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Review Archive

”Hauer’s work, beginning in 1950, entails elements of infinity, continuity, and periodic repetition. This reiteration is strongly present in Baroque music, where we often find ongoing continua, totally repetitive, and then the theme music emerges and interweaves with the framework of the continuum. Asserting that music has always been his main inspiration, Hauer says the shapes within his continua need to be akin to “cantabile", like theme melodies.”

~ Roger Fiedler, Art Review Magazine

“Graceful and sensual, with distinctly clean lines, the screens suggest the solidity of organic forms and the fluidity of music.“
~ Princeton Architectural Press

ERWIN HAUER
1926–2017

Austria-born sculptor Erwin Hauer spent his life perfecting architectural screens and sculptures that celebrate the infinite continuous surface. Known as Modular Constructivism, his light-diffusing walls and room dividers have been lauded as “quintessential works of modernism.” Hauer’s works have been featured in museums, installations, and private collections.

Hauer began exploring these modular sculptures in 1950 and soon patented these designs; installing sculptural light-diffusing walls in churches in Vienna. As a result, he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and came to the United States in 1955. After a two-year stay at Rhode Island School of Design, he was invited by Josef Albers to join the faculty of Yale University where he taught until 1990.

When Princeton Architectural Press published Erwin Hauer: Continua, Architectural Screens, and Walls in 2004 there was a renewed demand for Hauer’s modular walls. A year before publication Hauer teamed up with former student Enrique Rosado to form Erwin Hauer Studios and produce some of his earlier designs; adapting his Continua screen walls for production with up-to-date technology. Together, over the next 15 years they installed quintessential architectural Continua screens in institutions like the Boston Museum, hotels like Standard Hotel in New York City, the World Bank in Washington DC, and countless private homes in the United States and abroad.

ENRIQUE ROSADO
Founder of Erwin Hauer Studios, Enrique Rosado explores humans’ relationship with nature/the cosmos through art, technology, 3-dimensional design, writing, anthropology, and philosophy.

While a student at Yale in the early 90s, Rosado excelled in Hauer’s sculpture courses but didn’t fully recognize the magnitude of their visual compatibility until they reconnected years later.

He had the honor of working closely with Hauer until his passing; it was more than a partnership, mentorship, or collaboration. By working on the various projects and reintroducing Hauer’s work to the world, Rosado learned the necessary material science, 3D design, computer-aided manufacturing, advanced fabrication technologies, and deliberative pedagogy to sensitively render Hauer’s visions into reality.

In essence, Hauer’s seven decades of accumulated knowledge and expertise were distilled and transferred during their 15-year collaboration. Their combined efforts enabled the publication of Still Facing Infinity, Hauer’s ‘designer-to-designer’ opus showcasing his pioneering contribution to Formalism and Modular Constructivism.

Since Erwin’s death in 2017, Rosado has been the sole steward of his life’s work and artistic legacy.