A Very Good Year

[ablarc]

Actually, all that's left is to see that we never left the parade and that modernism is just another float in that parade, despite its pretensions otherwise. The problem is that it has been holding up the next float for far too long.

That is the problem, but it?s so hard to come up with the next float that there have only been three floats in the entire parade of Western architecture: classical, medieval and modern.

When civilization was made as nothing, the flame of classical architecture died ?except maybe for a flicker at the time of Charlemagne. Then when the medieval flame grew effete, the classical was revived. It lasted until the early years of the Twentieth Century, when it was throttled by Modernism.

Today?s cutting-edge architecture --that we on ArchBoston champion and the powers-that-be thwart-- is a baroque phase of Modernism. Post-Modernism was a rootless flash in the pan.

I won?t be around to see it, but my money is on a full-blown classical revival by 2050. Quinlan Terry will be seen as the flying wedge of the new era ?like Giotto.



^ Forgive the garble of metaphors.

 

[Beton Brut]

I'm gonna try to stay out of this one as much as I can but...

Are we arguing about the frosting or the cake? In terms of architecture (divorced from urbanism in the same way that some of the lovely renderings ablarc posted are divorced from their urban context), has anyone altered our perceptions of the usable space in a building (again, regardless of typology) since Frank Lloyd Wright's pre-1909 work? I can think of a couple, but they were sympathetic to (or apprentices of) Wright.

And as a side-note, what percentage of the US population is capable of engaging in this conversation with respect to their own home?

 

[statler]

I'm gonna try to stay out of this one as much as I can but...

Why?

You can add a lot more to this discussion then most of us.

 

[Beton Brut]

^^ Because I occasionally suffer from aesthetic and idealogical tunnel-vision that could kill a good thread.

And because I made the unforgivable mistake of taking a couple of days off.

 

[czsz]

a full-blown classical revival by 2050.

What does "classical" mean, anyway? I could argue that a medieval cloister is just an elaboration on the Roman curia (and is no more radical an evolution than the shift from the Doric to Corinthian order), or that modernism was merely a "classical" reaction to romanticism (see: Empire State Plaza or any 1960s government building with vertical white stripes masquerading as columns).

The parade idiom seems like a vast oversimplification. Instead, we have a complex interplay of themes and variations and comments. If anything, you can maybe draw a line between favoritism for the rational and symmetrical and the wild and romantic, but that can't always be periodised or even aligned with a "traditional v. modern" schema (ex. Terry as highly rational, Calatrava or Mayne as romantic or "baroque" - in which case Terry is a more faithful heir to the Bauhaus than the latter two).

 

[ablarc]

I'm gonna try to stay out of this one as much as I can ...
Because I occasionally suffer from aesthetic and idealogical tunnel-vision that could kill a good thread.

Aw g'wan, you make sense and I can always tell what you're saying. Could you ask for more in a conversationalist?

 

[Beton Brut]

Well, cheers ablarc, and a belated welcome back to czsz.

I'll try to cough out some better thoughts later this evening. A deadline looms...

One thing that has me thinking deeper about Art Deco as a "counter-style" to Modernism is how their respective revivals are (in keeping with my bakery analogy) all frosting and no cake. When removed from their context of craft and values, both are rendered meaningless. Remember the Deco Revival in the 80's via PoMo / Michael Graves / South Beach preservation -- the craft was lost (or deminished by building codes), and only the massing (and some colors) remained. Do today's architects who claim to be the children of Alvar Aalto and Pierre Koenig actually understand the meaning of Humane Modernism?

Most people don't react to architecture (or any design discipline) the way they do to...consumer products (also designed) like...bluejeans Bluejeans are part of our collective consciousness. You say "bluejeans" and it conjures images of James Dean, John Wayne, Giselle Bundchen's ass, etc. What does Modernism conjure for most Americans? I see Julius Shulman's photos.

 

[ablarc]

What does "classical" mean, anyway?

Glad you asked.


From Dictionary.com:


clas?si?cal [klas-i-kuhl]

adjective

1: of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Greek and Roman antiquity: classical literature; classical languages.

2: conforming to ancient Greek and Roman models in literature or art, or to later systems modeled upon them.

