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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12625-0.txt b/12625-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5fdde03 --- /dev/null +++ b/12625-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3876 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12625 *** + +ARCHITECTURE AND DEMOCRACY + +BY + +CLAUDE BRAGDON +F.A.I.A. + +1918 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: PLATE I. THE WOOLWORTH BUILDING, NEW YORK] + + + + +PREFACE + + +This book can lay no claim to unity of theme, since its subjects range +from skyscrapers to symbols and soul states; but the author claims for +it nevertheless a unity of point of view, and one (correct or not) so +comprehensive as to include in one synthesis every subject dealt +with. For according to that point of view, a skyscraper is only a +symbol--and of what? A condition of consciousness, that is, a state of +the soul. Democracy even, we are beginning to discover, is a condition +of consciousness too. + +Our only hope of understanding the welter of life in which we are +immersed, as in a swift and muddy river, is in ascending as near +to its pure source as we can. That source is in consciousness and +consciousness is in ourselves. This is the point of view from which +each problem dealt with has been attacked; but lest the author be at +once set down as an impracticable dreamer, dwelling aloof in an ivory +tower, the reader should know that his book has been written in +the scant intervals afforded by the practice of the profession of +architecture, so broadened as to include the study of abstract form, +the creation of ornament, experiments with color and light, and such +occasional educational activities as from time to time he has been +called upon to perform at one or another architectural school. + +The three essays included under the general heading of "Democracy +and Architecture" were prepared at the request of the editor of _The +Architectural Record_, and were published in that journal. The two +following, on "Ornament from Mathematics," represent a recasting and +a rewriting of articles which have appeared in _The Architectural +Review, The Architectural Forum_, and _The American Architect_. +"Harnessing the Rainbow" is an address delivered before the Ad. Club +of Cleveland, and the Rochester Rotary Club, and afterwards made into +an essay and published in _The American Architect_ under a different +title. The appreciation of Louis Sullivan as a writer appears here for +the first time, the author having previously paid his respects to Mr. +Sullivan's strictly architectural genius in an essay in _House and +Garden_. "Color and Ceramics" was delivered on the occasion of the +dedication of the Ceramic Building of the University of Illinois, +and afterwards published in _The Architectural Forum_. "Symbols and +Sacraments" was printed in the English Quarterly _Orpheus_. "Self +Education" was delivered before the Boston Architectural Club, and +afterwards published in a number of architectural journals. + +Acknowledgment is hereby tendered by the author to the editors of +these various magazines for their consent to republication, together +with thanks, however belated, for their unfailing hospitality to the +children of his brain. + +CLAUDE BRAGDON. + +_August 1, 1918_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + ARCHITECTURE AND DEMOCRACY + + I. Before the War + + II. During the War + + III. After the War + + + ORNAMENT FROM MATHEMATICS + + I. The World Order + + II. The Fourth Dimension + + + HARNESSING THE RAINBOW + + + LOUIS SULLIVAN, PROPHET OF DEMOCRACY + + + COLOR AND CERAMICS + + + SYMBOLS AND SACRAMENTS + + + SELF-EDUCATION + + + + +LIST OF FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + + Plate I. The Woolworth Building, New York + + Plate II. The New York Public Library + + Plate III. The Prudential Building, Buffalo, N.Y. + + Plate IV. The Erie County Savings Bank, Buffalo, N.Y. + + Plate V. The New York Central Terminal + + Plate VI. Plan of the Red Cross Community Club House, + Camp Sherman, Ohio + + Plate VII. Interior View of the Camp Sherman Community House + + Plate VIII. Imaginative Sketch by Henry P. Kirby + + Plate IX. Architectural Sketch by Otto Rieth + + Plate X. 200 West 57th Street, New York + + Plate XI. Imaginary Composition: The Portal + + Plate XII. Imaginary Composition: The Balcony + + Plate XIII. Imaginary Composition: The Audience Chamber + + Plate XIV. Song and Light: An Approach toward "Color Music" + + Plate XV. Symbol of Resurrection + + + + +Every form of government, every social institution, every +undertaking, however great, however small, every symbol of +enlightenment or degradation, each and all have sprung and are still +springing from the life of the people, and have ever formed and are +now as surely forming images of their thought. Slowly by centuries, +generations, years, days, hours, the thought of the people has +changed; so with precision have their acts responsively changed; thus +thoughts and acts have flowed and are flowing ever onward, unceasingly +onward, involved within the impelling power of Life. Throughout this +stream of human life, and thought, and activity, men have ever felt +the need to build; and from the need arose the power to build. So, +as they thought, they built; for, strange as it may seem, they could +build in no other way. As they built, they made, used, and left behind +them records of their thinking. Then, as through the years new men +came with changed thoughts, so arose new buildings in consonance +with the change of thought--the building always the expression of +the thinking. Whatever the character of the thinking, just so was the +character of the building. + +What is Architecture? A Study in the American People of Today, by +LOUIS SULLIVAN. + + + + +Architecture and Democracy + +I + +BEFORE THE WAR + + +The world war represents not the triumph, but the birth of democracy. +The true ideal of democracy--the rule of a people by the _demos_, or +group soul--is a thing unrealized. How then is it possible to consider +or discuss an architecture of democracy--the shadow of a shade? It is +not possible to do so with any degree of finality, but by an intention +of consciousness upon this juxtaposition of ideas--architecture and +democracy--signs of the times may yield new meanings, relations may +emerge between things apparently unrelated, and the future, always +existent in every present moment, may be evoked by that strange magic +which resides in the human mind. + +Architecture, at its worst as at its best, reflects always a true +image of the thing that produced it; a building is revealing even +though it is false, just as the face of a liar tells the thing +his words endeavor to conceal. This being so, let us make such +architecture as is ours declare to us our true estate. + +The architecture of the United States, from the period of the Civil +War, up to the beginning of the present crisis, everywhere reflects a +struggle to be free of a vicious and depraved form of feudalism, +grown strong under the very ægis of democracy. The qualities that made +feudalism endeared and enduring; qualities written in beauty on +the cathedral cities of mediaeval Europe--faith, worship, +loyalty, magnanimity--were either vanished or banished from this +pseudo-democratic, aridly scientific feudalism, leaving an inheritance +of strife and tyranny--a strife grown mean, a tyranny grown prudent, +but full of sinister power the weight of which we have by no means +ceased to feel. + +Power, strangely mingled with timidity; ingenuity, frequently +misdirected; ugliness, the result of a false ideal of beauty--these +in general characterize the architecture of our immediate past; an +architecture "without ancestry or hope of posterity," an architecture +devoid of coherence or conviction; willing to lie, willing to steal. +What impression such a city as Chicago or Pittsburgh might have made +upon some denizen of those cathedral-crowned feudal cities of the +past we do not know. He would certainly have been amazed at its giant +energy, and probably revolted at its grimy dreariness. We are wont +to pity the mediaeval man for the dirt he lived in, even while smoke +greys our sky and dirt permeates the very air we breathe: we think of +castles as grim and cathedrals as dim, but they were beautiful and gay +with color compared with the grim, dim canyons of our city streets. + +Lafcadio Hearn, in _A Conservative_, has sketched for us, with a +sympathy truly clairvoyant, the impression made by the cities of the +West upon the consciousness of a young Japanese samurai educated under +a feudalism not unlike that of the Middle Ages, wherein was worship, +reverence, poetry, loyalty--however strangely compounded with the more +sinister products of the feudal state. + + Larger than all anticipation the West appeared to him,--a + world of giants; and that which depresses even the boldest + Occidental who finds himself, without means or friends, alone + in a great city, must often have depressed the Oriental exile: + that vague uneasiness aroused by the sense of being invisible + to hurrying millions; by the ceaseless roar of traffic + drowning voices; by monstrosities of architecture without a + soul; by the dynamic display of wealth forcing mind and + hand, as mere cheap machinery, to the uttermost limits of + the possible. Perhaps he saw such cities as Doré saw London: + sullen majesty of arched glooms, and granite deeps opening + into granite deeps beyond range of vision, and mountains + of masonry with seas of labor in turmoil at their base, and + monumental spaces displaying the grimness of ordered power + slow-gathering through centuries. Of beauty there was nothing + to make appeal to him between those endless cliffs of stone + which walled out the sunrise and the sunset, the sky and the + wind. + +The view of our pre-war architecture thus sketchily presented is sure +to be sharply challenged in certain quarters, but unfortunately for +us all this is no mere matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact. The +buildings are there, open to observation; rooted to the spot, they +cannot run away. Like criminals "caught with the goods" they stand, +self-convicted, dirty with the soot of a thousand chimneys, heavy with +the spoils of vanished civilizations; graft and greed stare at us out +of their glazed windows--eyes behind which no soul can be discerned. +There are doubtless extenuating circumstances; they want to be clean, +they want to be honest, these "monsters of the mere market," but they +are nevertheless the unconscious victims of evils inherent in our +transitional social state. + +Let us examine these strange creatures, doomed, it is hoped, to +extinction in favor of more intelligent and gracious forms of +life. They are big, powerful, "necessitous," and have therefore an +impressiveness, even an æsthetic appeal, not to be denied. So subtle +and sensitive an old-world consciousness as that of M. Paul Bourget +was set vibrating by them like a violin to the concussion of a +trip-hammer, and to the following tune: + + The portals of the basements, usually arched as if crushed + beneath the weight of the mountains which they support, look + like dens of a primitive race, continually receiving and + pouring forth a stream of people. You lift your eyes, and you + feel that up there behind the perpendicular wall, with + its innumerable windows, is a multitude coming and + going,--crowding the offices that perforate these cliffs of + brick and iron, dizzied with the speed of the elevators. + You divine, you feel the hot breath of speculation quivering + behind these windows. This it is which has fecundated these + thousands of square feet of earth, in order that from them may + spring up this appalling growth of business palaces, that hide + the sun from you and almost shut out the light of day. + +"The simple power of necessity is to a certain degree a principle of +beauty," says M. Bourget, and to these structures this order of beauty +cannot be denied, but even this is vitiated by a failure to press the +advantage home: the ornate façades are notably less impressive +than those whose grim and stark geometry is unmitigated by the +grave-clothes of dead styles. Instances there are of strivings toward +a beauty that is fresh and living, but they are so unsuccessful and +infrequent as to be negligible. However impressive these buildings may +be by reason of their ordered geometry, their weight and magnitude, +and as a manifestation of irrepressible power, they have the +unloveliness of things ignoble being the product neither of praise, +nor joy, nor worship, but enclosures for the transaction of sharp +bargains--gold bringing jinn of our modern Aladdins, who love them not +but only use them. That is the reason they are ugly; no one has loved +them for themselves alone. + +For beauty is ever the very face of love. From the architecture of +a true democracy, founded on love and mutual service, beauty would +inevitably shine forth; its absence convicts us of a maladjustment in +our social and economic life. A skyscraper shouldering itself aloft at +the expense of its more humble neighbors, stealing their air and +their sunlight, is a symbol, written large against the sky, of +the will-to-power of a man or a group of men--of that ruthless and +tireless aggression on the part of the cunning and the strong so +characteristic of the period which produced the skyscraper. One of +our streets made up of buildings of diverse styles and shapes and +sizes--like a jaw with some teeth whole, some broken, some rotten, +and some gone--is a symbol of our unkempt individualism, now happily +becoming curbed and chastened by a common danger, a common devotion. + +Some people hold the view that our insensitiveness to formal beauty is +no disgrace. Such argue that our accomplishments and our interests are +in other fields, where we more than match the accomplishments of older +civilizations. They forget that every achievement not registered in +terms of beauty has failed of its final and enduring transmutation. It +is because the achievements of older civilizations attained to their +apotheoses in art that they interest us, and unless we are able +to effect a corresponding transmutation we are destined to perish +unhonoured on our rubbish heap. That we shall effect it, through +knowledge and suffering, is certain, but before attempting the +more genial and rewarding task of tracing, in our life and in our +architecture, those forces and powers which make for righteousness, +for beauty, let us look our failures squarely in the face, and +discover if we can why they are failures. + +Confining this examination to the particular matter under discussion, +the neo-feudal architecture of our city streets, we find it to lack +unity, and the reason for this lack of unity dwells in a _divided +consciousness_. The tall office building is the product of many +forces, or perhaps we should say one force, that of necessity; but its +concrete embodiment is the result of two different orders of talent, +that of the structural engineer and of the architectural designer. +These are usually incarnate in two different individuals, working +more or less at cross purposes. It is the business of the engineer +to preoccupy himself solely with ideas of efficiency and economy, +and over his efficient and economical structure the designer smears +a frosting of beauty in the form of architectural style, in the +archæological sense. This is a foolish practice, and cannot but result +in failure. In the case of a Greek temple or a mediaeval cathedral +structure and style were not twain, but one; the structure determined +the style, the style expressed the structure; but with us so divorced +have the two things become that in a case known to the author, the +structural framework of a great office building was determined and +fabricated and then architects were invited to "submit designs" +for the exterior. This is of course an extreme example and does not +represent the usual practice, but it brings sharply to consciousness +the well known fact that for these buildings we have substantially one +method of construction--that of the vertical strut, and the horizontal +"fill"--while in style they appear as Grecian, Roman, Renaissance, +Gothic, Modern French and what not, according to the whim of the +designer. + +[Illustration: PLATE II. THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY] + +With the modern tendency toward specialization, the natural outgrowth +of necessity, there is no inherent reason why the bones of a building +should not be devised by one man and its fleshly clothing by another, +so long as they understand one another, and are in ideal agreement, +but there is in general all too little understanding, and a +confusion of ideas and aims. To the average structural engineer the +architectural designer is a mere milliner in stone, informed in those +prevailing architectural fashions of which he himself knows little and +cares less. Preoccupied as he is with the building's strength, safety, +economy; solving new and staggeringly difficult problems with address +and daring, he has scant sympathy with such inconsequent matters as +the stylistic purity of a façade, or the profile of a moulding. To the +designer, on the other hand, the engineer appears in the light of a +subordinate to be used for the promotion of his own ends, or an evil +to be endured as an interference with those ends. + +As a result of this lack of sympathy and co-ordination, success crowns +only those efforts in which, on the one hand, the stylist has been +completely subordinated to engineering necessity, as in the case of +the East River bridges, where the architect was called upon only to +add a final grace to the strictly structural towers; or on the other +hand, in which the structure is of the old-fashioned masonry sort, and +faced with a familiar problem the architect has found it easy to be +frank; as in the case of the Manhattan Storage Warehouse, on 42nd +Street, New York, or in the Bryant Park façade on the New York +Library. The Woolworth building is a notable example of the complete +co-ordination between the structural framework and its envelope, and +falls short of ideal success only in the employment of an archaic and +alien ornamental language, used, however, let it be said, with a fine +understanding of the function of ornament. + +For the most part though, there is a difference of intention between +the engineer and the designer; they look two ways, and the result of +their collaboration is a flat and confused image of the thing that +should be, not such as is produced by truly binocular vision. This +difference of aim is largely the result of a difference of education. +Engineering science of the sort which the use of steel has required is +a thing unprecedented; the engineer cannot hark back to the past for +help, even if he would. The case is different with the architectural +designer; he is taught that all of the best songs have been sung, all +of the true words spoken. The Glory that was Greece, and the Grandeur +that was Rome, the romantic exuberance of Gothic, and the ordered +restraint of Renaissance are so drummed into him during his years of +training, and exercise so tyrannical a spell over his imagination that +he loses the power of clear and logical thought, and never becomes +truly creative. Free of this incubus the engineer has succeeded in +being straightforward and sensible, to say the least; subject to it +the man with a so-called architectural education is too often tortuous +and absurd. + +The architect without any training in the essentials of design +produces horrors as a matter of course, for the reason that sin is the +result of ignorance; the architect trained in the false manner of the +current schools becomes a reconstructive archæologist, handicapped by +conditions with which he can deal only imperfectly, and imperfectly +control. Once in a blue moon a man arises who, with all the advantages +inherent in education, pierces through the past to the present, and +is able to use his brain as the architects of the past used theirs--to +deal simply and directly with his immediate problem. + +Such a man is Louis Sullivan, though it must be admitted that not +always has he achieved success. That success was so marked, however, +in his treatment of the problem of the tall building, and exercised +subconsciously such a spell upon the minds even of his critics and +detractors, that it resulted in the emancipation of this type of +building from an absurd and impossible convention--the practice, +common before his time, of piling order upon order, like a house +of cards, or by a succession of strongly marked string courses +emphasizing the horizontal dimension of a vertical edifice, thus +vitiating the finest effect of which such a building is capable. + +The problem of the tall building, with which his predecessors dealt +always with trepidation and equivocation, Mr. Sullivan approached +with confidence and joy. "What," he asked himself, "is the chief +characteristic of the tall office building? It is lofty. This +loftiness is to the artist-nature its thrilling aspect. It must be +tall. The force of altitude must be in it. It must be every inch a +proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exultation that from bottom +to top it is a unit without a dissenting line." The Prudential +(Guaranty) building in Buffalo represents the finest concrete +embodiment of his idea achieved by Mr. Sullivan. It marks his +emancipation from what he calls his "masonry" period, during which +he tried, like so many other architects before and since, to make a +steel-framed structure look as though it were nothing but a masonry +wall perforated with openings--openings too many and too great not +to endanger its stability. The keen blade of Mr. Sullivan's mind cut +through this contradiction, and in the Prudential building he carried +out the idea of a _protective casing_ so successfully that Montgomery +Schuyler said of it, "I know of no steel framed building in which the +metallic construction is more palpably felt through the envelope of +baked clay." + +[Illustration: PLATE III. THE PRUDENTIAL BUILDING, BUFFALO N.Y.] + +The present author can speak with all humbleness of the general +failure, on the part of the architectural profession, to appreciate +the importance of this achievement, for he pleads guilty of day after +day having passed the Prudential building, then fresh in the majesty +of its soaring lines, and in the wonder of its fire-wrought casing, +with eyes and admiration only for the false romanticism of the Erie +County Savings Bank, and the empty bombast of the gigantic Ellicott +Square. He had not at that period of his life succeeded in living down +his architectural training, and as a result the most ignorant layman +was in a better position to appraise the relative merits of these +three so different incarnations of the building impulse than was he. + +Since the Prudential building there have been other tall office +buildings, by other hands, truthful in the main, less rigid, less +monotonous, more superficially pleasing, yet they somehow fail to +impart the feeling of utter sincerity and fresh originality inspired +by this building. One feels that here democracy has at last found +utterance in beauty; the American spirit speaks, the spirit of the +Long Denied. This rude, rectangular bulk is uncompromisingly practical +and utilitarian; these rows on rows of windows, regularly spaced, and +all of the same size, suggest the equality and monotony of obscure, +laborious lives; the upspringing shafts of the vertical piers stand +for their hopes and aspirations, and the unobtrusive, delicate +ornament which covers the whole with a garment of fresh beauty is like +the very texture of their dreams. The building is able to speak +thus powerfully to the imagination because its creator is a poet +and prophet of democracy. In his own chosen language he declares, as +Whitman did in verse, his faith in the people of "these states"--"A +Nation announcing itself." Others will doubtless follow who will make +a richer music, commensurate with the future's richer life, but such +democracy as is ours stands here proclaimed, just as such feudalism +as is still ours stands proclaimed in the Erie County Bank just across +the way. The massive rough stone walls of this building, its pointed +towers and many dormered chateau-like roof unconsciously symbolize the +attempt to impose upon the living present a moribund and alien +order. Democracy is thus afflicted, and the fact must needs find +architectural expression. + +In the field of domestic architecture these dramatic contrasts are +less evident, less sharply marked. Domestic life varies little from +age to age; a cottage is a cottage the world over, and some manorial +mansion on the James River, built in Colonial days, remains a fitting +habitation (assuming the addition of electric lights and sanitary +plumbing) for one of our Captains of Industry, however little an +ancient tobacco warehouse would serve him as a place of business. +This fact is so well recognized that the finest type of modern country +house follows, in general, this or some other equally admirable model, +though it is amusing to note the millionaire's preference for a feudal +castle, a French chateau, or an Italian villa of the decadence. + +The "man of moderate means," so called, provides himself with +no difficulty with a comfortable house, undistinguished but +unpretentious, which fits him like a glove. There is a piazza towards +the street, a bay-window in the living room, a sleeping-porch for the +children, and a box of a garage for the flivver in the bit of a back +yard. + +For the wage earner the housing problem is not so easily nor +so successfully solved. He is usually between the devil of the +speculative builder and the deep sea of the predatory landlord, each +intent upon taking from him the limit that the law allows and giving +him as little as possible for his money. Going down the scale of +indigence we find an itinerancy amounting almost to homelessness, or +houses so abject that they are an insult to the very name of home. + +[Illustration: PLATE IV: THE ERIE COUNTY SAVINGS BANK, BUFFALO, N.Y.] + +It is an eloquent commentary upon our national attitude toward a most +vital matter that in this feverish hustle to produce ships, airplanes, +clothing and munitions on a vast scale, the housing of the workers was +either overlooked entirely, or received eleventh-hour consideration, +and only now, after a year of participation in the war, is it +beginning to be adequately and officially dealt with--how efficiently +and intelligently remains to be seen. The housing of the soldiers was +another matter: that necessity was plain and urgent, and the miracle +has been accomplished, but except by indirection it has contributed +nothing to the permanent housing problem. + +Other aspects of our life which have found architectural expression +fall neither in the commercial nor in the domestic category--the great +hotels, for example, which partake of the nature of both, and our +passenger railway terminals, which partake of the nature of neither. +These latter deserve especial consideration in this connection, by +reason of their important function. The railway is of the very essence +of the modern, even though (with what sublime unreason) Imperial Rome +is written large over New York's most magnificent portal. + +Think not that in an age of unfaith mankind gives up the building +of temples. Temples inevitably arise where the tide of life flows +strongest; for there God manifests, in however strange a guise. That +tide is nowhere stronger than in the railroad, which is the arterial +system of our civilization. All arteries lead to and from the heart, +and thus the railroad terminus becomes the beating heart at the center +of modern life. It is a true instinct therefore which prompts to +the making of the terminal building a very temple, a monument to +the conquest of space through the harnessing of the giant horses of +electricity and steam. This conquest must be celebrated on a scale +commensurate with its importance, and in obedience to this necessity +the Pennsylvania station raised its proud head amid the push-cart +architecture of that portion of New York in which it stands. It is not +therefore open to the criticism often passed upon it, that it is too +grand, but it is the wrong kind of grandeur. If there be truth in the +contention that the living needs of today cannot be grafted upon the +dead stump of any ancient grandeur, the futility of every attempt to +accomplish this impossible will somehow, somewhere, reveal itself to +the discerning eye. Let us seek out, in this building, the place of +this betrayal. + +It is not necessarily in the main façade, though this is not a face, +but a mask--and a mask can, after its kind, always be made beautiful; +it is not in the nobly vaulted corridor, lined with shops--for all we +know the arcades of Imperial Rome were similarly lined; nor is it in +the splendid vestibule, leading into the magnificent waiting room, in +which a subject of the Cæsars would have felt more perfectly at home, +perhaps, than do we. But beyond this passenger concourse, where the +elevators and stairways descend to the tracks, necessity demanded the +construction of a great enclosure, supported only on slender columns +and far-flung trusses roofed with glass. Now latticed columns, steel +trusses, and wire glass are inventions of the modern world too useful +to be dispensed with. Rome could not help the architect here. The mode +to which he was inexorably self-committed in the rest of the building +demanded massive masonry, cornices, mouldings; a tribute to Cæsar +which could be paid everywhere but in this place. The architect's +problem then became to reconcile two diametrically different systems. +But between the west wall of the ancient Roman baths and the modern +skeleton construction of the roof of the human greenhouse there is +no attempt at fusion. The slender latticed columns cut unpleasantly +through the granite cornices and mouldings; the first century A.D. and +the twentieth are here in incongruous juxtaposition--a little thing, +easily overlooked, yet how revealing! How reassuring of the fact "God +is not mocked!" + +The New York Central terminal speaks to the eye in a modern tongue, +with however French an accent. Its façade suggests a portal, reminding +the beholder that a railway station is in a very literal sense a city +gate placed just as appropriately in the center of the municipality as +in ancient times it was placed in the circuit of the outer walls. + +Neither edifice will stand the acid test of Mr. Sullivan's formula, +that a building is an organism and should follow the law of organisms, +which decrees that the form must everywhere follow and express the +function, the function determining and creating its appropriate form. +Here are two eminent examples of "arranged" architecture. Before +organic architecture can come into being our inchoate national life +must itself become organic. Arranged architecture, of the sort we +see everywhere, despite its falsity, is a true expression of the +conditions which gave it birth. + +[Illustration: PLATE V. THE NEW YORK CENTRAL TERMINAL] + +The grandeur of Rome, the splendour of Paris--what just and adequate +expression do they give of modern American life? Then shall we find in +our great hotels, say, such expression? Truly they represent, in the +phrase of Henry James, "a realized ideal" and a study of them should +reveal that ideal. From such a study we can only conclude that it +is life without effort or responsibility, with every physical need +luxuriously gratified. But these hotels nevertheless represent +democracy, it may be urged, for the reason that every one may there +buy board and lodging and mercenary service if he has the price. The +exceeding greatness of that price, however, makes of it a badge +of nobility which converts these democratic hostelries into feudal +castles, more inaccessible to the Long Denied than as though entered +by a drawbridge and surrounded by a moat. + +We need not even glance at the churches, for the tides of our +spiritual life flow no longer in full volume through their portals; +neither may the colleges long detain us, for architecturally +considered they give forth a confusion of tongues which has its +analogue in the confusion of ideas in the collective academic head. + +Is our search for some sign of democracy ended, and is it vain? No, +democracy exists in the secret heart of the people, all the people, +but it is a thing so new, so strange, so secret and sacred--the ideal +of brotherhood--that it is unmanifest yet in time and space. It is +a thing born not with the Declaration of Independence, but only +yesterday, with the call to a new crusade. The National Army is its +cradle, and it is nurtured wherever communities unite to serve the +sacred cause. Although menaced by the bloody sword of Imperialism in +Europe, it perhaps stands in no less danger from the secret poison +of graft and greed and treachery here at home. But it is a spiritual +birth, and therefore it cannot perish, but will live to write itself +on space in terms of beauty such as the world has never known. + + + + +II + +DURING THE WAR + + +The best thing that can be said about our immediate architectural +past is that it is past, for it has contributed little of value to an +architecture of democracy. During that neo-feudal period the architect +prospered, having his place at the baronial table; but now poor Tom's +a-cold on a war-swept heath, with food only for reflection. This +is but natural; the architect, in so far as he is an artist, is a +purveyor of beauty; and the abnormal conditions inevitable to a state +of war are devastating to so feminine and tender a thing, even though +war be the very soil from which new beauty springs. With Mars in +mid-heaven how afflicted is the horoscope of all artists! The skilled +hand of the musician is put to coarser uses; the eye that learned +its lessons from the sunset must learn the trick of making invisible +warships and great guns. Let the architect serve the war-god likewise, +in any capacity that offers, confident that this troubling of the +waters will bring about a new precipitation; that once the war is +over, men will turn from those "old, unhappy, far-off things" to +pastures beautiful and new. + +In whatever way the war may complicate the architect's personal +problem, it should simplify and clarify his attitude toward his art. +With no matter what seriousness and sincerity he may have undertaken +his personal search for truth and beauty, he will come to question, +as never before, both its direction and its results. He is bound to +perceive, if he does not perceive already, that the war's arrestment +of architecture (in all but its most utilitarian and ephemeral phases) +is no great loss to the world for the reason that our architecture was +uninspired, unoriginal, done without joy, without reverence, without +conviction: a thing which any wind of a new spirit was bound to make +appear foolish to a generation with sight rendered clairvoyant through +its dedication to great and regenerative ends. + +He will come to perceive that between the Civil War and the crusade +that is now upon us, we were under the evil spell of materialism. Now +materialism is the very negation of democracy, which is a government +by the _demos_, or over-soul; it is equally the negation of joy, the +negation of reverence, and it is without conviction because it cannot +believe even in itself. Reflecting thus, he can scarcely fail to +realize that materialism, everywhere entrenched, was entrenched +strongest in the camps of the rich---not the idle rich, for +materialism is so terrible a taskmaster that it makes its votaries its +slaves. These slaves, in turn, made a slave of the artist, a minister +to their pride and pretence. His art thus lacked that "sad sincerity" +which alone might have saved it in a crisis. When the storm broke +militant democracy turned to the engineer, who produced buildings at +record speed, by the mile, with only such architectural assistance as +could be first and easiest fished up from the dragnet of the draft. + +In one direction only does there appear to be open water. Toward the +general housing problem the architectural profession has been spurred +into activity by reason of the war, and to its credit be it said, it +is now thoroughly aroused. The American Institute of Architects sent a +commissioner to England to study housing in its latest manifestations, +and some of the ablest and most influential members of that +organization have placed their services at the disposal of the +government. Moreover, there is a manifest disposition, on the part of +architects everywhere, to help in this matter all they can. The danger +dwells in the possibility that their advice will not be heeded, their +services not be fully utilized, but through chicanery, ignorance, +or inanition, we will relapse into the tentative, "expensively +provisional" methods which have governed the housing of workers +hitherto. Even so, architects will doubtless recapture, and more +than recapture, their imperiled prestige, but under what changed +conditions, and with what an altered attitude toward their art and +their craft! + +They will find that they must unlearn certain things the schools had +taught them: preoccupation with the relative merits of Gothic and +Classic--tweedledum and tweedledee. Furthermore, they must learn +certain neglected lessons from the engineer, lessons that they will +be able immeasurably to better, for although the engineer is a very +monster of competence and efficiency within his limits, these are +sharply marked, and to any detailed knowledge of that "beautiful +necessity" which determines spatial rhythm and counterpoint he is a +stranger. The ideal relation between architect and engineer is that of +a happily wedded pair--strength married to beauty; in the period just +passed or passing they have been as disgruntled divorcés. + +[Illustration: PLATE VI. PLAN OF THE RED CROSS COMMUNITY CLUB HOUSE, +CAMP SHERMAN, OHIO] + +The author has in mind one child of such a happy union brought about +by the war; the building is the Red Cross Community Club House at Camp +Sherman, which, in the pursuit of his destiny, and for the furtherance +of his education, he inhabited for two memorable weeks. He learned +there more lessons than a few, and encountered more tangled skeins of +destiny than he is ever likely to unravel. The matter has so direct a +bearing, both on the subject of architecture and of democracy, that it +is worth discussing at some length. + +This club house stands, surrounded by its tributary dormitories, on a +government reservation, immediately adjacent to the camp itself, +the whole constituting what is known as the Community Center. By the +payment of a dollar any soldier is free to entertain his relatives +and friends there, and it is open to all the soldiers at all times. +Because the iron discipline of the army is relaxed as soon as the +limits of the camp are overpassed, the atmosphere is favourable to +social life. + +The building occupies its acre of ground invitingly, though exteriorly +of no particular distinction. It is the interior that entitles it to +consideration as a contribution to an architecture of that new-born +democracy of which our army camps have been the cradle. The plan of +this interior is cruciform, two hundred feet in each dimension. Built +by the Red Cross of the state of Ohio, and dedicated to the larger +uses of that organization, the symbolic appropriateness of this +particular geometrical figure should not pass unremarked. The cross +is divided into side aisles, nave, and crossing, with galleries and +mezzanines so arranged as to shorten the arms of the cross in its +upper stages, leaving the clear-story surrounding the crossing +unimpeded and well defined. The light comes for the most part from +high windows, filtering down, in tempered brightness to the floor. The +bones of the structure are everywhere in evidence, and an element of +its beauty, by reason of the admirably direct and logical +arrangement of posts and trusses. The vertical walls are covered with +plaster-board of a light buff color, converted into good sized +panels by means of wooden strips finished with a thin grey stain. The +structural wood work is stained in similar fashion, the iron rods, +straps, and bolts being painted black. This color scheme is +completed and a little enlivened by red stripes and crosses placed at +appropriate intervals in the general design. + +The building attained its final synthesis through the collaboration of +a Cleveland architect and a National Army captain of engineers. It is +so single in its appeal that one does not care to inquire too closely +into the part of each in the performance; both are in evidence, for +an architect seldom succeeds in being so direct and simple, while an +engineer seldom succeeds in being so gracious and altogether suave. + +Entirely aside from its æsthetic interest--based as this is on beauty +of organism almost alone--the building is notable for the success with +which it fulfils and co-ordinates its manifold functions: those of a +dormitory, a restaurant, a ballroom, a theatre, and a lounge. The +arm of the cross containing the principal entrance accommodates the +office, coat room, telephones, news and cigar stand, while leaving +the central nave unimpeded, so that from the door one gets the unusual +effect of an interior vista two hundred feet long. The restaurant +occupies the entire left transept, with a great brick fireplace at the +far end. There is another fireplace in the centre of the side of +the arm beyond the crossing; that part which would correspond in a +cathedral to the choir and apse being given over to the uses of a +reading and writing room. The right transept forms a theatre, on +occasion, terminating as it does with a stage. The central floor +spaces are kept everywhere free except in the restaurant, the sides +and angles being filled in with leather-covered sofas, wicker and +wooden chairs and tables, arranged in groups favourable to comfort and +conversation. Two stairways, at the right and left of the restaurant, +give access to the ample balcony and to the bedrooms, which occupy +three of the four ends of the arms of the cross at this level. + +The appearance and atmosphere of this great interior is inspiring; +particularly of an evening, when it is thronged with soldiers, and +civilian guests. The strains of music, the hum of many voices, the +rhythmic shuffle on the waxed floor of the feet of the dancers--these +eminently social sounds mingle and lose themselves in the spaces of +the roof, like the voice of many waters. Tobacco smoke ascends like +incense, blue above the prevailing green-brown of the crowd, shot here +and there with brighter colors from the women's hats and dresses, in +the kaleidoscopic shifting of the dance. Long parallel rows of orange +lights, grouped low down on the lofty pillars, reflect themselves +on the polished floor, and like the patina of time on painted canvas +impart to the entire animated picture an incomparable tone. For the +lighting, either by accident or by inspiration, is an achievement +of the happiest, an example of the friendliness of fate to him who +attempts a free solution of his problem. The brackets consist merely +of a cruciform arrangement of planed pine boards about each column, +with the end grain painted red. On the under side of each arm of the +cross is a single electric bulb enclosed within an orange-coloured +shade to kill the glare. The light makes the bare wood of the fixture +appear incandescent, defining its geometry in rose colour with the +most beautiful effect. + +The club house is the centre of the social and ceremonial life of the +camp, for balls, dinners, receptions, conferences, concerts without +number; and it has been the scene of a military wedding--the daughter +of a major-general to the grandson of an ex-president. To these events +the unassuming, but pervasive beauty of the place lends a dignity new +to our social life. In our army camps social life is truly democratic, +as any one who has experienced it does not need to be told. Not alone +have the conditions of conscription conspired to make it so, but there +is a manifest _will-to-democracy_--the growing of a new flower of +the spirit, sown in a community of sacrifice, to reach its maturity, +perhaps, only in a community of suffering. + +The author may seem to have over-praised this Community Club House; +with the whole country to draw from for examples it may well appear +fatuous to concentrate the reader's attention, for so long, on a +building in a remote part of the Middle West: cheap, temporary, +and requiring only twenty-one days for its erection. But of the +transvaluation of values brought about by the war, this building is +an eminent example: it stands in symbolic relation to the times; it +represents what may be called the architecture of Service; it is among +the first of the new temples of the new democracy, dedicated to the +uses of simple, rational social life. Notwithstanding that it fills a +felt need, common to every community, there is nothing like it in +any of our towns and cities; there are only such poor and partial +substitutes as the hotel, the saloon, the dance hall, the lodge room +and the club. It is scarcely conceivable that the men and women who +have experienced its benefits and its beauty should not demand and +have similar buildings in their own home towns. + +[Illustration: PLATE VII. INTERIOR OF THE CAMP SHERMAN COMMUNITY +HOUSE] + +Beyond the oasis of the Community Club House at Camp Sherman stretch +the cantonments--a Euclidian nightmare of bare boards, black roofs +and ditches, making grim vistas of straight lines. This is the +architecture of Need in contradistinction to the architecture of +Greed, symbolized in the shop-window prettiness of those sanitary +suburbs of our cities created by the real estate agent and the +speculative builder. Neither contain any enduring element of beauty. + +But the love of beauty in one form or another exists in every human +heart, and if too long or too rigorously denied it finds its own +channels of fulfilment. This desire for self-expression through beauty +is an important, though little remarked phenomenon of these mid-war +times. At the camps it shows itself in the efforts of men of +specialized tastes and talents to get together and form dramatic +organizations, glee clubs, and orchestras; and more generally by the +disposition of the soldiers to sing together at work and play and on +the march. The renascence of poetry can be interpreted as a revulsion +against the prevailing prosiness; the amateur theatre is equally a +protest against the inanity and conventionality of the commercial +stage; while the Community Chorus movement is an evidence of a desire +to escape a narrow professionalism in music. A similar situation +has arisen in the field of domestic architecture, in the form of +an unorganized, but wide-spread reaction against the cheap and ugly +commercialism which has dominated house construction and decoration of +the more unpretentious class. This became articulate a few years ago +in the large number of books and magazines devoted to house-planning, +construction, decoration, furnishing, and garden-craft. The success +which has attended these publications, and their marked influence, +give some measure of the magnitude of this revolt. + +But now attention must be called to a significant, and somewhat +sinister fact. The professional in these various fields of æsthetic +endeavour, has shown either indifference or active hostility toward +all manner of amateur efforts at self-expression. Free verse aroused +the ridicule of the professors of metrics; the Little Theatre movement +was solemnly banned by such pundits as Belasco and Mrs. Fiske; the +Community Chorus movement has invariably met with opposition and +misunderstanding from professional musicians; and with few exceptions +the more influential architects have remained aloof from the effort +to give skilled architectural assistance to those who cannot afford to +pay them ten per cent. + +Thus everywhere do we discover a deadening hand laid upon the +self-expression of the democratic spirit through beauty. Its enemies +are of its own household; those who by nature and training should +be its helpers hinder it instead. Why do they do this? Because their +fastidious, æsthetic natures are outraged by a crudeness which they +themselves could easily refine away if they chose; because also they +recoil at a lack of conformity to existing conventions--conventions +so hampering to the inner spirit of the Newness, that in order to +incarnate at all it must of necessity sweep them aside. + +But in every field of æsthetic endeavour appears here and there a +man or a woman with unclouded vision, who is able to see in the +flounderings of untrained amateurs the stirrings of _demos_ from his +age-long sleep. These, often forsaking paths more profitable, lend +their skilled assistance, not seeking to impose the ancient outworn +forms upon the Newness, but by a transfusion of consciousness +permitting it to create forms of its own. Such a one, in architecture, +Louis Sullivan has proved himself; in music Harry Barnhart, who evokes +the very spirit of song from any random crowd. The _demos_ found voice +first in the poetry of Walt Whitman who has a successor in Vachel +Lindsay, the man who walked through Kansas, trading poetry for food +and lodging, teaching the farmers' sons and daughters to intone +his stirring odes to Pocahontas, General Booth, and Old John Brown. +Isadora Duncan, Gordon Craig, Maeterlinck, Scriabine are perhaps +too remote from the spirit of democracy, too tinged with old-world +æstheticism, to be included in this particular category, but all +are image-breakers, liberators, and have played their part in the +preparation of the field for an art of democracy. + +To the architect falls the task, in the new dispensation, of providing +the appropriate material environment for its new life. If he holds the +old ideas and cherishes the old convictions current before the war +he can do nothing but reproduce their forms and fashions; for +architecture, in the last analysis, is only the handwriting of +consciousness on space, and materialism has written there already all +that it has to tell of its failure to satisfy the mind and heart of +man. However beautiful old forms may seem to him they will declare +their inadequacy to generations free of that mist of familiarity which +now makes life obscure. If, on the other hand, submitting himself +to the inspiration of the _demos_ he experiences a change of +consciousness, he will become truly and newly creative. + +His problem, in other words, is not to interpret democracy in terms +of existing idioms, be they classic or romantic, but to experience +democracy in his heart and let it create and determine its new forms +through him. It is not for him to _impose_, it is for him to be +_imposed upon_. + + "The passive Master lent his hand + To the vast soul that o'er him planned" + +says Emerson in _The Problem_, a poem, which seems particularly +addressed to architects, and which every one of them would do well to +learn by heart. + +If he is at a loss to know where to go and what to do in order to be +played upon by these great forces let him direct his attention to +the army and the army camps. Here the spirit of democracy is +already incarnate. These soldiers, violently shaken free from their +environment, stripped of all but the elemental necessities of life; +facing a sinister destiny beyond a human-shark-infested ocean, +are today the fortunate of earth by reason of their realization of +brotherhood, not as a beautiful theory, but as a blessed fact of +experience. They will come back with ideas that they cannot utter, +with memories that they cannot describe; they will have dreamed dreams +and seen visions, and their hearts will stir to potencies for which +materialism has not even a name. + +The future of the country will be in their young hands. Will they +re-create, from its ruins, the faithless and loveless feudalism +from which the war set them free? No, they will seek only for +self-expression, the expression of that aroused and indwelling spirit +which shall create the new, the true democracy. And because it is a +spiritual thing it will come clothed in beauty; that is, it will find +its supreme expression through the forms of art. The architect who +assists in the emprise of weaving this garment will be supremely +blessed, but only he who has kept the vigil with prayer and fasting +will be supremely qualified. + + + + +III + +AFTER THE WAR + + "When the old world is sterile + And the ages are effete, + He will from wrecks and sediment + The fairer world complete." + + _The World Soul_. Emerson. + +He whom the World Soul "forbids to despair" cannot but hope; and he +who hopes tries ever to imagine that "fairer world" yearning for birth +beyond this interval of blood and tears. Prophecy, to all but the +anointed, is dangerous and uncertain, but even so, the author cannot +forbear attempting to prevision the architecture likely to arise from +the wrecks and sediment left by the war. As a basis for this forecast +it is necessary first of all briefly to classify the expression of the +building impulse from what may be called the psychological point of +view. + +Broadly speaking, there are not five orders of architecture--nor +fifty--but only two: _Arranged_ and _Organic_. These correspond to the +two terms of that "inevitable duality" which bisects life. Talent and +genius, reason and intuition, bromide and sulphite are some of the +names we know them by. + +Arranged architecture is reasoned and artificial; produced by talent, +governed by taste. Organic architecture, on the other hand, is the +product of some obscure inner necessity for self-expression which +is sub-conscious. It is as though Nature herself, through some human +organ of her activity, had addressed herself to the service of the +sons and daughters of men. + +Arranged architecture in its finest manifestations is the product of +a pride, a knowledge, a competence, a confidence staggering to behold. +It seems to say of the works of Nature, "I'll show you a trick worth +two of that." For the subtlety of Nature's geometry, and for her +infinite variety and unexpectedness, Arranged architecture substitutes +a Euclidian system of straight lines and (for the most part) circular +curves, assembled and arranged according to a definite logic of +its own. It is created but not creative; it is imagined but not +imaginative. Organic architecture is both creative and imaginative. It +is non-Euclidian in the sense that it is higher-dimensional--that is, +it suggests extension in directions and into regions where the spirit +finds itself at home, but of which the senses give no report to the +brain. + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII. IMAGINATIVE SKETCH BY HENRY P. KIRBY] + +To make the whole thing clearer it may be said that Arranged and +Organic architecture bear much the same relation to one another that +a piano bears to a violin. A piano is an instrument that does not give +forth discords if one follows the rules. A violin requires absolutely +an ear--an inner rectitude. It has a way of betraying the man of +talent and glorifying the genius, becoming one with his body and his +soul. + +Of course it stands to reason that there is not always a hard and fast +differentiation between these two orders of architecture, but there +is one sure way by which each may be recognized and known. If the +function appears to have created the form, and if everywhere the +form follows the function, changing as that changes, the building is +Organic; if on the contrary, "the house confines the spirit," if the +building presents not a face but however beautiful a mask, it is an +example of Arranged architecture. + +The Gothic cathedrals of the "Heart of Europe"--now the place of +Armageddon--represent the most perfect and powerful incarnation of +the Organic spirit in architecture. After the decadence of mediaeval +feudalism--synchronous with that of monasticism--the Arranged +architecture of the Renaissance acquired the ascendant; this was +coincident with the rise of humanism, when life became increasingly +secular. During the post-Renaissance, or scientific period, of which +the war probably marks the close, there has been a confusion of +tongues; architecture has spoken only alien or dead languages, learned +by rote. + +But in so far as it is anything at all, æsthetically, our architecture +is Arranged, so if only by the operation of the law of opposites, or +alternation, we might reasonably expect the next manifestation to +be Organic. There are other and better reasons, however, for such +expectancy. + +Organic architecture is ever a flower of the religious spirit. When +the soul draws near to the surface of life, as it did in the two +mystic centuries of the Middle Ages, it _organizes_ life; and +architecture, along, with the other arts becomes truly creative. The +informing force comes not so much _from_ man as _through_ him. After +the war that spirit of brotherhood, born in the camps--as Christ was +born in a manger--and bred on the battlefields and in the trenches of +Europe, is likely to take on all the attributes of a new religion of +humanity, prompting men to such heroisms and renunciations, exciting +in them such psychic sublimations, as have characterized the great +religious renewals of time past. + +If this happens it is bound to write itself on space in an +architecture beautiful and new; one which "takes its shape and +sun-color" not from the niggardly mind, but from the opulent heart. +This architecture will of necessity be organic, the product not of +self-assertive personalities, but the work of the "Patient Daemon" +organizing the nation into a spiritual democracy. + +The author is aware that in this point of view there is little of +the "scientific spirit"; but science fails to reckon with the soul. +Science advances facing backward, so what prevision can it have of a +miraculous and divinely inspired future--or for the matter of that, +of any future at all? The old methods and categories will no longer +answer; the orderly course of evolution has been violently interrupted +by the earthquake of the war; igneous action has superseded aqueous +action. The casements of the human mind look out no longer upon +familiar hills and valleys, but on a stark, strange, devastated +landscape, the ploughed land of some future harvest of the years. +It is the end of the Age, the _Kali Yuga_--the completion of a major +cycle; but all cycles follow the same sequence: after winter, Spring; +and after the Iron Age, the Golden. + +The specific features of this organic, divinely inspired architecture +of the Golden Age cannot of course be discerned by any one, any more +than the manner in which the Great Mystery will present itself anew to +consciousness. The most imaginative artist can imagine only in +terms of the already-existent; he can speak only the language he has +learned. If that language has been derived from mediaevalism, he +will let his fancy soar after the manner of Henry Kirby, in his +_Imaginative Sketches_; if on the contrary he has learned to think in +terms of the classic vernacular, Otto Rieth's _Architectur-Skizzen_ +will suggest the sort of thing that he is likely to produce. Both +results will be as remote as possible from future reality, for the +reason that they are so near to present reality. And yet some germs of +the future must be enfolded even in the present moment. The course +of wisdom is to seek them neither in the old romance nor in the new +rationalism, but in the subtle and ever-changing spirit of the times. + +[Illustration: PLATE IX. ARCHITECTURAL SKETCH BY OTTO RIETH] + +The most modern note yet sounded in business, in diplomacy, in social +life, is expressed by the phrase, "Live openly!" From every quarter, +in regard to every manner of human activity, has come the cry, "Let +in the light!" By a physical correspondence not the result of +coincidence, but of the operation of an occult law, we have, in a very +real sense, let in the light. In buildings of the latest type devoted +to large uses, there has been a general abandonment of that "cellular +system" of many partitions which produced the pepper-box exterior, in +favour of great rooms serving diverse functions lit by vast areas of +glass. Although an increase of efficiency has dictated and determined +these changes, this breaking down of barriers between human beings +and their common sharing of the light of day in fuller measure, is a +symbol of the growth of brotherhood, and the search, by the soul, for +spiritual light. + +Now if this fellowship and this quest gain volume and intensity, its +physical symbols are bound to multiply and find ever more perfect +forms of manifestation. So both as a practical necessity and as a +symbol the most pregnant and profound, we are likely to witness in +architecture the development of the House of Light, particularly as +human ingenuity has made this increasingly practicable. + +Glass is a product still undergoing development, as are also those +devices of metal for holding it in position and making the joints +weather tight. The accident and fire hazard has been largely overcome +by protecting the structural parts, by the use of wire glass, and +by other ingenious devices. The author has been informed on good +authority that shortly before the outbreak of the war a glass had been +invented abroad, and made commercially practicable, which shut out +the heat rays, but admitted the light. The use of this glass would +overcome the last difficulty--the equalization of temperatures--and +might easily result in buildings of an entirely novel type, the +approach to which is seen in the "pier and grill" style of exterior. +This is being adopted not only for commercial buildings, but for +others of widely different function, on account of its manifest +advantages. Cass Gilbert's admirable studio apartment at 200 West +Fifty-Seventh Street, New York, is a building of this type. + +In this seeking for sunlight in our cities, we will come to live on +the roofs more and more--in summer in the free air, in winter under +variformed shelters of glass. This tendency is already manifesting +itself in those newest hotels whose roofs are gardens, convertible +into skating ponds, with glazed belvideres for eating in all weathers. +Nothing but ignorance and inanition stand in the way of utilization of +waste roof spaces. People have lived on the roofs in the past, often +enough, and will again. + +[Illustration: PLATE X. RODIN STUDIOS, 200 WEST 57TH STREET, NEW YORK] + +By shouldering ever upward for air and light, we have too often +made of the "downtown" districts cliff-bound canyons--"granite deeps +opening into granite deeps." This has been the result of no inherent +necessity, but of that competitive greed whose nemesis is ever to +miss the very thing it seeks. By intelligent co-operation, backed +by legislation, the roads and sidewalks might be made to share the +sunlight with the roofs. + +This could be achieved in two ways: by stepping back the façades +in successive stages--giving top lighting, terraces, and wonderful +incidental effects of light and shade--or by adjusting the height of +the buildings to the width of their interspaces, making rows of tall +buildings alternate with rows of low ones, with occasional fully +isolated "skyscrapers" giving variety to the sky-line. + +These and similar problems of city planning have been worked out +theoretically with much minuteness of detail, and are known to every +student of the science of cities, but very little of it all has been +realized in a practical way--certainly