Best known as a critic of modern buildings devoid of ornamentation and pizzazz, Robert Venturi was the provocative architect who pushed what became known as the post-modern movement of 20th century. According to Venturi, “Less is boring.” ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 25, 1925, Robert Charles Venturi, Jr. has been recognized as one of the most successful American architectural figures of the 20th century. Venturi was born to Robert Venturi Sr. and Vanna Venturi and was raised as a Quaker. As a youth, he attended the Episcopal Academy in Merion, Pennsylvania. Venturi graduated from Princeton summa cum laude in 1947. He was also an elected member of Phi Beta Kappa and won the D'Amato Prize for Architecture while there (The Nassau Herald). Venturi also received his MFA from Princeton in 1950. After graduating, he worked briefly alongside Eero Saarinen in Michigan and then with Louis Kahn in Philadelphia. Venturi received the Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome in 1954. While in Europe, Robert visited other countries and studied various periods of architecture for two years. Returning to the United States, Venturi taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1954 to 1965. He began as Kahn's teaching assistant and eventually became an associate professor. It was here that Venturi met fellow professor and architect Denise Scott Brown, who would later become his wife on July 23, 1967. Venturi initially established Venturi and Short Firm, while working with William Short in 1960. But over time, the company became Venturi. , Scott Brown and Associates, or VSBA. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based company has completed more than 400 projects, each one perfectly tailored to the particular needs...... middle of paper...... and terra cotta around its exterior. Venturi's idea, he said in an interview, was to design a museum that would not seem too imposing, either to adults or children (Egan). CONCLUSION-Robert Venturi is a man I can respect without even knowing it personally. He questioned the belief system of his time and opposed traditional design to pursue his own interpretation of art and architecture. I admire his desire to have his wife as an equal partner in all his endeavors. Venturi was more than just an artist; he was a major figure in the postmodernist movement. His work is a reflection of his divergence. Venturi managed to capture historical elements such as the arch and integrate them into a modernist design that captured, even fooled, the viewer. Venturi was a thinker, a rebel and above all an individual who was not afraid to speak out against commonalities..