board. Provenance from a Sag Harbor, NY collection. Handsomely framed in a whitewood molding. Excellent condition, ready to...
Oil, Board
$1,036Sale Price|20% Off
H 24 in W 30 in D 2 in
Antique American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Original Florida Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1960. No signature found. Displayed in a period frame. Image, 30"...
Canvas, Oil
$1,295
H 19 in W 23 in D 2 in
Vintage Signed American Modernist New England Framed Coastal Landscape Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Signed. Measuring: 19 by 23 inches overall, and 17 by 21 painting alone.. In excellent original condition. H...
Oil, Board
$1,196Sale Price|20% Off
H 29 in W 34 in D 2 in
Antique American School Modernist Winter Landscape Signed Framed Oil Painting
By Rosario Urbino Gerbino
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist landscape abstraction. Oil on board, circa 1940. Signed. Image size 30L x 25H. Housed in a period modern frame.
Canvas, Oil
$1,356Sale Price|20% Off
H 24 in W 30 in D 2 in
Vintage American Female Modernist Precisionist Street Scene Original Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist street scene oil painting by Elaine Wesley (1923 - 2007). Oil on board. Estate stamped verso.
Canvas, Oil
"Rail Crossing: Middletown, NY"
By Jules Halfant
Located in New York, NY
This beautiful oil on linen canvas painting, entitled "Rail Crossing: Middletown, was executed by the esteemed artist Jules Halfant (American, 1909-2001)...
Canvas, Oil
$2,780Sale Price|20% Off
H 27 in W 37 in D 2 in
Antique American Modernist 19th Century Framed Sunset Landscape Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American school modernist landscape sunset painting. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a giltwood molding. Excellent condition, ready to hang and enjoy....
Canvas, Oil
$1,863
H 14.97 in W 24.02 in D 0.79 in
Green Landscape, Abstract Countryside, Fields, Modern, Contemporary, Oil, French
By SOPHIE DUMONT
Located in LANGRUNE-SUR-MER, FR
Abstract landscape with colored plots in a dominant green. The landscape evolves in modulations with blurred contours, to suggest volumes more than to draw a precise pattern. The pal...
Oil
$1,107
H 18.9 in W 22.64 in
Mid Century Modern Swedish Abstract Landscape Oil Painting - Rhythms of the Wind
Located in Bristol, GB
RHYTHMS OF THE WIND Size: 48 x 57.5 cm (including frame) Oil on canvas A vibrant mid-century modernist abstract painting that captures the essence of a dynamic landscape through exp...
Canvas, Oil
$120Sale Price|20% Off
H 11.82 in W 4.73 in D 0.04 in
Under The Sea Series Nº 24. Úbeda. Oil fantasy underwater green landscape
Located in Segovia, ES
Under The Sea Series Nº 24. Oil on paper. Fantasy underwater abstract landscape. Green color. Transparencies effect. Measurements: (H) 30 cm. / 1...
Paper, Oil
$3,005
H 28.75 in W 51.19 in D 0.79 in
Reed 22 November 09:54 - Modern Nature Oil Painting, Abstract, Minimalism
By Robert Motelski
Located in Salzburg, AT
Robert Motelski's paintings are exceptional visions of nature, visions of space which surrounds us. They tell about being, fate and passing. They depend on the season of year, the ti...
Canvas, Oil
$601
H 16.15 in W 12.21 in D 0.04 in
Under the sea Series Nº 7. Úbeda. Oil fantasy underwater landscape.
Located in Segovia, ES
Under the sea Series Nº 7. Úbeda. Fantasy underwater landscape. Oil on paper, (H) 41 x (W) 31 x (D) 0.1 cm. Author: Úbeda. The sheets that make up this project evoke a dreamlike world of seabeds. The painter submerges landscapes, forests, materials and terrestrial objects under the cold and silent ocean currents. A feeling of weightlessness dominates the viewer, while the moon floats between anemones, sea urchins and posidonia forests. The blue-green darkness is broken up with nuclei and horizons of light, contrasting with the ambiguous and mysterious atmosphere of the compositions. THECHNIQUE The work has been carried out with an innovative technique, where the fluidized oil is transformed into an undulating sea, to create impossible shapes on paper, which are later outlined by the airbrush, the palette knife and the brush. A totally personal bet of the author, who has done an exercise in free painting, with an explosion of contrasts between the real world and abstraction. ABOUT THE ARTIST Ángel Luis...
Paper, Oil