HONOLULU—The UH Mānoa Library is pleased to announce receipt of a $19,386.79 donation from the Hawai‘i Architectural Foundation (HAF) to support the Vladimir Ossipoff Collection. The Ossipoff Collection forms a cornerstone of the Library’s Archives of Hawai‘i Artists and Architects. Architect Sid Snyder, a former partner of Ossipoff, recently contributed a collection of drawings by Ossipoff to the UHM Library. HAF conducted a fundraising campaign via the fundraising site Indiegogo.com to provide support for the processing and preservation of this important collection.
“We are extremely grateful to HAF for their generous support of the Ossipoff Collection,” stated University Librarian Dr. Irene Herold. “The funds will enable the Library to house the inventoried, organized and re-housed drawings, renderings, and supporting documentation, in over-sized cases thereby preserving them for use by researchers.”
After the drawings have been inventoried they will be transferred to the Library’s Preservation Department and its state-of-the-art Paper Conservation Lab for flattening, stabilization, and mending.
Vladimir Ossipoff is considered to be the most significant exponent of the “Mid-Century Modern” style in Hawai‘i. Ossipoff’s drawings and plans range from homes to large projects, including the Liljestrand House, Palama Settlement, Pacific Club, Outrigger Canoe Club, Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden (Kaua‘i), Punahou School’s Thurston Chapel, Queen’s Medical Center, and Waikīkī Aquarium (1990).
Using the drawings and other material in the Archives of Hawai‘i Artists and Architects, researchers will be able to trace the influences and evolution of the designers who created masterworks that forge an intriguing link between an Asian aesthetic and European Modernism. Researchers can consult the original sketches and final presentation and construction drawings for a project and combine these primary documents with published accounts of the construction to develop a critical analysis of an architect’s work.
The Archives of Hawai‘i Artists and Architects also includes drawings by renowned architects Hart Wood, John Mason Young, Hego Fuchino, Nancy Peacock, and James C. Hubbard.
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The University of Hawaiʻi Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawaiʻi System. The mission of the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation is to unite donors' passions with the University of Hawaiʻi’s aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawaiʻi and our future generations www.uhfoundation.org.
