Migrating Modernism: The architecture of Harry Seidler

WHERE
Chau Chak Wing Museum

WHEN
18 July 2026 – 18 December 2026
5-31 January 2027
Please note: the Chau Chak Wing Museum will be closed between 19 December 2026 – 4 January 2027.
Open seven days a week
Mon – Fri: 10am – 5pm / Sat – Sun: 12 – 4pm

Migrating Modernism celebrates the life and work of the architect Harry Seidler (1923–2006), one of the most influential figures of the Modern Movement in Australia.

Overview

Originally produced by the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, in collaboration with and first presented at the San Marco Art Centre in Venice in 2025, this expanded exhibition brings together photographs, models, original drawings, and artworks to trace Seidler’s extraordinary journey.

Forced to flee Nazi-occupied Vienna as a teenager, Seidler embarked on a path that eventually led him to study in the United States under Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer and Josef Albers, and then work with Marcel Breuer, and later with Oscar Niemeyer. 

From Sydney, he launched a prolific international career that reshaped the architectural landscape of modern Australia. Over five decades, Seidler produced a body of work spanning continents and scales, including significant collaborations with structural engineer Pier Luigi Nervi and architect Marcel Breuer.

With Penelope Seidler, his life companion and professional partner, he maintained a deep commitment to the relationship between architecture and art. Together they commissioned major artworks for his buildings and assembled a remarkable personal collection featuring works by Alexander Calder, Josef Albers, Alexander Calder, Helen Frankenthaler, Frank Stella, and Sol LeWitt.

Across Australia and abroad – from Acapulco, to Paris, Hong Kong, and his native Vienna – Seidler’s legacy emerges as both a personal story and a global narrative that reveals how modernist ideas migrated, evolved, and left a lasting imprint across cultures and time.

Curators

Dr Ann Stephen
Senior Curator, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney

Dr Paolo Stracchi
Senior Lecturer, Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney

More information

Migrating Modernism. The architecture of Harry Seidler is an exhibition produced by the Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney, originally produced in collaboration with and presented at San Marco Art Centre, Venice in 2025.

see the website: go.sydney.edu.au/ccwm-migrating-modernism