not on this side of the water, +where individual rights are held so sacred that a property owner may +commit any kind of an architectural nuisance so long as he confines +it to his own front yard. The strength of IS, the weakness of _should +be_, conflicting interests and legislative cowardice are responsible +for the highly irrational manner in which our cities have grown great. + +The search for spiritual light in the midst of materialism finds +unconscious symbolization in a way other than this seeking for the +sun. It is in the amazing development of artificial illumination. From +a purely utilitarian standpoint there is almost nothing that cannot +now be accomplished with light, short of making the ether itself +luminiferous. The æsthetic development of this field, however, can be +said to have scarcely begun. The so recent San Francisco Exposition +witnessed the first successful effort of any importance to enhance the +effect of architecture by artificial illumination, and to use colored +light with a view to its purely pictorial value. Though certain +buildings have since been illuminated with excellent effect, it +remains true that the corset, chewing-gum, beer and automobile +sky signs of our Great White Ways indicate the height to which our +imagination has risen in utilizing this Promethean gift in any but +necessary ways. Interior lighting, except negatively, has not been +dealt with from the standpoint of beauty, but of efficiency; the +engineer has preempted this field to the exclusion of the artist. + +All this is the result of the atrophy of that faculty to worship and +wonder which alone induces the mood from which the creation of beauty +springs. Light we regard only as a convenience "to see things by" +instead of as the power and glory that it inherently is. Its intense +and potent vibrations and the rainbow glory of its colour beat at the +door of consciousness in vain. When we awaken to these things we shall +organize light into a language of spontaneous emotion, just as from +sound music was organized. + +It is beside the purpose of this essay to attempt to trace the +evolution of this new art form, made possible by modern invention, to +indicate what phases it is likely to pass through on the way to what +perfections, but that it is bound to add a new glory to architecture +is sure. This will come about in two ways: directly, by giving color, +quality, subtlety to outdoor and indoor lighting, and indirectly by +educating the eye to color values, as the ear has been educated by +music; thus creating a need for more color everywhere. + +As light is the visible symbol of an inner radiance, so is color the +sign manual of happiness, of joy. Our cities are so dun and drab in +their outward aspects, by reason of the weight of care that burdens +us down. We decry the happy irresponsibility of the savage, and the +patient contentment of the Oriental with his lot, but both are able +to achieve marvels of color in their environment beyond the compass +of civilized man. The glory of mediaeval cathedral windows is a still +living confutation of the belief that in those far-off times the human +heart was sad. Architecture is the index of the inner life of those +who produced it, and whenever it is colorful that inner life contains +an inner joy. + +In the coming Golden Age life will be joyous, and if it is joyous, +colour will come into architecture again. Our psychological state even +now, alone prevents it, for we are rich in materials and methods to +make such polychromy possible. In an article in a recent number +of _The Architectural Record_, Mr. Leon V. Solon, writing from an +entirely different point of view, divines this tendency, and expresses +the opinion that color is again renascent. This tendency is so marked, +and this opinion is so shared that we may look with confidence toward +a color-evolution in architectural art. + +The question of the character of what may be called the ornamental +mode of the architecture of the New Age is of all questions the most +obscure. Evolution along the lines of the already existent does not +help us here, for we are utterly without any ornamental mode from +which a new and better might conceivably evolve. Nothing so betrays +the spiritual bankruptcy of the end of the Iron Age as this. + +The only light on this problem which we shall find, dwells in the +realm of metaphysics rather than in the world of material reality. +Ornament, more than any other element of architecture, is deeply +psychological, it is an externalization of an inner life. This is +so true that any time-worn fragment out of the past when art was +a language can usually be assigned to its place and its period, so +eloquent is it of a particular people and a particular time. Could we +therefore detect and understand the obscure movement of consciousness +in the modern world, we might gain some clue to the language it would +later find. + +It is clear that consciousness is moving away from its absorption in +materiality because it is losing faith in materialism. Clairvoyance, +psychism, the recrudescence of mysticism, of occultism--these signs +of the times are straws which show which way the wind now sets, and +indicate that the modern mind is beginning to find itself at home in +what is called _the fourth dimension_. The phrase is used here in +a different sense from that in which the mathematician uses it, but +oddly enough four-dimensional geometry provides the symbols by +which some of these occult and mystical ideas may be realized by the +rational mind. One of the most engaging and inspiring of these +ideas is that the personal self is a _projection_ on the plane of +materiality of a metaphysical self, or soul, to which the personal +self is related as is the shadow of an object to the object +itself. Now this coincides remarkably with the idea implicit in all +higher-space speculation, that the figures of solid geometry +are projections on a space of three dimensions, of corresponding +four-dimensional forms. + +All ornament is in its last analysis geometrical--sometimes directly +so, as in the system developed by the Moors. Will the psychology +of the new dispensation find expression through some adaptation of +four-dimensional geometry? The idea is far from absurd, by reason of +the decorative quality inherent in many of the regular hypersolids of +four-dimensional space when projected upon solid and plane space. + +If this suggestion seems too fanciful, there is still recourse to the +law of analogy in finding the thing we seek. Every fresh religious +impulse has always developed a symbology through which its truths are +expressed and handed down. These symbols, woven into the very texture +of the life of the people, are embodied by them in their ornamental +mode. The sculpture of a Greek temple is a picture-book of Greek +religion; the ornamentation of a Gothic cathedral is a veritable bible +of the Christian faith. Almost all of the most beautiful and enduring +ornaments have first been sacred symbols; the swastika, the "Eye of +Buddha," the "Shield of David," the wheel, the lotus, and the cross. + +Now that "twilight of the world" following the war perhaps will +witness an _Avatara_--the coming of a World-Teacher who will rebuild +on the one broad and ancient foundation that temple of Truth which +the folly and ignorance of man is ever tearing down. A material +counterpart of that temple will in that case afterward arise. Thus +will be born the architecture of the future; and the ornament of that +architecture will tell, in a new set of symbols, the story of the +rejuvenation of the world. + +In this previsioning of architecture after the war, the author +must not be understood to mean that these things will be realized +_directly_ after. Architecture, from its very nature, is the most +sluggish of all the arts to respond to the natural magic of the +quick-moving mind--it is Caliban, not Ariel. Following the war the +nation will be for a time depleted of man-power, burdened with +debt, prostrate, exhausted. But in that time of reckoning will come +reflection, penitence. + + "And I'll be wise hereafter, + And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass + Was I, to take this drunkard for a god, + And worship this dull fool." + +With some such epilogue the curtain will descend on the great drama +now approaching a close. It will be for the younger generations, the +reincarnate souls of those who fell in battle, to inaugurate the work +of giving expression, in deathless forms of art, to the vision of that +"fairer world" glimpsed now only as by lightning, in a dream. + +[Illustration] + + + + +ESSAYS + + + + +ORNAMENT FROM MATHEMATICS + +I + +THE WORLD ORDER + + +No fact is better established than that we live in an _orderly_ +universe. The truth of this the world-war may for the moment, and to +the near and narrow view appear to contradict, but the sweep of human +history, and the stars in their courses, show an orderliness which +cannot be gainsaid. + +Now of that order, _number_--that is, mathematics--is the more than +symbol, it is the very thing itself. Whence this weltering tide of +life arose, and whither it flows, we know not; but that it is governed +by mathematical law all of our knowledge in every field confirms. Were +it not so, knowledge itself would be impossible. It is because man is +a counting animal that he is master over all the beasts of the earth. + +Number is the tune to which all things move, and as it were make +music; it is in the pulses of the blood no less than in the starred +curtain of the sky. It is a necessary concomitant alike of the sharp +bargain, the chemical experiment, and the fine frenzy of the poet. +Music is number made audible; architecture is number made visible; +nature geometrizes not alone in her crystals, but in her most +intricate arabesques. + +If number be indeed the universal solvent of all forms, sounds, +motions, may we not make of it the basis of a new æsthetic--a loom on +which to weave patterns the like of which the world has never seen? To +attempt such a thing--to base art on mathematics--argues (some one +is sure to say) an entire misconception of the nature and function of +art. "Art is a fountain of spontaneous emotion"--what, therefore, +can it have in common with the proverbially driest, least spontaneous +preoccupation of the human mind? But the above definition concludes +with the assertion that this emotion reaches the soul "through various +channels." The transit can be effected only through some sensuous +element, some language (in the largest sense), and into this the +element of number and form must inevitably enter--mathematics is +"there" and cannot be thought or argued away. + +[Illustration: PLATE XI. IMAGINARY COMPOSITION: THE PORTAL] + +But to make mathematics, and not the emotion which it expresses, the +important thing, is not this to fall into the time-worn heresy of +art for art's sake, that is, art for form's sake--art for the sake of +mathematics? To this objection there is an answer, and as this answer +contains the crux of the whole matter, embraces the proposition by +which this thesis must stand or fall, it must be full and clear. + +What is it, in the last analysis, that all art which is not +purely personal and episodical strives to express? Is it not the +_world-order_?--the very thing that religion, philosophy, science, +strive according to their different natures and methods to express? +The perception of the world-order by the artist arouses an emotion to +which he can give vent only in terms of number; but number is itself +the most abstract expression of the world order. The form and content +of art are therefore not different, but the same. A deep sense of this +probably inspired Pater's famous saying that all art aspires toward +the condition of music; for music, from its very nature, is the +world-order uttered in terms of number, in a sense and to a degree not +attained by any other art. + +This is not mere verbal juggling. We have suffered so long from an +art-phase which exalts the personal, as opposed to the cosmic, that +we have lost sight of the fact that the great arts of antiquity, +preceding the Renaissance, insisted on the cosmic, or impersonal +aspect, and on this alone, just as does Oriental art, even today. +The secret essence, the archetypal idea of the subject is the +preoccupation of the Oriental artist, as it was of the Egyptian, +and of the Greek. We of the West today seek as eagerly to fix the +accidental and ephemeral aspect--the shadow of a particular cloud upon +a particular landscape; the smile on the face of a specific person, in +a recognizable room, at a particular moment of time. Of symbolic art, +of universal emotion expressing itself in terms which are universal, +we have very little to show. + +The reason for this is first, our love for, and understanding of, +the concrete and personal: it is the _world-aspect_ and not the +_world-order_ which interests us; and second, the inadequacies of +current forms of art expression to render our sense of the eternal +secret heart of things as it presents itself to our young eyes. +Confronted with this difficulty, we have shirked it, and our ambition +has shrunk to the portrayal of those aspects which shuffle our poverty +out of sight. It is not a poverty of technique--we are dexterous +enough; nor is it a poverty of invention--we are clever enough; it is +the poverty of the spiritual bankrupt trying to divert attention by a +prodigal display of the smallest of small change. + +Reference is made here only to the arts of space; the arts of +time--music, poetry, and the (written) drama--employing vehicles more +flexible, have been more fortunate, though they too suffer in some +degree from worshipping, instead of the god of order, the god of +chance. + +The corrective of this is a return to first principles: principles so +fundamental that they suffer no change, however new and various their +illustrations. These principles are embodied in number, and one might +almost say nowhere else in such perfection. Mathematics is not the +dry and deadly thing that our teaching of it and the uses we put it +to have made it seem. Mathematics is the handwriting on the human +consciousness of the very Spirit of Life itself. Others before +Pythagoras discovered this, and it is the discovery which awaits us +too. + +To indicate the way in which mathematics might be made to yield the +elements of a new æsthetic is beyond the province of this essay, being +beyond the compass of its author, but he makes bold to take a single +phase: ornament, and to deal with it from this point of view. + +The ornament now in common use has been gathered from the dust-bin +of the ages. What ornamental _motif_ of any universality, worth, or +importance is less than a hundred years old? We continue to use the +honeysuckle, the acanthus, the fret, the egg and dart, not because +they are appropriate to any use we put them to, but because they are +beautiful _per se_. Why are they beautiful? It is not because they +are highly conventionalized representations of natural forms which +are themselves beautiful, but because they express cosmic truths. The +honeysuckle and the acanthus leaf, for example, express the idea +of successive impulses, mounting, attaining a maximum, and +descending--expanding from some focus of force in the manner universal +throughout nature. Science recognizes in the spiral an archetypal +form, whether found in a whirlpool or in a nebula. A fret is a series +of highly conventionalized spirals: translate it from angular to +curved and we have the wave-band; isolate it and we have the volute. +Egg and dart are phallic emblems, female and male; or, if you prefer, +as ellipse and straight line, they are symbols of finite existence +contrasted with infinity. [Figure 1.] + +[Illustration: Figure 1.] + +Suppose that we determine to divest ourselves of these and other +precious inheritances, not because they have lost their beauty and +meaning, but rather on account of their manifold associations with a +past which the war makes suddenly more remote than slow centuries have +done; suppose that we determine to supplant these symbols with others +no less charged with beauty and meaning, but more directly drawn from +the inexhaustible well of mathematical truth--how shall we set to +work? + +We need not _set_ to work, because we have done that already, we are +always doing it, unknowingly, and without knowing the reason why. All +ornamentalists are subjective mathematicians--an amazing statement, +perhaps, but one susceptible of confirmation in countless amusing +ways, of which two will be shown. + +[Illustration: Figure 2.] + +Consider first your calendar--your calendar whose commonplace face, +having yielded you information as to pay day, due day, and holiday, +you obliterate at the end of each month without a qualm, oblivious to +the fact that were your interests less sordid and personal it would +speak to you of that order which pervades the universe; would make you +realize something of the music of the spheres. For on that familiar +checkerboard of the days are numerical arrangements which are +mysterious, "magical"; each separate number is as a spider at the +center of an amazing mathematical web. That is to say, every number +is discovered to be half of the sum of the pairs of numbers which +surround it, vertically, horizontally, and diagonally: all of the +pairs add to the same sum, and the central number divides this sum by +two. A graphic indication of this fact on the calendar face by means +of a system of intersecting lines yields that form of classic grille +dear to the heart of every tyro draughtsman. [Figure 2.] Here is +an evident relation between mathematical fact and ornamental mode, +whether the result of accident, or by reason of some subconscious +connection between the creative and the reasoning part of the mind. + +To show, by means of an example other than this acrostic of the days, +how the pattern-making instinct follows unconsciously in the groove +traced out for it by mathematics, the attention of the reader is +directed to the design of the old Colonial bed-spread shown in Figure +3. Adjacent to this, in the upper right hand corner, is a magic +square of four. That is, all of the columns of figures of which it is +composed: vertical, horizontal and diagonal add to the same sum: 34. +An analysis of this square reveals the fact that it is made up of +the figures of two different orders of counting: the ordinary order, +beginning at the left hand upper corner and reading across and down in +the usual way, and the reverse-ordinary, beginning at the lower right +hand corner and reading across and up. The figures in the four central +cells and in the four outside corner cells are discovered to belong +in the first category, and the remaining figures in the second. Now +if the ordinary order cells be represented by white, and the reverse +ordinary by black, just such a pattern has been created as forms the +decorative motif of the quilt. + +It may be claimed that these two examples of a relation between +ornament and mathematics are accidental and therefore prove nothing, +but they at least furnish a clue which the artist would be foolish not +to follow up. Let him attack his problem this time directly, and +see if number may not be made to yield the thing he seeks: namely, +space-rhythms which are beautiful and new. + +We know that there is a beauty inherent in _order_, that necessity of +one sort or another is the parent of beauty. Beauty in architecture +is largely the result of structural necessity; beauty in ornament +may spring from a necessity which is numerical. It is clear that the +arrangement of numbers in a magic square is necessitous--they must be +placed in a certain way in order that the summation of every column +shall be the same. The problem then becomes to make that necessity +reveal itself to the eye. Now most magic squares contain a _magic +path_, discovered by following the numbers from cell to cell in +their natural order. Because this is a necessitous line it should not +surprise us that it is frequently beautiful as well. + +[Illustration: Figure 3.] + +The left hand drawing in Figure 4 represents the smallest aggregation +of numbers that is capable of magic square arrangement. Each vertical, +horizontal, and corner diagonal column adds up to 15, and the sum of +any two opposite numbers is 10, which is twice the center number. The +magic path is the endless line developed by following, free hand, the +numbers in their natural order, from 1 to 9 and back to 1 again. The +drawing at the right of Figure 4 is this same line translated into +ornament by making an interlace of it, and filling in the larger +interstices with simple floral forms. This has been executed in white +plaster and made to perform the function of a ventilating grille. + +Now the number of magic squares is practically limitless, and while +all of them do not yield magic lines of the beauty of this one, some +contain even richer decorative possibilities. But there are also other +ways of deriving ornament from magic squares, already hinted at in the +discussion of the Colonial quilt. + +[Illustration: Figure 4.] + +[Illustration: Figure 5.] + +Magic squares of an even number of cells are found sometimes to +consist of numbers arranged not only in combinations of the ordinary +and the reverse ordinary orders of counting, but involving two others +as well: the reverse of the ordinary (beginning at the upper right +hand, across, and down) and the reversed inverse, (beginning at the +lower left hand, across, and up). If, in such a magic square, a simple +graphic symbol be substituted for the numbers belonging to each order, +pattern spontaneously springs to life. Figures 5 and 6 exemplify the +method, and Figures 7 and 8 the translation of some of these squares +into richer patterns by elaborating the symbols while respecting their +arrangement. By only a slight stretch of the imagination the beautiful +pierced stone screen from Ravenna shown in Figure 9 might be conceived +of as having been developed according to this method, although of +course it was not so in fact. Some of the arrangements shown in Figure +6 are closely paralleled in the acoustic figures made by means of +musical tones with sand, on a sheet of metal or glass. + +[Illustration: Figure 6.] + +[Illustration: Figure 7.] + +The celebrated Franklin square of 16 cells can be made to yield a +beautiful pattern by designating some of the lines which give the +summation of 2056 by different symbols, as shown in Figure 10. A free +translation of this design into pattern brickwork is indicated in +Figure 11. + +If these processes seem unduly involved and elaborate for the +achievement of a simple result--like burning the house down in +order to get roast pig--there are other more simple ways of deriving +ornament from mathematics, for the truths of number find direct and +perfect expression in the figures of geometry. The squaring of +a number--the raising of it to its second power--finds graphic +expression in the plane figure of the square; and the cubing of a +number--the raising of it to its third power--in the solid figure +of the cube. Now squares and cubes have been recognized from time +immemorial as useful ornamental motifs. Other elementary geometrical +figures, making concrete to the eye the truths of abstract number, may +be dealt with by the designer in such a manner as to produce ornament +the most varied and profuse. Moorish ceilings, Gothic window tracery, +Grolier bindings, all indicate the richness of the field. + +[Illustration: Figure 8.] + +[Illustration: PLATE XII. IMAGINARY COMPOSITION. THE BALCONY] + +[Illustration: Figure 9.] + +Suppose, for example, that we attempt to deal decoratively which such +simple figures as the three lowest Platonic solids--the tetrahedron, +the hexahedron, and the octahedron. [Figure 12.] Their projection on a +plane yields a rhythmical division of space, because of their inherent +symmetry. These projections would correspond to the network of lines +seen in looking through a glass paperweight of the given shape, the +lines being formed by the joining of the several faces. Figure 13 +represents ornamental bands developed in this manner. The dodecahedron +and icosahedron, having more faces, yield more intricate patterns, and +there is no limit to the variety of interesting designs obtainable by +these direct and simple means. + +[Illustration: Figure 10.] + +If the author has been successful thus far in his exposition, it +should be sufficiently plain that from the inexhaustible well of +mathematics fresh beauty may be drawn. But what of its significance? +Ornament must _mean something_; it must have some relation to the +dominant ideation of the day; it must express the psychological mood. + +What is the psychological mood? Ours is an age of transition; we live +in a changing world. On the one hand we witness the breaking up of +many an old thought crystal, on the other we feel the pressure of +those forces which shall create the new. What is nature's first +visible creative act? The formation of a geometrical crystal. The +artist should take this hint, and organize geometry into a new +ornamental mode; by so doing he will prove himself to be in relation +to the _anima mundi_. It is only by the establishment of such a +relation that new beauty comes to birth in the world. + +[Illustration: Figure 11.] + +Ornament in its primitive manifestations is geometrical rather than +naturalistic. This is in a manner strange, that the abstract and +metaphysical thing should precede the concrete and sensuous. It would +be natural to suppose that man would first imitate the things which +surround him, but the most cursory acquaintance with primitive art +shows that he is much more apt to crudely geometrize. Now it is +not necessary to assume that we are to revert to the conditions of +savagery in order to believe that in this matter of a sound æsthetic +we must begin where art has always begun--with number and geometry. +Nevertheless there is a subtly ironic view which one is justified in +holding in regard to quite obvious aspects of American life, in the +light of which that life appears to have rather more in common with +savagery than with culture. + +[Illustration: Figure 12.] + +[Illustration: Figure 13.] + +The submersion of scholarship by athletics in our colleges is a case +in point, the contest of muscles exciting much more interest and +enthusiasm than any contest of wits. We persist in the savage habit of +devouring the corpses of slain animals long after the necessity for it +is past, and some even murder innocent wild creatures, giving to their +ferocity the name of sport. Our women bedeck themselves with furs and +feathers, the fruit of mercenary and systematic slaughter; we perform +orgiastic dances to the music of horns and drums and cymbals--in +short, we have the savage psychology without its vital religious +instinct and its sure decorative sense for color and form. + +But this is of course true only of the surface and sunlit shadows of +the great democratic tide. Its depths conceal every kind of subtlety +and sophistication, high endeavour, and a response to beauty and +wisdom of a sort far removed from the amoeba stage of development +above sketched. Of this latter stage the simple figures of Euclidian +plane and solid geometry--figures which any child can understand--are +the appropriate symbols, but for that other more developed state of +consciousness--less apparent but more important--these will not do. +Something more sophisticated and recondite must be sought for if we +are to have an ornamental mode capable of expressing not only the +simplicity but the complexity of present-day psychology. This need not +be sought for outside the field of geometry, but within it, and by +an extension of the methods already described. There is an altogether +modern development of the science of mathematics: the geometry of +four dimensions. This represents the emancipation of the mind from +the tyranny of mere appearances; the turning of consciousness in a +new direction. It has therefore a high symbolical significance as +typifying that movement away from materialism which is so marked a +phenomenon of the times. + +Of course to those whose notion of the fourth dimension is akin to +that of a friend of the author who described it as "a wagon-load +of bung-holes," the idea of getting from it any practical advantage +cannot seem anything but absurd. There is something about this form +of words "the fourth dimension" which seems to produce a sort of +mental-phobia in certain minds, rendering them incapable of perception +or reason. Such people, because they cannot stick their cane into it +contend that the fourth dimension has no mathematical or philosophical +validity. As ignorance on this subject is very general, the following +essay will be devoted to a consideration of the fourth dimension and +its relation to a new ornamental mode. + +[Illustration] + + + + +II + +THE FOURTH DIMENSION + + +The subject of the fourth dimension is not an easy one to understand. +Fortunately the artist in design does not need to penetrate far into +these fascinating halls of thought in order to reap the advantage +which he seeks. Nevertheless an intention of mind upon this +"fairy-tale of mathematics" cannot fail to enlarge his intellectual +and spiritual horizons, and develop his imagination--that finest +instrument in all his chest of tools. + +By way of introduction to the subject Prof. James Byrnie Shaw, in an +article in the _Scientific Monthly_, has this to say: + + Up to the period of the Reformation algebraic equations of + more than the third degree were frowned upon as having no + real meaning, since there is no fourth power or dimension. + But about one hundred years ago this chimera became an actual + existence, and today it is furnishing a new world to physics, + in which mechanics may become geometry, time be co-ordinated + with space, and every geometric theorem in the world is a + physical theorem in the experimental world in study in the + laboratory. Startling indeed it is to the scientist to be told + that an artificial dream-world of the mathematician is + more real than that he sees with his galvanometers, + ultra-microscopes, and spectroscopes. It matters little that + he replies, "Your four-dimensional world is only an analytic + explanation of my phenomena," for the fact remains a fact, + that in the mathematician's four-dimensional space there is + a space not derived in any sense of the term as a residue of + experience, however powerful a distillation of sensations or + perceptions be resorted to, for it is not contained at all in + the fluid that experience furnishes. It is a product of the + creative power of the mathematical mind, and its objects are + real in exactly the same way that the cube, the square, the + circle, the sphere or the straight line. We are enabled to see + with the penetrating vision of the mathematical insight that + no less real and no more real are these fantastic forms of the + world of relativity than those supposed to be uncreatable or + indestructible in the play of the forces of nature. + +These "fantastic forms" alone need concern the artist. If by some +potent magic he can precipitate them into the world of sensuous images +so that they make music to the eye, he need not even enter into the +question of their reality, but in order to achieve this transmutation +he should know something, at least, of the strange laws of their +being, should lend ear to a fairy-tale in which each theorem is a +paradox, and each paradox a mathematical fact. + +He must conceive of a space of four mutually independent directions; a +space, that is, having a direction at right angles to every direction +that we know. We cannot point to this, we cannot picture it, but we +can reason about it with a precision that is all but absolute. In such +a space it would of course be possible to establish four axial lines, +all intersecting at a point, and all mutually at right angles with one +another. Every hyper-solid of four-dimensional space has these four +axes. + +The regular hyper-solids (analogous to the Platonic solids of +three-dimensional space) are the "fantastic forms" which will prove +useful to the artist. He should learn to lure them forth along them +axis lines. That is, let him build up his figures, space by space, +developing them from lower spaces to higher. But since he cannot enter +the fourth dimension, and build them there, nor even the third--if he +confines himself to a sheet of paper--he must seek out some form of +_representation_ of the higher in the lower. This is a process with +which he is already acquainted, for he employs it every time he makes +a perspective drawing, which is the representation of a solid on +a plane. All that is required is an extension of the method: a +hyper-solid can be represented in a figure of three dimensions, and +this in turn can be projected on a plane. The achieved result will +constitute a perspective of a perspective--the representation of a +representation. + +This may sound obscure to the uninitiated, and it is true that the +plane projection of some of the regular hyper-solids are staggeringly +intricate affairs, but the author is so sure that this matter lies so +well within the compass of the average non-mathematical mind that he +is willing to put his confidence to a practical test. + +It is proposed to develop a representation of the tesseract or +hyper-cube on the paper of this page, that is, on a space of two +dimensions. Let us start as far back as we can: with a point. +This point, a, [Figure 14] is conceived to move in a direction w, +developing the line a b. This line next moves in a direction at right +angles to w, namely, x, a distance equal to its length, forming +the square a b c d. Now for the square to develop into a cube by a +movement into the third dimension it would have to move in a direction +at right angles to both w and x, that is, out of the plane of the +paper--away from it altogether, either up or down. This is not +possible, of course, but the third direction can be _represented_ on +the plane of the paper. + +[Illustration: Figure 14. TWO PROJECTIONS OF THE HYPERCUBE OR +TESSERACT, AND THEIR TRANSLATION INTO ORNAMENT.] + + +Let us represent it as diagonally downward toward the right, namely, +y. In the y direction, then, and at a distance equal to the length +of one of the sides of the square, another square is drawn, a'b'c'd', +representing the original square at the end of its movement into the +third dimension; and because in that movement the bounding points of +the square have traced out lines (edges), it is necessary to connect +the corresponding corners of the two squares by means of lines. This +completes the figure and achieves the representation of a cube on a +plane by a perfectly simple and familiar process. Its six faces +are easily identified by the eye, though only two of them appear as +squares owing to the exigencies of representation. + +Now for a leap into the abyss, which won't be so terrifying, since +it involves no change of method. The cube must move into the fourth +dimension, developing there a hyper-cube. This is impossible, for +the reason the cube would have to move out of our space +altogether--three-dimensional space will not contain a hyper-cube. But +neither is the cube itself contained within the plane of the paper; +it is only there _represented_. The y direction had to be imagined and +then arbitrarily established; we can arbitrarily establish the fourth +direction in the same way. As this is at right angles to y, its +indication may be diagonally downward and to the left--the direction +z. As y is known to be at right angles both to w and to x, z is at +right angles to all three, and we have thus established the four +mutually perpendicular axes necessary to complete the figure. + +The cube must now move in the z direction (the fourth dimension) +a distance equal to the length of one of its sides. Just as we did +previously in the case of the square, we draw the cube in its new +position (ABB'D'C'C) and also as before we connect each apex of the +first cube with the corresponding apex of the other, because each of +these points generates a line (an edge), each line a plane, and +each plane a solid. This is the tesseract or hyper-cube in plane +projection. It has the 16 points, 32 lines, and 8 cubes known to +compose the figure. These cubes occur in pairs, and may be readily +identified.