An extensive catalog was published in conjunction with this exhibition with a foreword by Dean Anthony Vidler that places Slutzky’s paintings in dialogue with his seminal essay, Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal, (written with Colin Rowe in 1955); an interview with Slutzky by Emmanuel J. Petit that discusses the painter’s critical strategies of artistic production; an essay by Robert C. Morgan that examines Slutzky’s conceptual position in the art historical tradition of Leon Battista Alberti and Josef Albers; and an essay by Robert Slutzky with Joan Ockman on metaphor in his work. Robert Slutzky’s art and his contribution to architectural education was celebrated by a symposium, "Architecture Toward Painting," that was held in conjunction with the exhibition.

Robert Slutzky graduated from The Cooper Union in 1951 and studied with Josef Albers at Yale University, graduating with an MFA in 1954. Invited to teach at the University of Texas in Austin, Slutzky joined John Hejduk, Colin Rowe, and Bernhard Hoesli (the so-called "Texas Rangers") in forging a new approach to architectural education. Slutzky returned to The Cooper Union to teach with Dean Hejduk in the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture from 1968-80, where they closely collaborated to formulate an innovative pedagogical approach to the "Education of An Architect." In 1980, Slutzky moved to the School of Art where he taught until accepting a position in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. Slutzky’s contribution to architectural education and his influence on generations of Cooper Union graduates is inestimable.

Robert Slutzky’s works are in numerous private and public collections in the United States and Europe and have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

CURATED BY STEVEN HILLYER
INSTALLATION PHOTOS: GINA POLLARA