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
With reference to architecture, it is true, generally speaking,
that architectural forms have been developed through necessity, the
function seeking and finding its appropriate form. For example, the
buttress of a Gothic cathedral was developed by the necessity of
resisting the thrust of the interior vaulting without encroaching upon
the nave; the main lines of a buttress conform to the direction of the
thrust, and the pinnacle with which it terminates is a logical shape
for the masonry necessary to hold the top in position (Illustration
9). Research along these lines is interesting and fruitful of result,
but there remains a certain number of architectural forms whose origin
cannot be explained in any such manner. The secret of their undying
charm lies in the fact that in them In and Yo stand symbolized and
contrasted. They no longer obey a law of utility, but an abstract
law of beauty, for in becoming sexually expressive as it were, the
construction itself is sometimes weakened or falsified. The familiar
classic console or modillion is an example: although in general
contour it is well adapted to its function as a supporting bracket,
embedded in, and projecting from a wall, yet the scroll-like ornament
with which its sides are embellished gives it the appearance of
not entering the wall at all, but of being stuck against it in some
miraculous manner. This defect in functional expressiveness is
more than compensated for by the perfection with which feminine
and masculine characteristics are expressed and contrasted in the
exquisite double spiral, opposed to the straight lines of the moulding
which it subtends (Illustration 10). Again, by fluting the shaft of a
column its area of cross-section is diminished but the appearance of
strength is enhanced because its masculine character--as a supporting
member resisting the force of gravity--is emphasized.
[Illustration 9: CROSS SECTION OF BUTTRESS.]
The importance of the so-called "orders" lies in the fact that they
are architecture epitomized as it were. A building consists of a wall
upholding a roof: support and weight. The type of the first is the
column, which may be conceived of as a condensed section of wall; and
of the second, the lintel, which may be conceived of as a condensed
section of roof. The column, being vertical, is Yo; the lintel, being
horizontal, is In. To mark an entablature with horizontal lines in the
form of mouldings, and the columns with vertical lines in the form
of flutes, as is done in all the "classic orders," is a gain
in functional and sex expressiveness, and consequently in art
(Illustration 11).
[Illustration 10: CORINTHIAN MODILLION; CLASSIC CONSOLE; IONIC CAP]
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