Edward Andrew Zega, born in 1961, was raised in Upper Makefield, Pennsylvania. He received a B.A. in English Literature and Writing Magna Cum Laude from Princeton University with prizes in fiction and poetry. He spent several years in editorial publishing, notably with Bantam Books, and in 1988 began an association with Robert A.M. Stern Architects of Manhattan, producing renderings for competitions entries, client presentations and publications. He also designed a broad range of interior furnishings, winning several industry awards.
Since 1994, he has worked in Paris in collaboration with the German-born architect, Bernd H. Dams, in creating highly detailed elevational watercolors of important European and American architecture, garden pavilions, and ornaments. As most of the structures they investigate are destroyed, their drawings combine extensive archival research with knowledge of period architectural practice. Their watercolors, known for their exceptional realism and the use of a white ground, are actually inspired by botanical and wildlife illustration, the latter being the young artist's initial subject.
Their work is regularly featured in major publications from the New York Times to Architectural Digest, and they have co-authored and co-illustrated five books: Pleasure Pavilions & Follies/La folie de bâtir (Flammarion, 1995); Garden Vases/Vases de jardin (Alain de Gourcuff Éditeur, 2000); Palaces of the Sun King: Versailles, Trianon, Marly (Rizzoli, 2002); Chinoiseries (Connaissance et Mémoires, 2005), a limited edition in French- and English languages and winner of the 2006 Prix Rédouté; and Versailles: The Château and Its Satellites (Connaissance et Mémoires, 2007), also a limited edition in French and English languages.
The work of Messrs Dams and Zega is collected primarily by professionals in the visual arts: directors and trustees of America’s foremost cultural institutions (among them The National Gallery of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Frick Collection, the New York Public Library, and The Morgan Library), presidents and specialists of the leading international auction houses, old master gallerists and collectors, and internationally known interior designers and couturiers.
Public collections include the New-York Historical Society; the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum (with three works); the Musée des arts-décoratifs, Paris (with six works); the Musée de l’Île-de-France at Sceaux; Princeton University; The Getty Center (for Chinoiseries); and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Design Collection (for Robert A.M. Stern Architects).
Information courtesy of Andrew Zega.
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