Polish Modernist pioneer Maciej Nowicki celebrated at Vienna show

Maciej Nowicki: image - UN

Maciej Nowicki died in a plane crash in 1950, shortly after beginning work on one of the grandest commissions of his day – the creation of the modernist city of Chandigarh in India.

The Polish architect had been commissioned to design a new capital for the Punjab, following the division of the region between India and Pakistan.

Nowicki's untimely death meant that the prestigious commission went to Le Corbusier. Nevertheless, interest in the Pole's diverse legacy is on the rise.

“Maciej Nowicki: The architect's career between Poland, America and India,” which is being held at Vienna's Ringturm, paints a portrait of the artist through photographs, posters, drawings and architectural models.

Prior to the Second World War, Nowicki co-designed the Polish Pavilion for the 1938 New York International Exhibition with Jan Boguslawski.

Following the war, he submitted designs for the rebuilding of Warsaw, and was dispatched as a cultural attache to the United States, with the aim of raising funds.

However, with Stalinist repression setting in, Nowicki decided to remain in America, and he was ultimately employed as the head of the architectural department at the School of Design of North Carolina State College. The Dorton Arena he designed in Raleigh continues to inspire aficionados of Modernism.

He died in a plane crash on the night of 31 August 1950, while returning from India, having begun work on the design of Chandigarh. (nh)