Uncovering The Mask Ottobeuren Basilica
Tunde Oyebode Diploma of Architecture The Cass (London Metropolitan University) 2018/2019 Critical Transformations: AR7044 Edwina Attlee
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Contents 5
Abstract
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Epigraph
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The Mask
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The Audience
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Obsession and Practice
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Bibliography
46
Bibliography of Figures
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Index
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Appendix: Quotes + Responses
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Abstract The Rococo seems to be this black sheep, amongst the many architectural and art movements that have transpired. Its extravagance is seen as decadent and characterised by the rife of swooping curves and vibrant colours. Is this true architecture, or is there even such a thing?
‘One, None and a Hundred thousand’ is the analogical starting point. Moscarda, the hero of the story, troubled by his discovery that people see him different from who he thinks he is, embarks on an experiment to attain his true personality. He soon realises that this is not possible.
Erving Goffman’s theory of self and identity shines a light on this dilemma. He theorises that we (the performer) are made of several personas, several ‘masks’ which are affected by externalities (the audience) and due to this, the idea of true identity is debunked.
The Rococo is not so much different from this. Its decorations are masks, covering up materials and pretending to be what they are not. Is it really as decadent as claimed? Are there true reasons behind its fruition?
The contents of this essay explore this concept of truth and the elements involved in determining this, in relation to the Ottobeuren Basilica, which is considered the height of the Rococo in Bavarian Germany. It attempts to uncover the mask of the Rococo.
218 Words
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“What are you doing?” my wife asked me, as she saw me lingering, contrary to my wont, in front of the mirror. “Nothing,” I told her. “I am just having a look here, in my nose, in this nostril. It hurts me a little, when I take hold of it.” My wife smiled. “I thought,” she said, “that you were looking to see which side it is that hangs down the lower.” I whirled like a dog whose tail has been stepped on. “Which side hangs down the lower? My nose? Mine?” “Why, yes, dear,” and my wife was serene, “take a good look; the right side is a little lower than the other.”1
—Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello. One, None and a Hundred Thousand (USA: Kessinger Publishing, 1933), 13
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The Mask
5022 Words
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A fellow student and I had been talking about my demeanour during a Crit. I was under the impression that my nervousness— often gripping me so intensely as a result of many critical eyes beaming right at me—was blatantly obvious. I mean, who could not see the sweat trickling down my forehead, my speech, slow and interrupted by the constant licking and smacking of my lips to relieve its dryness and my restlessness; walking back and forth, as I present my project. But she hadn’t seen it that way. In fact, she had never imagined me nervous in Crit situations. My pacing to her was a sign of confidence: look at him command the room. My slow speech allowed her to apprehend what I had to say clearly and the momentary pauses, well, were moments where she could gather her thoughts regarding what I had previously said. To her, I had mastered a perfect method of presenting my projects. To her I wasn’t nervous at all, I was confident. I do not know if this was flattery or if in fact she truly felt this way, but knowing this, I pondered on the quote from ‘One, None and a Hundred Thousand’ by Luigi Pirandello, presented on the previous page. Just as Moscarda had experienced, my conversation companion did not see me the way I see myself. In One, None and a Hundred Thousand, Moscarda realises that his wife, Dida, sees him different from whom he thinks he is. It does not stop there, everyone he knows sees him in a different light. If they were to describe him to each other none of them would know who was being discussed. He is made of several masks; personalities of several layers. He could not attain who he truly was.
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The discussion regarding my demeanour during a Crit was on a drive back to Munich having visited the Benedictine Abbey of Ottobeuren—west of Munich— southern Germany (Bavaria Swabia). Crucifix shaped in plan, elevated on top of a hill “south of the small village it dominates”2 and flanked to the east by a Baroque style monastery the church of the Ottobeuren Abbey, credited to Johann Michael Fischer and completed in 1755 has a grand presence in the landscape of Bavarian Germany. Its interior, a riot of painting (Fresco), stuccowork and sculpture, grabs your attention upon seeing it. The interior’s highly ornamental and theatrical style—‘Rococo’—takes precedence from the style of decoration—an antithesis to Louis XIV’s style3—“invented in France for private houses and reached its maturity roughly in the period of 1725 to 1740.”4 This period of ‘absolutism’ between the 17th and 18th century is defined as the time in which decision making and total Henry Millon. Baroque and Rococo Architecture (New York: George Braxiller, Inc, 1981), 40 3 Anthony Blunt. Baroque and Rococo (London: Paul Elek Ltd, 1978), 17 4 Blunt, Baroque and Rococo, 17
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.1 Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) in the Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France. (1682)
.2 The Chinese Garden, a chinoiserie painting by Franรงois Boucher (1742) Franรงois Boucher, 1703-1770, was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories, and pastoral scenes. He was perhaps the most celebrated painter and decorative artist of the 18th century
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power of the organisation of a nation rested in the hands of one single ruler.5 You can imagine the influence one person would have had on Art and Architecture. Louis XIV’s reign “under which every form of material and intellectual activity was concentrated around the court”6 saw the popularity of “solemn, official state art.”7 While the period of Louis XV’s reign saw the introduction of the philosophy of ‘sensationalism’ popularised by the works of John Locke, “which was allembracing and of a fundamentally public nature.”8 It was a time of philosophical enlightenment that cast doubt on the previous reign, however, the transformation could already be felt in the late 17th century9 in the gilded splendour of the Palace of Versailles; a reaction to the gloomy Palace of Louvre.10 In light of this, Louis XV’s reign utilised decorations—gilded plaster and mirrors—that enlivened simple rooms of formal symmetrical style. Now freed from absolutism, these ornamentations aptly translated the social ideal of the time, ‘gallantry,’11 which was epitomised by the formation of societies of gallants—sociétés d’amour—that were “passionate in the presentation of life in Arcadia.”12 This took shape as bucolic poetry and exquisite paintings framed in ‘boiseries.’13 This style of ornamentation—now aided by a gradual depart from absolutism and wide diffusion of culture— may have also been influenced by oriental decorations which were believed to have displayed picturesque, capricious and architecturally light qualities.14 This can be seen in ‘chinoiserie,’ a direct response to ‘orientalism’—the study of Far East cultures.15 The grand and regular style of Louis XIV was now challenged by the precious, intimate and irregular style of Louis XV and those who were fond of this new style, “this new taste (le goût, or taste, was a favourite word of the time) were enlightened, urban aristocracy of Paris, who though small in number, were sufficiently wealthy and cultured” to popularise the style in France.16
Millon, Baroque and Rococo Architecture, 9 Terisio Pignatti. The Age of Rococo (Middlesex:The Hamlyn Publising Group Ltd, 1969), 18 7 Erich Hubala. The Herbert History of Art ad Architecture: Baroque and Rococo. (London: The Herbert Press Ltd, 1989), 166 8 Hubala. The Herbert History of Art ad Architecture: Baroque and Rococo, 167 9 Ibid., 167 10 Liz Wagstaff. The Book of Gilding. (London: Southwater, 2002), 38 11 Hubala. The Herbert History of Art ad Architecture: Baroque and Rococo, 167 12 Ibid., 26 13 Ibid., 26 14 Ibid., 25 15 Ibid.,25 16 Hubala. The Herbert History of Art ad Architecture: Baroque and Rococo, 167 5
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Antoine Watteau, 1684 – 1721, was a French painter whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement. He revitalized the waning Baroque style, shifting it to the less severe, more naturalistic, less formally classical, Rococo. .3 The Assembly in the Park, depicting Arcadia by Antoine Watteau (1717)
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Rococo’s migration to Bavaria could perhaps be tied to Elector Max Emmanuel
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and Joseph Clemens, brothers, and both members of the ‘Wittelsbach Family,’ the royal family of Bavaria. Their exile in France during the Battle of Blenheim 1704, which largely halted the construction of buildings in Bavaria, introduced them to the decorative style that was most prevalent in France at the time.17 This could account “for much of the gilded and silvered magnificence of apartments in the palaces built by Max Emmanuel”18 after the war in 1714, but probably is most clearly and directly linked to Max Emmanuel’s arrangement of Joseph Effner to study garden-design in Paris.19 Effner’s interest shifted to architecture, presumably the most popular French architecture at the time, Rococo, and this lead him to work for Germain Boffrand a French Architect who is credited as one of the main creators of the precursor to Rococo called the style ‘Regence.’20 Effner’s influence was strengthened by his appointment as the Elector’s court-architect in 1715 and was later further diversified by his study trip to Italy.21 Joseph Clemens on the other hand, while in exile at the French court was in continuous correspondence with Robert de Cotte a French architect also quite involved in the early Rococo Style of royal buildings in France, concerning the building projects in Bonn close to Cologne.22 Rococo’s decadence, some would argue, was morally incorrect23, “too eccentric and lacking in restraint,”24 and masked the true qualities of its building materials.
