The Beaux-Arts and 19th Century French Architecture

Architecture was taught at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1819 to 1968, by which time the Ecole had outlived its reputation. To the champions of the International Style "Beaux-Arts" was virtually a term of abuse: authoritarian, academic, and stifling to individual talent. A new and more thoughtful approach to the Beaux-Arts is contained in these essays which discuss the organization and teaching methods of the Ecole, in particular the elaborate competition by which one student a year won the Prix de Rome; the ideals of practical planning and fitness for purpose which it inherited from Neoclassicism; the neglected subject of polychromy; and the relation between a literary giant, Victor Hugo, and one of the key Beaux-Arts buildings, Labrouste's Bibliotheque Ste. Genevieve. The book is illustrated with original drawings from the Ecole's archives and a wealth of photographs. Robin Middleton is Head of the Faculty of Architecture and History of Fine Art at Cambridge University and author of the chapter, "Hifforff's Polychrome Campaign." Other chapters were written by Joseph Rykwert, Werner Szambien, Georges Teyssot, Annie Jacques, Neil Levine, Catherine Marmoz, David Van Zanten, L. Bergdoll, and Helen Lipstadt.