Review Of "Arata Isozaki: Four Decades Of Architecture, Revised Edition" By A. Isozaki

Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

9-1-1999

Published In

Choice

Abstract

This is a smaller, simplified sequel to the 1991 Rizzoli monograph Arata Isozaki, Architecture 1960-1990 (CH, Oct'91), which accompanied the architect's retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Eight significant buildings from the 1990s have been added, together with four evocative essays by the architect on the four decades marking the four phases of his career. These welcome additions cover a third of the book. But the graphic material covering the first decades has been substantially reduced--photographs by a third and plans and isometrics even more severely--rendering the descriptive text in this part of the book incomprehensible at times. Stewart's essay on Isozaki's link to K.F. Schinkel, despite the new title, is virtually unchanged, whereas Hajime Yatsuka's perceptive explication of "disjunctive synthesis" has been eliminated, as was the index, the list of buildings, and the bibliography. The photographs are small yet dazzling; but as a handbook for the general readership the price is too stiff. Libraries would do better to invest in the 1991 Rizzoli edition or wait for a better updated monograph.

Comments

This work is freely available courtesy of Choice Reviews. The review has been reproduced in full in the abstract field.

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