Architectural historian and Vanderbilt alumna Mary Anne Hunting will present “Edward Durell Stone, Modernist Architect: From Vanderbilt to Kennedy Center,” at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, in Cohen Hall, Room 203. The talk will be followed by a signing of Hunting’s book Edward Durell Stone: Modernism’s Populist Architect (Norton, 2012), with copies of the book being made available for purchase by Barnes & Noble at Vanderbilt.
The event, which is free and open to the public, is the 2013 History of Art Alumni Lecture.
A close friend of Frank Lloyd Wright, Stone was selected in 1946 by then-Vanderbilt Chancellor Harvie Branscomb to devise a master plan to guide all future development of the university’s campus. In her book, Hunting characterizes Stone as “Colossus, visionary, giant—these are just some of the superlatives used to describe Stone in his prime in the late 1950s. … The diversity and scope of his architecture knew no bounds, and at his peak Stone was acknowledged as one of the most distinguished and progressive American architects.”
Hunting received her bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt, her master’s degree in the history of decorative arts and design from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum/Parsons School of Design, and her doctorate from the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. She is now an independent scholar working in New York City.
The Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery, which is adjacent to the lecture venue, will be open following the talk. Limited parking is available in Lot 95 between Cohen Hall and 21st Avenue South.