[1] + +The tesseract as portrayed in A, Figure 14, is shown according to the +conventions of oblique, or two-point perspective; it can equally be +represented in a manner correspondent to parallel perspective. The +parallel perspective of a cube appears as a square inside another +square, with lines connecting the four vertices of the one with those +of the other. The third dimension (the one beyond the plane of the +paper) is here conceived of as being not beyond the boundaries of the +first square, but _within_ them. We may with equal propriety conceive +of the fourth dimension as a "beyond which is within." In that case +we would have a rendering of the tesseract as shown in B, Figure 14: +a cube within a cube, the space between the two being occupied by six +truncated pyramids, each representing a cube. The large outside cube +represents the original generating cube at the beginning of its motion +into the fourth dimension, and the small inside cube represents it at +the end of that motion. + +[Illustration: PLATE XIII. IMAGINARY COMPOSITION: THE AUDIENCE +CHAMBER] + +These two projections of the tesseract upon plane space are not the +only ones possible, but they are typical. Some idea of the variety of +aspects may be gained by imagining how a nest of inter-related cubes +(made of wire, so as to interpenetrate), combined into a single +symmetrical figure of three-dimensional space, would appear +from several different directions. Each view would yield new +space-subdivisions, and all would be rhythmical--susceptible, +therefore, of translation into ornament. C and D represent such +translations of A and B. + +In order to fix these unfamiliar ideas more firmly in the reader's +mind, let him submit himself to one more exercise of the creative +imagination, and construct, by a slightly different method, a +representation of a hexadecahedroid, or 16-hedroid, on a plane. This +regular solid of four-dimensional space consists of sixteen cells, +each a regular tetrahedron, thirty-two triangular faces, twenty-four +edges and eight vertices. It is the correlative of the octahedron of +three-dimensional space. + +First it is necessary to establish our four axes, all mutually +at right angles. If we draw three lines intersecting at a point, +subtending angles of 60 degrees each, it is not difficult to +conceive of these lines as being at right angles with one another +in three-dimensional space. The fourth axis we will assume to pass +vertically through the point of intersection of the three lines, +so that we see it only in cross-section, that is, as a point. It is +important to remember that all of the angles made by the four axes +are right angles--a thing possible only in a space of four dimensions. +Because the 16-hedroid is a symmetrical hyper-solid all of its +eight apexes will be equidistant from the centre of a containing +hyper-sphere, whose "surface" these will intersect at symmetrically +disposed points. These apexes are established in our representation by +describing a circle--the plane projection of the hyper-sphere--about +the central point of intersection of the axes. (Figure 15, left.) +Where each of these intersects the circle an apex of the 16-hedroid +will be established. From each apex it is now necessary to draw +straight lines to every other, each line representing one edge of the +sixteen tetrahedral cells. But because the two ends of the fourth axis +are directly opposite one another, and opposite the point of sight, +all of these lines fail to appear in the left hand diagram. It +therefore becomes necessary to _tilt_ the figure slightly, bringing +into view the fourth axis, much foreshortened, and with it, all of the +lines which make up the figure. The result is that projection of the +16-hedroid shown at the right of Figure 15.[2] Here is no fortuitous +arrangement of lines and areas, but the "shadow" cast by an +archetypal, figure of higher space upon the plane of our materiality. +It is a wonder, a mystery, staggering to the imagination, +contradictory to experience, but as well entitled to a place at the +high court of reason as are any of the more familiar figures with +which geometry deals. Translated into ornament it produces such an +all-over pattern as is shown in Figure 16 and the design which adorns +the curtains at right and left of pl. XIII. There are also other +interesting projections of the 16-hedroid which need not be gone into +here. + +[Illustration: Figure 15. DIRECT VIEW AXES SHOWN BY HEAVY LINES TILTED +VIEW APEXES SHOWN BY CIRCLES THE 16-HEDROID IN PLANE PROJECTION] + +For if the author has been successful in his exposition up to +this point, it should be sufficiently plain that the geometry +of four-dimensions is capable of yielding fresh and interesting +ornamental motifs. In carrying his demonstration farther, and in +multiplying illustrations, he would only be going over ground already +covered in his book _Projective Ornament_ and in his second Scammon +lecture. + +Of course this elaborate mechanism for producing quite obvious and +even ordinary decorative motifs may appear to some readers like +Goldberg's nightmare mechanics, wherein the most absurd and intricate +devices are made to accomplish the most simple ends. The author is +undisturbed by such criticisms. If the designs dealt with in this +chapter are "obvious and even ordinary" they are so for the reason +that they were chosen less with an eye to their interest and beauty +than as lending themselves to development and demonstration by an +orderly process which should not put too great a tax upon the patience +and intelligence of the reader. Four-dimensional geometry yields +numberless other patterns whose beauty and interest could not possibly +be impeached--patterns beyond the compass of the cleverest designer +unacquainted with projective geometry. + +[Illustration: Figure 16.] + +The great need of the ornamentalist is this or some other solid +foundation. Lacking it, he has been forced to build either on the +shifting sands of his own fancy, or on the wrecks and sediment of the +past. Geometry provides this sure foundation. We may have to work hard +and dig deep, but the results will be worth the effort, for only on +such a foundation can arise a temple which is beautiful and strong. + +In confirmation of his general contention that the basis of all +effective decoration is geometry and number, the author, in closing, +desires to direct the reader's attention to Figure 17 a slightly +modified rendering of the famous zodiacal ceiling of the Temple of +Denderah, in Egypt. A sun and its corona have been substituted for the +zodiacal signs and symbols which fill the centre of the original, for +except to an Egyptologist these are meaningless. In all essentials the +drawing faithfully follows the original--was traced, indeed, from a +measured drawing. + +[Illustration: Figure 17. CEILING DECORATION FROM THE TEMPLE OF +DENDERAH] + +Here is one of the most magnificent decorative schemes in the whole +world, arranged with a feeling for balance and rhythm exceeding the +power of the modern artist, and executed with a mastery beyond the +compass of a modern craftsman. The fact that first forces itself upon +the beholder is that the thing is so obviously mathematical in its +rhythms, that to reduce it to terms of geometry and number is a matter +of small difficulty. Compare the frozen music of these rhymed and +linked figures with the herded, confused, and cluttered compositions +of even our best decorative artists, and argument becomes +unnecessary--the fact stands forth that we have lost something +precious and vital out of art of which the ancients possessed the +secret. + +It is for the restoration of these ancient verities and the discovery +of new spatial rhythms--made possible by the advance of mathematical +science--that the author pleads. Artists, architects, designers, +instead of chewing the cud of current fashion, come into these +pastures new! + +[Illustration] + +[Footnote 1: The eight cubes in A, Figure 14, are as follows: +abb'd'c'c; ABB'D'C'C; abdDCA; a'b'd'D'C'A'; abb'B'A'A; cdd'D'C'C; +bb'd'D'DB; aa'c'C'CA.] + +[Footnote 2: The sixteen cells of the hexadehahedroid are as follows: +ABCD: A'B'C'D': AB'C'D': A'BCD: AB'CD: A'BC'D: ABC'D: A'B'CD': ABCD': +A'B'C'D: ABC'D': A'B'CD: A'BC'D: AB'CD': A'BCD': AB'C'D.] + + + + +HARNESSING THE RAINBOW + + +Reference was made in an antecedent essay to an art of light--of +mobile color--an abstract language of thought and emotion which should +speak to consciousness through the eye, as music speaks through the +ear. This is an art unborn, though quickening in the womb of the +future. The things that reflect light have been organized æsthetically +into the arts of architecture, painting, and sculpture, but light +itself has never been thus organized. + +And yet the scientific development and control of light has reached a +stage which makes this new art possible. It awaits only the advent of +the creative artist. The manipulation of light is now in the hands +of the illuminating engineers and its exploitation (in other than +necessary ways) in the hands of the advertisers. + +Some results of their collaboration are seen in the sky signs of upper +Broadway, in New York, and of the lake front, in Chicago. A carnival +of contending vulgarities, showing no artistry other than the most +puerile, these displays nevertheless yield an effect of amazing +beauty. This is on account of an occult property inherent in the +nature of light--_it cannot be vulgarized_. If the manipulation of +light were delivered into the hands of the artist, and dedicated +to noble ends, it is impossible to overestimate the augmentation of +beauty that would ensue. + +For light is a far more potent medium than sound. The sphere of sound +is the earth-sphere; the little limits of our atmosphere mark the +uttermost boundaries to which sound, even the most strident can +possibly prevail. But the medium of light is the ether, which links +us with the most distant stars. May not this serve as a symbol of the +potency of light to usher the human spirit into realms of being at the +doors of which music itself shall beat in vain? Or if we compare the +universe accessible to sight with that accessible to sound--the +plight of the blind in contrast to that of the deaf--there is the same +discrepancy; the field of the eye is immensely richer, more various +and more interesting than that of the ear. + +The difficulty appears to consist in the inferior impressionability +of the eye to its particular order of beauty. To the average man +color--as color--has nothing significant to say: to him grass is +green, snow is white, the sky blue; and to have his attention drawn to +the fact that sometimes grass is yellow, snow blue, and the sky green, +is disconcerting rather than illuminating. It is only when his retina +is assaulted by some splendid sunset or sky-encircling rainbow that +he is able to disassociate the idea of color from that of form and +substance. Even the artist is at a disadvantage in this respect, when +compared with the musician. Nothing in color knowledge and analysis +analogous to the established laws of musical harmony is part of the +equipment of the average artist; he plays, as it were, by ear. The +scientist, on the other hand, though he may know the spectrum from +end to end, and its innumerable modifications, values this "rainbow +promise of the Lord" not for its own beautiful sake but as a means +to other ends than those of beauty. But just as the art of music +has developed the ear into a fine and sensitive instrument of +appreciation, so an analogous art of light would educate the eye to +nuances of color to which it is now blind. + +[Illustration: PLATE XIV. SONG AND LIGHT: AN APPROACH TOWARD "COLOR +MUSIC"] + +It is interesting to speculate as to the particular form in which this +new art will manifest itself. The question is perhaps already answered +in the "color organ," the earliest of which was Bambridge Bishop's, +exhibited at the old Barnum's Museum--before the days of electric +light--and the latest A.W. Rimington's. Both of these instruments were +built upon a supposed correspondence between a given scale of colors, +and the musical chromatic scale; they were played from a musical score +upon an organ keyboard. This is sufficiently easy and sufficiently +obvious, and has been done, with varying success in one way or +another, time and again, but its very ease and obviousness should give +us pause. + +It may well be questioned whether any arbitrary and literal +translation, even though practicable, of a highly complex, intensely +mobile art, unfolding in time, as does music, into a correspondent +light and color expression, is the best approach to a new art of +mobile color. There is a deep and abiding conviction, justified by the +history of æsthetics, that each art-form must progress from its +own beginnings and unfold in its own unique and characteristic way. +Correspondences between the arts--such a correspondence, for +example, as inspired the famous saying that architecture is frozen +music--reveal themselves usually only after the sister arts have +attained an independent maturity. They owe their origin to that +underlying unity upon which our various modes of sensuous perception +act as a refracting medium, and must therefore be taken for granted. +Each art, like each individual, is unique and singular; in this +singularity dwells its most thrilling appeal. We are likely to miss +light's crowning glory, and the rainbow's most moving message to the +soul if we preoccupy ourselves too exclusively with the identities +existing between music and color; it is rather their points of +difference which should first be dwelt upon. + +Let us accordingly consider the characteristic differences between +the two sense-categories to which sound and light--music and +color--respectively belong. This resolves itself into a comparison +between time and space. The characteristic thing about time is +succession--hence the very idea of music, which is in time, involves +perpetual change. The characteristic of space, on the other hand, is +simultaneousness--in space alone perpetual immobility would reign. +That is why architecture, which is pre-eminently the art of space, is +of all the arts the most static. Light and color are essentially +of space, and therefore an art of mobile colour should never lack a +certain serenity and repose. A "tune" played on a color organ is only +distressing. If there is a workable correspondence between the musical +art and an art of mobile color, it will be found in the domain of +harmony which involves the idea of simultaneity, rather than in +melody, which is pure succession. This fundamental difference between +time and space cannot be over-emphasized. A musical note prolonged, +becomes at last scarcely tolerable; while a beautiful color, like the +blue of the sky, we can enjoy all day and every day. The changing hues +of a sunset, are _andante_ if referred to a musical standard, but to +the eye they are _allegretto_--we would have them pass less swiftly +than they do. The winking, chasing, changing lights of illuminated +sky-signs are only annoying, and for the same reason. The eye longs +for repose in some serene radiance or stately sequence, while the ear +delights in contrast and continual change. It may be that as the eye +becomes more educated it will demand more movement and complexity, but +a certain stillness and serenity are of the very nature of light, +as movement and passion are of the very nature of sound. Music is a +seeking--"love in search of a word"; light is a finding--a "divine +covenant." + +With attention still focussed on the differences rather than the +similarities between the musical art and a new art of mobile color, +we come next to the consideration of the matter of form. Now form +is essentially of space: we speak about the "form" of a musical +composition, but it is in a more or less figurative and metaphysical +sense, not as a thing concrete and palpable, like the forms of space. +It would be foolish to forego the advantage of linking up form with +colour, as there is opportunity to do. Here is another golden ball to +juggle with, one which no art purely in time affords. Of course it is +known that musical sounds weave invisible patterns in the air, and to +render these patterns perceptible to the eye may be one of the more +remote and recondite achievements of our uncreated art. Meantime, +though we have the whole treasury of natural forms to draw from, of +these we can only properly employ such as are _abstract_. The reason +for this is clear to any one who conceives of an art of mobile color, +not as a moving picture show--a thing of quick-passing concrete +images, to shock, to startle, or to charm--but as a rich and various +language in which light, proverbially the symbol of the spirit, is +made to speak, through the senses, some healing message to the soul. +For such a consummation, "devoutly to be wished," natural forms--forms +abounding in every kind of association with that world of materiality +from which we would escape--are out of place; recourse must be had +rather to abstract forms, that is, geometrical figures. And because +the more remote these are from the things of sense, from knowledge and +experience, the projected figures of four-dimensional geometry would +lend themselves to these uses with an especial grace. Color without +form is as a soul without a body; yet the body of light must be +without any taint of materiality. Four-dimensional forms are as +immaterial as anything that could be imagined and they could be made +to serve the useful purpose of separating colors one from another, +as lead lines do in old cathedral windows, than which nothing more +beautiful has ever been devised. + +Coming now to the consideration, not of differences, but similarities, +it is clear that a correspondence can be established between the +colors of the spectrum and the notes of a musical scale. That is, +the spectrum, considered as the analogue of a musical octave can +be subdivided into twelve colors which may be representative of +the musical chromatic scale of twelve semi-tones: the very word, +_chromatic_, being suggestive of such a correspondence between sound +and light. The red end of the spectrum would naturally relate to the +low notes of the musical scale, and the violet end to the high, by +reason of the relative rapidity of vibration in each case; for the +octave of a musical note sets the air vibrating twice as rapidly as +does the note itself, and roughly speaking, the same is true of the +end colors of the spectrum with relation to the ether. + +But assuming that a color scale can be established which would yield +a color correlative to any musical note or chord, there still remains +the matter of _values_ to be dealt with. In the musical scale there is +a practical equality of values: one note is as potent as another. In +a color scale, on the other hand, each note (taken at its greatest +intensity) has a positive value of its own, and they are all +different. These values have no musical correlatives, they belong to +color _per se_. Every colorist knows that the whole secret of beauty +and brilliance dwells in a proper understanding and adjustment of +values, and music is powerless to help him here. Let us therefore +defer the discussion of this musical parallel, which is full of +pitfalls, until we have made some examination into such simple +emotional reactions as color can be discovered to yield. The musical +art began from the emotional response to certain simple tones and +combinations, and the delight of the ear in their repetition and +variation. + +On account of our undeveloped sensitivity, the emotional reactions +to color are found to be largely personal and whimsical: one person +"loves" pink, another purple, or green. Color therapeutics is too +new a thing to be relied upon for data, for even though colors +are susceptible of classification as sedative, recuperative and +stimulating, no two classifications arrived at independently would be +likely to correspond. Most people appear to prefer bright, pure +colors when presented to them in small areas, red and blue being +the favourites. Certain data have been accumulated regarding the +physiological effect and psychological value of different colors, but +this order of research is in its infancy, and we shall have recourse, +therefore, to theory, in the absence of any safer guide. + +One of the theories which may be said to have justified itself in +practice in a different field is that upon which is based Delsarte's +famous art of expression. It has schooled some of the finest actors +in the world, and raised others from mediocrity to distinction. The +Delsarte system is founded upon the idea that man is a triplicity of +physical, emotional, and intellectual qualities or attributes, and +that the entire body and every part thereof conforms to, and expresses +this triplicity. The generative and digestive region corresponds with +the physical nature, the breast with the emotional, and the head +with the intellectual; "below" represents the nadir of ignorance and +dejection, "above" the zenith of wisdom and spiritual power. +This seems a natural, and not an arbitrary classification, having +interesting confirmations and correspondencies, both in the outer +world of form, and in the inner world of consciousness. Moreover, it +is in accord with that theosophic scheme derived from the ancient and +august wisdom of the East, which longer and better than any other +has withstood the obliterating action of slow time, and is even now +renascent. Let us therefore attempt to classify the colors of the +spectrum according to this theory, and discover if we can how nearly +such a classification is conformable to reason and experience. + +The red end of the spectrum, being lowest in vibratory rate, would +correspond to the physical nature, proverbially more sluggish than the +emotional and mental. The phrase "like a red rag to a bull," suggests +a relation between the color red and the animal consciousness +established by observation. The "low-brow" is the dear lover of the +red necktie; the "high-brow" is he who sees violet shadows on the +snow. We "see red" when we are dominated by ignoble passion. Though +the color green is associated with the idea of jealousy, it is +associated also with the idea of sympathy, and jealousy in the last +analysis is the fear of the loss of sympathy; it belongs, at all +events to the mediant, or emotional group of colors; while blue and +violet are proverbially intellectual and spiritual colors, and +their place in the spectrum therefore conforms to the demands of our +theoretical division. Here, then, is something reasonably certain, +certainly reasonable, and may serve as an hypothesis to be confirmed +or confuted by subsequent research. Coming now finally to the +consideration of the musical parallel, let us divide a color scale of +twelve steps or semi-tones into three groups; each group, graphically +portrayed, subtending one-third of the arc of a circle. The first or +red group will be related to the physical nature, and will consist of +purple-red, red, red-orange, and orange. The second, or green group +will be related to the emotional nature, and will consist of yellow, +yellow-green, green, and green-blue. The third, or blue group will be +related to the intellectual and spiritual nature, and will consist +of blue, blue-violet, violet and purple. The merging of purple into +purple-red will then correspond to the meeting place of the +highest with the lowest, "spirit" and "matter." We conceive of this +meeting-place symbolically as the "heart"--the vital centre. Now +"sanguine" is the appropriate name associated with the color of +the blood--a color between purple and purple-red. It is logical, +therefore, to regard this point in our color-scale as its +tonic--"middle C"--though each color, just as in music each note, is +itself the tonic of a scale of its own. + +Mr. Louis Wilson--the author of the above "ophthalmic color scale" +makes the same affiliation between sanguine, or blood color, and +middle C, led thereto by scientific reasons entirely unassociated with +symbolism. He has omitted orange-yellow and violet-purple; this +makes the scale conform more exactly with the diatonic scale of +two tetra-chords; it also gives a greater range of purples, a color +indispensable to the artist. Moreover, in the scale as it stands, each +color is exactly opposite its true spectral complementary. + +The color scale being thus established and broadly divided, the next +step is to find how well it justifies itself in practice. The most +direct way would be to translate the musical chords recognized and +dealt with in the science of harmony into their corresponding color +combinations. + +For the benefit of such readers as have no knowledge of musical +harmony it should be said that the entire science of harmony is based +upon the _triad_, or chord of three notes, and that there are various +kinds of triads: the major, the minor, the augmented, the diminished, +and the altered. The major triad consists of the first note of the +diatonic scale, or tonic; its third, and its fifth. The minor triad +differs from the major only in that the second member is lowered a +semi-tone. The augmented triad differs from the major only in that the +third member is raised a semi-tone. The diminished triad differs from +the minor only in that the third member is lowered a semi-tone. The +altered triad is a chord different by a semi-tone from any of the +above. + +The major triad in color is formed by taking any one of the twelve +color-centers of the ophthalmic color scale as the first member of +the triad; and, reading up the scale, the fifth step (each step +representing a semi-tone) determines the second member, while the +third member is found in the eighth step. The minor triad in color is +formed by lowering the second member of the major triad one step; the +augmented triad by raising the third member of the major triad one +step, and the diminished triad by lowering the third member of the +minor triad one step. + +[Illustration: Figure 18. MAJOR TRIAD, MINOR TRIAD, AUGMENTED TRIAD, +DIMINISHED TRIAD] + +These various triads are shown graphically in Figure 18 as +triangles within a circle divided into twelve equal parts, each part +representing a semi-tone of the chromatic scale. It is seen at a +glance that in every case each triad has one of its notes (an apex) in +or immediately adjacent to a different one of the grand divisions of +the colour scale hereinbefore established and described, and that the +same thing would be true in any "key": that is, by any variation of +the point of departure. + +This certainly satisfies the mind in that it suggests variety in +unity, balance, completeness, and in the actual portrayal, in color, +of these chords in any "key" this judgment is confirmed by the eye, +provided that the colors have been thrown into proper _harmonic +suppression_. By this is meant such an adjustment of relative values, +or such an establishment of relative proportions as will produce the +maximum of beauty of which any given combination is capable. This +matter imperatively demands an æsthetic sense the most sensitive. + +So this "musical parallel," interesting and reasonable as it is, will +not carry the color harmonist very far, and if followed too literally +it is even likely to hamper him in the higher reaches of his art, +for some of the musical dissonances are of great beauty in color +translation. All that