Eric de Maré’s photographs embraced a wide range of subjects from buildings of the 19th century and earlier to the work of contemporary practitioners, and gained wide currency through publication in both the professional general and press. Trained as an architect in the 1930s, he was able to interpret the architectural landscapes lucidly through words as well as images writing and illustrating dozens of articles and over twenty books. Many of de Maré ‘s best known photographs were featured in an Architectural Review series entitled The Exploring Eye. The title is wholly appropriate for his humanistic, crusading images that made a telling contribution to the post-war reassessment of Modernism, and greatly broadened the perception of where “architecture” was to be found – especially in his recurring fascination with vernacular buildings in industrial and maritime landscapes. His work also gave a new respectability to architectural photography by extending its influence beyond the narrow confines of professional discourse. Through work of great truth and beauty, he remains one of Britain’s most important and influential architectural photographers.
The Exploring Eye, The Photography of Eric de Maré (1910 – 2002) is a selection of de Maré’s work from the Robert Elwall Photographs Collection at The Royal Institute of British Architects. The exhibition will be on view at the Wolk Gallery at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s School of Architecture + Planning from Friday 5th February to Friday 8th April 2016.
RIBA’s own Valeria Carullo (Curator of Photographs, RIBA Collections) will be giving a lecture de Maré in Perspective on Friday 5th February.
If you are an American Friend and would like to attend this lecture, please get in touch with Rebecca.Morgan@riba.org to reserve a place.
For the exhibition brochure please click here.
To see more photography by Eric de Maré in the RIBA Collections please click here.
RIBA Exhibition of Eric de Maré at MIT 5 February – 8 April 2016
Wolk Gallery
School of Architecture + Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 7-338
Cambridge, MA 02139
Gallery Hours
Monday – Friday: 9am – 5pm