Henrey-Russell Hitchcock. Rococo Architecture in Southern Germany (London: Phaidon Press Ltd,1968), 1 18 Blunt, Baroque and Rococo: Architecture and Decoration, 218 19 Hitchcock, Rococo Architecture in Southern Germany, 1 20 “Germain Boffrand,” Wikipedia, Last modified April 8, 2018. En.Wikipedia.Org. 21 Hitchcock, Rococo Architecture in Southern Germany, 2 22 Ibid.,2 23 Jonathan Glancey, Architecture (London: Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2000), 88. 24 Pignatti. The Age of Rococo, 9
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This mask is most evident in the marbles of the Ottobeuren Church interior. A vista in the nave of the church, which is greatly emphasised by aligned timber pews is terminated by a Fresco and Stuccowork of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, located at the end of the choir space. Bordering the Fresco are 6 columns—three on each side, supporting nothing—that ostensibly display marble characteristics: soft hued interwoven veins of various colours. Although possessing visual features akin to marble, they are in fact plaster. The technique of Scagliola is one of the many plaster related crafts fostered in the ‘Wessobrunn School of Stuccadors’ started in the late 17th century.25 In the technique of Scagliola, to increase the time in which it takes for the plaster to dry, diluted natural glue (Rabbit Glue) is used while casting rather than water. Forming wet dough balls, the craftsman is free to carefully add colour pigments to create marbled effects by mixing the colours in.26 A Stuccoist from the Wessobrunn School, having examined the cross-section of the balls and seen the marbled structures would have then cut these dough balls into thin slices and applied them onto a prepared ground. In the case of the Ottobeuren church, the prepared ground was timber surfaces.
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The mask can also be seen in the gilded surfaces—plaster or wood—of the Ottobeuren Basilica, which gives objects the appearance of gold. The history of gilding is not limited to the works of the craftsmen of Wessobrunn School but can be dated back to ancient Egyptians who are considered the first to begin experimenting with real gold embellishment.27 The process which involves applying thin sheets of gold, called gold leaf, to prepared surfaces has been used in interior decorations for centuries. Its presence in a room evokes opulence and when applied on abundantly curved and undulated stuccowork of ‘Rocaille’ style, it gives a room the sense of light-heartedness and delicacy akin to the gallantry of life in Arcadia. The word Rocaille, heavily attributed to Rococo, was used to describe the shell encrusted rocky surface of artificial grottos.28
25 Blunt, Baroque and Rococo: Architecture and Decoration, 230 C, Reithmeir. Scagliola Or Stucco Marble. 1995. Pdf. 15th ed. Witpress. https://www.witpress.com/ Secure/elibrary/papers/STR95/STR95025FU2.pdf. 215 27 Wagstaff. The Book of Gilding, 10 28 Blunt, Baroque and Rococo: Architecture and Decoration, 19
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.4 Ottobeuren Basilica, Ottobeuren, Bavaria.by Johann Michael Fischer (1755) Johann Michael Fischer, a son of mason, he was born in Burglengenfeld (1692 – 1766) and received his earliest training from his father, and was later trained in Bohemia, combining Bohemian elements with Bavarian Baroque elements in his work.
Trompe-l’œil is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions. Forced perspective is a comparable illusion in architecture. .5
The Façade of The Ottobeuren, showing the Trompe-l’œil technique
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Another mask in the Ottobeuren Basilica is the painting techniques, Chiaroscuro and Trompe-l’œil. Combined they both effectively give an illusion of depth and lighting that enhances the magnificent frescos on the domed ceilings and altar walls. This technique, used by learned painters—in the case of the Ottobeuren, J.J Zeiler— enhance the expressions of the painted figures and evoke a heavenly atmosphere on the curved ceilings. This is probably most obvious in the façade of the Ottobeuren Basilica where cleverly painted optical illusions depict the threedimensional qualities of stonework and window details. Zeiler as well as Johann Michael Feichtmayr, a Stuccoist of Wessobrunn, decorated the interior of the Ottobeuren with Scagliola, Gilding, Frescos and Stuccowork in 176329, which effectively mask the space creating a seamless connection between architectural (walls, ceiling and columns) and pictorial forms.
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Having delved into the history of Rococo and the various techniques that were used to present a sense of opulence, it can be understood that the techniques of ornamentation in the Rococo are in a sense theatrical gestures that deceive and imitate. Scagliola resembles precious stones, gilding creates an appearance of solid gold and painting techniques like Chiaroscuro and Trompe-l’œil are tools of optical illusions. However, these theatrics have a wealth of history and influences that contribute to its use. Moscarda’s dilemma was one in which his true identity was unattainable and in the process, he performed experiments to reach this unattainable goal, by dismantling the me that he was to people.30 One of which experiments led him to be dubbed a ‘madman.’ On a rainy winter day having evicted Marco Di Dio and his wife—who had been charitably lodging in the property he owned— onto the street, Moscarda donated one of his more comfortable properties to the evicted Di Dio. The crowd of initially disgusted demeanour were shaken by this unexplainable act. He had successfully executed his experiment and proved that he could be someone different from whom people believed him to be. However, in a later chapter—’The Quick’— having discovered that his fellow co-workers at the bank his father started, found him to be a ‘usurer’—he to think he is not— Moscarda in the state of rage liquidated the bank, a gesture aimed at eliminating the image they had of him. Erving Goffman’s theory on the self and ideas of true identity in ‘the presentation of self in everyday life’ provides a somewhat clear
Hitchcock, Rococo Architecture in Southern Germany, 198 30 Pirandello, One, None and a Hundred Thousand, 22
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solution to Moscarda’s dilemma. Goffman posits that people display a series of masks to others, theatrics in a sense, which is somewhat influenced by the audience (other people and the situations we find ourselves). This creates a series of personas like Moscarda’s ‘hundred-thousand,’ that are different to the perception of the ‘one’ (Moscarda). As a result, there is no true self; no authentic performer behind the personas, there is a ‘None.’ Goffman’s idea in relation to the Rococo, in particular, the Ottobeuren Abbey, presents an idea of the audience, which would be discussed in the next chapter.
