The Assassination of Jean Welz, Part 2

5 March, 2023, 2 PM-3 PM

SAH/SCC welcomes back author and filmmaker Peter Wyeth, whose string of discoveries excavated from the most fragmentary evidence has uncovered the architecture career of perhaps the leading South African painter, Jean Welz. In 2022, Wyeth presented his book, The Lost Architecture of Jean Welz (DoppelHouse, 2022) to SAH/SCC. Although Welz’ masterpiece Maison Zilveli has since been demolished, Wyeth has made more discoveries about this little-known architect and his work.

The book, The Lost Architecture of Jean Welz (DoppelHouse, 2022) was named one of the best art books of 2022 on Hyperallergic in December of last year.

Born in 1900 and trained in Vienna, Welz was sent to Paris for the 1925 “Art Deco” exhibition by his influential employer, the renowned Josef Hoffmann. As a result, he met preeminent modern architects Le Corbusier and Adolf Loos. The latter employed him to supervise the construction of Loos’s only Paris house, for the founder of Dada, Tristan Tzara. At the Café Dôme in Montparnasse they formed one of the avant-garde, including Welz’s classmate from Vienna, later Chicago-based architect Gabriel Guevrekian; Welz’s future employer Raymond Fischer, whose archive was 80% destroyed by the Nazis; and the photographer (and Welz’s best friend) André Kertész.

With the recent destruction of the Maison Zilveli, new details and hypotheses about Welz’ design have been uncovered. Follow the ongoing story with the author.

The Assassination of Jean Welz- Part 2—Sunday, March 5th, 2023; 1-2:30 PM PST; $5; pay via PayPal or mail in order form with check; Zoom connection information sent upon registration.