From training to teaching. Drawing in the archive of Giuseppe Zander

Abstract

The paper is focused on drawing as Giuseppe Zander’s preferred tool constantly present in his youth training, in his activity as a scholar and teacher, as well as in his diuturnal work as architect.
Based on the knowledge of his papers acquired during the activity of reordering Giuseppe Zander archive, an attempt is made to outline a picture of the varied ways used by Zander to observe, analyze and translate reality through the tool of drawing. By reconstructing the biographical events and relating them to the graphic documentation produced during his life, the extensive use of drawing as the main tool for collecting and synthesizing information and sometimes suggestion emerges, which is declined in different ways depending on the purposes for which this was used.
From the analysis of the preserved materials, a spontaneous tendency to experiment different graphic techniques and signs is evident from the earliest stages of his formation.
An essential accompanying element within Zander’s graphic elaborations are the handwritten notes that begin to appear as early as the youthful period, becoming increasingly important until they acquire complementary value to the drawing in the mature phase, both in his professional activity as an architect and in his study and teaching of the history of architecture.
The aptitude for tidy and classification also emerges from the filing system used by himself collecting the materials in thematic albums that were used as iconographic sources for the elaboration of projects and for the preparation of lectures, teaching materials and scientific publications. The drawings reveal the architect’s distinctive character in the meticulousness of production aimed at effectiveness and immediacy of reading, while outlining his personality and the historical and cultural context in which he worked.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.34.2025.30