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The Audience
I
Goffman metaphorically presents his theory of self and identity as a theatre; he divides the participants into performer and audience. As we have delved into the performer, a series of masks of the Ottobeuren Basilica— and the history of Rococo in detail, the direction from now on will focus on the audience and the history of the Ottobeuren Basilica. The audience will take three forms, the average user of the building (the untrained eye), the architect/critique (the trained eye) and God (universal truth).
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The immediate experience of the Ottobeuren Basilica begins at the northwest facing façade, albeit its presence is prominent from a distance away. Its façade, unlike the interior, is sombre in its composition. A first time visitor of the building will be impressed by its monumentality, however, such characteristic is not rare for cathedrals or basilicas of any importance in the previous period of the Renaissance. An avid churchgoer would have already awed at the towering height of St Michael’s church —nearby Munich— or Ulm Minster Church in Ulm, which is the tallest completed church in the world. The awe brought about by the Ottobeuren Basilica’s monumentality, emphasised by its protruding convex belly and the two clock towers is nothing compared to the ‘Rocofied’ interior. The average user (untrained eye) is unaware of the previously mentioned techniques of scagliola and gilding and will be immediately astonished by the opulence of the perceived precious stones and metals. This is, in fact, the primary role of this ornamentation, to astonish and arouse strong emotions.31 The untrained eye is not concerned with its meaning or its truth. Instead, he is concerned with its immediate visual impact. If we were to assume that he/she is a Christian and an avid reader of the Bible, the extravagance of gold curves, the warm colours of precious stones, the abundance of painted clouds, accentuated by the Chiaroscuro and Trompe-l’œil technique and the abundance of light from the clerestory, reflecting off the brilliant surfaces, “produce an effect of lightness, airiness and dematerialisation”32 akin to God’s heavenly throne. Revelations chapter 21—John’s ascension to heaven—reveals to such avid Bible readers that these materials and characteristics are in-fact appropriate in God’s church: “and he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, shining with the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most precious jewel,
Hubala. The Herbert History of Art ad Architecture: Baroque and Rococo, 177 32 Millon, Baroque and Rococo Architecture, 41
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Ulm Minster is a Lutheran church located in Ulm, State of Baden-Württemberg (Germany). It is the tallest church in the world and the 5th tallest structure built before the 20th century, with a steeple measuring 161.5 metres (530 ft). .7 Ulm Minster, Ulm (Late 14th -19th Century)
.6 St. Michael’s Church, by Munich (1597) St. Michael’s by Friedrich Sustris + Wendel Dietterlin is a Jesuit church in Munich, southern Germany, the largest Renaissance church north of the Alps. The style of the building had an enormous influence on Southern German early Baroque architecture.
.8 Ottobeuren Basilica, View from the Market.
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like a jasper stone, clear as crystal…. the angel who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and its walls.”33 The mountain that John describes is embodied in Ottobeuren Church’s elevated presence, which is accessed by a series of steps from the neighbouring market then the three entrance doors. This theme of ascension—the journey to redemption—continues through the mighty portals of finely carved doors to the interior of the building and the final Fresco at the choir space. The visitor is greeted by the darkness of the entrance hall, contrasting the brightness of the long interior, which is terminated by the triune, in form of the High Altar of gold candles and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. After all, redemption and ascension to heaven is through Jesus Christ: “then he brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.’”34 The nave of the church is made up of two sets of ten wall pillars and three frescoed cupolas, suggestive of the Ten Commandments, which help to find God. These architectural features (columns and cupolas) are smoothly blended with wavelike gold and white stucco decorations35, which make them—although domineering—appear light and airy like scenes of heavenly clouds. Eleven steps elevating you above the high altar concludes the final ascension. Here the choir finds its home on either side, singing and rejoicing as you view the ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven on the Frescoed wall. Heaven itself is depicted above on the three frescoed cupolas and its infinite size accentuated using the Trompe-l’œil technique.
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The Ottobeuren church’s façade is no doubt monumental, with a stylistic ambiguity that was a characteristic of Bavarian architecture: was it Baroque or Rococo? Sometimes identified as ‘Barococo.’36 Its robust convex belly and the four great columns that adorn it were Joseph Effner’s contributions to the design.37 However, earlier, in 1732, Dominikus Zimmerman had proposed a concave façade flanked by two towers and adorned by four columns in the discreet manner of earlier Baroque St Carlo alle Quattro, Rome.38 Its façade was ‘Rococofied,’ by J.M. Feichtmayr: painting the great columns pink, the crosses and clock hands gold and the use of the
Revelations 21:11-15 (New International Version) 34 Acts 16: 30-31 (New International Version) 35 Hubala. The Herbert History of Art ad Architecture: Baroque and Rococo, 187 36 Hitchcock, Rococo Architecture in Southern Germany, 175 37 Ibid., 199 38 Ibid., 199 33
.9 Ottobeuren Basilica, Front Facade.
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trompe-l’œil technique of painted stone and window details, creating a dramatic and theatrical optical illusion. Would the trained eye agree with this? John Ruskin, writing in 1849, expresses in the lamp of truth that this is architectural untruth: ‘to cover brick with cement, and to divide this cement with joints that it may look like stone, is to tell a falsehood.”39 We can understand that the curves and undulations with the abundance of seemingly precious metals and stones as well as the frescos evoke divinity and awe the average visitor. To the trained eye this is illusionary— cover-ups for what is there and pretence of what it isn’t—but there is “rarely pleasure without seduction, or seduction without illusion.”40 Consider Goffman’s theory that the audience influences us as performers, if we take this as truth then we can understand that when we seek favour from someone we act in appropriate ways that are dissimulating to achieve our goal—we are affected by the audience. The Rococo characteristics of the Ottobeuren are not so different. The primary function of the ornamentation is to awe and create the sense of opulence, as stated earlier, and to the untrained eye—probably its main audience—it is successful.
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It is important to note that these techniques, which aid in emulating materials of authentic opulence, reduce the financial cost of actually using the authentic materials in the decoration of large spaces. An alternative, if the architect so desperately needs the authentic materials, would be to build a smaller building, as it would be wasteful or infinite amounts of money isn’t available to use the real materials in the ornamentation of large buildings. But as we have previously seen the monumental scale of the building plays a role as a prevalent structure in the Bavarian landscape. It is a building of importance and demonstrates it by towering over its neighbouring buildings. If it were not important it would have not been located on top of a hill. Its history dates back to 764 when a manor was donated to the monks of the now adjoining monastery of the Ottobeuren Basilica, by the royal court.41 Imperial ‘Carolingian’ monasteries like the one, which existed on the land the Ottobeuren Abbey and the adjoining monastery occupies now, were supported by grants and benefited from the privilege of royal protection by ‘King Charlemagne,’ which contributed to their enormous size and agricultural
39 John Ruskin. The Seven Lamps of Architecture (London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1907), 46 Benard Tschumi. Questions of Space. (London: E.G. Bond Ltd and Architectural Association Publications, 1990), 54 41 “Historical.” Benedictine Abbey Ottobeuren. Accessed January 9, 2019. https://www.abtei-ottobeuren.de/ klosteranlage/historisches/index.html.
