The Archtitect between Wars and Continents. Rolf Geyling

The present study focuses on the following three objectives: 1. The biography of Rolf Geyling (1884-1952), an extraordinary architect in several respects, is traced in the relevant steps of his life and career from the Viennese childhood and teenage years to the first architectural work phase in Vienna and Bucharest, the experiences during the First World War and Rolf Geylings successful work in China between the early 1920`s up to the era of Mao in the 1950`s. 2. The biographically development of Rolf Geyling will be interpreted against the broader historical background. Thus references to political factors will be shown and the general approach of social and cultural history will contrast Geylings vita with important contemporary trends. In this sense, it was also to illuminate the living and working conditions of an Austrian in China in the first half of the 20th Century, especially during the civil war, the war with Japan, the Second World War and finally during the period which was largely determined by the power of the Communists. 3. Geylings oeuvre is interpreted in terms of art and art history, set in relation to the architectural environment and thus for the first time is presented in an overall historically context. At the beginning of his career, Rolf Geyling was on the threshold between historicist retrospective and those internationally acclaimed Modernism, which established the turn of the century also in Austria. The buildings he erected in the 20s and 30s in China represent a stylistically modern objectivity. Based on the analysis in the larger historical context of architecture, a comprehensive insight into the general development of the architecture in Europe and China during the first half of the 20th Century is obtained. The used sources are primarily personal documents and previously unpublished documents from Rolf Geyling and other family members. These include letters and personal records as well as photos, sketches and plans that could be found during the research and that are mainly in private ownership of the descendants. A prominent role in this respect plays the diary that Rolf led in the period from 29. July 1914 until 16. December 1920 and which is hereby made publicly for the first time. The above mentioned biographical testimonies are contrasted with other contemporary historical documents and reviewed in light of the relevant secondary literature and recent scientific research, which ultimately results in a reflected overall assessment of the life and work of Rolf Geyling.