The Work of Lauretta Vinciarelli in Context: Artist, Teacher, Theorist

This dissertation centers on the interdisciplinary work of Italian-born artist, architect, teacher, and theorist Lauretta Vinciarelli (1943-2011), a key yet relatively unknown figure who occupies a historic place in the 1970s revival of architectural drawings, Columbia University's housing studio, Peter Eisenman's influential Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies (IAUS) in New York, and architectonic trends in contemporary painting. She was the first woman to have drawings acquired by the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA, in 1974), she was among the first women to teach architecture studio courses at Columbia University (hired in 1978), and she was the first and only woman granted a solo exhibition at the IAUS (in 1978). She also collaborated on architectural projects with Minimalist artist Donald Judd from the late 1970s to the late 1980s, and had a significant influence on his furniture design and printmaking as well. I consider the totality of Vinciarelli's architectural and artistic output, asserting her impact on each discipline and situating her work in relation to postwar Italian Marxism and feminism.