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achievements.42 They were buildings of political and cultural significance as they were essential for the lodging of the travelling royal court— integral to the King’s rule of the empire.43 The monastery saw periods of prosperity, flourishing as a writing school in the 12th century under Blessed Abbot Rupert to its use as the centre of southern Germany ‘humanism’ and printing house in the 16th century and then the beginning of the new building we see today, which was started by Abbot Rupert Ness in the early 18th Century.44 This rich history of the site and the building justifies the monumental scale of the Ottobeuren Basilica. What about the space within the walls of this monumentality? In Questions of Space, Benard Tschumi states “space is real, for it seems to affect senses long before reason. The materiality of the body both coincides and struggles with the materiality of the space.” The space confined by the large Basilica’s interior commands a presence. Its vastness creates acoustic buoyancy that would not be the same in a smaller space. In Revelations 21 verse 16 heaven is described in this way: “the city lies foursquare, with its width the same as its length. And he measured the city with the rod, and all its dimensions were equal—12,000 stadia in length and width and height.”45 Approximately 12,000 stadia—a stadia being 600 feet—will be 1,363 miles. It is without a doubt that this occurs in the spiritual realm. In the physical world, this would be virtually impossible, or if anyone was ever mad enough to embark on such monumentality, a waste of resources. A measurement of 1,6363 miles if heaven was equal in all dimensions would make heaven 1,857,769 square miles with 1,363 miles high wall around it.46 For an untrained eye or even a trained eye that is blind, the Ottobeuren Basilica’s acoustic buoyancy—though nowhere close to the actual measurements of heaven—suggests the enormity of heaven enclosed within its walls of impossible height. So much so that the Basilica is the location of a French designed organ, a masterpiece by Karl Joseph Riepp and is revered for its musical programs and concerts, often taking place on Saturday’s, which garner the Basilica a lot of money.47
Benedictine Abbey Ottobeuren, “Historical.” Benedictine Abbey Ottobeuren, “Historical.” 44 “Ottobeuren Abbey.” Wondermondo. Accessed January 9, 2019. https://www.wondermondo. com/ottobeuren-abbey/. 45 Revelations 21:16 (New International Version) 46 “Stadion (Unit).” Wikipedia, Last modified January 8, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Stadion_(unit) 47 Wondermondo, “Ottobeuren Abbey.” 42 43
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.10 Ottobeuren Basilica, High Altar Drawing
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The Basilica’s success in creating a sense of opulence and awe, alas, is at a cost. If we look at the cost of its ornamentation compared to a similar church of style and scale built around the same time, the Weingarten Basilica—234,000 to 42,000 ‘Guilders’—we can see that the Ottobeuren Basilica was an extravagant endeavour.48 The Basilica, funded most likely by the member of its adjoining monastery or people of the Ottobeuren town,49 who amassed wealth and favour from royalty since 764, is the “peak of German Rococo attainment.”50 Its cost is as a result of the people of Ottobeuren’s dedication to the realisation of a highly crafted religious building which uses the popular art at the time in the name of God for their own benefit, in achieving a highly crafted beautiful piece of work.51 It is a work of art and “if the primary purpose of art was to please senses, as was generally held in the late 17th and 18th century, then the true artist should put generous deceit on the spectators.”52
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But does God have pleasure in such perceived opulence? Heaven’s enormity and opulence are unattainable. The descriptions of Heaven by John in Revelations 21 have revealed this and there will be no sense in trying to create or emulate this on earth, a place of finite resources. This is why real gold and marble cannot be used in churches of this scale. However, the scale of the buildings cannot be compromised. Its scale represents its opulent history. It represents the town’s wealth as well as provides a large space for its congregation to worship. Its ornamentation is the “truthful expression of the spirit of the maker and the representation of the wants and feelings of the people who used it.”53 The makers, Architects, Stuccoists and Painters, fully immersed themselves in the creation of the Basilica and created an opulent building which was the peak of movement at the time.
“Benedictine Abbey Ottobeuren: Collegiate Church of St. Alexander and St Theodor.” Sueddeutscher-barock.ch. Accessed January 11, 2019. http://www.sueddeutscher-barock.ch/InWerke/h-r/Ottobeuren_Kirche.html 49 Millon, Baroque and Rococo Architecture, 39 50 Ibid., 40 51 Ibid., 39 52 Adrian Forty. Words and Buildings (London: Thames and Hudson, 2000), 294 53 Forty, Words and Buildings, 300 48
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.11 Weingarten Basilica
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Obsession + Practice
I
We have seen that the Ottobeuren Basilica has many masks and these masks create a sense of opulence, which represents its rich history. It is true that it is extravagant and immediately awe-inspiring however its extravagance is in a sense justified by its rich history: its ties to royalty, the gallantry of the French style of Louis XV and its use for lodging of the travelling royal court during the Carolingian times. Why should it not stand strong and proud? It amassed wealth allows it to do so. We have seen that beyond its immediate appearance and provocativeness, it has connotations to heaven, depicting scenes and materials in the Bible. However, the masks, which aid these depictions, are inauthentic. They aren’t true and in the context of God who upholds truth, it could be seen as wrong: “never make a building erected to God appear better than it really is by artificial means. These are showy worldly expedients, adapted only for those who live by splendid deception, such as theatricals, mountebanks, quacks and the like. Nothing can be more execrable than making a church appear rich and beautiful in the eyes of men, but full of trick and falsehood, which cannot escape the all-searching eye of God.”54 This creates a dilemma for the Ottobeuren Basilica. Is it inauthentic because of the techniques that make it appear better than it really is? To the untrained eyes, they are splendidly awed. To the trained eyes, they are aware of the trick. And to God, everything is clear, it is seen that what is presented is fake. However, the same God demands sacrifice and offerings: “honour the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”55 What does it mean to sacrifice, to give offerings? Are they only material possessions—money—in which a lot was spent on the Ottobeuren Basilica, or are they efforts of the hand and time spent? John Ruskin says this in terms of sacrifice: “first, that we should in everything do our best; and, secondly, that we should consider the increase of apparent labour as an increase of beauty in the building.”56 Did the architects, stuccoist and painters not do their best? Did hard work not go into the fruition of this building?
