WHAT THOMAS JEFFERSON LEARNED FROM FRANCE: an investigation of the influences to his work in the United States after his three month journey from Paris to the south of France
PROPOSAL FOR THE SARAH MCARTHUR NIX TRAVELING FELLOWSHIP, UNIVERSITY of VIRGINIA by ALEXANDER AYALA
WHAT THOMAS JEFFERSON LEARNED FROM FRANCE: an investigation of the influences to his work in the United States after his three month journey from Paris to the south of France
PROPOSAL FOR THE SARAH MCARTHUR NIX TRAVELING FELLOWSHIP UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA by ALEXANDER AYALA
PROPOSAL CONTENT:
5 INTRODUCTION 7 PROPOSAL 8-9 TRAVEL SEQUENCE 15 TECHNIQUE 23 SCHEDULE AND BUDGET 25 CONCLUSION 27 REFERENCES
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Paris c. 1787
INTRODUCTION
In the spring of 1787 Thomas Jefferson left his home in Paris, where he was an ambassador, and set forth a three month journey to understand French culture, agriculture, and architecture. This three month journey exemplified Jefferson’s curious nature but above all it displayed his commitment to his young country as he thought to export all the findings to aid its growth. When you walk into Monticello, his home in Virginia, you are presented with the array of curious inventions, art and books that he gathered during his travels but above all these, the house itself was an inspiration of his travels. I believe that the most important export that Jefferson brought to America was the architectural ideas that are manifested in his designs. This study proposes to follow his steps from Paris down to the south of France to investigate his influences and display them in a comprehensive manner with the exhibition in Spring 2014.
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Academical Village, (Hogan)
Jane Pitford Braddick Peticolas’ Water color of Monticello Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation
Virginia State Capitol Building, Richmond, VA www.lva.virginia.gov
PROPOSAL
The study will attempt to capture and analyze the experiences that Thomas Jefferson had while traveling from Paris to the South of France and how his three month journey ultimately influenced his work in America. The study will replicate part of his journey visiting the cities and sites that he saw and will document both the essence and details of such places. Instead of arriving in France with a blank canvass, I propose to complete a preliminary research on his work in America: The academical village, Monticello, and the Virginia State capitol building. The first part of this study will begin by studying three sites in Virginia and building a framework for the journey in France. All three of these were designed by Jefferson and are known to be architectural experiments that contain rich influences from his travels.The research will consist of investigating known influences of these sites in order to help structure my research in France with the goal of unveiling unknown influences. The things learned from doing this will serve as a starting point to build upon at my arrival in France. The second part consists of tracing Jefferson’s journey from Paris to the South of France until he reached northern Italy. During his journey Jefferson religiously recorded details about every city and site he visited and makes it very clear which ones he was mostly inspired by. While my proposal is to trace his route as realistically as possible, I will establish six sites that will receive more attention above all others (see Travel Sequence). The sites are determined by preliminary research of his three month journey and they range from specific buildings like Maison Carree,
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TRAVEL SEQUENCE
PARIS
1 2 3
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ORLEANS
TOURS
NANTES
FRANCE
BORDEAUX
SPAIN
TOULOUSE
Jefferson’s Complete Journey Proposed Journey Large City
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Proposed Site
MONTPELLIER
GERMANY DIJON
SWITZERLAND LYON MILANO
TORINO
ITALY
GENOVA
5 5
AIX-EN-PROVENCE 5
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NICE
MARSEILLE To see a more detail and interactive map of my proposal visit: http://goo.gl/maps/HBDrS Here you will find the places in between the larger cities that I plan on documenting as well
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PROPOSAL CONTINUED
to broader areas like the countryside of Aix-EnProvence. Although Jefferson’s main purpose for this journey was to learn about agriculture, he nevertheless spent a great amount of time looking at cities, and ancient roman ruins. The goal of this study is to form a narrative that explains the relationships between the sites in Virginia to the ones in France in a clear graphical manner. The study will keep an open mind about preconceived ideas and previous evidence regarding the relationship of the sites but it will also seek to reveal connections that may have not been discovered yet. The study will hope to reveal Jefferson’s perception of the country, cities, urban spaces, and landscapes and draw lines that highlight Jefferson design decisions in America. The culmination will be a collection of graphical as well as narrative evidence of perceptions that will reference elements across the sites in Virginia and France. I hope to visually express the ideas of influences as well as uncovering subtle ones that may have gone unnoticed.