can safely be said in regard to the musical +parallel in its present stage of development is that it simplifies and +systematizes color knowledge and experiment and to a beginner it is +highly educational. + +If we are to have color symphonies, the best are not likely to be +those based on a literal translation of some musical masterpiece into +color according to this or any theory, but those created by persons +who are emotionally reactive to this medium, able to imagine in color, +and to treat it imaginatively. The most beautiful mobile color effects +yet witnessed by the author were produced on a field only five inches +square, by an eminent painter quite ignorant of music; while some of +the most unimpressive have been the result of a rigid adherence to the +musical parallel by persons intent on cutting, with this sword, this +Gordian knot. + +Into the subject of means and methods it is not proposed to enter, nor +to attempt to answer such questions as to whether the light shall be +direct or projected; whether the spectator, wrapped in darkness, shall +watch the music unfold at the end of some mysterious vista, or +whether his whole organism shall be played upon by powerful waves +of multi-coloured light. These coupled alternatives are not mutually +exclusive, any more than the idea of an orchestra is exclusive of that +of a single human voice. + +In imagining an art of mobile color unconditioned by considerations +of mechanical difficulty or of expense, ideas multiply in truly +bewildering profusion. Sunsets, solar coronas, star spectra, auroras +such as were never seen on sea or land; rainbows, bubbles, rippling +water; flaming volcanoes, lava streams of living light--these and a +hundred other enthralling and perfectly realizable effects suggest +themselves. What Israfil of the future will pour on mortals this new +"music of the spheres"? + + + + +LOUIS SULLIVAN + +PROPHET OF DEMOCRACY + + +Due tribute has been paid to Mr. Louis Sullivan as an architect in +the first essay of this volume. That aspect of his genius has been +critically dealt with by many, but as an author he is scarcely +known. Yet there are Sibylline leaves of his, still let us hope in +circulation, which have wielded a potent influence on the minds of a +generation of men now passing to maturity. It is in the hope that his +message may not be lost to the youth of today and of tomorrow that the +present author now undertakes to summarize and interpret that message +to a public to which Mr. Sullivan is indeed a name, but not a voice. + +That he is not a voice can be attributed neither to his lack of +eloquence--for he is eloquent--nor to the indifference of the younger +generation of architects which has grown up since he has ceased, +in any public way, to speak. It is due rather to a curious fatality +whereby his memorabilia have been confined to sheets which the +winds of time have scattered--pamphlets, ephemeral magazines, trade +journals--never the bound volume which alone guards the sacred flame +from the gusts of evil chance. + +And Mr. Sullivan's is a "sacred flame," because it was kindled solely +with the idea of service--a beacon to keep young men from +shipwreck traversing those straits made dangerous by the Scylla of +Conventionality, and the Charybdis of License. The labour his writing +cost him was enormous. "I shall never again make so great a sacrifice +for the younger generation," he says in a letter, "I am amazed to +note how insignificant, how almost nil is the effect produced, in +comparison to the cost, in vitality to me. Or perhaps it is I who +am in error. Perhaps one must have reached middle age, or the Indian +Summer of life, must have seen much, heard much, felt and produced +much and been much in solitude to receive in reading what I gave in +writing 'with hands overfull.'" + +This was written with reference to _Kindergarten Chats. A sketch +Analysis of Contemporaneous American Architecture_, which constitutes +Mr. Sullivan's most extended and characteristic preachment to the +young men of his day. It appeared in 1901, in fifty-two consecutive +numbers of _The Interstate Architect and Builder_, a magazine now +no longer published. In it the author, as mentor, leads an imaginary +disciple up and down the land, pointing out to him the "bold, +upholsterrific blunders" to be found in the architecture of the day, +and commenting on them in a caustic, colloquial style--large, loose, +discursive--a blend of Ruskin, Carlyle and Whitman, yet all Mr. +Sullivan's own. He descends, at times, almost to ribaldry, at others +he rises to poetic and prophetic heights. This is all a part of his +method alternately to shame and inspire his pupil to some sort of +creative activity. The syllabus of Mr. Sullivan's scheme, as it +existed in his mind during the writing of _Kindergarten Chats_, +and outlined by him in a letter to the author is such a torch of +illumination that it is quoted here entire. + + A young man who has "finished his education" at the + architectural schools comes to me for a post-graduate + course--hence a free form of dialogue. + + I proceed with his education rather by indirection and + suggestion than by direct precept. I subject him to certain + experiences and allow the impressions they make on him to + infiltrate, and, as I note the effect, I gradually use a + guiding hand. I supply the yeast, so to speak, and allow the + ferment to work in him. + + This is the gist of the whole scheme. It remains then to + determine, carefully, the kind of experiences to which I shall + subject the lad, and in what order, or logical (and especially + psychological) sequence. I begin, then, with aspects that + are literal, objective, more or less cynical, and brutal, and + philistine. A little at a time I introduce the subjective, + the refined, the altruistic; and, by a to-and-fro increasingly + intense rhythm of these two opposing themes, worked so to + speak in counterpoint, I reach a preliminary climax: of + brutality tempered by a longing for nobler, purer things. + + Hence arise a purblind revulsion and yearning in the lad's + soul; the psychological moment has arrived, and I take him + at once into the _country_--(Summer: The Storm). This is the + first of the four out-of-door scenes, and the lad's first + real experience with nature. It impresses him crudely but + violently; and in the tense excitement of the tempest he is + inspired to temporary eloquence; and at the close is much + softened. He feels in a way but does not know that he has been + a participant in one of Nature's superb dramas. (Thus do + I insidiously prepare the way for the notion that creative + architecture is in essence a dramatic art, and an art of + eloquence; of subtle rhythmic beauty, power, and tenderness). + + Left alone in the country the lad becomes maudlin--a callow + lover of nature--and makes feeble attempts at verse. Returning + to the city he melts and unbosoms--the tender shaft of the + unknowable Eros has penetrated to his heart--Nature's subtle + spell is on him, to disappear and reappear. Then follow + discussions, more or less didactic, leading to the second + out-of-door scene (Autumn Glory). Here the lad does most of + the talking and shows a certain lucidity and calm of mind. The + discussion of Responsibility, Democracy, Education, etc., has + inevitably detached the lurking spirit of pessimism. It has + to be:--Into the depths and darkness we descend, and the + work reaches the tragic climax in the third out-of-door + scene--Winter. + + Now that the forces have been gathered and marshalled the + true, sane movement of the work is entered upon and pushed + at high tension, and with swift, copious modulations to its + foreordained climax and optimistic peroration in the fourth + and last out-of-door scene as portrayed in the Spring Song. + The _locale_ of this closing number is the beautiful spot in + the woods, on the shore of Biloxi Bay:--where I am writing + this. + + I would suggest in passing that a considerable part of the + K.C. is in rhythmic prose--some of it declamatory. I have + endeavoured throughout this work to represent, or reproduce + to the mind and heart of the reader the spoken word and + intonation--not written language. It really should be read + aloud, especially the descriptive and exalted passages. + +There was a movement once on the part of Mr. Sullivan's admirers to +issue _Kindergarten Chats_ in book form, but he was asked to tone it +down and expurgate it, a thing which he very naturally refused to do. +Mr. Sullivan has always been completely alive to our cowardice when +it comes to hearing the truth about ourselves, and alive to the danger +which this cowardice entails, for to his imaginary pupil he says, + + If you wish to read the current architecture of your country, + you must go at it courageously, and not pick out merely the + little bits that please you. I am going to soak you with it + until you are absolutely nauseated, and your faculties turn + in rebellion. I may be a hard taskmaster, but I strive to be + a good one. When I am through with you, you will know + architecture from the ground up. You will know its virtuous + reality and you will know the fake and the fraud and the + humbug. I will spare nothing--for your sake. I will stir up + the cesspool to its utmost depths of stench, and also the + pious, hypocritical virtues of our so-called architecture--the + nice, good, mealy-mouthed, suave, dexterous, diplomatic + architecture, I will show you also the kind of architecture + our "cultured" people believe in. And why do they believe in + it? Because they do not believe in themselves. + +_Kindergarten Chats_ is even more pertinent and pointed today than it +was some twenty years ago, when it was written. Speech that is full of +truth is timeless, and therefore prophetic. Mr. Sullivan forecast some +of the very evils by which we have been overtaken. He was able to do +this on account of the fundamental soundness of his point of view, +which finds expression in the following words: "Once you learn to look +upon architecture not merely as an art more or less well, or more or +less badly done, but as a _social manifestation_, the critical eye +becomes clairvoyant, and obscure, unnoted phenomena become illumined." + +Looking, from this point of view, at the office buildings that the +then newly-realized possibilities of steel construction were sending +skyward along lower Broadway, in New York, Mr. Sullivan reads in them +a denial of democracy. To him they signify much more than they seem +to, or mean to; they are more than the betrayal of architectural +ignorance and mendacity, they are symptomatic of forces undermining +American life. + + These buildings, as they increase in number, make this city + poorer, morally and spiritually; they drag it down and down + into the mire. This is not American civilization; it is the + rottenness of Gomorrah. This is not Democracy--it is savagery. + It shows the glutton hunt for the Dollar with no thought for + aught else under the sun or over the earth. It is decadence of + the spirit in its most revolting form; it is rottenness of + the heart and corruption of the mind. So truly does this + architecture reflect the causes which have brought it into + being. Such structures are _profoundly anti-social_, and as + such, they must be reckoned with. These buildings are not + architecture, but outlawry, and their authors criminals in the + true sense of the word. And such is the architecture of lower + New York--hopeless, degraded, and putrid in its pessimistic + denial of our art, and of our growing civilization--its + cynical contempt for all those qualities that real humans + value. + +We have always been very glib about democracy; we have assumed that +this country was a democracy because we named it so. But now that +we are called upon to die for the idea, we find that we have never +realized it anywhere except perhaps in our secret hearts. In the life +of Abraham Lincoln, in the poetry of Walt Whitman, in the architecture +of Louis Sullivan, the spirit of democracy found utterance, and to +the extent that we ourselves partake of that spirit, it will find +utterance also in us. Mr. Sullivan is a "prophet of democracy" not +alone in his buildings but in his writings, and the prophetic note is +sounded even more clearly in his _What is Architecture? A Study in the +American People of Today_, than in _Kindergarten Chats_. + +This essay was first printed in _The American Contractor_ of January +6, 1906, and afterwards issued in brochure form. The author starts +by tracing architecture to its root in the human mind: this physical +thing is the manifestation of a psychological state. As a man thinks, +so he is; he acts according to his thought, and if that act takes the +form of a building it is an emanation of his inmost life, and reveals +it. + + Everything is there for us to read, to interpret; and this + we may do at our leisure. The building has not means of + locomotion, it cannot hide itself, it cannot get away. There + it is, and there it will stay--telling more truths about him + who made it, than he in his fatuity imagines; revealing his + mind and his heart exactly for what they are worth, not a whit + more, not a whit less; telling plainly the lies he thinks; + telling with almost cruel truthfulness his bad faith, his + feeble, wabbly mind, his impudence, his selfish egoism, his + mental irresponsibility, his apathy, his disdain for real + things--until at last the building says to us: "I am no more a + real building than the thing that made me is a real man!" + +Language like this stings and burns, but it is just such as is +needful to shame us out of our comfortable apathy, to arouse us to +new responsibilities, new opportunities. Mr. Sullivan, awake among +the sleepers, drenches us with bucketfuls of cold, tonic, energizing +truth. The poppy and mandragora of the past, of Europe, poisons us, +but in this, our hour of battle, we must not be permitted to dream on. +He saw, from far back, that "we, as a people, not only have betrayed +each other, but have failed in that trust which the world spirit of +democracy placed in our hands, as we, a new people, emerged to fill +a new and spacious land." It has taken a world war to make us see the +situation as he saw it, and it is to us, a militant nation, and not +to the slothful civilians a decade ago, that Mr. Sullivan's stirring +message seems to be addressed. + +The following quotation is his first crack of the whip at the +architectural schools. The problem of education is to him of all +things the most vital; in this essay he returns to it again and again, +while of _Kindergarten Chats_ it is the very _raison d'être_. + + I trust that a long disquisition is not necessary in order to + show that the attempt at imitation, by us, of this day, of the + by-gone forms of building, is a procedure unworthy of a free + people; and that the dictum of the schools, that Architecture + is finished and done, is a suggestion humiliating to every + active brain, and therefore, in fact, a puerility and a + falsehood when weighed in the scales of truly democratic + thought. Such dictum gives the lie in arrogant fashion, to + healthful human experience. It says, in a word: the American + people are not fit for democracy. + +He finds the schools saturated with superstitions which are the +survivals of the scholasticism of past centuries--feudal institutions, +in effect, inimical to his idea of the true spirit of democratic +education. This he conceives of as a searching-out, liberating, and +developing the splendid but obscured powers of the average man, and +particularly those of children. "It is disquieting to note," he says, +"that the system of education on which we lavish funds with such +generous, even prodigal, hand, falls short of fulfilling its true +democratic function; and that particularly in the so-called higher +branches its tendency appears daily more reactionary, more feudal. +It is not an agreeable reflection that so many of our university +graduates lack the trained ability to see clearly, and to think +clearly, concisely, constructively; that there is perhaps more showing +of cynicism than good faith, seemingly more distrust of men than +confidence in them, and, withal, no consummate ability to interpret +things." + +In contrast to the schoolman he sketches the psychology of the +active-minded but "uneducated" man, with sympathy and understanding, +the man who is courageously seeking a way with little to guide and +help him. + + Is it not the part of wisdom to cheer, to encourage such a + mind, rather than dishearten it with ridicule? To say to it: + Learn that the mind works best when allowed to work naturally; + learn to do what your problem suggests when you have reduced + it to its simplest terms; you will thus find that all + problems, however complex, take on a simplicity you had + not dreamed of; accept this simplicity boldly, and with + confidence, do not lose your nerve and run away from it, or + you are lost, for you are here at the point men so heedlessly + call genius--as though it were necessarily rare; for you are + here at the point no living brain can surpass in essence, + the point all truly great minds seek--the point of vital + simplicity--the point of view which so illuminates the mind + that the art of expression becomes spontaneous, powerful, and + unerring, and achievement a certainty. So, if you seek and + express the best that is in yourself, you must search out the + best that is in your people; for they are your problem, and + you are indissolubly a part of them. It is for you to affirm + that which they really wish to affirm, namely, the best that + is in them, and they as truly wish you to express the best + that is in yourself. If the people seem to have but little + faith it is because they have been tricked so long; they are + weary of dishonesty, more weary than they know, much more + weary than you know, and in their hearts they seek honest and + fearless men, men simple and clear in mind, loyal to their own + manhood and to the people. The American people are now in a + stupor; be on hand at the awakening. + +Next he pays his respects to current architectural criticism--a +straining at gnats and a swallowing of camels, by minds "benumbed +by culture," and hearts made faint by the tyranny of precedent. He +complains that they make no distinction between _was_ and _is_, +too readily assuming that all that is left us moderns is the humble +privilege to select, copy and adapt. + + The current mannerisms of Architectural criticism must often + seem trivial. For of what avail is it to say that this is too + small, that too large, this too thick, and that too thin, or + to quote this, that, or the other precedent, when the real + question may be: Is not the entire design a mean evasion? Why + magnify this, that, or the other little thing, if the entire + scheme of thinking that the building stands for is false, and + puts a mask upon the people, who want true buildings, but do + not know how to get them so long as Architects betray them + with Architectural phrases? + +And so he goes on with his Jeremiad: a prophet of despair, do you +say? No, he seeks to destroy only that falsity which would confine +the living spirit. Earlier and more clearly than we, he discerned the +menace to our civilization of the unrestricted play of the masculine +forces--powerful, ruthless, disintegrating--the head dominating the +heart. It has taken the surgery of war to open our eyes, and behold +the spectacle of the entire German nation which by an intellectual +process appears to have killed out compassion, enthroning +_Schrecklichkeit_. In the heart alone dwells hope of salvation. "For +he who knows even a genuinely little of Mankind knows this truth: the +heart is greater than the head. For in the heart is Desire; and from +it come forth Courage and Magnanimity." + + You have not thought deeply enough to know that the heart in + you is the woman in man. You have derided your femininity, + where you have suspected it; whereas, you should have known + its power, cherished and utilized it, for it is the hidden + well-spring of Intuition and Imagination. What can the brain + accomplish without these two? They are the man's two inner + eyes; without them he is stone blind. For the mind sets forth + their powers both together. One carries the light, the other + searches; and between them they find treasures. These they + bring to the brain, which first elaborates them, then says to + the will, "Do"--and Action follows. Poetically considered, + as far as the huge, disordered resultant mass of your + Architecture is concerned, Intuition and Imagination have not + gone forth to illuminate and search the hearts of the people. + Thus are its works stone blind. + +It is the absence of poetry and beauty which makes our architecture +so depressing to the spirits. "Poetry as a living thing," says Mr. +Sullivan, "stands for the most telling quality that a man can impart +to his thoughts. Judged by this test your buildings are dreary, empty +places." Artists in words, like Lafcadio Hearn and Henry James, are +able to make articulate the sadness which our cities inspire, but +it is a blight which lies heavy on us all. Theodore Dreiser says, in +_Sister Carrie_--a book with so much bitter truth in it that it was +suppressed by the original publishers: + + Once the bright days of summer pass by, a city takes on the + sombre garb of grey, wrapped in which it goes about its labors + during the long winter. Its endless buildings look grey, + its sky and its streets assume a sombre hue; the scattered, + leafless trees and wind-blown dust and paper but add to the + general solemnity of color. There seems to be something in + the chill breezes which scurry through the long, narrow + thoroughfares productive of rueful thoughts. Not poets alone, + nor artists, nor that superior order of mind which arrogates + to itself all refinement, feel this, but dogs and all men. + +The excuse that we are too young a people to have developed an +architecture instinct with that natural poetry which so charms us in +the art of other countries and other times, Mr. Sullivan disposes +of in characteristic fashion. To the plea that "We are too young to +consider these accomplishments. We have been so busy with our material +development that we have not found time to consider them," he makes +answer as follows: + + Know, then, to begin with, they are not accomplishments but + necessaries. And, to end with, you are old enough, and + have found the time to succeed in nearly making a fine art + of--Betrayal, and a science of--Graft. Know that you are + as old as the race. That each man among you had in him the + accumulated power of the race, ready at hand for use, in the + right way, when he shall conclude it better to think straight + and hence act straight rather than, as now, to act crooked + and pretend to be straight. Know that the test, plain, simple + _honesty_ (and you all know, every man of you knows, exactly + what that means) is always at your hand. + + Know that as all complex manifestations have a simple basis + of origin, so the vast complexity of your national unrest, ill + health, inability to think clearly and accurately concerning + simple things, really vital things, is easily traceable to the + single, actual, active cause--Dishonesty; and that this points + with unescapable logic and in just measure to each individual + man! + + The remedy;--_individual honesty_. + +To the objection that this is too simple a solution, Mr. Sullivan +retorts that all great solutions are simple, that the basic things of +the universe are those which the heart of a child might comprehend. +"Honesty stands in the universe of Human Thought and Action, as its +very Centre of Gravity, and is our human mask-word behind which abides +all the power of Nature's Integrity, the profoundest _fact_ which +modern thinking has persuaded Life to reveal." + +If, on the other hand, the reader complains, "All this is above our +heads," Mr. Sullivan is equally ready with an answer: + + No, it is not. _It is close beside your hand!_ and therein + lies its power. + + Again you say, "How can honesty be enforced?" + + It cannot be enforced! + + "Then how will the remedy go into effect?" + + It cannot _go_ into effect. It can only come into effect. + + "Then how can it come?" + + Ask Nature. + + "And what will Nature say?" + + Nature is always saying: "I centre at each man, woman and + child. I knock at the door of each heart, and I wait. I wait + in patience--ready to enter with my gifts." + + "And is that all that Nature says?" + + That is all. + + "Then how shall we receive Nature?" + + By opening wide your minds! For your greatest crime against + yourselves is that you have locked the door and thrown away + the key! + + +Thus, by a long detour, Mr. Sullivan returns to his initial +proposition, that the falsity of our architecture can be corrected +only by integrity of thought. "Thought is the fine and powerful +instrument. Therefore, _have thought for the integrity of your own +thought_." + + Naturally, then, as your thoughts thus change, your growing + architecture will change. Its falsity will depart; its reality + will gradually appear. For the integrity of your thought as + a People, will then have penetrated the minds of your + architects. + + Then, too, _as your basic thought changes, will emerge a + philosophy, a poetry, and an art of expression in all things; + for you will have learned that a characteristic philosophy, + poetry and art of expression are vital to the healthful growth + and development of a democratic people_. + +Some readers may complain that these are after all only glittering +generalities, of no practical use in solving the specific problems +with which every architect is confronted. On the contrary they are +fundamental verities of incalculable benefit to every sincere artist. +Shallowness is the great vice of democracy; it is surface without +depth, a welter of concrete detail in which the mind easily loses +those great, underlying abstractions from which alone great art can +spring. These, in this essay, Mr. Sullivan helps us to recapture, and +inspires us to employ. He would win us from our insincerities, our +trivialities, and awaken our enormous latent, unused power. He says: + + Awaken it. + + Use it. + + Use it for the common good. + + Begin now! + + For it is as true today as when one of your wise men said + it:-- + + "The way to resume is to resume!" + + + + +COLOR AND CERAMICS + + +The production of ceramics--perhaps the oldest of all the useful +arts practised by man; an art with a magnificent history--seems to be +entering upon a new era of development. It is more alive today, more +generally, more skilfully, though not more _artfully_ practised than +ever before. It should therefore be of interest to all lovers of +architecture, in view of the increasing importance of ceramics in +building, to consider the ways in which these materials may best be +used. + +Looking at the matter in the broadest possible way, it may be said +that the building impulse throughout the ages has expressed itself +in two fundamentally different types of structure: that in which the +architecture--and even the ornament--is one with the engineering; and +that in which the two elements are separable, not in thought alone, +but in fact. For brevity let us name that manner of building in which +the architecture is the construction, _Inherent_ architecture, and +that manner in which the two are separable _Incrusted_ architecture. + +To the first class belong the architectures of Egypt, Greece, and +Gothic architecture as practised in the north of Europe; to the +second belong Roman architecture of the splendid period, Moorish +architecture, and Italian Gothic, so called. In the first class the +bones of the building were also its flesh; in the second bones and +flesh were in a manner separable, as is proven by the fact that they +were separately considered, separately fashioned. Ruined Karnak, the +ruined Parthenon, wrecked Rheims, show ornament so integral a part +of the fabric--etched so deep--that what has survived of the one has +survived also of the other; while the ruined Baths of Caracalla the +uncompleted church of S. Petronio in Bologna, and many a stark mosque +on many a sandy desert show only bare skeletons of whose completed +glory we can only guess. In them the fabric was a framework for the +display of the lapidary or the ceramic art--a garment destroyed, rent, +or tattered by time and chance, leaving the bones still strong, but +bare. + +This classification of architecture into Inherent and Incrusted is not +to be confused with the discrimination between architecture that is +_Arranged_, and architecture that is _Organic_, a classification which +is based on psychology--like the difference between the business man +and the poet: talent and genius--whereas the classification which +the reader is asked now to consider is based rather on the matter +of expediency in the use of materials. Let us draw no invidious +comparisons between Inherent and Incrusted architecture, but regard +each as the adequate expression of an ideal type of beauty; the one +masculine, since in the male figure the osseous framework is more +easily discernible; the other feminine, because more concealed and +overlaid with a cellular tissue of shining, precious materials, on +which the disruptive forces in man and nature are more free to act. + +It is scarcely necessary to state that it is with Incrusted +architecture that we are alone concerned in this discussion, for to +this class almost all modern buildings perforce belong. This is by +reason of a necessity dictated by the materials that we employ, and by +our methods of construction. All modern buildings follow practically +one method of construction: a bony framework of steel--or of concrete +reinforced by steel--filled in and subdivided by concrete, brick, +hollow fire-clay, or some of its substitutes. To a construction of +this kind some sort of an outer encasement is not only æsthetically +desirable, but practically necessary. It usually takes the form of +stone, face-brick, terra-cotta, tile, stucco, or some combination of +two or more of these materials. Of the two types of architecture the +Incrusted type is therefore imposed by structural necessity. + +The enormous importance of ceramics in its relation to architecture +thus becomes apparent. They minister to an architectural need instead +of gratifying an architectural whim. Ours is a period of Incrusted +architecture--one which demands the encasement, rather than the +exposure of structure, and therefore logically admits of the +enrichment of surfaces by means of "veneers" of materials more +precious and beautiful than those employed in the structure, which +becomes, as it were, the canvas of the picture, and not the picture +itself. For these purposes there are no materials more apt, more +adaptable, more enduring, richer in potentialities of beauty than the +products of ceramic art. They are easily and inexpensively produced of +any desired shape, color, texture; their hard, dense surface resists +the action of the elements, is not easily soiled, and is readily +cleaned; being fashioned by fire they are fire resistant. + +So much then for the practical demands, in modern architecture, met by +the products of ceramic art. The æsthetic demand is not less admirably +met--or rather _might_ be. + +When, in the sixteenth century, the Renaissance spread from south +to north, color was practically eliminated from architecture. The +Egyptians had had it, hot and bright as the sun on the desert; we +know that the Greeks made their Parian marble glow in rainbow tints; +Moorish architecture was nothing if not colorful, and the Venice +Ruskin loved was fairly iridescent--a thing of fire-opal and pearl. +In Italian Renaissance architecture up to its latest phase, the color +element was always present; but it was snuffed out under the leaden +colored northern skies. Paris is grey, London is brown, New York is +white, and Chicago the color of cinders. We have only to compare them +to yellow Rome, red Siena, and pearl-tinted Venice, to realize how +much we have lost in the elimination of color from architecture. +We are coming to realize it. Color played an important part in the +Pan-American Exposition, and again in the San Francisco Exposition, +where, wedded to light, it became the dominant note of the whole +architectural concert. Now these great expositions in which the +architects and artists are given a free hand, are in the nature of +preliminary studies in which these functionaries sketch in transitory +form the things they desire to do in more permanent form. They are +forecasts of the future, a future which in certain quarters is +already beginning to realize itself. It is therefore probable that +architectural art will become increasingly colorful. + +The author remembers the day and the hour when this became his +personal conviction--his personal desire. It happened years ago in +the Albright Gallery in Buffalo--a building then newly completed, of a +severely classic type. In the central hall was a single doorway, +whose white marble architrave had been stained with different colored +pigments by Francis Bacon; after the manner of the Greeks. The effect +was so charming, and made the rest of the place seem by contrast so +cold and dun, that the author came then and there to the conclusion +that architecture without polychromy was architecture incomplete. Mr. +Bacon spent three years in Asia Minor, and elsewhere, studying +the remains of Greek architecture, and he found and brought home a +fragment of an antefix from the temple of Assos, in which the applied +color was still pure and strong. The Greeks were a joyous people. When +joy comes back into life, color will come back into architecture. + +Ceramic products are ideal as a means to this end. The Greeks +themselves recognized their value for they used them widely and +wisely: it has been discovered that they even attached bands of +colored terra-cotta to the marble mouldings of their temples. How +different must have been such a temple's real appearance from +that imagined by the Classical Revivalists, whose tradition of the +inviolable cold Parian purity of Greek architecture has persisted, +even against archæological evidence to the contrary, up to the present +day. + +In one way we have an advantage over the Greek, if we only had the wit +to profit by it. His palette, like his musical scale, was more limited +than ours. Nearly the whole gamut of the spectrum is now available to +the architect who wishes to employ ceramics. The colors do not +change or fade, and possess a beautiful quality. Our craftsmen and +manufacturers of face-brick, terra-cotta, and colored tile, after much +costly experimentation, have succeeded in producing ceramics of a +high order of excellence and intrinsic beauty; they can do practically +anything demanded of them; but from that quarter where they +should reap the greatest commercial advantage--the field of +architecture--there is all too little demand. The architect who should +lead, teach and dictate in this field, is often through ignorance +obliged to learn and follow instead. This has led to an ignominious +situation--ignominious, that is, to the architect. He has come +to require of the manufacturer--when he requires anything at +all--assistance in the very matter in which he should assist: the +determination of color design. It is no wonder that the results are +often bad, and therefore discouraging. The manufacturers of ceramics +welcome co-operation and assistance on the part of the architect with +an eagerness which is almost pathetic, on those rare occasions when +assistance is offered. + +But the architect is not really to blame: the reason for his failure +lies deep in his general predicament of having to know a little of +everything, and do a great deal more than he can possibly do well. To +cope with this, if his practice warrants the expenditure, he surrounds +himself with specialists in various fields, and assigns various +departments of his work to them. He cannot be expected to have on +his staff a specialist in ceramics, nor can he, with all his manifold +activities, be expected to become such a specialist himself. As a +result, he is usually content to let color problems alone, for they +are just another complication of his already too complicated life; +or he refers them to some one whom he thinks ought to know--a +manufacturer's designer--and approves almost anything submitted. Of +course the ideal architect would have time for every problem, and +solve it supremely well; but the real architect is all too human: +there are depressions on his cranium where bumps ought to be; +moreover, he wants a little time left to energize in other +directions than in the practice of his craft. One of the functions +of architecture is to reveal the inherent qualities and beauties of +different materials, by their appropriate use and tasteful display. +An onyx staircase on the one hand, and a portland cement high altar +on the other, alike violate this function of architecture; they +transgress that beautiful necessity which decrees that precious +materials should serve precious uses and common materials should +serve utilitarian ends. Now color is a precious thing, and its highest +beauties can be brought out only by contrast with broad neutral tinted +spaces. The interior walls of a mediaeval cathedral never competed +with its windows, and by the same token, a riot of polychromy all +over the side of a building is not as effective, even from a chromatic +point of view, as though it were confined, say, to an entrance and a +frieze. Gilbert's witty phrase is applicable here: + + "Where everybody's somebody, nobody's anybody." + +Let us build our walls, then, of stone, or brick, or stucco,--for +their flat surfaces and neutral tints conduce to that repose so +essential to good architectural effect: but let us not rest content +with this, but grant to the eye the delight and contentment which it +craves, by color and pattern placed at those points to which it is +desirable to attract attention, for they serve the same æsthetic +purpose as a tiara on the brow of beauty, or a ring on a delicate +white hand. But just as jewelry is best when it is most individual, +so the ornament of a building should be in keeping with its general +character and complexion. A color scheme should not be chosen at +random, but dictated by the prevailing tone and texture of the wall +surfaces, with which it should harmonize as inevitably as the blossom +of a bush with its prevailing tone of stems and foliage. In a building +this prevailing tone will inevitably be either cold or warm, and the +color scheme just as inevitably should be either cold or warm; that +is, there should be a preponderance of cold colors over warm, or vice +versa. Otherwise the eye will suffer just that order of uneasiness +which comes from the contemplation of two equal masses, whereas it +experiences satisfaction in proportionate unequals. + +Nothing will take the place of an instinctive colour-sense, but even +that needs the training of experience, if the field be new, and a few +general principles of all but universal application will not be amiss. + +First of all it should be remembered that the intensity of color +should be carefully adjusted to its area. It is dangerous to try to +use high, pure colors, unrelieved and uncontrasted, in large masses, +but the brightest, strongest colors may be used with safety in units +of sufficiently restricted size. For harmony, as well as for richness, +the law of complementaries, in its most general application, is +the safest of all guides, but it must be followed with fine +discrimination. Complementary colors are like married pairs, if they +find the right adjustment with one another they are happy--that is, +there is an effect of beauty--but lacking such adjustment they are +worse off together than apart. Every artist who experiments in color +soon finds out for himself that instead of using two colors directly +complementary, it is better to "split" one of them, that is, use +instead of one of them two others, which combined will yield the +color in question. For example, the color complementary to red is +green-blue. Now green-blue is equidistant between yellow-green and +blue-violet, so if for red and blue-green; red, yellow-green and +blue-violet be substituted the combination loses its obviousness and +a certain harshness without losing anything of its brilliance, or +without departing from the optical law involved. Such a combination +corresponds to a diminished triad in music. + +Another important consideration with regard to color as employed by +the architect dwells in those optical changes effected by distance and +position: the relative visibility of different colors and combinations +of colors as the spectator recedes from them, and the environmental +changes which colors undergo--in bright sunlight, in shadow, against +the sky, and with relation to backgrounds of different sorts. + +The effect of distance is to make colors merge into one another, to +lower the values, but not all equally. Yellow loses itself first, +tending toward white. The effect of distance, in general, is to +disintegrate and decompose, thus giving "vibration" as it is called. A +knowledge of these and kindred facts will save the architect from many +disappointments and enable him to obtain wonderful chromatic effects +by simple means. + +Many architects unused to color problems design their ornament with +very little thought about the colors which they propose to employ, +making it an after-consideration; but the two things should be +considered synchronously for the best final effect. There is a cryptic +saying that "color is at right angles to form," that is, color is +capable of making surfaces advance toward or recede from the eye, just +as modelling does; and for this reason, if color is used, a great deal +of modelling may be dispensed with. If a receding color is used on a +recessed plane, it deepens that plane unduly; while on the other hand +if a color which refuses to recede--like yellow for example--is used +where depth is wanted, the receding plane and the approaching color +neutralize one another, resulting in an effect of flatness not +intended. The tyro should not complicate his problem by combining +color with high relief modelling, bringing inevitably in the element +of light and shade. He should leave that for older hands and concern +himself rather with flat or nearly flat surfaces, using his modelling +much as the worker in cloisonné uses his little rims of brass--to +confine and define each color within its own allotted area. Then, +as he gains experience, he may gradually enrich his pattern by the +addition of the element of light and shade, should he so decide. + +Now as to certain general considerations in relation to the +appropriate and logical use of ceramics in the construction and +adornment of buildings, exterior and interior. In our northern +latitudes care should be taken that ceramics are not used in places +and in ways where the accumulation of snow and ice render the joints +subject to alternate freezing and thawing, for in such case, unless +the joints are protected with metal, the units will work loose in +time. On vertical surfaces such protection is not necessary; the use +of ceramics should therefore be confined for the most part to such +surfaces: for friezes, panels, door and window architraves, and the +like. When it is desirable for æsthetic reasons to tie a series of +windows together vertically by means of some "fill" of a material +different from that of the body of the wall, ceramics lend themselves +admirably to the purpose--better than wood, which rots; than iron, +which rusts; than bronze, which turns black; and than marble, which +soon loses its color and texture in exposed situations of this sort. + +On the interior of buildings, the most universal use of ceramics is, +of course, for floors, and with the non-slip devices of various sorts +which have come into the market, they are no less good for stairs. +There is nothing better for wainscoting, and in fact for any surface +whatsoever subject to soil and wear. These materials combine permanent +protection and permanent decoration. But fired by the zeal of the +convert the use of ceramics may be overdone. One easily recalls +entire rooms of this material, floors, walls, ceilings, which are less +successful than as though a variety of materials had been employed. It +is just such variety--each material treated in a characteristic, and +therefore different way--that gives charm to so many foreign churches +and cathedrals: walls of stone, floors of marble, choir-stalls of +carved wood, and rood-screen of metal: it is the difference between +an orchestra of various instruments and a mandolin orchestra or a +saxaphone sextette. Ceramics should never invade the domain of the +plasterer, the mural painter, the cabinet maker. Do not let us, in +our zeal for ceramics, be like Bottom the weaver, eager to play every +part. + +Ceramics have, as regards architecture, a distinct and honorable +function. This function should be recognized, taken advantage of, but +never overpassed. They offer opportunities large but not limitless. +They constitute one instrument of the orchestra of which the architect +is the conductor, an instrument beautiful in the hands of a master, +and doubly beautiful in concert and contrast with those other +materials whose harmonious ensemble makes that music in three +dimensions: architectural art. + + + + +SYMBOLS AND SACRAMENTS + + +Architecture is the concrete presentment in space of the soul of a +people. If that soul be petty and sordid--"stirred like a child +by little things"--no great architecture is possible because great +architecture can image only greatness. Before any worthy architecture +can arise in the modern world the soul must be aroused. The cannons +of Europe are bringing about this awakening. The world--the world of +thought and emotion from whence flow acts and events--is no longer +decrepit, but like Swedenborg's angels it is advancing toward the +springtide of its youth: down the ringing grooves of change "we sweep +into the younger day." + +After the war we are likely to witness an art evolution which will +not be restricted to statues and pictures and insincere essays in +dry-as-dust architectural styles, but one which will permeate the +whole social fabric, and make it palpitate with the rhythm of a +younger, a more abundant life. Beauty and mystery will again make +their dwelling among men; the Voiceless will speak in music, and the +Formless will spin rhythmic patterns on the loom of space. We shall +seek and find a new language of symbols to express the joy of the +soul, freed from the thrall of an iron age of materialism, and +fronting the unimaginable splendors of the spiritual life. + +[Illustration: PLATE XV. SYMBOL OF RESURRECTION] + +For every æsthetic awakening is the result of a spiritual awakening +of some sort. Every great religious movement found an art expression +eloquent of it. When religion languished, such things as Versailles +and the Paris Opera House were possible, but not such things as the +Parthenon, or Notre Dame. The temples of Egypt were built for the +celebration of the rites of the religion of Egypt; so also in the +case of Greece. Roman architecture was more widely secular, but Rome's +noblest monument, the Pantheon, was a religious edifice. The Moors, +inflamed with religious ardor, swept across Europe, blazing their +trail with mosques and palaces conceived seemingly in some ecstatic +state of dream. The Renaissance, tainted though it was by worldliness, +found still its inspiration in sacred themes, and recorded +its beginning and its end in two mighty religious monuments: +Brunelleschi's and Michael Angelo's domical churches, "wrought in a +sad sincerity" by deeply religious men. Gothic art is a synonym for +mediaeval Christianity; while in the Orient art is scarcely secular at +all, but a symbolical language framed and employed for the expression +of spiritual ideas. + +This law, that spirituality and not materialism distils the precious +attar of great art, is permanently true and perennially applicable, +for laws of this order do not change from age to age, however various +their manifestation. The inference is plain: until we become a +religious people great architecture is far from us. We are becoming +religious in that broad sense in which churches and creeds, forms +and ceremonies, play little part. Ours is the search of the heart +for something greater than itself which is still itself; it is the +religion of brotherhood, whose creed is love, whose ritual is service. + +This transformed and transforming religion of the West, the tardy +fruit of the teachings of Christ, now secretly active in the hearts +of men, will receive enrichment from many sources. Science will reveal +the manner in which the spirit weaves its seven-fold veil of illusion; +nature, freshly sensed, will yield new symbols which art will organize +into a language; out of the experience of the soul will grow new +rituals and observances. But one precious tincture of this new +religion our civilization and our past cannot supply; it is the +heritage of Asia, cherished in her brooding bosom for uncounted +centuries, until, by the operation of the law of cycles, the time +should come for the giving of it to the West. + +This secret is Yoga, the method of self-development whereby the seeker +for union is enabled to perceive the shining of the Inward Light. This +is achieved by daily discipline in stilling the mind and directing the +consciousness inward instead of outward. The Self is within, and +the mind, which is normally centrifugal, must first be arrested, +controlled, and then turned back upon itself, and held with perfect +steadiness. All this is naively expressed in the Upanishads in the +passage, "The Self-existent pierced the openings of the senses so that +they turn forward, not backward into himself. Some wise man, however, +with eyes closed and wishing for immortality, saw the Self behind." +This stilling of the mind, its subjugation and control whereby it may +be concentrated on anything at will, is particularly hard for persons +of our race and training, a race the natural direction of whose +consciousness is strongly outward, a training in which the practice of +introspective meditation finds no place. + +Yoga--that "union" which brings inward vision, the contribution of the +East to the spiritual life of the West--will bring profound changes +into the art of the West, since art springs from consciousness. The +consciousness of the West now concerns itself with the visible world +almost exclusively, and Western art is therefore characterized by an +almost slavish fidelity to the ephemeral appearances of things--the +record of particular moods and moments. The consciousness of the East +on the other hand, is subjective, introspective. Its art accordingly +concerns itself with eternal aspects, with a world of archetypal +ideas in which things exist not for their own sake, but as symbols of +supernal things. The Oriental artist avoids as far as possible trivial +and individual rhythms, seeking always the fundamental rhythm of the +larger, deeper life. + +Now this quality so earnestly sought and so highly prized in Oriental +art, is the very thing which our art and our architecture most +conspicuously lack. To the eye sensitive to rhythm, our essays in +these fields appear awkward and unconvincing, lacking a certain +_inevitability_. We must restore to art that first great canon of +Chinese æsthetics, "_Rhythmic vitality,_ or the life movement of the +spirit through the rhythm of things." It cannot be interjected from +the outside, but must be inwardly realized by the "stilling" of the +mind above described. + +Art cannot dispense with symbolism; as the letters on this page convey +thoughts to the mind, so do the things of this world, organized into +a language of symbols, speak to the soul through art. But in the +building of our towers of Babel, again mankind is stricken with a +confusion of tongues. Art has no _common language;_ its symbols are +no longer valid, or are no longer understood. This is a condition for +which materialism has no remedy, for the reason that materialism sees +always the pattern but never that which the pattern represents. We +must become _spiritually illumined_ before we can read nature truly, +and re-create, from such a reading, fresh and universal symbols for +art. This is a task beyond the power of our sad generation, enchained +by negative thinking, overshadowed by war, but we can at least glimpse +the nature of the reaction between the mystic consciousness and the +things of this world which will produce a new language of symbols. The +mystic consciousness looks upon nature as an arras embroidered over +with symbols of the things it conceals from view. We are ourselves +symbols, dwelling in a world of symbols--a world many times removed +from that ultimate reality to which all things bear figurative +witness; the commonest thing has yet some mystic meaning, and ugliness +and vulgarity exist only in the unillumined mind. + +What mystic meaning, it may be asked, is contained in such things as +a brick, a house, a hat, a pair of shoes? A brick is the ultimate +atom of a building; a house is the larger body which man makes for his +uses, just as the Self has built its habitation of flesh and bones; +hat and shoes are felt and leather insulators with which we seek to +cut ourselves off from the currents which flow through earth and air +from God. It may be objected that these answers only substitute +for the lesser symbol a greater, but this is inevitable: if for the +greater symbol were named one still more abstract and inclusive, the +ultimate verity would be as far from affirmation as before. There is +nothing of which the human mind can conceive that is not a symbol of +something greater and higher than itself. + +The dictionary defines a symbol as "something that stands for +something else and serves to represent it, or to bring to mind one or +more of its qualities." Now this world is a _reflection_ of a higher +world, and that of a higher world still, and so on. Accordingly, +everything is a symbol of something higher, since by reflecting, it +"stands for, and serves to represent it," and the thing symbolized, +being itself a reflection, is, by the same token, itself a symbol. +By reiterated repetitions of this reflecting process throughout the +numberless planes and sub-planes of nature, each thing becomes a +symbol, not of one thing only, but of many things, all intimately +correlated, and this gives rise to those underlying analogies, those +"secret subterranean passages between matter and soul" which have ever +been the especial preoccupation of the poet and the mystic, but which +may one day become the subject of serious examination by scientific +men. + +Let us briefly pass in review the various terms of such an ascending +series of symbols: members of one family, they might be called, since +they follow a single line of descent. + +Take gold: as a thing in itself, without any symbolical significance, +it is a metallic element, having a characteristic yellow color, very +heavy, very soft, the most ductile, malleable, and indestructible of +metals. In its minted form it is the life force of the body economic, +since on its abundance and free circulation the well-being of that +body depends; it is that for which all men strive and contend, because +without it they cannot comfortably live. This, then, is gold in its +first and lowest symbolical aspect: a life principle, a motive force +in human affairs. But it is not gold which has gained for man his +lordship over nature; it is fire, the yellow gold, not of the earth, +but of the air,--cities and civilizations, arts and industries, have +ever followed the camp fire of the pioneer. Sunlight comes next in +sequence--sunlight, which focussed in a burning glass, spontaneously +produces flame. The world subsists on sunlight; all animate creation +grows by it, and languishes without it, as the prosperity of cities +waxes or wanes with the presence or absence of a supply of gold. The +magnetic force of the sun, specialized as _prana_ (which is not the +breath which goes up and the breath which goes down, but that other, +in which the two repose), fulfils the same function in the human body +as does gold in civilization, sunlight in nature: its abundance makes +for health, its meagreness for enervation. Higher than _prana_ is the +mind, that golden sceptre of man's dominion, the Promethean gift of +fire with which he menaces the empire of the gods. Higher still, in +the soul, love is the motive force, the conqueror: a "heart of gold" +is one warmed and lighted by love. Still other is the desire of the +spirit, which no human affection satisfies, but truth only, the Golden +Person, the Light of the World, the very Godhead itself. Thus there is +earthy, airy, etheric gold; gold as intellect, gold as love, gold as +truth; from the curse of the world, the cause of a thousand crimes, +there ascends a Jacob's Ladder of symbols to divinity itself, whereby +men may learn that God works by sacrifice: that His universe is itself +His broken body. As gold in the purse, fire on the forge, sunlight +for the eyes, breath in the body, knowledge in the mind, love in the +heart, and wisdom in the understanding, He draws all men unto Him, +teaching them the wise use of wealth, the mastery over nature, the +care of the body, the cultivation of the mind, the love of wife and +child and neighbour, and, last lesson of all, He teaches them that in +industry, in science, in art, in sympathy and understanding, He it is +they are all the while knowing, loving, becoming; and that even when +they flee Him, His are the wings-- + + "When me they fly, I am the wings." + +This attempt to define gold as a symbol ends with the indication of an +ubiquitous and immanent divinity in everything. Thus it is always: in +attempting to dislodge a single voussoir from the arch of truth, the +temple itself is shaken, so cunningly are the stones fitted together. +All roads lead to Rome, and every symbol is a key to the Great +Mystery: for example, read in the light of these correspondences, the +alchemist's transmutation of base metals into gold, is seen to be the +sublimation of man's lower nature into "that highest golden sheath, +which is Brahman." + +Keeping the first sequence clearly in mind, let us now attempt to +trace another, parallel to it: the feminine of which the first may +be considered the corresponding masculine. Silver is a white, ductile +metallic element. In coinage it is the synonym for ready cash,--gold +in the bank is silver in the pocket; hence, in a sense, silver is +the _reflection_, or the second power of gold. Just as ruddy gold is +correlated with fire, so is pale silver with water; and as fire is +affiliated with the sun, so do the waters of the earth follow the +moon in her courses. The golden sun, the silver moon: these commonly +employed descriptive adjectives themselves supply the correlation we +are seeking; another indication of its validity lies in the fact that +one of the characteristics of water is its power of reflecting; that +moonlight is reflected sunlight. If gold is the mind, silver is the +body, in which the mind is imaged, objectified; if gold is flamelike +love, silver is brooding affection; and in the highest regions of +consciousness, beauty is the feminine or form side of truth--its +silver mirror. + +There are two forces in the world, one of projection, the other +of recall; two states, activity and rest. Nature, with tireless +ingenuity, everywhere publishes this fact: in bursting bud and falling +seed, in the updrawn waters and the descending rain; throw a stone +into the air, and when the impulse is exhausted, gravity brings it to +earth again. In civilized society these centrifugal and centripetal +forces find expression in the anarchic and radical spirit which breaks +down and re-forms existing institutions, and in the conservative +spirit which preserves and upbuilds by gradual accretion; they are +analogous to igneous and to aqueous action in the formation and +upbuilding of the earth itself, and find their prototype again in man +and woman: man, the warrior, who prevails by the active exercise +of his powers, and woman, "the treasury of the continued race," +who conquers by continual quietness. Man and woman symbolize forces +centrifugal and centripetal not alone in their inner nature, and +in the social and economic functions peculiar to each, but in their +physical aspects and peculiarities as well, for man is small of flank +and broad of shoulder, with relatively large extremities, _i.e., +centrifugal_: while woman is formed with broad hips, narrow shoulders, +and small feet and hands, _i.e., centripetal_. Woman's instinctive +and unconscious gestures are _towards_ herself, man's are _away from_ +himself. The physiologist might hold that the anatomical differences +between the sexes result from their difference in function in the +reproduction and conservation of the race, and this is a true view, +but the lesser truth need not necessarily exclude the greater. As +Chesterton says, "Something in the evil spirit of our time forces +people always to pretend to have found some material and mechanical +explanation." Such would have us believe, with Schopenhauer and +Bernard Shaw, that the lover's delight in the beauty of his mistress +dwells solely in his instinctive perception of her fitness to be the +mother of his child. This is undoubtedly a factor in the glamour +woman casts on man, but there are other factors too, higher as well as +lower, corresponding to different departments of our manifold nature. +First of all, there is mere physical attraction: to the man physical, +woman is a cup of delight; next, there is emotional love, whereby +woman appeals through her need of protection, her power of tenderness; +on the mental plane she is man's intellectual companion, his masculine +reason would supplement itself with her feminine intuition; he +recognizes in her an objectification, in some sort, of his own soul, +his spirit's bride, predestined throughout the ages; while the god +within him perceives her to be that portion of himself which he put +forth before the world was, to be the mother, not alone of human +children, but of all those myriad forms, within which entering, "as in +a sheath, a knife," he becomes the Enjoyer, and realizes, vividly and +concretely, his bliss, his wisdom, and his power. + +Adam and Eve, and the tree in the midst of the garden! After man and +woman, a tree is perhaps the most significant symbol in the +world: every tree is the Tree of Life in the sense that it is a +representation of universal becoming. To say that all things have for +their mother _prakriti_, undifferentiated substance, and for their +father _purusha_, the creative fire, is vague and metaphysical, and +conveys little meaning to our image-bred, image-fed minds; on the +physical plane we can only learn these transcendental truths by means +of symbols, and so to each of us is given a human father and a human +mother from whose relation to one another and to oneself may be +learned our relation to nature, the universal mother, and to that +immortal spirit which is the father of us all. We are given, moreover, +the symbol of the tree, which, rooted in the earth, its mother, and +nourished by her juices, strives ever upward towards its father, the +sun. The mathematician may be able to demonstrate, as a result of a +lifetime of hard thinking, that unity and infinity are but two aspects +of one thing; this is not clear to ordinary minds, but made concrete +in the tree--unity in the trunk, infinity in the foliage--any one +is able to understand it. We perceive that all things grow as a tree +grows, from unity to multiplicity, from simplicity and strength