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The Ottobeuren Basilica owes its fruition to a range of professionals who over the years developed the final building we see together. Starting with Monk Christoph Vogt who made the original plans for the new monastery and church in 1704, to Abbot Rubert Ness’ take over in 1710 and consequently hiring Andrea Maini a north Forty, Words and Buildings, 298 Proverbs 3:9-10 (New International Version) 56 Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, 46 54
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.12 Ottobeuren Basilica, Initial Plan by Dominikus Zimmerman (1732)
.13 Ottobeuren Basilica, Final Plan by Johann Michael Fischer (completed 1755)
Italian Stuccoer-Architect in 1715.57 Along with J.B Zimmermann he envisioned a library for the monastery and a centralised dome for the church, however, work continued on the plans. It had to be improved. In 1732 Dominikus Zimmerman introduced large rotundas flanked east and west by aisled and domed squares and western towers framing a concave façade that would be decorated with columns.58 The plans could have remained as such and construction could have started but more work needed to be done to improve on the building. Simpert Kramer, between 1736-1739 adjusted the plans of the church by reducing the rotundas and extending all four arms—western nave, eastern choir and transepts, and making them apsidal. He also changed the concave façade to a convex one, creating more space in the entrance of the church and adjusted the towers accordingly.59 The work on the plans continued. It wasn’t right yet. Architects Joseph Schmuzer and Joseph Effner were invited to continue the project. They both made no significant changes, instead, they began the construction process of the building. However, the four great columns that Kramer had proposed for the concave façade was reintroduced to the convex façade as well as a square dome sanctuary for the choir.60 It was after this that Fischer, primarily credited for this building, finally had an input in the production of the building in 1748. Construction had already begun and he couldn’t do much to it, however, he did what he could to improve on the design. He brought back the oval dome above the choir and designed two chapels of equal width on each side of the nave.61 All of this was done before, finally, Johann Michael Feichtmayr and J.J Zeiler added the Rococo touches to the exterior and interior between 1761-1763 .62 The church is a product of dedication and obsession with perfection, the desire to do good work. Each hand involved in the fruition of the building were professionals in their field, building other churches in Germany (between 1700-1780 over two hundred and thirty churches were built in Germany63), adding to the design from their own separate knowledge and wealth of work, evolving the design as it went
Hitchcock, Rococo Architecture in Southern Germany, 198 58 Ibid., 199 59 Ibid., 199 60 Ibid., 199 61 Ibid., 200 62 Ibid., 198 63 Millon, Baroque and Rococo Architecture, 39
57
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along and dedicated to perfecting it before it was finally built. Is this not true in itself: the dedication to doing the best you can, the pursuit of quality, the time and labour it takes in craftsmanship? Is this not an offering and sacrifice that God would deem worthy? What does it matter if illusions are involved? Those illusions are possible from years of practice and the obsession of perfecting a craft. Those masks, although imperfect, are authentic solutions to the impossibility of creating heaven on earth: the finite amount of resources on earth will not allow for real gold to be used as ornaments on large scale, for real marble to be used on all columns. They are products of trained and practised professionals, the best of their kind. We should, however, be cautious of the obsession of perfecting a craft. Richard Sennett says this in the craftsman, although obsession has positive qualities, “the pursuit of quality entails learning how to use obsessional energy well.”64 An unhealthy obsession searches for perfectionism, an impossible destination. The right use of obsession by a craftsman involves interrogating his/her driving convictions and balancing that with the creative endeavour. With that in mind consider the closing scene.
III
Having returned from the trip to Bavaria and discussed the building of interest—the Ottobeuren Basilica—at length with other students, trained eyes so to speak, I decided to confide in someone who has no clue about architectural theories and had never seen such a church—my grandmother. She is the most religious person I know and I presented to her images of the Ottobeuren and the Weingarten Basilica— former before the latter. The Ottobeuren was too much, “overwhelming and highly crafted,” she said. “It is beautiful, but maybe too beautiful for a place of worship, instead of focusing on praying you are twisting and turning, looking and admiring.” The Weingarten Basilica’s abundance of white plaster surfaces was better in her opinion. “The decoration is focussed on the altar and on the ceiling. That is where you should be looking, to the front of the church and up to God, not everywhere.” I thought that this was a valid point. The effects of the ornamentation are more greatly felt on blank paper because it becomes the focus point. It is appreciated in a more detailed way. However, the Rococo was always primarily architecture to inspire awe and astonishment. In the Ottobeuren Basilica, it has done what it was supposed to do, in its beautiful splendour and decadence.
Richard Sennett. The craftsman.(London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2009), 243
64
.14 Ottobeuren Basilica, View from the entrance through the nave
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.15 Weingarten Basilica, View from the entrance through the nave
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Bibliography Benedictine Abbey Ottobeuren. “Historical.” Accessed January 9, 2019. https:// www.abtei-ottobeuren.de/klosteranlage/historisches/index.html.
Blunt, Anthony. Baroque and Rococo: Architecture and Decoration. London: Paul Elek Ltd, 1978
Forty, Adrian. Words and Buildings. London: Thames and Hudson, 2000
Hitchcock, Henry-Russell. Rococo Architecture in Southern Germany. London: Phaidon Press Ltd,1968
Hubala, Erich. The Herbert History of Art ad Architecture: Baroque and Rococo. London: The Herbert Press Ltd, 1989
Millon, Henry. Baroque and Rococo Architecture. New York: George Braxiller, Inc, 1981
New International Version. Colorado Springs: Biblica, 1984. Print
Pignatti, Terisio. The Age of Rococo. Middlesex:The Hamlyn Publising Group Ltd, 1969
Pirandello, Luigi. One, None and a Hundred Thousand. USA: Kessinger Publishing, 1933.
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Pugin, Welby, A. The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture. London: Academy Editions, 1973
Reithmeir, C. Scagliola Or Stucco Marble: Restoration Of The Altars In The Church Of Lichtenfels, Bavaria. 1995. Pdf. 15th ed. Witpress. https://www.witpress.com/ Secure/elibrary/papers/STR95/STR95025FU2.pdf.
Ruskin, John. The Seven Lamps of Architecture. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1907
Sennett, Richard. The craftsman. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2009
Sueddeutscher-barock.ch. “Benedictine Abbey Ottobeuren: Collegiate Church of St. Alexander and St Theodor.” Accessed January 11, 2019. http://www. sueddeutscher-barock.ch/In-Werke/h-r/Ottobeuren_Kirche.html
Tschumi, Benard. Questions of Space. London: E.G. Bond Ltd and Architectural Association Publications, 1990
Wagstaff, Liz. The Book of Gilding: Decorative gilding techniques, designs and inspirations using gold, silver and metal leaf. London: Southwater, 2002
Wikipedia. “Germain Boffrand.” Last modified April 8, 2018. En.Wikipedia.Org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germain_Boffrand
Wikipedia. “Stadion (Unit).” Last modified January 8, 2019. https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Stadion_(unit)
Wondermondo. “Ottobeuren Abbey.” Accessed January 9, 2019. https://www. wondermondo.com/ottobeuren-abbey/.