SITE INFORMATION
1. Place Louis XV (Place de la concorde), Gabriel’s Twin Hotels, and La madeleine In Jefferson’s time this was the entrance and most monumental public space in Paris. Jefferson studied the perspective effects of the square with the statue of Louis the XV that stood where the obelisk stands today. He particularly admired the facades of the twin hotels designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel that still stand today and used them as precedents for his proposed design of Washington, DC. L’eglise de la madeleine did not exist during Jefferson’s stay but he was known to have studied drawings for it. Its position as the center cap stone of place de la concorde is similar to his design of the rotunda on the lawn at the university of Virginia (UVA).
2. Galleries et Cour du Louvre and Tuileries Gardens. Jefferson considered the facades on the East galleries and the ones surrounding today’s Rue de Rivoli and Rue Saint Honore as the most successful form of street fronts in modern times (Rice pg 35). Jefferson was also intrigued by the Louvre’s function as a dynamic urban space following the royal court’s migration to Versaille and recorded having been a regular art collector from its shops. The tuilleries Gardens adjacent to the louvre was the place where jefferson relaxed and let his mind wander. During his time it served as a large open space for spectacles like hot air balloon shows but also for a space to retreat. There will be great attention to how the tuilleries gardens may have influenced the gardens in between the lawn and the ranges at UVA.
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SITE INFORMATION CONTINUED
3. Palais Royale This urban space was perhaps the most popular during Jefferson’s time in Paris. It was referred as the “Center of Paris” because of its role as a multi purpose place for conducting business in the city. Jefferson visited the Palais Royale frequently to dine, shop and to socialize. It was here where he also attended the theater and where he bought most of his books that he brought back to Monticello. He admired the spaces versatility and efficiency and used it as a precedent for designing an urban space (shockoe Hill) in his home state’s capital Richmond, VA (Rice).
4. Sens, France: cathedrale SaintEtienne de Sens, the town and Agriculture cathedral is one of the largest that were built during the early gothic period of France and exemplifies unique characteristics from other gothic cathedrals with larger than usual nave, and focusing on structural solidity due to its size rather than ornamentation. On his way to Aix en Provence, Jefferson paid a fees to climb on the roof of the Cathedral to observe the surrounding city and agriculture. Jefferson wrote extensively about the landscape of this region and was delighted to see it from above on top of the Cathedral (Jefferson). During this visit I will attempt to do the same and document his experience with sketches and watercolor to capture the essence of the landscape.
5. Nimes, France: Maison Carree and Pont du Gard, Aix-en-provence
6. Nice France: Promenade des Anglais and Jardins Albert 1er
Built in 16 B.C. during the Roman empire, the Maison Carree was as much ancient to Jefferson as it is today. This temple is one of the best preserved from its period and formed as a direct precedent for his design of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond. On his “notes of a Tour into the Southern Parts of France� Jefferson describes his deep admiration of this building which exemplified vitruvian principles that he adopted for American designs. As a lover of inventions and technology, he also visited the ancient roman aqueduct at Pont du Gard before reaching the mineral waters at Aix-en-Provence. At Aix-en-Provence I will attempt to capture the countryside. Jefferson describes this place as heaven on earth. A land rich in agriculture and nature, he wrote in his notes that if he were to die while living in Paris, he wished to be brought back to live in Aix-En-Provence.
Before heading into northern Italy to study the cultivation of rice, Thomas Jefferson stayed in Nice, France. At his time, it was a considered a city of luxury and particularly famous to the English Elite. Here he stayed in Hotel de York and visited the royal gardens.
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TECHNIQUE
The journey will focus around the six sites in which I’ve done preliminary research but will also encompass the places in between that Jefferson visited in a more brief manner. I plan to emerge into this exploration with the idea of seeing through drawing. I hope to reveal the influences that the sites had on the designs by Thomas Jefferson in America. The observations will range in scale from essence to specific using sketching, watercolor and charcoal hand drawings. The goal is to be as intuitive as possible by utilizing the drawing method as a tool to facilitate what idea is trying to be expressed. I will attempt to express the essence of urban spatial characteristics, gardens and landscapes as well as specific architectural details and facade studies that were interesting to Jefferson. The structure of the observations will attempt to reference the research from his existing work in America but I will also keep an open eye for things that may have influenced him but in a more subtle way. The drawings will attempt to find points of intersections between jefferson’s work in the states and the sites in France. Sketching, watercoloring, and charcoal painting are methods that I am currently using in my studios and drawing classes and the combination of them allow me to express ideas of form and space more
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Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Shading Facade, The Catholic University of America
Union Station, Washington, D.C.