3: marked by classicism: classical simplicity.

4: In Music:

a. of, pertaining to, or constituting the formally and artistically more sophisticated and enduring types of music, as distinguished from popular and folk music and jazz. Classical music includes symphonies, operas, sonatas, song cycles, and lieder.

b. of, pertaining to, characterized by, or adhering to the well-ordered, chiefly homophonic musical style of the latter half of the 18th and the early 19th centuries: Haydn and Mozart are classical composers.

5: In Architecture:

a. noting or pertaining to the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome, esp. the religious and public architecture, characterized by the employment of orders.

b. noting or pertaining to any of several styles of architecture closely imitating the architecture of ancient Greece or Rome; neoclassic.

c. noting or pertaining to architectural details or motifs adapted from ancient Greek or Roman models.

d. (of an architectural design) simple, reposeful, well-proportioned, or symmetrical in a manner suggesting the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.

6: (often initial capital letter) pertaining to or designating the style of fine arts, esp. painting and sculpture, developed in Greece during the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., chiefly characterized by balanced composition, the separation of figures from an architectural background, and the naturalistic rendering of anatomical details, spatial movement, and distribution of weight in a figure.

7: of or pertaining to a style of literature and art characterized by conformity to established treatments, taste, or critical standards, and by attention to form with the general effect of regularity, simplicity, balance, proportion, and controlled emotion (contrasted with ROMANTIC).

8: pertaining to or versed in the ancient classics: a classical scholar.

9: CLASSIC (see defs. below).


clas?sic (klas?ik)

adjective

[Fr. classique, from L. classicus of the highest class of Roman citizens, of the first rank, hence superior, from classis, a class.]

1:of the highest class or rank.

2: of recognized value; serving as a standard or model of excellence.

3: in fashion year after year; of enduring interest, quality or style.

4: characterized by simple lines.

5: balanced, formal, objective, austere, regular.

6: traditional, historically memorable; noted because of special associations.

7: characteristic of the ancient Greeks and Romans or their culture.

8: authentic, authoritative, typical.

9: in accordance with established principles of excellence in the arts and sciences.


* * *

Painting by Carl Laubin. Architecture by Andrea P.

Sculpture byAntonio Canova.

Of recognized value; serving as a standard or model of excellence...

Painting by Laubin. Architecture by Hawksmoor.

Painting by Antonio Canale (Canaletto).

Photo by MidtownGuy.

Classic pastimes...

Painting by Jean-Leon Gerome.

Painting by Frank Frazetta.

Painting by Carl Laubin.

Painting by Laubin.

Classic seen through a modern eye...

Laubin.

Laubin (by way of Gris?).

characterized by simplicity or purity of line...

Architecture by Hawksmoor.

Doric:

Photo by Walker Evans.

Classic enthusiasms...

Sculpture by Hiram Powers.

Drawing by Picasso.

Painting by Laubin, Architecture by LeCorbusier.

Painting by Laubin, Architecture by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers.

Painting by Carl Laubin.

Painting by Canaletto.

Photo by Claudio Pollard.

Photo by MidtownGuy.

characteristic of the ancients and their culture ...

Painting by Laubin.

Laubin.

Sculpture by Myron.

Painting by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

Sculpture by Hiram Powers.

Painting by Alma-Tadema.

Alma-Tadema.

Photo by MidtownGuy.

austere; characteristic of the ancients and their culture... classic poses...

Painting by David.

Painting by Frazetta.

The imminence of tragedy...

The Lictors bring to Brutus the Bodies of his Sons. Painting by Jacques-Louis David.

Death of Socrates by David.

Painting by Giorgio de Chirico.

Classic wardrobes...

Muses by Chirico.

Madame Recamier by David.

In the Tepidarium by Alma-Tadema.

Painting by Carl Laubin.

Classic Profiles...

Chirico.

Hermes by Praxiteles.

Leon Krier and brother Rob.

Of the highest class or rank. Of recognized value...

Canova.

David.

Alexander.

in fashion year after year ... of enduring interest, quality or style ... of the highest class or rank ... of recognized value... serving as a standard or model of excellence...

Victory.

Mascot.

Architecture by John Nash.

