Birthday Card: Josep Lluis Sert & Moncha Sert, 1943

Sert was one of the many architects from around the world with whom Gropius was friends. The two had become acquainted through their work with the Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM), an organization founded in 1928 to formalize and promote the architectural principles of the Modern Movement. The Spanish-born Sert glued photographs of himself and his wife, Moncha, onto a picture of figures in traditional Spanish costumes. Like the Gropiuses, they had recently relocated to the United States. Ten years later, Sert was named dean of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, whose architecture department Gropius had chaired.