Susan Klaiber

@susanklaiber.bsky.social

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Architectural historian | Baroque, early modern & beyond American formerly in 🇩🇪 & 🇮🇹, now 🇨🇭 | Detroit diaspora https://susanklaiber.wordpress.com/

Azulejo with diagram for Proposition 29 of Book I of Euclid’s Elements: “If the straight line GO intersects the two straight lines AB and CF such that angle GLB is equal to angle LOF (or, the sum of angle BLO and angle LOF is identical to two right angles) then the two intersected straight lines are parallel”.
Photo of a paved urban square in the Swiss city of Winterthur. Seven trees stand in front of the buildings on the left side of the photo. Caption reads: WGeht es nach dem Bewohnerinnen- und Bewohnerverein Altstadt Winterthur, erhalten die sieben Platanen am Neumarkt in den nächsten Jahren mindestens zehn Kolleginnen und Kollegen."
Transverse oval white marble relief sculpture in a black marble frame. The relief depicts Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy making his vow to build the church of San Lorenzo. The duke stands in high relief slightly to the right of center. He looks up to an angel hovering above him and his right arm is extended, pointing to the left and holding a baton in his hand. On the left of the image, in lower relief, the battle of St.-Quentin rages. Behind him of the right, in mid-relief, stand three court figures.
Screenshot of Wikipedia article reading: "United States rule Chuuk was one of six districts of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) which were administered by the United States under charter from the United Nations from the end of the Second World War to the mid-1980s. The termination of U.S. administration of the Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Mariana Islands districts of the TTPI occurred on 3 November 1986. Independence The Federated States of Micronesia, including Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, and Pohnpei, was established in 1979 and signed a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (effective 3 November 1986). As of recent times, Chuuk has been pushing harder for independence. An independence referendum was originally scheduled to coincide with federal elections on 3 March 2015, but was pushed back to 5 March 2019. The independence referendum was further pushed back to March 2022, with a date to be announced, while the constitutional legality of the proposed secession is determined.[11]"
Image of elaborate three-bay ephemeral structure on a concave plan. The central section features a tall arch, while the two side wings have crowning balustrades. Each bay features a painting celebrating Ferdinand governor of the Spanish Netherlands. The whole is generously adorned with statues, banners, and other ornament.
Woodcut image of a Renaissance room with a perforated floor. A bellows assembly underneath the floor allows for air circulation through the floor to the room above. The cool air is represented by ghost-like figures in the room rising from the floor below. A system of pipes underneath the room and below it in the basement let the hot air be pumped out of the room.
Google maps satellite view of Seilerei Kislig in Winterthur, with the long building outlined in red within its neighborhood.
Finial on top of building with gilded metal vegetation sprouting out of the top. Image shows finial with two preservation workers maintaining the metalwork; landscape of the town of Rorschach in the distance.
Night photo of the Ambassador Bridge connecting WIndsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan. The photo is a detail of one of the bridge pylons, prominently featuring the name "AMBASSADOR BRIDGE" illuminated in red neon.
Schematic plan of St. Peter's basilica and St. Peter's square in Rome. Dotted lines show the axis of the basilica nave and the axis between the obelisk in the square and the center of the basilica crossing. The lines are not identical, demonstrating the skew between the nave axis and the obelisk-crossing axis.
Book cover with a color photograph looking through a neoclassical church portico viewed from the side. At top center, the author's name "Marco Capponi"; underneath this in the upper third of the cover, the title "I teatini e l'architettura. La chiesa e la casa di San Nicola da Tolentino a Venezia, XVI-XVIII secolo"; at the bottom center, the name of the publisher Campisano Editore.
Image of 19th-century wallpaper with a floral-geometric pattern in green and red-orange diamonds. Two small yellow Post-It tags are stuck on it at the upper right.
Title page of the book _La stella nuova e peregrina comparsa l'Anno 1600 sul petto del Cigno, scoverta nuovamente_ by Giovan Battista Hodierna [Odierna], Rome, 1659. The upper 1/3 of the image features the title of the book. The lower 2/3 of the image features a diagram of the constellation of Cygnus, the new star in the middle labeled as "Stella nova".
