Helena Syrkus through the lens of her correspondence
I. Potok (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
J.C. Edens – Mentor
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
The thesis will elaborate Helena and Szymon Syrkus’ connection with the “Congress of Modern Architecture” (CIAM). It will investigate in what ways the Polish couple has brought Modernist ideas to Poland and put a special emphasis on the work of Helena Syrkus.
The point of focus will lay on how the Helena Syrkus could manage to keep in touch with the most influential architects of the 20th century and how her social skills and fluent knowledge of multiple languages (English, German, French) enabled her to become an influential female architect. She became friends with Walter and Ise Gropius, Cornelis van Eastern, and Frieda Fluck as well as Marcel Breuer, Siegfried Giedion and many others. Her correspondence became an important medium for her work as she shared her career plans and information about her recent projects. Thus, the research question is in a great part inspired by her vast correspondence network, where she reigned unchallenged. In a private letter to her sister, Syrkus makes it apparent that her typewriter was an integral item without which she would only depart for holidays. In any other case, a full-size or pocket typewriter would constantly be at her side. This special relationship that was prominent in Syrkus’ life gave impetus to the research question:
Has Helena Syrkus’ typewriter become a passport of Modernism to Polish architecture?