In 2007, material was on loan to a travelling exhibition on British architect Basil Spence, this saw material from the RIBA reach audiences in Edinburgh, London and Coventry. Other touring exhibitions took drawings from the RIBA to venues in Bilbao, the Netherlands, New York and Toronto.
It Starts From Here
De La Warr Pavilion|, Bexhill
11 June – 11 September 2007
The De La Warr Pavilion invited a number of artists and designers to come up with their 'first thoughts' when asked how they might respond to the building. Alongside the proposals were the early drawings of Erich Mendelsohn, the 'first ideas' of the architect who designed the De La Warr Pavilion 75 years ago as well as the first proposals of some great design classics. The RIBA lent seven drawings to the exhibition.
|Design for GPO telephone kiosk number 2
Artist: Sir Giles Gilbert Scott
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections
Back to the Future: Sir Basil Spence, 1906-1976
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Dean Gallery, Edinburgh
19 October 2007 – 10 February 2008
RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London,
22 February - 22 April 2008
The Herbert|, Coventry
20 June - 31 August 2008
This touring exhibition celebrated the centenary of the birth of Sir Basil Spence, charting the career of one of the most important British architects of the post-war era. The RIBA lent three models and one bust to the exhibition.
|Design model for the Sea and Ships Pavilion, Festival of Britain exhibition site, South Bank, London
Designer: Basil Spence
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections
Grand Atelier, pathways of art in Europe
Centre for Fine Arts|, Brussels
24 September 2007 – 8 January 2008
This exhibition brought together 350 masterpieces from 150 museums for the first time in the biggest collaborative exhibition in the history of Europe. It aimed to trace the artistic cross-fertilisation in European culture from the end of the Roman Empire until the French Revolution. The RIBA lent two books.
|Engraved frontispiece and title page of 'An abridgment of the architecture of Vitruvius'
Artist: Johannes Kip
Copyright: RIBA Library Photographs Collection
Piranesi as Designer
Cooper Hewitt Museum|, New York
4 September 2007 – 27 January 2008
Teylers Museum|, Haarlem
9 February – 18 May 2008
This exhibition examines Piranesi's role in the reform of architecture and design from the 18th century to the present. The RIBA lent three drawings to the exhibition.
|Design for the Three per Cent Consols Office, Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, City of London
Designer: Sir John Soane
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections
A Passion for Building
Sir John Soane's Museum|, London
15 May-3 September 2007
Fairfax House|, York
1 March 2008 – 1 June 2008
The RIBA lent two drawings and a volume to this exhibition exploring the great English tradition of the amateur architect.
|Design for Wrest Park, Wrest
Artist: Henry Philip Earl de Grey
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections
Surreal Things
Victoria and Albert Museum|, London
5 March – 25 July 2007
Boijmans Museum|, Rotterdam
1 September 2007 – 1 January 2008
Guggenheim Museum|, Bilbao
1 March – 1 July 2008
Art Gallery of Ontario|, Toronto
9 May - 13 September 2009
This was a major touring exhibition on Surrealism organised by the V&A. The RIBA lent three drawings to the first three legs of the tour and three new objects to the tour, including a photograph with an overdrawn design for the caryatids at the Pantheon, West Dean.
|Design model for the incorporation of the facade of the Pantheon into a house, Stapleash Farm, West Dean: garden façade
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections
Memoriae Causa
Palazzo Bomben, Treviso
17 January – 25 March 2007
The RIBA lent a design model for Cimetero Brion, San Vito di Altivole, near Asolo, Treviso by Carlo Scapa for this exhibition on the architect's life and work.
|Design model for Cimetero Brion, San Vito di Altivole, Treviso
Designer: Carlo Scarpa
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections