The Beautiful Necessity: Seven Essays on Theosophy and ArchitectureBragdon, Claude Fayette
Philosophy
The Beautiful Necessity: Seven Essays on Theosophy and Architecture
Bragdon, Claude Fayette
Architecture; Theosophy
In music they are the major and minor modes: the typical, or
representative chords of the dominant seventh, and of the tonic (the
two chords into which Schopenhauer says all music can be resolved): a
partial dissonance, and a consonance: a chord of suspense, and a chord
of satisfaction. In speech the two are vowel, and consonant sounds:
the type of the first being _a_, a sound of suspense, made with the
mouth open; and of the second _m_, a sound of satisfaction, made by
closing the mouth; their combination forms the sacred syllable Om
(_Aum_). In painting they are warm colors, and cold: the pole of
the first being in red, the color of fire, which excites; and of the
second in blue, the color of water, which calms; in the Arts of design
they are lines straight (like fire), and flowing (like water); masses
light (like the day), and dark (like night). In architecture they are
the column, or vertical member, which resists the force of gravity;
and the lintel, or horizontal member, which succumbs to it; they are
vertical lines, which are aspiring, effortful; and horizontal lines,
which are restful to the eye and mind.
It is desirable to have an instant and keen realization of this sex
quality, and to make this easier some sort of classification and
analysis must be attempted. Those things which are allied to and
partake of the nature of _time_ are masculine, and those which are
allied to and partake of the nature of _space_ are feminine: as
motion, and matter; mind, and body; etc. The English words "masculine"
and "feminine" are too intimately associated with the idea of physical
sex properly to designate the terms of this polarity. In Japanese
philosophy and art (derived from the Chinese) the two are called _In_
and _Yo_ (In, feminine; Yo, masculine); and these little words, being
free from the limitations of their English correlatives, will be found
convenient, Yo to designate that which is simple, direct, primary,
active, positive; and In, that which is complex, indirect, derivative,
passive, negative. Things hard, straight, fixed, vertical, are Yo;
things soft, curved, horizontal, fluctuating, are In--and so on.
[Illustration 6: WILD CHERRY; MAPLE LEAF]
[Illustration 7: CALLAS IN YO]
In passing it may be said that the superiority of the line, mass, and
color composition of Japanese prints and kakemonos to that exhibited
in the vastly more pretentious easel pictures of modern Occidental
artists--a superiority now generally acknowledged by connoisseurs--is
largely due to the conscious following, on the part of the Japanese,
of this principle of sex-complementaries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account