Photo courtesy of Michael Graves
Often considered the flag bearer of the postmodern movement, the prolific Michael Graves devoted 60 years of his life to architecture, helmed three design movements, designed over 350 buildings and 2,000 products, and towards the end of his life, was appointed by President Barack Obama to the United States Access Board after a spinal cord infection left Graves paralyzed from the waist down. To quote Peter Eisenman, "Michael Graves was a hero." Born into the New York Five, Michael Graves mutinously decamped to the Memphis Group, taught at Princeton University, watched as Postmodernism fell out of fashion, and then, towards the end of his life, watched it return to favor as critics rallied around his Portland Building and reassessed his legacy in an retrospective exhibition.
Today Michael Graves, who passed away on March 19th, would have been 81. In his honor, we've assembled the words of critics, colleagues, and friends to paint a portrait of a man that had an indelible impression on the built world.
—Paul Golberger, New York Times
—Peter Eisenman, Metropolis
—Bill Clinton, 1999 National Medal of Arts
—Andrea Sachs, Washington Post
—Mark Lamster, Dallas News
—Alan G. Brake, Design Observer
—Charles Alexander Jencks, The Architectural Review
—Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune
—Robert A.M. Stern, Metropolis
—Inga Saffron, Philadelphia Inquirer
—Karrie Jacobs, Architect Magazine
—Alberto Alessi, Metropolis
—Oliver Wainwright, The Guardian
—Kenneth Frampton, Metropolis
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