Bibliography of Figures 1
Myrabella, Palace of Versailles. 2011, Photograph, Wikipedia. From: Wikipedia.org,
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Palace_of_
Versailles&oldid=877422981
2
Francois Boucher, The Chinese Garden.1742. Canvas Painting, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia. From: fiveminutehistory.com, http://fiveminutehistory. com/10-fascinating-facts-about-chinoiserie/?cn-reloaded=1
3
Atoine Watteau, The Assembly in the Park. 1684-1721, Canvas Painting. From: Terisio Pignatti. The Age of Rococo. Middlesex:The Hamlyn Publising Group Ltd, 1969. Page 27
4
Alan Laidlaw, Ottobeuren Basilica Nave. 2017, Photograph, Flickriver. From Flickriver.com, http://www.flickriver.com/places/Germany/Bavaria/Ottobeuren/ recent/
5
Richard Mayer, Ottobeuren Basilica.2015, Photograph, Wikimedia Comons, From: commons.wikimedia.org,
.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:87724_
Ottobeuren,_Germany_-_panoramio_(29).jpg
6
Lerdsuwa, St. Michael’s Church during evening, Munich. 2007, Photograph, Wikidata. From: Wikidata.org, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q265745#/media/ File:Michaelskirche_Muenchen-full.jpg
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7
Martin Kraft, Ulm Minster. 2008, Photograph, Wikipedia. From: Wikipedia. org,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulm_Minster#/media/File:Ulmer_MĂźnster-
Westfassade.jpg
8
Martin Hronsky, Ottobeuren Basilica from the Market. 2014, Photograph, Flickriver.
From:
Flickriver.com,
https://www.flickr.com/photos/
martinhronsky/37102761470/in/photostream/
9
Markus Brunetti, Ottobeuren, St. Alexander and Theodor. 2013-2014, Photographic Collage, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York. From: thespaces.com, https://thespaces. com/markus-brunetti-captures-europes-sacred-spaces/3/
10
Tunde Oyebode. High Atlar, Ottobeuren Basilica. 2018, CAD line drawing, London Metropolitan University
11
Markus Keller, Weingarten Basilica. 2013, Photograph, Rober Tharding. From: robertharding.com,
https://www.robertharding.com/preview/832-206308/st-
martin-basilica-weingarten-ravensburg-county-badenwuerttemberg-germany/
12
Dominikus Zimmerman. Ottobeuren Basilica Plan. 1732, Hand Drawing. From: Henry-Russell Hitchcock. Rococo Architecture in Southern Germany. London: Phaidon Press Ltd,1968.
13
J.M Fischer. Ottobeuren Basilica Plan. 1755, Hand Drawing. From: Henry-Russell Hitchcock. Rococo Architecture in Southern Germany. London: Phaidon Press Ltd,1968. Page 200
14
Alan Laidlaw, Ottobeuren Basilica Nave. 2017, Photograph, Flickriver. From: Flickriver.com, http://www.flickriver.com/places/Germany/Bavaria/Ottobeuren/ recent/
15
Hans_de_kn, Weingarten Basilica. Photograph, Flickr. From: flickr.com, https:// www.flickr.com/photos/22117337@N06/4996754630/sizes/z/
Index 1
Absolutism the political doctrine and practice of unlimited centralised authority and absolute sovereignty, as vested especially in monarch or dictator.
2
Arcadia (Life in Arcadia) mountainous region of the central Peloponnese (Modern Greek: Pelopรณnnisos) of ancient Greece. The pastoral character of Arcadian life together with its isolation are reflected in the fact that it is represented as a paradise in Greek and Roman bucolic poetry and in the literature of the Renaissance.
3
Battle of Blenheim (Aug. 13, 1704), the most famous victory of John Churchill, 1st duke of Marlborough, and Eugene of Savoy in the War of the Spanish Succession. The first major defeat that the French army suffered in over 50 years, it saved Vienna from a threatening Franco-Bavarian army, preserved the alliance of England, Austria, and the United Provinces against France, and knocked Bavaria out of the war.
4
Carolingian the Carolingian dynasty was a family of Frankish aristocrats and the dynasty (AD 750-887) that they established to rule Western Europe. The name derives from the large number of family members who bore the name Charles, most notably Charlemagne.
48 - 49
5
Chiaroscuro (from Italian:chiaro, “light,” and scuro, “dark”) technique employed in the visual arts to represent light and shadow as they define three-dimensional objects.
6
Chinoiserie 17th and 18th century Western style of interior design, furniture, pottery, textiles, and garden design that represents fanciful European interpretations of Chinese styles. In the first decades of the 17th century, English and Italian and, later, other craftsmen began to draw freely on decorative forms found on cabinets, porcelain vessels, and embroideries imported from China.
7
Crit short for criticism or critic or critique
8
Elector german Kurfürst, prince of the Holy Roman Empire who had a right to participate in the election of the emperor (the German king).
9
Fresco fresco painting, method of painting water-based pigments on freshly applied plaster, usually on wall surfaces. The colours, which are made by grinding drypowder pigments in pure water, dry and set with the plaster to become a permanent part of the wall. Fresco painting is ideal for making murals because it lends itself to a monumental style, is durable, and has a matte surface.
10
Guilder former monetary unit of the Netherlands. In 2002 the guilder ceased to be legal tender after the euro, the monetary unit of the European Union, became the country’s sole currency.
11
Humanism system of education and mode of inquiry that originated in northern Italy during
the 13th and 14th centuries and later spread through continental Europe and England.
12
King Charlemagne also called Charles I, byname Charles the Great, (born April 2, 747—died January 28, 814, Aachen, Austrasia [now in Germany]), king of the Franks (768–814), king of the Lombards (774–814), and first emperor (800–814) of the Romans and of what was later called the Holy Roman Empire.
13
Louis XIV byname Louis the Great, Louis the Grand Monarch, or the Sun King, French Louis Le Grand, Louis Le Grand Monarque, or Le Roi Soleil, (born September 5, 1638, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France—died September 1, 1715, Versailles, France), king of France (1643–1715) who ruled his country, principally from his great palace at Versailles, during one of its most brilliant periods and who remains the symbol of absolute monarchy of the classical age.
14
Louis XV byname Louis the Well-Beloved, French Louis le Bien-Aimé, (born February 15, 1710, Versailles, France—died May 10, 1774, Versailles), king of France from 1715 to 1774, whose ineffectual rule contributed to the decline of royal authority that led to the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789.
15
Madman a man who is mentally ill. an extremely foolish or reckless person. used in similes to refer to a person who does something very fast, intensely, or violently: I was working like a madman.
16
Orientalism western scholarly discipline of the 18th and 19th centuries that encompassed the study of the languages, literatures, religions, philosophies, histories, art, and laws of Asian societies, especially ancient ones.
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17
Regence Style transition in the decorative arts from the massive rectilinear forms of Louis XIVfurniture to those prefiguring the Rococo style of Louis XV. The style encompasses about the first 30 years of the 18th century, when Philippe II, duc d’Orléans, was regent of France.
18
Rocaille in Western architecture and decorative arts, 18th-century ornamentation featuring elaborately stylized shell-like, rocklike, and scroll motifs. Rocaille is one of the more prominent aspects of the Rococo style of architecture and decoration that developed in France during the reign of King Louis XV (1715–74)
19
Rococo style in interior design, the decorative arts, painting, architecture, and sculpture that originated in Paris in the early 18th century but was soon adopted throughout France and later in other countries, principally Germany and Austria.
20
Rococofied made up word. the quality of being converted into a rococo piece of work.
21
Sensationalism in epistemology and psychology, a form of Empiricism that limits experience as a source of knowledge to sensation or sense perceptions. Sensationalism is a consequence of the notion of the mind as a tabula rasa, or “clean slate.”