Painting by Laubin.

Painting by Laubin.

of the highest class or rank ... of recognized value ... referring to the ancients and their culture ...

Painting by R. Sanzio.

Paintin by Laubin, Architecture by Krier.

Painting and architecture by Giorgio de Chirico.

Leonardo da Vinci and (perhaps) Michelangelo Buonarotti as Plato and Aristotle, by Raffaello Sanzio.

Classic motifs ...

Painting by Amedeo Modigliani.

in fashion year after year...

Painting by Velazquez.

Painting by Laubin.

Sculpture by M. Buonarotti.

Sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini.

Classic transport ...

Painting by Sandro Botticelli.

Painting by R. Sanzio.

Painting by C. Laubin.

Sculpture by Giambolgna.

Laocoon.

Classic dreams ... characterized by simplicity in accordance with established principles of excellence in the arts and sciences ...

Painting by Chirico.

Architecture by Krier.

Architecture by Ledoux.

Folly.

Painting by Canaletto.

Photo by MidtownGuy.

Ledoux.

Acquired tastes of a classic mind:

Chirico.

Laubin.

Pollard.

MidtownGuy.

Alma-Tadema.

Canaletto.

Paintings by Veronese, architecture by Palladio.

in fashion year after year; of enduring interest, quality or style, authentic, authoritative, typical...

Canaletto.

Monteriggioni.

Monteriggioni.

Monteriggioni.

balanced, formal, objective, austere, regular...

Ledoux.

Palladio.

Palladio.

Structural integrity (or its illusion):

Ledoux.

Palladio

Mies.

Mies.

Mies.

Architecture by Thomas Jefferson.

Carlo Fontana.

Hawksmoor.

Robert Smythson.

Classic faces (don't bother to smile):

Painting by Agnolo Bronzino.

Painting by Leonardo da Vinci.

Pierino da Vinci, nephew of Leonardo, by Bronzino.

A classic lady (a classy dame):

Bronzino.

Titian.

Bronzino.

Admiral Andrea Doria by Bronzino. Note classic attire.

If you build for eternity, you have to forget about the present.

Painting by Carl Laubin, architecture by Nicholas Ledoux.

Painting by Carl Laubin, architecture by Leon Krier.

Architecture in a classic city:

Paternoster Square, London.

Nicholas Hawksmoor.

Paternoster Square.

Paternoster Square.

Paternoster Square proposal. Painting by Carl Laubin, architecture by John Simpson.

Paternoster Square.

Painting by Laubin.

Classic landscape:

Stourhead, landscape by Hoare and Flitcroft.

Stowe, landscape by Capability Brown, architecture by William Kent.

Closet classicist:

Drawing by Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, aka LeCorbusier.

Stourhead, landscape by Hoare and Flitcroft.

Stourhead.

Stourhead.

Palladian Bridge, Stowe, by William Kent.

Stourhead.

Architecture by John Russell Pope.

Canaletto.

Canaletto.

Canaletto.

Useful classics:

Fountain by Nicola Salvi.

Utensil by B. Cellini.

Pont Alexandre III, Paris.

Pont Alexandre III and Grand Palais, Paris.

Classic characters:

Halbedier by Pontormo ("You talkin' to me?").

The Art Boys: Bellini and Mantegna, by Mantegna.

Painting by Picasso.

Ecstasy...

Picasso.

Bernini.

Agony...

Hector and Andromache by De Chirico.

The Prophet by De Chirico.

historically memorable, noted because of special associations...

Magnificent Lorenzo by Verocchio.

Lorenzo de Medici.

Medici bust, Palazzo Vecchio.

Architecture by Palladio, painting by Laubin.

Architecture by Bramante.

Architecture by Charles E. Brigham and I.M. Pei.

Drawing by Canaletto, architecture by Wren.

Painting by Canaletto, architecture by Longhena.

Architecture by Wren.

Painting by Laubin.

Architecture by Lord Burlington.

Painting by Goya.

Painting by Picasso.

Painting by Laubin.

of or relating to the ancient Greeks and Romans or their culture...

Painting by Laubin.

Architecture by Hawksmoor.

Self-portrait of Carl Laubin in his studio.

serving as a standard of excellence...

