Fifty years ago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York published, in association with the Graham Foundation, renowned Philadelphia architect Robert Venturi’s “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture.” The book has since been translated into 18 languages, won an American Institute of Architects (AIA) Classic Book Award, and remains an essential piece of architectural literature studied across the world.

The book, in which Venturi challenges the purism of modernism, was written over a period of five years in the early 1960s, while he taught a course at Penn titled “Theories of Architecture.”

“The materials used in his lectures became the basis for the book, which has proven to be one of the most significant texts about architecture published in the 20th century,” says William Whitaker, curator and collections manager of PennDesign’s Architectural Archives. “Venturi has said that if he wasn’t given the opportunity and challenge of teaching this class at Penn, he wouldn’t have written this book.”

To commemorate the book’s anniversary, the Architectural Archives, which is now home to Venturi’s entire collection of work, is showcasing a special exhibition, “Back Matter: The Making of Robert Venturi’s ‘Complexity and Contradiction,’” which is on view at the Harvey & Irwin Kroiz Gallery in the Fisher Fine Arts Library through Friday, March 3. It takes a dive into Venturi’s “Theories of Architecture” lectures, giving a glimpse at his handwritten notes as well as the images he shared during classes.

“We have an image collection here at Penn that used to be called the ‘slide library,’” says Whitaker. “We were able to pull the original slides that Bob used during class and hold them in our hands while creating this exhibition, which ultimately brings his lectures to life.”

“Back Matter” also provides a glimpse into Venturi’s earliest professional works—including original sketches and never-before-seen period photographs of the iconic Vanna Venturi House in Chestnut Hill, the Guild House on Seventh and Spring Garden streets, and Grand’s Restaurant, which used to be on Walnut Street on Penn’s campus.

“The exhibition gives the incredible range of thought that went into Venturi’s book,” says Whitaker. “It is this combination of teaching, the professional work as an architect designing buildings, and then this work as a thinker about architecture as expressed through writing.”

After studying at the American Academy in Rome for two years, Venturi, a Philadelphia native and Princeton graduate, came to Penn in the late 1950s as a teaching assistant to visionary architect Louis Kahn, Venturi’s mentor. While teaching at Penn, Venturi met architect and educator Denise Scott Brown, who quickly became his partner in work, and later, in life. The pair married in 1967 and evolved the Philadelphia-based firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. Just last year they won—together—the AIA Gold Medal, the institute’s highest award.

For the past 18 years, Whitaker says, the Archives has been collecting old works from Venturi and Scott Brown to grow what is now a massive joint collection.

“We’ve brought in thousands of boxes,” he says, adding that they just brought the last few boxes in at the end of January. “We have about 400 collections here, and I’m sure their collection has doubled the size of all things.”

The purpose of “Back Matter,” as well as all of the Archives’ exhibits, Whitaker says, is to give the general public the ability to understand the deep thought that goes into architecture.

“This is innovation. This is ingenuity, craft,” he says. “What we aim to show here is this incredible diversity that these artists engage with to do what they do. Often we think of this as a mystery, but actually an archive pulls back the curtain and gives you a chance to see some moments, sometimes very vividly.”