22
Triune consisting of three in one (used especially with reference to the Trinity): the triune Godhead
23
Trompe-l’œil (French: “deceive the eye”) in painting, the representation of an object with such verisimilitude as to deceive the viewer concerning the material reality of the object.
24
Usurer a person who lends money at unreasonably high rates of interest.
Wessobrunn School of Stuccadors is the name for a group of Baroque stucco-workers that, beginning at the end of the 17th century, developed in the Benedictine Wessobrunn Abbey in Bavaria, Germany.
25
Wittelsbach Family German noble family that provided rulers of Bavaria and of the Rhenish Palatinate until the 20th century. The name was taken from the castle of Wittelsbach, which formerly stood near Aichach on the Paar in Bavaria.
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Appendix: Quotes + Responses I
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life: Erving Goffman A cynical individual may delude his audience for what he considers to be their own good, or for the good of the community. Pg29 Sometimes it is necessary to lie, to delude because it helps to achieve something more profound than the lie itself something more important. So in a sense, the lie doesn’t matter but as it is part of a greater good.
The selfish desire to win favour may not be the chief motive: the inferior may be tactfully attempting to put the superior at ease by simulating the kind of world the superior is thought to take for granted. Pg 30 This is the greater good in a sense? The skilled act, which is in a sense commendable or beautiful on its own, is used to achieve something that is beautiful and commendable.
The items that we most intimately identify with the performer himself and what we naturally expect will follow the performer wherever he goes. Pg 39 We have preconceived biases, even before we have the chance to judge something our conclusions are drawn from previous experiences from previous encounters, we expect something before we give whatever is in front of us the chance.
Thus when the individual presents himself before others, his performance will tend to incorporate and exemplify the officially accredited values of the society, more so, in fact, than does his behaviours as a whole. Pg 45 Because of the above, the performer is then subjected to acting along the line of what is expected, what society in as sense expects of him. He/She is trapped in a general idea or group.
It is important to note that when an individual offers a performance he typically conceals something more than inappropriate pleasures and economies. Pg 51 So in everything that meets the eye, there is, in fact, many façades of meanings beneath, motivations and influences that we are not aware of. So, in fact, it is hard to deduce what is true.
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Appearance Vs Overall Reality The performer is affected by preconceived notions Which are constructed by whom? The effect reinforces the notions Which in turn clouds the appearance (what appears in front of you) When, however, there are reasons behind what appears, the overall reality
Those rules, regulations, and orders which are most easily enforced are those which leave tangible evidence of having been either obeyed or disobeyed, such as rules pertaining to the cleaning of the ward, locking doors, the use of intoxicating liquors while on duty, the use of restraints, etc pg 54 So, rules create or define the sense of what is true and what isn’t. Without these guidelines, it will not matter at all. It is what makes us measure or allows us to measure. Can the rules be changed?
Audience Vs Performer How much does the audience affect the performer? Who is the audience? Family, friends, society?
When the audience is known to be secretly sceptical of the reality that is being impressed upon them, we have been ready to appreciate their tendency to pounce on trifling flaws as a sign that the whole show is false; pg 59 The trained mind discovers the truth or one who is privy to the trick is clouded by the trickery. He/she does not appreciate the trickery and in sense is not allowed to experience the beauty of it. Who is privy to the trick; the close friend to the person or family, someone who is involved heavily in the person’s life? In terms of architecture, the architect or the critic.
When we think of those who present a false front or ‘only’ a front, of those who dissemble, deceive, and defraud, we think of a discrepancy between fostered appearances and reality. Pg 66 Again because we are privy to the truth we are doubtful of everything allocated to that
performer, we see it as inconsistent and not genuine. It clouds everything else.
We discover that someone with whom we have dealings is an imposter and out-and –out fraud, we are discovering that he did not have the right to play that part he played, that he was not an accredited incumbent of relevant status. Pg 66 Again discovering the trick, doesn’t allow you to think clearly about the person and affects your general judgment.
However there are many ‘white lies’, told by doctors guests, and others, presumably to save the feelings of the audience that is lied to, and these kinds of untruths are not thought to be horrendous. Pg 69 However, one should not just think such, but consider that some untruths are simply white lies, done for a greater good to achieve something that is better or necessary. However, why or who determines this, why is it left to the performer?
There is, then, a statistical relationship between appearances and reality, not an intrinsic or necessary one. Some performances are carried off successfully with complete dishonesty, others with complete honesty; but for performances in general neither of these extremes is essential and neither, perhaps, is dramaturgically advisable. Pg 78 We should analyse or identify the level of dishonesty or honesty each performance has on its own merit. How?
Scripts even in the hands of unpractised players can come to life because life itself is a dramatically enacted thing.pg78 Because life itself is constant practice, of how to navigate biases and preconceived notions, it’s not so hard in an isolated moment to successfully deceive. You have had a lot of practice.
II
The Craftsman: Richard Sennett The pursuit of quality entails learning how to use obsessional energy well. Pg 243 Quality is directly related to practice, obsessional practice.
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The cognomen of obsession, relentlessness, has that same character—attending to all cases, letting no exceptions slip by through the carelessness of indifference. Pg 244 Attention to detail is achievable from practice; obsession is also a quantifier or directly related to quality.
Those in the group of this competitive obsession easily lose sight of the value and purpose of what they are doing. Pg 251 Because of the obsession or practice of this certain things, the focus of one thing, it is easy to lose sight of what it is you are trying to achieve it is easy to miss out on things, the value of other things or the purpose of what they are doing.
A healthy obsession, we could say, interrogates its own driving convictions. Pg 261 There should be rules or constraints to practice, to obsession.
III
Ornament + Crime: Adolf Loos The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornamentation from objects from objects of everyday use. Pg 167 Ornamentation has no significance, no standing today, in objects of everyday use.
And I said, see the room where Goethe died is more splendid than all your renaissance pomp, and a plain piece of furniture is more beautiful than your museum pieces with all their inlay work and carving. Pg168 Plainness is more beautiful than ornamentation than laborious decoration.
Since ornament is no longer a natural product if our culture, but a symptom of backwardness or degeneracy, the craftsman producing ornament is not fairly rewarded for his labour. Page 170 Because ornamentation is a thing of the past the work and effort that goes into making such decorations are taken for granted.
In general, decoration makes objects more expensive, but despite that, it does happen that a decorated object, with materials costing the same and demonstrably
taking three times as long to produce, is put on sale at half the price of a plain object. Pg 171 Decorations make things more expensive because it takes more effort, but yet considered let quality.
The form of an object should last, that is, we should find it tolerable as long as the object itself lasts. Pg 172 What is most important is its lasting quality, its continuous usefulness.
However, if we have to change a desk as quickly as a ball outfit because we can no longer stand the old style. Then we will have wasted the money we paid for the desk. Pg 172 If something becomes tacky over time and has no lasting quality, should we then consider it as quality: it is stuck in time, it has no relevance?
Nowadays, putting decoration on objects, which, thanks to progress, no longer need to be decorated, moans a waste of labour and an abuse of material. Pg 172 Decoration is decadence and it’s gratuitous, there should be a reason.