Leon in his lair. (Krier) Painting by Laubin.

Atlantis, Canary Islands. City by Leon Krier, painting by Laubin.

Hawksmoor's works. Painting by Carl Laubin.

The Archaeologists. Painting by Chirico.

Another self-portrait of civilized Carl (that old shoe). He's here to hold the line for us against...

Painting by Laubin.

... these guys:

Painting by Frank Frazetta.

G?ring might have tried, but he couldn't talk his pilots into staying in their planes ...

Later efforts were more successful:

Painting by Carl Laubin.

But no defense is ever complete:

Architecture by Hawksmoor.

So ...

Cain and his Descendants. Painting by Fernand Cormon.


The classic: an ongoing, though doomed, conspiracy to lift mankind by improving its products.

Painting by Laubin.


* * *

 

[Padre Mike]

WOW! Fantastic post. I hope you are teaching art history somewhere!! Thank you!

 

[aquaman]

I think someone just spent this past weekend watching "Brideshead Revisited". :-D

 

[ablarc]

^ Haven't seen that yet, though I've been half-intending to. Have you seen it? Is it any good?

In some of my spare time I download images from the net. I have a dynamite collection of the virtual works of Figoni and Falaschi.

 

[czsz]

^ I'm not sure anything could top the sweep of the 1982 BBC miniseries.

Getting back on topic, the mention of "Brideshead" reminds me just how different architecture was even within Europe in our "very good year". London played host to some art deco, but historicism was still ruling the day. And in Berlin, Weimar modernism was in full swing.

 

[ablarc]

I could argue ... that modernism was merely a "classical" reaction to romanticism...

You could --in the sense of "classical" as "simple"-- and you'd be right, but there was nothing "mere" about it; it was a whole new style.

 

[czsz]

The presumption lying behind that comment, though, is that there are really rigid boundaries between styles. What I'm trying to ask is: what are they?

 

[ablarc]

You can tell a horse from a donkey even if there are mules.

 

[Joe_Schmoe]

That is the problem, but it?s so hard to come up with the next float that there have only been three floats in the entire parade of Western architecture: classical, medieval and modern.

Actually, I don't need a revolution on this scale. I'd be happy with the smaller stylistic changes such as between Romanesque and Gothic (medieval) or between Georgian, Federal, Italianate, French Second Empire, Queen Anne, Shingle, Stick (classical). Within modern I guess we've had high modern, postmodern, and now, what?, baroque modern?

 

[Padre Mike]

The presumption lying behind that comment, though, is that there are really rigid boundaries between styles. What I'm trying to ask is: what are they?

I hope I'm making some sense here. The boundaries between classical and modern styles of architecture are all in the mathematical proportions, aren't they?? Classical architecture uses post and lintel contruction, later developed and modified by rounded arches, barrel vaulting, and domes. Classical buildings were primarily single-storied, modified by the builder's ability to heighten columns and broaden arches. Even in the case of multiple-storied structures such as the Colosseum, each layer in its proportions and decoration was treated as if it were an indvidual story. Facades were load-bearing, and integral both to the strength of the structure and the accepted mathematical proportions of height/length/depth considered visually pleasing.

As far as I can tell, the basic building-block of 20th C. modernism continued with the classic post and beam, as the primary design aesthetic, but the use of steel not only enabled builders to extend the height and breadth of each story, but to stack story upon story repetitively. Interchangeable facade skin treatments further radicalized the post and beam as central to the modern aesthetic. In this sense modernism is more akin to high Gothic architecture than to classicism. In Gothic the columns and ribs are everything; the vaults, walls and windows are the skin hanging off them. Thus, I think an argument can be made there is a greater relationship between gothic and modern, than between classical (including Renaissance, baroque, and romantic and their related "revivals") and modern. The classic mathematical proportions was replaced by a new aesthetic, dominated by the lines of gravitational forces of the building, rather than mathematical formulae alone.

 

[Beton Brut]

I hope I'm making some sense here.

You generally do a lot more than that, Padre.

...the basic building-block of 20th C. modernism continued with the classic post and beam, as the primary design aesthetic, but the use of steel not only enabled builders to extend the height and breadth of each story, but to stack story upon story repetitively.