Box of "Jiffy" corn muffin mix. Top of box has red banner with white lettering reading "America's Favorite." Bottom of box has photo of three corn muffings, one with a pat of butter melting on it. Background of box is white, "Jiffy" logo is a medium blue, and the sides of the box are aqua.
Book covers of two-volume publication, Bernini's Architectural Drawings, edited by Tod A. Marder, published by Hirmer, 2025.
Exhibition poster with a background of a large neoclassical piazza with a centralized building at the center. The building is basically circular with four short cross arms projecting to mark four entrances. At the right of the poster, the exhibition information: “alla studiosa Gioventù del Disegno” I Concorsi Clementini di architettura. 1702–1869 a cura di Laura Bertolaccini, Francesco Cellini, Tommaso Manfredi, Angelo Torricelli Inaugurazione mercoledì 06.05.2026 ore 18.00 apertura al pubblico 07.05.2026 25.07.2026 Ingresso gratuito per gli studenti universitari https://www.concorsiclementiniarchitettura.org/ Accademia Nazionale di San Luca ETS Roma, Palazzo Carpegna piazza dell'Accademia di San Luca 77
View of interior of a baroque dome. The dome is composed of six levels of six arches each, with each level rotated 60° with respect to the level below it. Underneath each arch, small windows illuminate each level. The dome is constructed of black marble. At the apex, a 12-rayed starburst is open at the center in a circle, revealing a fresco of the dove of the Holy Spirit in glory at the apex of the whole.
Screenshot of Burlington Magazine webpage with review of Viollet-le-Duc: Drawing Worlds at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery, New York, 28 January-24 May 2026, reviewed by Nancy Wu.
Triangular yellow warning sign with thick black frame around edge. The pictogram image at the center shows a house with a steep roof at the right and a cascade of stylized oversized snowflakes falling off the roof to hit a stick person at the lower left, knocking them down. Underneath the warning sign, the caption in German, "Vorsicht! Dachlawine" (Caution! Roof avalanche).
Invitation card for the book presentation of Bernini's Architectural Drawings, edited by Tod Marder. Details: Thursday, 23 April 2026, at 16:30, at the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, sala Dante, via Poli 54, Rome. Speakers include Marcello Fagiolo, Claudia Conforti, Mario Bevilacqua, Gabriella Pace, and Marieke von Bernstorff.
Two images. On left, a photo of a cigarette-box sized Kunstautomat package. The package is olive green and white and has black lettering which reads "Kunststück. Kunstautomat. das Original" and has a pseudo-health warning below, (but for art) as on a box of cigarettes. The top of the box is open and the artwork it holds is sticking out: a pen-and-ink portrait of a person with short curly hair. The portrait features highlights in marking pen: pink, red, and yellow. On the right, an image of an art vending machine hanging on the wall of a building. It is an old cigarette vending machine repainted, in this case with a view out a window. At the top, lettering reads "Kunstautomat".
Invitation card for the book presentation of Bernini's Architectural Drawings, edited by Tod Marder. Details: Thursday, 23 April 2026, at 16:30, at the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, sala Dante, via Poli 54, Rome. Speakers include Marcello Fagiolo, Claudia Conforti, Mario Bevilacqua, Gabriella Pace, and Marieke von Bernstorff.
Image of man with beard seated, wearing a large white fur-like hat. The small room he is seated in is covered with colorful objects: an assortment of shiny Christmas ornaments hangs from the ceiling, while the walls and tables are covered with religious statues, primarily of the Madonna. A neo-baroque sofa stands along the right wall, while the left wall has an assortment of chairs.
Image of a baroque bust of Louis XIV surrounded by scaffolding. Wooden boards at the lower edge of image surround the bust at chest height, while metal pipes form an extensive framework above and to either side. A roof composed of scaffolding pipes supporting plastic sheets covers the whole work site.
