January 1989 and (for one never steps into the same river twice) May 2021
The second book on Segal has finally moved into production at Lund Humphries and is due for delivery to any eager potential readers in May 2021.
I had imagined that my Walter Segal, English Architect – for the nice series of 20th Century English Architects – would be published even before this one, Walter Segal, self-built Architect, was written. But sponsoring publishers RIBA and Historic England faded, as Liverpool UP joined the stalwart Twentieth Century Society; all, it seems, remains in dark pipeline. However, this rather different book, written by myself with a final section by Alice Grahame, is actively in production for published in May 2021.
This book’s first section focuses on Segal’s formative years in Continental Europe where his father Arthur was an important painter and Walter grew up surrounded by leaders of the European avant-garde. On qualifying as architect in Germany just as the Nazi party came to power, Segal moved to Switzerland, Mallorca, Egypt and finally to London in 1936.
Final preparations for the Walter Segal exhibition at the Architectural Association which opened with a packed party last night. In the foreground, a “Segal” pavilion by Assemble – winners of the latest Turner Prize – which now replaces the ‘temporary little house’ Segal built in his Highgate garden.