to +beauty and fineness. The generation of the line from the point, the +plane from the line, and from the plane, the solid, is a matter, +again, which chiefly interests the geometrician, but the inevitable +sequence stands revealed in seed, stem, leaf, and fruit: a point, a +line, a surface, and a sphere. There is another order of truths, also, +which a tree teaches: the renewal of its life each year is a symbol +of the reincarnation of the soul, teaching that life is never-ending +climax, and that what appears to be cessation is merely a change +of state. A tree grows great by being firmly rooted; we too, though +children of the air, need the earth, and grow by good deeds, hidden, +like the roots of the tree, out of sight; for the tree, rain and +sunshine: for the soul, tears and laughter thrill the imprisoned +spirit into conscious life. + +We love and understand the trees because we have ourselves passed +through their evolution, and they survive in us still, for the +arterial and nervous systems are trees, the roots of one in the heart, +of the other in the brain. Has not our body its trunk, bearing aloft +the head, like a flower: a cup to hold the precious juices of the +brain? Has not that trunk its tapering limbs which ramify into hands +and feet, and these into fingers and toes, after the manner of the +twigs and branches of a tree? + +Closely related to symbolism is sacramentalism; the man who sees +nature as a book of symbols is likely to regard life as a sacrament. +Because this is a point of view vitalizing to art let us glance at +the sacramental life, divorced from the forms and observances of any +specific religion. + +This life consists in the habitual perception of an ulterior meaning, +a hidden beauty and significance in the objects, acts, and events +of every day. Though binding us to a sensuous existence, these +nevertheless contain within themselves the power of emancipating us +from it: over and above their immediate use, their pleasure or their +profit, they have a hidden meaning which contains some healing message +for the soul. + +A classic example of a sacrament, not alone in the ordinary meaning +of the term, but in the special sense above defined, is the Holy +Communion of the Christian Church. Its origin is a matter of common +knowledge. On the evening of the night in which He was betrayed, +Jesus and His disciples were gathered together for the feast of the +Passover. Aware of His impending betrayal, and desirous of impressing +powerfully upon His chosen followers the nature and purpose of His +sacrifice, Jesus ordained a sacrament out of the simple materials of +the repast. He took bread and broke it, and gave to each a piece as +the symbol of His broken body; and to each He passed a cup of wine, +as a symbol of His poured-out blood. In this act, as in the washing of +the disciples' feet on the same occasion, He made His ministrations to +the needs of men's bodies an allegory of His greater ministration to +the needs of their souls. + +The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is of such beauty and power that it +has persisted even to the present day. It lacks, however, the element +of universality--at least by other than Christians its universality +would be denied. Let us seek, therefore some all-embracing symbol to +illustrate the sacramental view of life. + +Perhaps marriage is such a symbol. The public avowal of love between +a man and woman, their mutual assumption of the attendant privileges, +duties and responsibilities are matters so pregnant with consequences +to them and to the race that by all right-thinking people marriage is +regarded as a high and holy thing; its sacramental character is felt +and acknowledged even by those who would be puzzled to tell the reason +why. + +The reason is involved in the answer to the question, "Of what is +marriage a symbol?" The most obvious answer, and doubtless the best +one, is found in the well known and much abused doctrine, common to +every religion, of the spiritual marriage between God and the soul. +What Christians call _the Mystic Way,_ and Buddhists _the Path_ +comprises those changes in consciousness through which every soul +passes on its way to perfection. When the personal life is conceived +of as an allegory of this inner, intense, super-mundane life, it +assumes a sacramental character. With strange unanimity, followers +of the Mystic Way have given the name of marriage to that memorable +experience in "the flight of the Alone to the Alone," when the soul, +after trials and purgations, enters into indissoluble union with the +spirit, that divine, creative principle whereby it is made fruitful +for this world. Marriage, then, however dear and close the union, is +the symbol of a union dearer and closer, for it is the fair prophecy +that on some higher arc of the evolutionary spiral, the soul will meet +its immortal lover and be initiated into divine mysteries. + +As an example of the power of symbols to induce those changes of +consciousness whereby the soul is prepared for this union, it is +recorded that an eminent scientist was moved to alter his entire mode +of life on reflecting, while in his bath one morning, that though each +day he was at such pains to make clean his body, he made no similar +purgation of his mind and heart. The idea appealed to him so +profoundly that he began to practise the higher cleanliness from that +day forth. + +If it be true, as has been said, that ordinary life in the world is a +training school for a life more real and more sublime, then everything +pertaining to life in the world must possess a sacramental character, +and possess it inherently, and not merely by imputation. Let us +discover, then, if we can, some of the larger meanings latent in +little things. + +When at the end of a cloudy day the sun bursts forth in splendor and +sets red in the west, it is a sign to the weather-wise that the next +day will be fair. To the devotee of the sacramental life it holds a +richer promise. To him the sun is a symbol of the love of God; the +clouds, those worldly preoccupations of his own which hide its face +from him. This purely physical phenomenon, therefore, which brings +to most men a scarcely noticed augmentation of heat and light, and +an indication of fair weather on the morrow, induces in the mystic an +ineffable sense of divine immanence and beneficence, and an assurance +of their continuance beyond the dark night of the death of the body. + +When the sacramentalist goes swimming in the sea he enjoys to the full +the attendant physical exhilaration, but a greater joy flows from +the thought that he is back with his great Sea-Mother--that feminine +principle of which the sea is the perfect symbol, since water brings +all things to birth and nurtures them. When at the end of a day +he lays aside his clothes--that two-dimensional sheath of the +three-dimensional body--it is in full assurance that his body in turn +will be abandoned by the inwardly retreating consciousness, and that +he will range wherever he wills during the hours of sleep, clothed in +his subtle four-dimensional body, related to the physical body as that +is related to the clothes it wears. + +To every sincere seeker nature reveals her secrets, but since men +differ in their curiosities she reveals different things to different +men. All are rewarded for their devotion in accordance with their +interests and desires, but woman-like, nature reveals herself most +fully to him who worships not the fair form of her, but her soul. This +favored lover is the mystic; for ever seeking instruction in things +spiritual, he perceives in nature an allegory of the soul, and +interprets her symbols in terms of the sacramental life. + +The brook, pursuing its tortuous and stony pathway in untiring effort +to reach its gravitational centre, is a symbol of the Pilgrim's +progress, impelled by love to seek God within his heart. The modest +daisy by the roadside, and the wanton sunflower in the garden alike +seek to image the sun, the god of their worship, a core of seeds and +fringe of petals representing their best effort to mimic the flaming +disc and far-flung corona of the sun. Man seeks less ardently, and so +more ineffectively in his will and imagination to image God. In the +reverent study of insect and animal life we gain some hint of what we +have been and what we may become--something corresponding to the grub, +a burrowing thing; to the caterpillar, a crawling thing; and finally +to the butterfly, a radiant winged creature. + +After this fashion then does he who has embraced the sacramental life +come to perceive in the "sensuous manifold" of nature, that one divine +Reality which ever seeks to instruct him in supermundane wisdom, and +to woo him to superhuman blessedness and peace. In time, this reading +of earth in terms of heaven, becomes a settled habit. Then, in +Emerson's phrase, he has hitched his wagon to a star, and changed his +grocer's cart into a chariot of the sun. + +The reader may perhaps fail to perceive the bearing of this long +discussion of symbols and sacraments upon the subject of art and +architecture, but in the mind of the author the correlation is +plain. There can be no great art without religion: religion begins in +consciousness as a mystic experience, it flows thence into symbols +and sacraments, and these in turn are precipitated by the artist into +ponderable forms of beauty. Unless the artist himself participates in +this mystic experience, life's deeper meanings will escape him, and +the work of his hands will have no special significance. Until it can +be said of every artist + + "Himself from God he could not free," + +there will be no art worthy of the name. + + + + +SELF-EDUCATION[1] + + +I take great pleasure in availing myself of this opportunity to speak +to you on certain aspects of the art which we practise. I cannot +forget, and I hope that you sufficiently remember, that the +architectural future of this country lies in the hands of just such +men as you. Let me dwell then for a moment on your unique opportunity. +Perhaps some of you have taken up architecture as you might have gone +into trade, or manufacturing, or any of the useful professions; in +that case you have probably already learned discrimination, and now +realize that in the cutting of the cake of human occupations you +have drawn the piece which contains the ring of gold. The cake is +the business and utilitarian side of life, the ring of gold is the +æsthetic, the creative side: treasure it, for it is a precious and +enduring thing. Think what your work is: to reassemble materials in +such fashion that they become instinct with a beauty and eloquent with +a meaning which may carry inspiration and delight to generations still +unborn. Immortality haunts your threshold, even though your hand may +not be strong enough to open to the heavenly visitor. + +Though the profession of architecture is a noble one in any country +and in any age, it is particularly rich in inspiration and in +opportunity here and now, for who can doubt that we are about to enter +upon a great building period? We have what Mr. Sullivan calls "the +need and the power to build," the spirit of great art alone is +lacking, and that is already stirring in the secret hearts of men, and +will sooner or later find expression in objective and ponderable +forms of new beauty. These it is your privilege to create. May the +opportunity find you ready! There is a saying, "To be young, to be in +love, to be in Italy!" I would paraphrase it thus: To be young, to be +in architecture, to be in America. + +It is my purpose tonight to outline a scheme of self-education, which +if consistently followed out I am sure will help you, though I am +aware that to a certain order of mind it will seem highly mystical and +impractical. If it commends itself to your favor I shall be glad. + +Many of you will have had the advantage of a thorough technical +training in your chosen profession: be grateful for it. Others, like +Topsy, "just growed"--or have just failed to grow. For the solace of +all such, without wishing to be understood to disparage architectural +schooling, I would say that there is a kind of education which is +worse than none, for by filling his mind with ready-made ideas it +prevents a man from ever learning to think for himself; and there is +another kind which teaches him to think, indeed, but according to some +arbitrary method, so that his mind becomes a canal instead of a river, +flowing in a predetermined and artificial channel, and unreplenished +by the hidden springs of the spirit. The best education can do no more +than to bring into manifestation that which is inherent; it does this +by means of some stimulus from without--from books and masters--but +the stimulus may equally come from within: each can develop his own +mind, and in the following manner. + +The alternation between a state of activity and a state of passivity, +which is a law of our physical being, as it is a law of all nature, +is characteristic of the action of the mind as well: observation and +meditation are the two poles of thought. The tendency of modern life +and of our active American temperament is towards a too exclusive +functioning of the mind in its outgoing state, and this results in +a great cleverness and a great shallowness. It is only in moments of +quiet meditation that the great synthetic, fundamental truths reveal +themselves. Observe ceaselessly, weigh, judge, criticize--this order +of intellectual activity is important and valuable--but the mind must +be steadied and strengthened by another and a different process. The +power of attention, the ability to concentrate, is the measure of +mental efficiency; and this power may be developed by a training +exactly analogous to that by which a muscle is developed, for mind +and muscle are alike the instruments of the Silent Thinker who sits +behind. The mind an instrument of something higher than the mind: here +is a truth so fertile that in the language of Oriental imagery, "If +you were to tell this to a dry stick, branches would grow, and leaves +sprout from it." + +There is nothing original in the method of mental development here +indicated; it has been known and practised for centuries in the East, +where life is less strenuous than it is with us. The method consists +in silent meditation every day at stated periods, during which the +attempt is made to hold the mind to the contemplation of a single +image or idea, bringing the attention back whenever it wanders, +killing each irrelevant thought as it arises, as one might kill a +rat coming out of a hole. This turning of the mind back on itself is +difficult, but I know of nothing that "pays" so well, and I have never +found any one who conscientiously practised it who did not confirm +this view. The point is, that if a man acquires the ability to +concentrate on one thing, he can concentrate on anything; he increases +his competence on the mental plane in the same manner that pulling +chest-weights increases his competence on the physical. The practice +of meditation has moreover an ulterior as well as an immediate +advantage, and that is the reason it is practised by the Yogis of +India. They believe that by stilling the mind, which is like a lake +reflecting the sky, the Higher Self communicates a knowledge of Itself +to the lower consciousness. Without the working of this Oversoul in +and through us we can never hope to produce an architecture which +shall rank with the great architectures of the past, for in Egypt, in +Greece, in mediaeval France, as in India, China, and Japan, mysticism +made for itself a language more eloquent than any in which the purely +rational consciousness of man has ever spoken. + +We are apt to overestimate the importance of books and book learning. +Think how small a part books have played in the development of +architecture; indeed, Palladio and Vignola, with their hard and fast +formulæ have done the art more harm than good. It is a fallacy that +reading strengthens the mind--it enervates it; reading sometimes +stimulates the mind to original thinking, and _this_ develops it, +but reading itself is a passive exercise, because the thought of the +reader is for the time being in abeyance in order that the thought +of the writer may enter. Much reading impairs the power to think +originally and consecutively. Few of the great creators of the world +have had use for books, and if you aspire to be in their class you +will avoid the "spawn of the press." The best plan is to read only +great books, and having read for five minutes, think about what you +have read for ten. + +These exercises, faithfully followed out, will make your mind a fit +vehicle for the expression of your idea, but the advice I have +given is as pertinent to any one who uses his mind as it is to the +architect. To what, specifically, should the architectural student +devote his attention in order to improve the quality of his work? +My own answer would be that he should devote himself to the study of +music, of the human figure, and to the study of Nature--"first, last, +midst, and without end." + +The correlation between music and architecture is no new thought; it +is implied in the famous saying that architecture is frozen music. +Vitruvius considered a knowledge of music to be a qualification of the +architect of his day, and if it was desirable then it is no less so +now. There is both a metaphysical reason and a practical one why +this is so. Walter Pater, in a famous phrase, declared that all art +constantly aspires to the condition of music, by which he meant to +imply that there is a certain rhythm and harmony at the root of every +art, of which music is the perfect and pure expression; that in +music the means and the end are one and the same. This coincides with +Schopenhauer's theory about music, that it is the most perfect +and unconditioned sensuous presentment known to us of that undying +_will-to-live_ which constitutes life and the world. Metaphysics +aside, the architect ought to hear as much good music as he can, and +learn the rudiments of harmony, at least to the extent of knowing the +simple numerical ratios which govern the principal consonant intervals +within the octave, so that, translating these ratios into intervals of +space expressed in terms of length and breadth, height, and width, his +work will "aspire to the condition of music." + +There is a metaphysical reason, too, as well as a practical one, why +an architect should know the human figure. Carlyle says, "There is but +one temple in the world, and that is the body of man." If the body +is, as he declares, a temple, it is no less true that a temple, or any +work of architectural art is in the nature of an ampler body which +man has created for his uses, and which he inhabits, just as the +individual consciousness builds and inhabits its fleshly stronghold. +This may seem a highly mystical idea, but the correlation between +the house and its inhabitant, and the body and its consciousness is +everywhere close, and is susceptible of infinite elaboration. + +Architectural beauty, like human beauty, depends upon a proper +subordination of parts to the whole, a harmonious interrelation +between these parts, the expressiveness of each of its functions, and +when these are many and diverse, their reconcilement one with another. +This being so, a study of the human figure with a view to analyzing +the sources of its beauty cannot fail to be profitable to the +architectural designer. Pursued intelligently, such study will +stimulate the mind to a perception of those simple yet subtle laws +according to which nature everywhere works, and it will educate +the eye in the finest known school of proportion, training it to +distinguish minute differences, in the same way that the hearing of +good music cultivates the ear. + +It is neither necessary nor desirable to make elaborate and carefully +shaded drawings from a posed model; an equal number of hours spent in +copying and analyzing the plates of a good art anatomy, supplemented +with a certain amount of life drawing, done merely with a view to +catch the pose, will be found to be a more profitable exercise, for it +will make you familiar with the principal and subsidiary proportions +of the bodily temple, and give you sufficient data to enable you to +indicate a figure in any position with fair accuracy. + +I recommend the study of Nature because I believe that such study +will assist you to recover that direct and instant perception of +beauty, our natural birthright, of which over-sophistication has +so bereft us that we no longer know it to be ours by right of +inheritance--inheritance from that cosmic matter endowed with +motion out of which we are fashioned, proceeding ever rationally and +rhythmically to its appointed ends. We are all of us participators in +a world of concrete music, geometry and number--a world, that is, so +mathematically constituted and co-ordinated that our pigmy bodies, +equally with the farthest star, throb to the music of the spheres. The +blood flows rhythmically, the heart its metronome; the moving limbs +weave patterns; the voice stirs into radiating sound-waves that pool +of silence which we call the air. + + "Thou canst not wave thy staff in air, + Or dip thy paddle in the lake, + But it carves the bow of beauty there, + And ripples in rhyme the oar forsake." + +The whole of animate creation labours under the beautiful necessity of +being beautiful. Everywhere it exhibits a perfect utility subservient +to harmonious laws. Nature is the workshop in which are built +_beautiful organisms_. This is exactly the aim of the architect--to +fashion beautiful organisms; what better school, therefore, could he +have in which to learn his trade? + +To study Nature it is not necessary to go out into the fields and +botanize, nor to attempt to make water colours of picturesque scenery. +These things are very well, but not so profitable to your particular +purpose as observation directed toward the discovery of the laws which +underlie and determine form and structure, such as the tracing of the +spiral line, not alone where it is obvious, as in the snail's shell +and in the ram's horn, but where it appears obscurely, as in the +disposition of leaves or twigs upon a parent stem. Such laws of nature +are equally laws of art, for art _is_ nature carried to a higher power +by reason of its passage through a human consciousness. Thought and +emotion tend to crystallize into forms of beauty as inevitably, and +according to the same laws, as does the frost on the window pane. Art, +in one of its aspects, is the weaving of a pattern, the communication +of an order and a method to lines, forms, colors, sounds. All very +poetical, and possibly true, you may be saying to yourselves, but +what has it to do with architecture, which nowadays, at least, is +pre-eminently a practical and utilitarian art whose highest mission +is to fulfil definite conditions in an economical and admirable way; +whose supreme excellence is fitness, appropriateness, the perfect +adaptation of means to ends, and the apt expression of both means +and ends? Yes, architecture is all of this, but this is not all of +architecture; else the most efficient engineer would be the most +admirable architect, which does not happen to be the case. Along with +the expression of the concrete and individual must go the expression +of the abstract and universal; the two can be combined in a single +building in the same way that in every human countenance are +combined a racial or temperamental _type_, which is universal, and a +_character_, which is individual. The expression of any sort of cosmic +truth, of universal harmony and rhythm, is the quality which our +architecture most conspicuously lacks. Failing to find the cosmic +truth within ourselves, failing to vibrate to the universal harmony +and rhythm, our architecture is--well, what it is, for only that which +is native to our living spirit can we show forth in the work of our +hands. + +Your work will be, in the last analysis, what you yourselves are. Let +no sophistry blind you to the truth of that. There are rhythms in the +world of space which we find only in the architecture of the past, and +enamoured of their beauty we repeat them over and over (off the key +for the most part), on the principle that all the songs have been +sung; or we just make a noise, on the principle that noise is all +there is to architecture anyway. It is not so. Those systems of +spatial rhythms which we call Egyptian, Classic, Gothic, Renaissance +architecture and the rest, are records all of the living human spirit +energizing in the stubborn matter of the physical plane with joy, with +conviction, with mastery. When that undying spirit awakes again in +you, stirred into consciousness by meditation, which is its prayer; +by music, which is its praise; by the contemplation of that fair +form which is its temple; and by communion with nature, which is its +looking-glass; you will experience again that ancient joy, hold again +that firm conviction, and exercise again that mastery to transfuse the +granite and iron heart of the hills into patterns unlike any that the +hand of man has made before. + +[Footnote 1: An address delivered before the Boston Architectural Club +in April, 1909.] + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12625 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e4424a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12625 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12625) diff --git a/old/12625-8.txt b/old/12625-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eefeae6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12625-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4302 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Architecture and Democracy, by Claude Fayette +Bragdon + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Architecture and Democracy + +Author: Claude Fayette Bragdon + +Release Date: June 15, 2004 [eBook #12625] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARCHITECTURE AND DEMOCRACY*** + + +E-text prepared by Leah Moser and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + +ARCHITECTURE AND DEMOCRACY + +BY + +CLAUDE BRAGDON +F.A.I.A. + +1918 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: PLATE I. THE WOOLWORTH BUILDING, NEW YORK] + + + + +PREFACE + + +This book can lay no claim to unity of theme, since its subjects range +from skyscrapers to symbols and soul states; but the author claims for +it nevertheless a unity of point of view, and one (correct or not) so +comprehensive as to include in one synthesis every subject dealt +with. For according to that point of view, a skyscraper is only a +symbol--and of what? A condition of consciousness, that is, a state of +the soul. Democracy even, we are beginning to discover, is a condition +of consciousness too. + +Our only hope of understanding the welter of life in which we are +immersed, as in a swift and muddy river, is in ascending as near +to its pure source as we can. That source is in consciousness and +consciousness is in ourselves. This is the point of view from which +each problem dealt with has been attacked; but lest the author be at +once set down as an impracticable dreamer, dwelling aloof in an ivory +tower, the reader should know that his book has been written in +the scant intervals afforded by the practice of the profession of +architecture, so broadened as to include the study of abstract form, +the creation of ornament, experiments with color and light, and such +occasional educational activities as from time to time he has been +called upon to perform at one or another architectural school. + +The three essays included under the general heading of "Democracy +and Architecture" were prepared at the request of the editor of _The +Architectural Record_, and were published in that journal. The two +following, on "Ornament from Mathematics," represent a recasting and +a rewriting of articles which have appeared in _The Architectural +Review, The Architectural Forum_, and _The American Architect_. +"Harnessing the Rainbow" is an address delivered before the Ad. Club +of Cleveland, and the Rochester Rotary Club, and afterwards made into +an essay and published in _The American Architect_ under a different +title. The appreciation of Louis Sullivan as a writer appears here for +the first time, the author having previously paid his respects to Mr. +Sullivan's strictly architectural genius in an essay in _House and +Garden_. "Color and Ceramics" was delivered on the occasion of the +dedication of the Ceramic Building of the University of Illinois, +and afterwards published in _The Architectural Forum_. "Symbols and +Sacraments" was printed in the English Quarterly _Orpheus_. "Self +Education" was delivered before the Boston Architectural Club, and +afterwards published in a number of architectural journals. + +Acknowledgment is hereby tendered by the author to the editors of +these various magazines for their consent to republication, together +with thanks, however belated, for their unfailing hospitality to the +children of his brain. + +CLAUDE BRAGDON. + +_August 1, 1918_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + ARCHITECTURE AND DEMOCRACY + + I. Before the War + + II. During the War + + III. After the War + + + ORNAMENT FROM MATHEMATICS + + I. The World Order + + II. The Fourth Dimension + + + HARNESSING THE RAINBOW + + + LOUIS SULLIVAN, PROPHET OF DEMOCRACY + + + COLOR AND CERAMICS + + + SYMBOLS AND SACRAMENTS + + + SELF-EDUCATION + + + + +LIST OF FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + + Plate I. The Woolworth Building, New York + + Plate II. The New York Public Library + + Plate III. The Prudential Building, Buffalo, N.Y. + + Plate IV. The Erie County Savings Bank, Buffalo, N.Y. + + Plate V. The New York Central Terminal + + Plate VI. Plan of the Red Cross Community Club House, + Camp Sherman, Ohio + + Plate VII. Interior View of the Camp Sherman Community House + + Plate VIII. Imaginative Sketch by Henry P. Kirby + + Plate IX. Architectural Sketch by Otto Rieth + + Plate X. 200 West 57th Street, New York + + Plate XI. Imaginary Composition: The Portal + + Plate XII. Imaginary Composition: The Balcony + + Plate XIII. Imaginary Composition: The Audience Chamber + + Plate XIV. Song and Light: An Approach toward "Color Music" + + Plate XV. Symbol of Resurrection + + + + +Every form of government, every social institution, every +undertaking, however great, however small, every symbol of +enlightenment or degradation, each and all have sprung and are still +springing from the life of the people, and have ever formed and are +now as surely forming images of their thought. Slowly by centuries, +generations, years, days, hours, the thought of the people has +changed; so with precision have their acts responsively changed; thus +thoughts and acts have flowed and are flowing ever onward, unceasingly +onward, involved within the impelling power of Life. Throughout this +stream of human life, and thought, and activity, men have ever felt +the need to build; and from the need arose the power to build. So, +as they thought, they built; for, strange as it may seem, they could +build in no other way. As they built, they made, used, and left behind +them records of their thinking. Then, as through the years new men +came with changed thoughts, so arose new buildings in consonance +with the change of thought--the building always the expression of +the thinking. Whatever the character of the thinking, just so was the +character of the building. + +What is Architecture? A Study in the American People of Today, by +LOUIS SULLIVAN. + + + + +Architecture and Democracy + +I + +BEFORE THE WAR + + +The world war represents not the triumph, but the birth of democracy. +The true ideal of democracy--the rule of a people by the _demos_, or +group soul--is a thing unrealized. How then is it possible to consider +or discuss an architecture of democracy--the shadow of a shade? It is +not possible to do so with