LIVING ARCHITECTURE by ANDREAS VOLWAHSEN
An Exhibition Presented by Vacheron Constantin And Tasveer
ANDREAS VOLWAHSEN
Dr. Andreas Volwahsen was born in 1941 in Dresden, Germany, where he also grew up and went to school. His fascination for the Indian subcontinent began while studying at the Technical University of Munich in the 1960s, during which time he published his first two books; ‘Living Architecture: Islamic India’ and ‘Living Architecture: India’. In 1972, he obtained his PhD, with distinction, on the ‘Architecture of the Observatory of Maharaja Jai Singh of Jaipur.’ This investigation became the basis of ‘Cosmic Architecture of India: The Astronomical Monuments of Maharaja Jai Singh II’, published in 2001 by Prestel. He continues to work on new projects Volwahsen was troubled by a trend in Western observers to look at India’s architecture with amazement, rather than understanding. The immense wealth of forms and lack of immediately ecognisable European comparisons made viewing India’s temples, mosques and palaces a challenging affair.
Volwahsen aimed to penetrate through the potentially bewildering and overwhelming, to inquire into the canons and laws that governed the work of ancient Indian architects. He analysed the historical, social and religious background of a structure and provided diagrams and plans, but perhaps his most powerful tool was his photographic work. The consistent use of black and Living Architecture by Andrea s Volwa hsen and much of his focus remaining on India. Other major works by Volwahsen include ‘Imperial Delhi: The British Capital of the Indian Empire’ and ‘Splendours of Imperial Delhi: British Architecture in India in the 18th and 19th Centuries’. He is married with six children and lives near Munich, Germany. an exhibition presented by Vacheron Constantin and Tasveer white mutes any distracting details and the balanced, square format compositions emphasise the underlying geometry and symmetry.
Despite distancing himself from a prevailing European perspective, the photography is strongly influenced by photographic trends in Germany at the time. Under the influence of the ‘New Objectivity’ movement, modernist photographers had turned their attention towards the depiction of common objects. Their isolation of details and focus on forms, symmetry and balance is also evident in Volwahsen’s compositions. Especially apparent in his close ups, the refined use of light, contrasting tonal fields and use of angles takes the subject matter of archways, domes and columns towards pure form and abstraction. Perhaps these formal inclinations explain why he was so drawn to the simple geometric forms of Maharajah Jai Singh II’s observatories.