Also consider steel in tension, as used in reinforced concrete. Corbu, Niemeyer, Kahn, Saarinen, and Wright (and his acolytes) were all intimate with these materials. But were these architects "Modern" or something else entirely?

Interchangeable facade skin treatments further radicalized the post and beam as central to the modern aesthetic.

Lever House and the Hancock Tower, the Alpha & Omega...

In this sense modernism is more akin to high Gothic architecture than to classicism. In Gothic the columns and ribs are everything; the vaults, walls and windows are the skin hanging off them.

As Modernism progressed and became more fractured, this "became" true. The most "Gothic" of the Modern "brands" is likely Brutalism, as practiced by Paul Rudolph, in appearance (note the flying buttresses), if not materials and function. Also consider Saarinen's CBS Building (those ribs look pretty Gothic to me) and his work at Yale.

...there is a greater relationship between gothic and modern, than between classical (including Renaissance, baroque, and romantic and their related "revivals") and modern.

This is true when considering the post-Mies Modernism. Mies wanted the I-beam to be the new Doric column. And he did the same thing (more artfully, due to scale) with the Farnsworth House.

The classic mathematical proportions was replaced by a new aesthetic, dominated by the lines of gravitational forces of the building, rather than mathematical formulae alone.

Sounds like High-Tech Expressionism to me.

Consider also, that the rise in Modernism was tied to the ascendancy of international travel. For example, Wright went to Japan with his client Ward Willits in 1905. His concepts of space and materials were both advanced by this trip. This is true in the other arts as well -- Stravinsky's music was forever changed by his experience of Jazz in Paris.

 

[Padre Mike]

Originally posted by BetonBrut:
"Also consider steel in tension, as used in reinforced concrete. Corbu, Niemeyer, Kahn, Saarinen, and Wright (and his acolytes) were all intimate with these materials. But were these architects "Modern" or something else entirely?"

Ah, you introduce an intriguing question here! I have to say that the use of reinforced concrete in these particular examples is certainly not typical of the early-mid-20th C paradigm of moderism. May I suggest, however, that they are actually classical at their roots? Aren't many of these forms SEGMENTS of spheres, arches, ellipses, eggs, and other geometric solid surfaces, and therefore, akin to Greek (cf. the widely-varying cross-sections of the Parthenon's columns), and the Roman development of classicism to include hemi-domes, full domes and arches (cf the Pantheon, the elliptical shape of the Colloseum, the forum of Marcellus, the aquaducts)? And ultimately, aren't some of these shapes rooted in nature...the arch of a bird's wing in flight, the cross-section of the main shaft of a feather, the ellipse of an eyeball, etc.?

Of course one may argue that the examples shown exhibit a unique take on architecture, until we look at some of the fascinating forms of huts and buildings from ancient indigenous peoples around the world, who would have had no access to Jansen's "History of Art" or it's ancient equivalent! Thus, I think we have to widen our search for seminal inspiration for at least some western architecture of the last hundred years, as exploration had opened up access to a panoply of styles rooted in their own histories and cultures, quite apart from Eurasian and North African influence.

 

[Beton Brut]

I have to say that the use of reinforced concrete in these particular examples is certainly not typical of the early-mid-20th C paradigm of moderism.

That was intentional. With the exception of the Corbu example, the forms are rooted in religious antiquity, and they are actual churches (Niemeyer, Wright), or church-like (Saarinen), or temple-like (Kahn).

May I suggest, however, that they are actually classical at their roots?

In considering the forms and their context, you have a good point. But there are nuances too. Niemeyer's Cathedral has a bit of the Pantheon in it, but it also makes me think of a medieval chapter house. Wright's Chapel "feels" Gothic. Saarinen's TWA Terminal is a space to inspire awe -- a visceral, primitive emotion, something the cathedral-builders of old were surely going for. Kahn employed his fascination with ruins and made a timeless secular temple on the Texas prairie.

...until we look at some of the fascinating forms of huts and buildings from ancient indigenous peoples around the world...

Glad you bought this up. Call me crazy, but the density and sheer gravitas of Unit? d'Habitation makes me think of a modern interpretation of a pueblo.