DRAWING SAMPLES
Charcoal Study of Caravaggio’s Painting
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TECHNIQUE CONTINUED
clearly and direct. Quick sketches and watercolors may represent ideas of the essence better than a detailed drawing can express specificity and visa versa. There are also overlaps of the different methods where an analytical drawing becomes a hybrid with the watercolor and it becomes an intelligent drawing charged with information. I am particularly enthusiastic by the work of Andrea Ponsi where he uses the drawing to have many functions. They become dynamic when Plans, sections, elevations and perspectives work together to express the observer’s perception. My drawings similarly will attempt to carry such expressive richness while at the same time remain efficiently clear. Another component of documenting will be keeping a journal to write observations in text form and photographing. They will be used as a secondary tool only if they significantly reinforce the drawings. I have also started to map Jefferson’s Journey on google maps using existing records of his travels and referencing sites that still exist in France. I invision of using this interactive method as yet another way to display my findings. The Public link is: http://goo.gl/ maps/HBDrS
Andrea Ponsi Drawing of Florence, Italy
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TECHNIQUE INSPIRATIONS
PAM BLACK: 5760 drawing and sketching
TERESA GALI: Rivanna River all-school competition drawing
Using whtie charcoal and pencil to understand the human form, a model swtiches poses frequently and the observer attemps to capture the essence. One the posing cycle Pam encourages us to hone into the specific and to establish a hierarchy of a dominant pose. This exercize has been extremely helpful to my understanding of form and has taught me to let go and become more lose in drawing expression. It has inspired me with the idea of “drawing until it is clear.”
During the all-school Rivanna competition, our team was faced with the challenge of expressing very complex ideas while at the same time capturing a broad audience so Teresa told us to “Draw Cartoons!” She encouraged us to draw ideas rather than purely aethetics and to mix the technical with the expressive. The result was a drawing that was charged with information yet could be understood clearly at a glance. It inspired me with the idea of drawing ideas clearly.
Rivanna River All-School competition Team 21, Teresa Gali and Daniel Bluestone
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SCHEDULE AND BUDGET SCHEDULE OVERVIEW I’m proposing to complete the study in about four weeks starting on June 24th and until July 19th. The first week will be dedicated to paris to allow enough time to visit and draw the first three sites. Following that, I will be spend between 2-3 days at each major site and will allow for an entire day for travel in between. During the travel days, I will attempt to visit smaller cities and towns that Jefferson mentioned on his notes. The best method of transportation will most likely be by car and bus since these will give me greater flexibility to visit the places in between the focus sites.
BUDGET: Airfare: $1,500 Lodging: $1900 (for 4 weeks) Navigo Metro pass (Paris): â‚Ź109.90 [$141.84] Bus/Car: $600 Food: $950 Entry Fees (Maison Carree, Pont du Gard, Sens Cathedral): $300 Phone: $120 Supplies: $100 Total Budget: $ 5611.84
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“Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.” Leonardo Da Vinci “If you always lean on your master, you will never be able to proceed without him” Thomas Jefferson’s letter to his daughter (Hayes, pg. 352)
images form Urgent Matters: Designing the School of Architecture at Jefferson’s University
CONCLUSION
Through this research I hope to continue the tradition of architecture as a practice that is built upon layers of research. Thomas Jefferson understood this concept very well and he formed architectural experiments in his designs in America. He knew the the immense benefit of learning from his travels and actively built upon his findings. Similarly, I would like to use this journey as a way to enrich my architectural education and discover relationships that influenced this great figure in American history. The images on the left graphically depict what I hope to gain with this study. There are architectural ideas that transcend place and time, and they can be found even in the most unexpected places.
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REFERENCES Goss, Betty. May 5 2009. “Journey Through France and Italy (1787)”.www.monticello.org. http://www.monticello.org/site/ research-and-collections/journey-through-france-and-italy-1787 Hayes, Kevin J. The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson. 2008. Oxford University Press. Hogan, Pendleton. The Lawn: A Guide to Jefferson’s University. 1987. Charlottesville, VA: The University Press of Virginia. Jefferson, Thomas. March 20 1787. Letter to Madame Tesse Nismes. “The Letters of Thomas Jefferson”. University of Groningen. http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/presidents/thomasjefferson/letters-of-thomas-jefferson/jefl56.php Meacham, Jon. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. November 13 2012. Random House. Chatper 21: Do You Like Our New Constitution? pp. 205-216. Ponsi, Andrea. Florence: A Map of Perceptions. 2010. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press. Rice, Howard C. Jr. Thomas Jefferson’s Paris. 1976. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Texier-Rideau, Geraldine and Michael Darin ed. Places de Paris XIXe-XXe siecles. June 5 2003. Editor: Action Artistique de la Ville de Paris. Vickery, Robert. The Meaning of the Lawn. 1998. Verlag- und Datenbank fur Geisteswissenchaften. Van Lengen. Karen. Urgent Matters: Designing the School of Architecture at Jefferson’s University. 2009. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.
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