Drawing, Writing, Embodying: John Hejduk's Masques Of Architecture

The following dissertation will examine the architectural masques of architect and poet, John Hejduk. Hejduk's masques are more than the text or the drawing; like their inspiration, the Stuart Court Masque, the architectural masque is a compendium of text, symbol, history, and performance, which is meant to lead the viewer to a greater comprehension of the citizen's role in the creation of community.

There has been as yet no study of the direct links to the Stuart Court Masque, the invention poet Ben Jonson and architect Inigo Jones, or what the links in Hejduk's masques to the emblem books, which are the heart of the Court Masque. The following dissertation will undertake an explication of two key Hejduk texts as means to demonstrate the architectural meaning of Hejduk's Architectural Masques as a descendant of the Stuart Court Masque. The dissertation examines Hejduk's pedagogical biography, the history of the Court Masque and emblem book (which is the basis of the Architectural Masques), Hejduk's own dumb' emblem book, Silent Witnesses, and finally, Victims, his first masque which is the application of his theory to the masque.

The methodology of the dissertation involves an explication of Hejduk's texts, drawing on an understanding of his own education as an architect and educator. The examination of his two texts, Silent Witnesses, and Victims, are to be the basis for drawing out the imagination as a student and a teacher. Such textual examination is meant to encourage the reader, and future architects, of the deep influence of the past in creating art of the present and future.