Getting to 50
In May 2004, after 50 years at Harvard, architectural historian Eduard F. Sekler delivered his final lecture. Last week, the venerable scholar, now in his 90s and walking with the aid of a cane, once again addressed a room full of students — some current, some familiar from his decades as a teacher. The April 4 talk at Gund Hall was among a series of events that started last fall in honor of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, which turns 50 in late May. The building is the only one in North America designed by Le Corbusier. Sekler, who arrived at Harvard in 1954 and was a full professor by 1960, was the center’s first director. (He is now the Osgood Hooker Professor of Visual Arts Emeritus and professor of architecture emeritus.) Josep Lluís Sert (dean of the Graduate School of Design 1953-1969) persuaded Le Corbusier — still stinging from not...