built in usa...

moma's built in usa exhibition covered the years 1933 (the year of moma's first architectural exhibtion) to 1944. it was curated by alfred h. barr, elizabeth mock, and philip l. goodwin; and included 47 buildings. the show's vision was fairly east coast-centric; with one of the major architect invisibles being rm schindler.

the moma catalog shown above is not super rare (although this dust jacketed version is tougher to find), but it is much less common than the "every used book store has one for sale" post-war version from 1952 (designed by alvin lustig!).

i never knew the exhibition was also shown in europe until i stumbled on a swiss version of the catalog in basel a few years ago. this 1946 catalog contains only a sampling of the numerous photos in the moma publication and includes most of the text in swiss; but the thing that really makes it wonderful is the bauhaus inspired cover design is by numa rick.