The Resurrection; with a table to find Easter; in the centre, within a circle, Christ rising from the sarcophagus with soldiers and angels holding the Instruments of the Passion; in the corners the four Evangelists with names inscribed; below are eight lines of text explaining the table: 'A TROVARE LA PASQUA PER SEMPRE..." The circle around Christ is divided into four concentric sectors, and around 40 radius sectors, creating a grid-like table to consult to find the date of Easter. The grid is filled with numbers and letters.
Photo is an aerial view of a bicycle training facility with miniature streets, various traffic signs, signals, and pavement markings. Facility is on a triangular site, with grass and trees between the streets. A building with classrooms for bike safety instruction and other amenities is at the upper left.
Christ on a cross with blood pouring from his wounds and forming an ocean; angels and God surround him; engraving after Bernini.
Image of a Hermann's tortoise crawling through a water basin.
Image shows sturdy cardboard box for a card game. The box is open, with the lid on the left and the box on the right. The color of the box is natural cardboard color, and it is held together with four large staples on each end. The lid bears the title "Basler Wohn Grundriss Quartett" in black across the central third of the lid. Above and below on the upper and lower thirds of the lid are eight sample housing plans each, for a total of sixteen. The deck of cards in the lower part of the box on the right is covered by the accompanying booklet. This is white with black lettering. It has the same title as the game itself, and has the word ESSAY at the bottom of its cover.
Image of a Hermann's tortoise crawling over stones in a meadow.
Engraved image with a slight bird's-eye view of a classic Parisian hôtel with the main wing to the rear and symmetrical side wings perpendicular to it toward the front, forming a forecourt. The forecourt is closed to the street by a one-story wall with a central portal. The main wing has three stories, while the side wings have two stories. The image is populated with figures of people in the street in front of the hôtel and in the forecourt.
Book cover in robin's egg blue with red title "Guarini". At the top in smaller print "Centro Internationale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio". Underneath the title, the byline "A Cura di Gioseppe Dardanello, Susan Klaiber, Hentry A. Millon" In the center of the cover, an image of the intersecting ribs of the interior of the dome of San Lorenzo, Turin. At the bottom of the cover, the Umberto Allemandi & C. logo.
Image shows the table of contents for Pegasus 2, 2026. It reads as follows: "Inhalt Editorial: Fund und Aufstellung – Fragment und Ganzes Ulrich Pfisterer, Cristina Ruggero, Timo Strauch 5-6 Anfang offen. Zur Bildwerdung des Torso Belvedere Anna Degler 7-29 »Che no sia tondo e che abia dello aovato«. Uffizi U1132A, a Stratification of Meanings and Strategies within the Sangallo’s Workshop Francesco Benelli 31-48 Giovanni Nardi and Ancient Egypt at the Medici Court Daniela Picchi 49-79 Reconstructing the Fragments of Pietro Santi Bartoli’s Reproductive Corpus Annie Maloney 80-100 Transparenz und Verschleierung. Ambivalenzen restauratorischer Dokumentationen in Katalogen antiker Bildwerke Lena Demary 101-114 Filippo Aurelio Visconti on the Benefits of Intervention. An Exploration of Restorations of Ancient Sculpture as Epistemic Images Koenraad Vos 115-132 Pars pro toto. Zur visuellen Dokumentation des Palatins in Rom vom Beginn des 18. bis zur Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts Barbara Sielhorst 133-156 Vénus pour Muse, Cy Twombly et Brice Marden Anthi-Danaé Spathoni 157-182"
Coat of arms of the state of Michigan. Two stags flank a blue shield reading "TUEBOR" with an image of a man with staff at a shoreline with the sun rising behind him on the lower 3/4 of the shield. Above the shield, a heraldic eagle with a banderole above it reading "E pluribus unum". Below the stags and shield, the state motto, "Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice."
Reverse of commemorative medal. The form of the medal is circular, appears to be bronze with gilded inscriptions and images. Around the top edge of the medal, the inscription "SARLOISIVM CONDITVM"; at the bottom of the medal, the date M DC LXXXIII. In the center of the medal, to the left a river god (the Saar) reclining with water spilling out of an urn; to the right, a female (?) allegorical figure dressed in a toga presenting a model of a fortified city to the river god. The allegorical figure holds a staff in her left hand, the river god grasps her toga.
