SAH/SCC welcomes back author and filmmaker
Peter Wyeth, whose string of discoveries excavated from the most fragmentary
evidence has uncovered the architecture career of perhaps the leading South
African painter, Jean Welz. In 2022, Wyeth presented his book, The
Lost Architecture of Jean Welz (DoppelHouse, 2022) to SAH/SCC. Although
Welz’ masterpiece Maison Zilveli has since been demolished, Wyeth has made
more discoveries about this little-known architect and his work.
The book, The Lost Architecture of Jean Welz (DoppelHouse, 2022) was named one of the best art books of 2022 on
Hyperallergic in December of last year.
Born in 1900 and trained in Vienna, Welz was
sent to Paris for the 1925 “Art Deco” exhibition by his influential
employer, the renowned Josef Hoffmann. As a result, he met preeminent modern
architects Le Corbusier and Adolf Loos. The latter employed him to supervise
the construction of Loos’s only Paris house, for the founder of Dada, Tristan
Tzara. At the Café Dôme in Montparnasse they formed one of the avant-garde,
including Welz’s classmate from Vienna, later Chicago-based architect Gabriel
Guevrekian; Welz’s future employer Raymond Fischer, whose archive was 80%
destroyed by the Nazis; and the photographer (and Welz’s best friend) André
Kertész.
With the recent destruction of the Maison
Zilveli, new details and hypotheses about Welz’ design have been uncovered.
Follow the ongoing story with the author.
The Assassination of Jean Welz- Part 2—Sunday, March
5th, 2023; 1-2:30 PM PST; $5; pay via PayPal or mail in order form with check;
Zoom connection information sent upon registration.
