Signs of Life : Symbols in the American City

Catalog for a key moment in the Scott Brown + Venturi's project. The exhibition sparked a reassessment of the vernacular.

Includes black & white photos the exhibition showing the use of caption bubbles in the design. 11 color photographs by Stephen Shore, 1 by Deborah Marum, 2 by John Baeder, door photos credited to Venturi & Rauch.

A well-preserved copy: Inside pages are clean and crisp. Former owner’s library seal embossed to corner of first page.  Stapled, stiff glossy wraps have toning along spine and very slight wear. Near fine condition.

Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi commissioned Stephen Shore to take photographs for an exhibition at the Smithsonian. Scott Brown and Venturi gave Shore a list of different kinds of architecture to focus on. Shore would later reflect on the project :

".....I was fascinated by cultural forces. But, I can't photograph a cultural force; I can only photograph things that become visible in the world. And one of the ways they become visible is in architecture."

“Published by APERTURE, Inc., in conjunction with an exhibition, "Signs of Life: Symbols in the American City," organized and designed by Venturi and Rauch, Architects and Planners, for presentation at the Renwick Gallery of the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, from February 26 through September 30, 1976.”

Short essay has three sections: “THE HOME”, “THE STRIP”, “THE STREET”

Footnote to the title of the book : “*This exhibition at the Renwick Gallery endeavors to document sprawl, strip and city in relation to each other and to the nineteenth-century city. It is part of a broader effort among social critics and architects to understand American architectural tastes and to redefine the role of the architect. Signs of Life indicates the need to study urban environments, especially unloved "sprawl" environments and to understand the symbolic meanings people ascribe to or invest in them. The exhibition points to a radical discrepancy between the needs, tastes, and preferences of the professionals the urban designers, architects and planners, and the decision-makers whose policies they inform - and the people whose lives they influence.”

20 pages total, unpaginated
9.5 x 11.4 inches