Detail of the courtyard facade of Palazzo Carignano, Turin (1679-1683) by Guarino Guarini. The detail shows the central three bays built on a convex oval plan, flanked by side wings on a straight plan. The facade has three main stories, with a single mezzanine over the ground floor with its arched openings and two mezzanines over the second floor with its Palladian windows. The top floor features large oval windows. The brick palace features custom molded brick / terracotta ornaments, here primarily a firmament of eight-pointed stars applied all along the pilaster strips over all three floors.
Plan and section of the State of Illinois building (Thompson Center) in Chicago. The drawing is done in colored pencil, sepia ink, and oil pastels on tracing paper.
Tile with printed image of shepherdess walking along a path in a landscape. She wears a broad-brimmed sun hat and a long dress with an apron. She holds a lamb in her right arm and a crook with her left hand. Her dog sits on the right of the image and looks up to her. Most of the rest of the sheep herd appears behind her on the left of the image. Behind the herd, there is a distant hill with a castle. In the right background is a coastline with the sea and a ship. At the upper left, the inscription "MARCH", at the upper right, "31 days". The colors are brown and gray lines and shading on a cream background.
Two-story baroque church facade with two symmetrical towers. A tall central portal is flanked by two much smaller portals. A dome is just visible behind the pediment of the upper story. The whole is painted ocher-color.
Drawing of an elephant with an obelisk on its back. The view is front-on toward the elephant, who has his trunk raised toward the right in a dynamic S-curve. The obelisk is covered with Egyptian hieroglyphs and is surmounted by an orb with cross. Medium: pen and brown ink, chalk, brown wash.
Image depicts Noah's Ark as imagined by the Jesuit priest Athanasius Kircher in 1675. The landscape format image shows three decks of the ark in an "exploded" bird's eye perspective with the various animals in their separate cabins: camels, elephants, rhinoceroses, different birds, etc. Some cabins are storage spaces with crates or jugs.
Fish-eye panorama of the view from Rigi Kulm. The image is circular, with text in both German and French. Around the edge of the image are listed the names of the places that are visible when looking in that direction, with North indicated at the top, East at the right, South at the bottom, and West at the left. At the center of the image, a wooden structure labeled "Signale" and the name of the mountain in large type "Rigi-Kulm". Surrounding this in a 360° view are other various mountains and lakes, with the "Zuger-See" featured prominently toward the north and the "Vierwaldstätter-See" toward the west. Toward the south, a few houses are visible nearby the Rigi-Kulm peak.
Black and white photo of votive painting in portrait format with the architect-artist Zimmermann kneeling at the base with a landscape of the Bavarian Alps behind him featuring his Wieskirche. Above in two upper registers are an array of saints with an image of Christ as the Scourged Savior featured at upper center in a glory of light.
Clear cellophane bag filled with wild garlic leaves, similar to a bag salad. Repeating logo on the left side of the bag reads "Fresca" in black lettering on a white rectangle. Price and ingredient label on the right side is nearly illegible, but one can make out "100 g" and a bar code.
View of a library reading room with a slightly curved wall full of books on the left and a straight wall full of books on the right. At the rear, a reproduction of the Laocoön. In the foreground, a table with stacks of rare books, some open to plans or diagrams. A spiral library ladder stands at the left.
Late 19th century photoengraving of the interior of the baroque palace chapel at Charlottenburg near Berlin. The space is rectangular with a vaulted ceiling capped by a skylight. The figures of two visitors provide scale. The chapel is richly ornamented with pilasters supporting a cornice and stucco ornament and figures on the surfaces. An elaborate drapery highlights a royal viewing box at the far end of the space, and other garlands and draperies embellish other viewing boxes along the side walls.
View of the interior of the dome of the church of San Lorenzo in Turin. The dome rises above a drum with eight large windows. It is constructed with a structure of 16 intersecting ribs, with the dome infill perforated by small pentagonal windows in each of the eight sectors. An octagonal lantern, the vault of which features eight more intersecting ribs, forms the central focus of the dome.
