I.M. Pei: Life is Architecture

I.M. Pei: Life is Architecture, at the M+ museum of contemporary visual culture in West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, is the first full scale retrospective of Chinese-America architect I.M. Pei (1917-2019), one of the most influential architects of the 20th and 21st centuries. Born in 1917 in Guangzhou, he moved to Hong Kong in 2018, spending his teenage years in Shanghai and Suzhou. He went ot the United States in 1935 to pursue an undergraduate degree at MIT and then onto Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in 1946. He worked with a real estate developer in New York City for several years, establishing his own firm, I.M. Pei and Associates, in 1960. Pei was the fifth Pritzker Architecture Prize winner in 1983,

For seven decades, Pei was a groundbreaking architect –a visionary, who was continuously innovating and designing buildings and public spaces that touched tradition and cultural heritage yet with a totally new voice and style. His projects are found around the globe, from the National Gallery of Art East Building in Washington D.C., (1968-1978), the modernization of the Louvre, Paris, which included iconic pyramid (1983-1993), the Bank of China Tower (1982-1989), to the majestic Museum of Islamic Art in Doha (2000-2008), one of his last official projects.

I.M. Pei: Life is Architecture was curated by Shirley Surya, Curator, Design and Architecture, M+, and Aric Chen, General and Artistic Director, Nieuwe Instituut (New Institute), Rotterdam, with the support of the Estate of I.M. Pei and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. It features more than 400 objects, many never before exhibited, including original drawings, architectural models, photographs, films, and other archival documentation from institutional and private holdings.

The exhibition takes a close look at Pei’s life and work through the lens of six themes: Pei’s Cross-Cultural Foundations, Real Estate and Urban Redevelopment, Art and Civic Form, Power, Politics, and Patronage, Material and Structural Innovation, and Reinterpreting History through Design. I. M. Pei’s son, the architect Li Chung (Sandi) Pei, partner and founder of PEI Architects, says, ‘This exhibition brings to the public the first full-scale retrospective of our father’s productive and far- reaching career, elucidating the transcultural influences and distinctive historical circumstances that contributed to his unique place as an architect and global citizen. Gathered over many years from a multitude of sources, the exhibition details a remarkable personal story that only in its full telling reveals the complexities, challenges, and achievements of his long and optimistic life. We are proud of this exhibition and thank the M+ team for its thorough, intelligent, and enlightened documentation.’

On the occasion of the exhibition, a 400-page monograph I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture with more than 400 colour illustrations has been published by Thames & Hudson in collaboration with M+. The title presents both celebrated and lesser-known aspects of Pei’s life and career by featuring largely unpublished archival materials, newly commissioned photographs and essays, as well as personal anecdotes from scholars and those who knew and worked with Pei.

I.M. Pei: Life is Architecture will be on view at M+ through January. 5, 2025.

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