Only when these ornamented things have been made from the best material with the greatest care, and have taken up many hours of work, do they become truly unaesthetic. Pg 173 The quality of materials, and time the taken to make the ornaments make them anaesthetic, that it improves its lasting quality and takes it beyond the realms of just decoration.
The ideal I preach is the aristocrat. I can accept decoration on my own person if it brings pleasure to my fellow men if it brings pleasure to me too. Pg 174 Decorations or ornament is acceptable if it is pleasing? The art has superseded ornament and represents something beyond just decoration. It represents something higher.
Modern man uses the ornaments of earlier or foreign cultures as he likes and as he
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sees fit. He concentrates his own inventive power on other things. Pg 175 Energy is expended in creating an ornament, it represents something, it needs to represent something to be true, to be honest. It needs to be beyond just decoration to be worth it.
IV
Questions of Space: Bernard Tschumi Hegel concluded in the affirmative: architecture was whatever in a building did not point to utility. Architecture was a sort of ‘artistic supplement’ added to the simple building. Pg15 What is defined as architecture is what is beyond the necessary, what is beyond usefulness, or function?
Architecture is then nothing but the space of representation, as soon as it is distinguished from the simple building, it represents something other than itself: the social structure, the power of the king, the idea of God, etc. pg 18 So, architecture, as beyond usefulness, takes on an identity or a manifestation of externalities.
Forms do not follow functions but refer to other forms, and functions relate to symbols. Ultimately architecture frees itself from reality altogether. Form does not need to call for external justifications. Pg 19 Architecture is beyond the realm of reality or usefulness so calls for externalities.
Space is real, for it seems to affect my senses long before my reason. The materiality of my body both coincides with and struggles with the materiality of that space. Pg 20 The spaces you are in have immediate effects on the senses before you are able to process them, hence its importance. It is beyond the visual.
There is rarely pleasure without seduction, or seduction without illusion. Pg 54 Pleasure is derived from enticement and enticement is or could be as a result of deceit.
Masks hide other masks and each successive level of meaning confirms the impossibility of grasping reality. Pg 55 Once we think we have found meaning or the layer underneath, there is another embedded layer, another meaning making it hard to grasp what is true.
V
The Seven Lamps of Architecture. John Ruskin Truth forgives no insult, and endures to stain. Pg 30 Truth is pure and without blemish.
And seeing that of all sin there is, perhaps, no one more flatly opposite to the Almighty, no one more “wanting the good of virtue and being,� than this of lying, pg 31 Deceit is bad in the eyes of God and Man.
We resent calumny, hypocrisy, and treachery because they harm us, not because they are untrue. Pg 30 Deceit is mostly hated because it takes an effect on us, not necessarily because the act is untrue. Deceiving is unkind to the audience.
When the imagination deceives it becomes madness. Page 32 Deceiving is unkind to the audience.
It is necessary to our rank as spiritual creatures, that we should be able to invent and to behold what is not; and to our rank as moral creatures, that we should know and confess at the same time that it is not. pg 32 Seen as we are spiritual creatures, and we consider and contemplate the soul, it is important to act in accordance with the wants of the soul, to be true to the desires of the soul.
But in architecture another and a less subtle, more contemptible, violation of truth is possible; a direct falsity of assertion respecting the nature of the material, or the quantity of labour. And this is the full sense of the work wrong. Pg 33 Not respecting the nature of materials, the appearance of materials and the labour
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that goes into making those materials is wrong, it is untrue.
Deceit in Architecture Suggestion of a mode of structures or support other than the true one Painting of surfaces to represent some other material The use of cast or machine-made ornaments of any kind
To cover brick with plaster, and this plaster with fresco, is, therefore, perfectly legitimate; and as desirable a mode of decoration, as it is constant in the great periods. Pg45 There is no indication of another material in this masking but instead a dressing of the original, so it is acceptable. There is no lie here.
But to cover brick with cement, and to divide this cement with joints that it may look like stone, is to tell a falsehood; and is just as contemptible a procedure as the other is noble. Pg 46 But when a material is covered with an indication of another material it is untrue and wrong.
VI
Words and Buildings: Adrian Forty It might well be thought that, as a fine art, architecture works for eye alone, but it ought primarily — and very little attention is paid to this — to work for the sense of movement in the human body.pg 262 Architecture should be beyond just the usual but also pay attention to the manifestation of space, sense of movement in the space and how the human body interacts with it.
This tendency becomes even more pronounced in 18th century baroque, where the interior ‘takes on the appearance of a fortuitous, undefined fragment of universal space’, like the pilgrimage church at Banz in Germany, where the interior has the effect of a continuous, cohesive unit to which the side chapels and the galleries belong, and which, as an undulating structure, seems to be in contact with the infinite exterior. Pg264 There is no limit to the space of the baroque church. It is limitless and connected to the
exterior, at least its architecture tries to convey this. The ornament does this as well as the arrangement of space. Expressive truth, historical truth and structural truth.
Thus the architect Guarino Guarini wrote in 1686 that ‘architecture, although it depends on mathematics, is nonetheless an art of flattery, in which the sense does not want to be disgusted by reason. If the primary purpose of art was to please senses, as was generally held in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century theory, then it was the duty of art to adjust reality to suit. Pg 294 Architecture=Flattery=Art
A true artist should put generous deceit on the spectators. Pg 294 Flattery should be used in abundance if that is the definition of Art, therefore deceit should be the priority of Art to please the audience.
The most natural beauty in the world is honesty and moral truth. For all beauty is truth. Pg 294 Architecture is for the eye. The eye appreciates beauty—beauty is a manifestation of truth. It is natural.
Lodoli argued that the form taken by the ornaments of a building should follow the essential properties of the materials of which they were made. Pg296 Wood should not imitate marble, brick should not imitate stone.
Never do anything unnecessary, or for which a good reason cannot be given.pg 296 There should be a reason behind the ornament, a history?
We should never make a building erected to God appear better than it really is by artificial means. These are showy worldly expedients, adapted only for those who live by splendid deception, such as theatricals, mountebanks, quacks and the like. Nothing can be more execrable than making a church appear rich and beautiful in the eyes of men, but full of trick and falsehood, which cannot escape the allsearching eye of God. Pg 298 God is the truth, he knows the truth so the trickery of the material is wrong, because in
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his eyes he is aware of the fake.
Truthful in architecture really means the truthful expression of the spirit of its maker. Pg 300 Truthfulness is as a result of the expression of its maker. It comes from fulfilling the sole desire of the maker.
That he is the most truthful of copyists I fully admit; but according to my definition, truth in art consists of representing the wants and feelings of the people who use it.pg 302 Truthfulness is the expression of the wants and feeling of the people who use it.
VII
One, None and a Hundred Thousand: Luigi Pirandello “What are you doing?” my wife asked me, as she saw me lingering, contrary to my won’t, in front of the mirror. “Nothing,” I told her. “I am just having a look here, in my nose, in this nostril. It hurts me a little when I take hold of it.” My wife smiled. “I thought,” she said, “that you were looking to see which side it is that hangs down the lower.”pg 13 The mask and the discovery that he is not who he thought he was.
The End
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contents created and collated by Tunde Oyebode