Book with medium blue cover. At the upper left, the title "Zürcher Taschenbuch 2026" in white. At the lower left, the volume number "Band 146" also in white. At the lower right, in gray, a stylized version of the Zurich canton coat of arms, consisting of a lion holding a shield divided diagonally with the lower left shaded and the upper right blank.
Tabby cat lying down looking straight at camera. The cat is crouched in a small space as though under a stairway (seen at upper left), while a grate encloses the space at the upper right. The foreground / lower portion of photo is covered with beige-gray ribbed carpet that the cat is reclining on.
View of library with three-meter tall bookshelves. A mobile spiral stairway stands in front of the shelves on the left. In the center, a large reading table with four chairs. A globe stands on the table.
Wooden library stair in spiral form on wheels against a background of a wall of books.
On the left, image of a soccer player in a uniform modeled after the clothes of comic character Tintin. On the right, an image of Tintin. Both wear a light blue shirt with white collar and brown pants. The soccer player has his hands behind his back, while Tintin gestures toward the soccer player with his outstretched right arm.
Stock photo of a Swiss Three Kings Cake consisting of six buns baked together around a larger central bun creating an almost flower-shaped pastry. The whole is baked golden brown, covered with a transparent glaze, and sprinkled with slivered almonds. A golden cardboard crown sits on top of the cake.
Detail of the colonnade of Piazza San Pietro, Rome, showing a segment with eight of the 140 statues surmounting the colonnade. In the background, the top of the dome of St. Peter's basilica, with its lantern topped by orb and cross. All 140 statues staff this account.
Photograph of Howard Burns on the left side of image in a waist-length crop. Man in his 80s with white hair in a brown tweed jacket with dark sweater vest underneath over a white shirt with dark tie. Burns is chuckling against a background of mottled ochre-colored columns.
Open title page spread of Tod A. Marder, editor, Bernini's Architectural Drawings. On the left page, text reads "Publications of the Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max Planck Institute for Art History / Edited by Tanja Michalsky and Tristan Weddigen / Managing Editor Marieke von Bernstorff / Editorial Assistant Caterina Scholl" The bottom corner of the left page bears the Bibliotheca Hertziana logo. The right page, text reads, "Bernini's Architectural Drawings. Volume 1. An Extended Edition of Brauer and Wittkower's Catalogue of 1931 by Tod A. Marder with English Translation of the German Texts by Susan Klaiber. In collaboration with Alina Aggujaro, Maria Grazia D’Amelio, Daniela del Pesco, Tobias Glitsch, Manuela Gobbi, Susan Klaiber, Giuseppe Marotta, Sarah McPhee, Gabriella Pace, Sebastiano Roberto, Julia Triolo, and Patricia Waddy." The logo of the publisher, Hirmer, appears in the lower right corner.
Image depicts a museum exhibition with a rectangular space surrounded on all four sides by bookshelves with glass backing. The bookshelves are a soft rust color and a bilingual text on a corner pier of the shelf structure identifies the exhibition as Thomas Mann's Private Library. The shelves hold some books, but many shelves are empty, so that one can look through to the space enclosed by the shelves. The space in the center of the bookshelf structure is filled with Mann's desk - covered with papers as though working - a desk chair and a sofa. A bust of Elisabeth Mann is featured prominently in the upper right quadrant. The viewer walks around the outside of the bookshelf structure, can peruse the books behind the glass, and look beyond the books to the reconstructed office-library at the center of the exhibit.
Raphael's Sixtine Madonna. The image in portrait format depicts the Madonna and Child flanked by St. Sixtus (on the left) and St. Barbara (on the right), with two putti leaning on a fictive ledge below. The image is framed in the upper third by fictive green velvet curtains pulled back, and the background of the entire image consists of clouds, in the upper two-thirds of the painting manifesting as cloud-like putti faces.
Detail of Bernini's Apollo and Daphne showing the heads of two sculpted figures looking toward the right. Daphne flees from Apollo as her fingers transform into twigs and leaves.
Photo of a procession at night where dozens of men in white tunics carry illuminated lanterns on their heads. The lanterns are in the form of a bishop's mitre and their surfaces are worked with a stained-glass effect.