Sigurd Lewerentz
St Peter’s Church, Klippan. By Sigurd Lewerentz. Photo Matthew Wickens
A talk by Tony Fretton
The Gallery, EC1, and online
Friday 2nd December 2022, 1900
“We are invited into the dark. Enveloped in that heart of darkness that calls on all the senses to measure its limits, we are compelled to pause. In a rare moment of explanation, Lewerentz stated that subdued light was enriching precisely in the degree to which the nature of the space has to be reached for, emerging only in response to exploration. This slow taking possession of space (the way in which it gradually becomes yours) promotes that fusion of privacy in the sharing of common ritual that is the essence of the numinous. And it is only in such darkness that light begins to take on a figurative quality – the living light of the candle flame.”
― Colin St. John Wilson, Architectural Reflections: Studies in the Philosophy and Practice of Architecture
Interior, St Peter’s, Klippan. Photo Matthew Wickens
Sigurd Lewerentz (1885-1975) completed relatively few projects - his best known works include the Eastern Cemetery in Malmö and the Woodland Cemetery in Stockholm, and two churches towards the end of his career - St Mark’s, Stockholm, 1960 and St Peter’s, Klippan, 1966. Each displays a deeply personal conception of design. Yet Lewerentz gave few interviews, and wrote little about his own work. So where do we start to interpret it?
Tony Fretton brings the eye and experience of a practitioner to decode Lewerentz's buildings and legacy. The event promises to be a richly visual experience where Tony will use his own photographs to explore some of Lewerentz's buildings.
Window, St Peter’s, Klippan. Photo Matthew Wickens
Tony Fretton is a British architect known for his residential and public gallery buildings, as well as other British and international design work. He graduated from the AA and worked for various practices before setting up his own firm, Tony Fretton Architects, in 1982. Tony is a visiting professor at the University of East London, and at ETH Zurich. He is also a trustee of Docomomo UK.