any degree of finality, but by an intention +of consciousness upon this juxtaposition of ideas--architecture and +democracy--signs of the times may yield new meanings, relations may +emerge between things apparently unrelated, and the future, always +existent in every present moment, may be evoked by that strange magic +which resides in the human mind. + +Architecture, at its worst as at its best, reflects always a true +image of the thing that produced it; a building is revealing even +though it is false, just as the face of a liar tells the thing +his words endeavor to conceal. This being so, let us make such +architecture as is ours declare to us our true estate. + +The architecture of the United States, from the period of the Civil +War, up to the beginning of the present crisis, everywhere reflects a +struggle to be free of a vicious and depraved form of feudalism, +grown strong under the very ægis of democracy. The qualities that made +feudalism endeared and enduring; qualities written in beauty on +the cathedral cities of mediaeval Europe--faith, worship, +loyalty, magnanimity--were either vanished or banished from this +pseudo-democratic, aridly scientific feudalism, leaving an inheritance +of strife and tyranny--a strife grown mean, a tyranny grown prudent, +but full of sinister power the weight of which we have by no means +ceased to feel. + +Power, strangely mingled with timidity; ingenuity, frequently +misdirected; ugliness, the result of a false ideal of beauty--these +in general characterize the architecture of our immediate past; an +architecture "without ancestry or hope of posterity," an architecture +devoid of coherence or conviction; willing to lie, willing to steal. +What impression such a city as Chicago or Pittsburgh might have made +upon some denizen of those cathedral-crowned feudal cities of the +past we do not know. He would certainly have been amazed at its giant +energy, and probably revolted at its grimy dreariness. We are wont +to pity the mediaeval man for the dirt he lived in, even while smoke +greys our sky and dirt permeates the very air we breathe: we think of +castles as grim and cathedrals as dim, but they were beautiful and gay +with color compared with the grim, dim canyons of our city streets. + +Lafcadio Hearn, in _A Conservative_, has sketched for us, with a +sympathy truly clairvoyant, the impression made by the cities of the +West upon the consciousness of a young Japanese samurai educated under +a feudalism not unlike that of the Middle Ages, wherein was worship, +reverence, poetry, loyalty--however strangely compounded with the more +sinister products of the feudal state. + + Larger than all anticipation the West appeared to him,--a + world of giants; and that which depresses even the boldest + Occidental who finds himself, without means or friends, alone + in a great city, must often have depressed the Oriental exile: + that vague uneasiness aroused by the sense of being invisible + to hurrying millions; by the ceaseless roar of traffic + drowning voices; by monstrosities of architecture without a + soul; by the dynamic display of wealth forcing mind and + hand, as mere cheap machinery, to the uttermost limits of + the possible. Perhaps he saw such cities as Doré saw London: + sullen majesty of arched glooms, and granite deeps opening + into granite deeps beyond range of vision, and mountains + of masonry with seas of labor in turmoil at their base, and + monumental spaces displaying the grimness of ordered power + slow-gathering through centuries. Of beauty there was nothing + to make appeal to him between those endless cliffs of stone + which walled out the sunrise and the sunset, the sky and the + wind. + +The view of our pre-war architecture thus sketchily presented is sure +to be sharply challenged in certain quarters, but unfortunately for +us all this is no mere matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact. The +buildings are there, open to observation; rooted to the spot, they +cannot run away. Like criminals "caught with the goods" they stand, +self-convicted, dirty with the soot of a thousand chimneys, heavy with +the spoils of vanished civilizations; graft and greed stare at us out +of their glazed windows--eyes behind which no soul can be discerned. +There are doubtless extenuating circumstances; they want to be clean, +they want to be honest, these "monsters of the mere market," but they +are nevertheless the unconscious victims of evils inherent in our +transitional social state. + +Let us examine these strange creatures, doomed, it is hoped, to +extinction in favor of more intelligent and gracious forms of +life. They are big, powerful, "necessitous," and have therefore an +impressiveness, even an æsthetic appeal, not to be denied. So subtle +and sensitive an old-world consciousness as that of M. Paul Bourget +was set vibrating by them like a violin to the concussion of a +trip-hammer, and to the following tune: + + The portals of the basements, usually arched as if crushed + beneath the weight of the mountains which they support, look + like dens of a primitive race, continually receiving and + pouring forth a stream of people. You lift your eyes, and you + feel that up there behind the perpendicular wall, with + its innumerable windows, is a multitude coming and + going,--crowding the offices that perforate these cliffs of + brick and iron, dizzied with the speed of the elevators. + You divine, you feel the hot breath of speculation quivering + behind these windows. This it is which has fecundated these + thousands of square feet of earth, in order that from them may + spring up this appalling growth of business palaces, that hide + the sun from you and almost shut out the light of day. + +"The simple power of necessity is to a certain degree a principle of +beauty," says M. Bourget, and to these structures this order of beauty +cannot be denied, but even this is vitiated by a failure to press the +advantage home: the ornate façades are notably less impressive +than those whose grim and stark geometry is unmitigated by the +grave-clothes of dead styles. Instances there are of strivings toward +a beauty that is fresh and living, but they are so unsuccessful and +infrequent as to be negligible. However impressive these buildings may +be by reason of their ordered geometry, their weight and magnitude, +and as a manifestation of irrepressible power, they have the +unloveliness of things ignoble being the product neither of praise, +nor joy, nor worship, but enclosures for the transaction of sharp +bargains--gold bringing jinn of our modern Aladdins, who love them not +but only use them. That is the reason they are ugly; no one has loved +them for themselves alone. + +For beauty is ever the very face of love. From the architecture of +a true democracy, founded on love and mutual service, beauty would +inevitably shine forth; its absence convicts us of a maladjustment in +our social and economic life. A skyscraper shouldering itself aloft at +the expense of its more humble neighbors, stealing their air and +their sunlight, is a symbol, written large against the sky, of +the will-to-power of a man or a group of men--of that ruthless and +tireless aggression on the part of the cunning and the strong so +characteristic of the period which produced the skyscraper. One of +our streets made up of buildings of diverse styles and shapes and +sizes--like a jaw with some teeth whole, some broken, some rotten, +and some gone--is a symbol of our unkempt individualism, now happily +becoming curbed and chastened by a common danger, a common devotion. + +Some people hold the view that our insensitiveness to formal beauty is +no disgrace. Such argue that our accomplishments and our interests are +in other fields, where we more than match the accomplishments of older +civilizations. They forget that every achievement not registered in +terms of beauty has failed of its final and enduring transmutation. It +is because the achievements of older civilizations attained to their +apotheoses in art that they interest us, and unless we are able +to effect a corresponding transmutation we are destined to perish +unhonoured on our rubbish heap. That we shall effect it, through +knowledge and suffering, is certain, but before attempting the +more genial and rewarding task of tracing, in our life and in our +architecture, those forces and powers which make for righteousness, +for beauty, let us look our failures squarely in the face, and +discover if we can why they are failures. + +Confining this examination to the particular matter under discussion, +the neo-feudal architecture of our city streets, we find it to lack +unity, and the reason for this lack of unity dwells in a _divided +consciousness_. The tall office building is the product of many +forces, or perhaps we should say one force, that of necessity; but its +concrete embodiment is the result of two different orders of talent, +that of the structural engineer and of the architectural designer. +These are usually incarnate in two different individuals, working +more or less at cross purposes. It is the business of the engineer +to preoccupy himself solely with ideas of efficiency and economy, +and over his efficient and economical structure the designer smears +a frosting of beauty in the form of architectural style, in the +archæological sense. This is a foolish practice, and cannot but result +in failure. In the case of a Greek temple or a mediaeval cathedral +structure and style were not twain, but one; the structure determined +the style, the style expressed the structure; but with us so divorced +have the two things become that in a case known to the author, the +structural framework of a great office building was determined and +fabricated and then architects were invited to "submit designs" +for the exterior. This is of course an extreme example and does not +represent the usual practice, but it brings sharply to consciousness +the well known fact that for these buildings we have substantially one +method of construction--that of the vertical strut, and the horizontal +"fill"--while in style they appear as Grecian, Roman, Renaissance, +Gothic, Modern French and what not, according to the whim of the +designer. + +[Illustration: PLATE II. THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY] + +With the modern tendency toward specialization, the natural outgrowth +of necessity, there is no inherent reason why the bones of a building +should not be devised by one man and its fleshly clothing by another, +so long as they understand one another, and are in ideal agreement, +but there is in general all too little understanding, and a +confusion of ideas and aims. To the average structural engineer the +architectural designer is a mere milliner in stone, informed in those +prevailing architectural fashions of which he himself knows little and +cares less. Preoccupied as he is with the building's strength, safety, +economy; solving new and staggeringly difficult problems with address +and daring, he has scant sympathy with such inconsequent matters as +the stylistic purity of a façade, or the profile of a moulding. To the +designer, on the other hand, the engineer appears in the light of a +subordinate to be used for the promotion of his own ends, or an evil +to be endured as an interference with those ends. + +As a result of this lack of sympathy and co-ordination, success crowns +only those efforts in which, on the one hand, the stylist has been +completely subordinated to engineering necessity, as in the case of +the East River bridges, where the architect was called upon only to +add a final grace to the strictly structural towers; or on the other +hand, in which the structure is of the old-fashioned masonry sort, and +faced with a familiar problem the architect has found it easy to be +frank; as in the case of the Manhattan Storage Warehouse, on 42nd +Street, New York, or in the Bryant Park façade on the New York +Library. The Woolworth building is a notable example of the complete +co-ordination between the structural framework and its envelope, and +falls short of ideal success only in the employment of an archaic and +alien ornamental language, used, however, let it be said, with a fine +understanding of the function of ornament. + +For the most part though, there is a difference of intention between +the engineer and the designer; they look two ways, and the result of +their collaboration is a flat and confused image of the thing that +should be, not such as is produced by truly binocular vision. This +difference of aim is largely the result of a difference of education. +Engineering science of the sort which the use of steel has required is +a thing unprecedented; the engineer cannot hark back to the past for +help, even if he would. The case is different with the architectural +designer; he is taught that all of the best songs have been sung, all +of the true words spoken. The Glory that was Greece, and the Grandeur +that was Rome, the romantic exuberance of Gothic, and the ordered +restraint of Renaissance are so drummed into him during his years of +training, and exercise so tyrannical a spell over his imagination that +he loses the power of clear and logical thought, and never becomes +truly creative. Free of this incubus the engineer has succeeded in +being straightforward and sensible, to say the least; subject to it +the man with a so-called architectural education is too often tortuous +and absurd. + +The architect without any training in the essentials of design +produces horrors as a matter of course, for the reason that sin is the +result of ignorance; the architect trained in the false manner of the +current schools becomes a reconstructive archæologist, handicapped by +conditions with which he can deal only imperfectly, and imperfectly +control. Once in a blue moon a man arises who, with all the advantages +inherent in education, pierces through the past to the present, and +is able to use his brain as the architects of the past used theirs--to +deal simply and directly with his immediate problem. + +Such a man is Louis Sullivan, though it must be admitted that not +always has he achieved success. That success was so marked, however, +in his treatment of the problem of the tall building, and exercised +subconsciously such a spell upon the minds even of his critics and +detractors, that it resulted in the emancipation of this type of +building from an absurd and impossible convention--the practice, +common before his time, of piling order upon order, like a house +of cards, or by a succession of strongly marked string courses +emphasizing the horizontal dimension of a vertical edifice, thus +vitiating the finest effect of which such a building is capable. + +The problem of the tall building, with which his predecessors dealt +always with trepidation and equivocation, Mr. Sullivan approached +with confidence and joy. "What," he asked himself, "is the chief +characteristic of the tall office building? It is lofty. This +loftiness is to the artist-nature its thrilling aspect. It must be +tall. The force of altitude must be in it. It must be every inch a +proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exultation that from bottom +to top it is a unit without a dissenting line." The Prudential +(Guaranty) building in Buffalo represents the finest concrete +embodiment of his idea achieved by Mr. Sullivan. It marks his +emancipation from what he calls his "masonry" period, during which +he tried, like so many other architects before and since, to make a +steel-framed structure look as though it were nothing but a masonry +wall perforated with openings--openings too many and too great not +to endanger its stability. The keen blade of Mr. Sullivan's mind cut +through this contradiction, and in the Prudential building he carried +out the idea of a _protective casing_ so successfully that Montgomery +Schuyler said of it, "I know of no steel framed building in which the +metallic construction is more palpably felt through the envelope of +baked clay." + +[Illustration: PLATE III. THE PRUDENTIAL BUILDING, BUFFALO N.Y.] + +The present author can speak with all humbleness of the general +failure, on the part of the architectural profession, to appreciate +the importance of this achievement, for he pleads guilty of day after +day having passed the Prudential building, then fresh in the majesty +of its soaring lines, and in the wonder of its fire-wrought casing, +with eyes and admiration only for the false romanticism of the Erie +County Savings Bank, and the empty bombast of the gigantic Ellicott +Square. He had not at that period of his life succeeded in living down +his architectural training, and as a result the most ignorant layman +was in a better position to appraise the relative merits of these +three so different incarnations of the building impulse than was he. + +Since the Prudential building there have been other tall office +buildings, by other hands, truthful in the main, less rigid, less +monotonous, more superficially pleasing, yet they somehow fail to +impart the feeling of utter sincerity and fresh originality inspired +by this building. One feels that here democracy has at last found +utterance in beauty; the American spirit speaks, the spirit of the +Long Denied. This rude, rectangular bulk is uncompromisingly practical +and utilitarian; these rows on rows of windows, regularly spaced, and +all of the same size, suggest the equality and monotony of obscure, +laborious lives; the upspringing shafts of the vertical piers stand +for their hopes and aspirations, and the unobtrusive, delicate +ornament which covers the whole with a garment of fresh beauty is like +the very texture of their dreams. The building is able to speak +thus powerfully to the imagination because its creator is a poet +and prophet of democracy. In his own chosen language he declares, as +Whitman did in verse, his faith in the people of "these states"--"A +Nation announcing itself." Others will doubtless follow who will make +a richer music, commensurate with the future's richer life, but such +democracy as is ours stands here proclaimed, just as such feudalism +as is still ours stands proclaimed in the Erie County Bank just across +the way. The massive rough stone walls of this building, its pointed +towers and many dormered chateau-like roof unconsciously symbolize the +attempt to impose upon the living present a moribund and alien +order. Democracy is thus afflicted, and the fact must needs find +architectural expression. + +In the field of domestic architecture these dramatic contrasts are +less evident, less sharply marked. Domestic life varies little from +age to age; a cottage is a cottage the world over, and some manorial +mansion on the James River, built in Colonial days, remains a fitting +habitation (assuming the addition of electric lights and sanitary +plumbing) for one of our Captains of Industry, however little an +ancient tobacco warehouse would serve him as a place of business. +This fact is so well recognized that the finest type of modern country +house follows, in general, this or some other equally admirable model, +though it is amusing to note the millionaire's preference for a feudal +castle, a French chateau, or an Italian villa of the decadence. + +The "man of moderate means," so called, provides himself with +no difficulty with a comfortable house, undistinguished but +unpretentious, which fits him like a glove. There is a piazza towards +the street, a bay-window in the living room, a sleeping-porch for the +children, and a box of a garage for the flivver in the bit of a back +yard. + +For the wage earner the housing problem is not so easily nor +so successfully solved. He is usually between the devil of the +speculative builder and the deep sea of the predatory landlord, each +intent upon taking from him the limit that the law allows and giving +him as little as possible for his money. Going down the scale of +indigence we find an itinerancy amounting almost to homelessness, or +houses so abject that they are an insult to the very name of home. + +[Illustration: PLATE IV: THE ERIE COUNTY SAVINGS BANK, BUFFALO, N.Y.] + +It is an eloquent commentary upon our national attitude toward a most +vital matter that in this feverish hustle to produce ships, airplanes, +clothing and munitions on a vast scale, the housing of the workers was +either overlooked entirely, or received eleventh-hour consideration, +and only now, after a year of participation in the war, is it +beginning to be adequately and officially dealt with--how efficiently +and intelligently remains to be seen. The housing of the soldiers was +another matter: that necessity was plain and urgent, and the miracle +has been accomplished, but except by indirection it has contributed +nothing to the permanent housing problem. + +Other aspects of our life which have found architectural expression +fall neither in the commercial nor in the domestic category--the great +hotels, for example, which partake of the nature of both, and our +passenger railway terminals, which partake of the nature of neither. +These latter deserve especial consideration in this connection, by +reason of their important function. The railway is of the very essence +of the modern, even though (with what sublime unreason) Imperial Rome +is written large over New York's most magnificent portal. + +Think not that in an age of unfaith mankind gives up the building +of temples. Temples inevitably arise where the tide of life flows +strongest; for there God manifests, in however strange a guise. That +tide is nowhere stronger than in the railroad, which is the arterial +system of our civilization. All arteries lead to and from the heart, +and thus the railroad terminus becomes the beating heart at the center +of modern life. It is a true instinct therefore which prompts to +the making of the terminal building a very temple, a monument to +the conquest of space through the harnessing of the giant horses of +electricity and steam. This conquest must be celebrated on a scale +commensurate with its importance, and in obedience to this necessity +the Pennsylvania station raised its proud head amid the push-cart +architecture of that portion of New York in which it stands. It is not +therefore open to the criticism often passed upon it, that it is too +grand, but it is the wrong kind of grandeur. If there be truth in the +contention that the living needs of today cannot be grafted upon the +dead stump of any ancient grandeur, the futility of every attempt to +accomplish this impossible will somehow, somewhere, reveal itself to +the discerning eye. Let us seek out, in this building, the place of +this betrayal. + +It is not necessarily in the main façade, though this is not a face, +but a mask--and a mask can, after its kind, always be made beautiful; +it is not in the nobly vaulted corridor, lined with shops--for all we +know the arcades of Imperial Rome were similarly lined; nor is it in +the splendid vestibule, leading into the magnificent waiting room, in +which a subject of the Cæsars would have felt more perfectly at home, +perhaps, than do we. But beyond this passenger concourse, where the +elevators and stairways descend to the tracks, necessity demanded the +construction of a great enclosure, supported only on slender columns +and far-flung trusses roofed with glass. Now latticed columns, steel +trusses, and wire glass are inventions of the modern world too useful +to be dispensed with. Rome could not help the architect here. The mode +to which he was inexorably self-committed in the rest of the building +demanded massive masonry, cornices, mouldings; a tribute to Cæsar +which could be paid everywhere but in this place. The architect's +problem then became to reconcile two diametrically different systems. +But between the west wall of the ancient Roman baths and the modern +skeleton construction of the roof of the human greenhouse there is +no attempt at fusion. The slender latticed columns cut unpleasantly +through the granite cornices and mouldings; the first century A.D. and +the twentieth are here in incongruous juxtaposition--a little thing, +easily overlooked, yet how revealing! How reassuring of the fact "God +is not mocked!" + +The New York Central terminal speaks to the eye in a modern tongue, +with however French an accent. Its façade suggests a portal, reminding +the beholder that a railway station is in a very literal sense a city +gate placed just as appropriately in the center of the municipality as +in ancient times it was placed in the circuit of the outer walls. + +Neither edifice will stand the acid test of Mr. Sullivan's formula, +that a building is an organism and should follow the law of organisms, +which decrees that the form must everywhere follow and express the +function, the function determining and creating its appropriate form. +Here are two eminent examples of "arranged" architecture. Before +organic architecture can come into being our inchoate national life +must itself become organic. Arranged architecture, of the sort we +see everywhere, despite its falsity, is a true expression of the +conditions which gave it birth. + +[Illustration: PLATE V. THE NEW YORK CENTRAL TERMINAL] + +The grandeur of Rome, the splendour of Paris--what just and adequate +expression do they give of modern American life? Then shall we find in +our great hotels, say, such expression? Truly they represent, in the +phrase of Henry James, "a realized ideal" and a study of them should +reveal that ideal. From such a study we can only conclude that it +is life without effort or responsibility, with every physical need +luxuriously gratified. But these hotels nevertheless represent +democracy, it may be urged, for the reason that every one may there +buy board and lodging and mercenary service if he has the price. The +exceeding greatness of that price, however, makes of it a badge +of nobility which converts these democratic hostelries into feudal +castles, more inaccessible to the Long Denied than as though entered +by a drawbridge and surrounded by a moat. + +We need not even glance at the churches, for the tides of our +spiritual life flow no longer in full volume through their portals; +neither may the colleges long detain us, for architecturally +considered they give forth a confusion of tongues which has its +analogue in the confusion of ideas in the collective academic head. + +Is our search for some sign of democracy ended, and is it vain? No, +democracy exists in the secret heart of the people, all the people, +but it is a thing so new, so strange, so secret and sacred--the ideal +of brotherhood--that it is unmanifest yet in time and space. It is +a thing born not with the Declaration of Independence, but only +yesterday, with the call to a new crusade. The National Army is its +cradle, and it is nurtured wherever communities unite to serve the +sacred cause. Although menaced by the bloody sword of Imperialism in +Europe, it perhaps stands in no less danger from the secret poison +of graft and greed and treachery here at home. But it is a spiritual +birth, and therefore it cannot perish, but will live to write itself +on space in terms of beauty such as the world has never known. + + + + +II + +DURING THE WAR + + +The best thing that can be said about our immediate architectural +past is that it is past, for it has contributed little of value to an +architecture of democracy. During that neo-feudal period the architect +prospered, having his place at the baronial table; but now poor Tom's +a-cold on a war-swept heath, with food only for reflection. This +is but natural; the architect, in so far as he is an artist, is a +purveyor of beauty; and the abnormal conditions inevitable to a state +of war are devastating to so feminine and tender a thing, even though +war be the very soil from which new beauty springs. With Mars in +mid-heaven how afflicted is the horoscope of all artists! The skilled +hand of the musician is put to coarser uses; the eye that learned +its lessons from the sunset must learn the trick of making invisible +warships and great guns. Let the architect serve the war-god likewise, +in any capacity that offers, confident that this troubling of the +waters will bring about a new precipitation; that once the war is +over, men will turn from those "old, unhappy, far-off things" to +pastures beautiful and new. + +In whatever way the war may complicate the architect's personal +problem, it should simplify and clarify his attitude toward his art. +With no matter what seriousness and sincerity he may have undertaken +his personal search for truth and beauty, he will come to question, +as never before, both its direction and its results. He is bound to +perceive, if he does not perceive already, that the war's arrestment +of architecture (in all but its most utilitarian and ephemeral phases) +is no great loss to the world for the reason that our architecture was +uninspired, unoriginal, done without joy, without reverence, without +conviction: a thing which any wind of a new spirit was bound to make +appear foolish to a generation with sight rendered clairvoyant through +its dedication to great and regenerative ends. + +He will come to perceive that between the Civil War and the crusade +that is now upon us, we were under the evil spell of materialism. Now +materialism is the very negation of democracy, which is a government +by the _demos_, or over-soul; it is equally the negation of joy, the +negation of reverence, and it is without conviction because it cannot +believe even in itself. Reflecting thus, he can scarcely fail to +realize that materialism, everywhere entrenched, was entrenched +strongest in the camps of the rich---not the idle rich, for +materialism is so terrible a taskmaster that it makes its votaries its +slaves. These slaves, in turn, made a slave of the artist, a minister +to their pride and pretence. His art thus lacked that "sad sincerity" +which alone might have saved it in a crisis. When the storm broke +militant democracy turned to the engineer, who produced buildings at +record speed, by the mile, with only such architectural assistance as +could be first and easiest fished up from the dragnet of the draft. + +In one direction only does there appear to be open water. Toward the +general housing problem the architectural profession has been spurred +into activity by reason of the war, and to its credit be it said, it +is now thoroughly aroused. The American Institute of Architects sent a +commissioner to England to study housing in its latest manifestations, +and some of the ablest and most influential members of that +organization have placed their services at the disposal of the +government. Moreover, there is a manifest disposition, on the part of +architects everywhere, to help in this matter all they can. The danger +dwells in the possibility that their advice will not be heeded, their +services not be fully utilized, but through chicanery, ignorance, +or inanition, we will relapse into the tentative, "expensively +provisional" methods which have governed the housing of workers +hitherto. Even so, architects will doubtless recapture, and more +than recapture, their imperiled prestige, but under what changed +conditions, and with what an altered attitude toward their art and +their craft! + +They will find that they must unlearn certain things the schools had +taught them: preoccupation with the relative merits of Gothic and +Classic--tweedledum and tweedledee. Furthermore, they must learn +certain neglected lessons from the engineer, lessons that they will +be able immeasurably to better, for although the engineer is a very +monster of competence and efficiency within his limits, these are +sharply marked, and to any detailed knowledge of that "beautiful +necessity" which determines spatial rhythm and counterpoint he is a +stranger. The ideal relation between architect and engineer is that of +a happily wedded pair--strength married to beauty; in the period just +passed or passing they have been as disgruntled divorcés. + +[Illustration: PLATE VI. PLAN OF THE RED CROSS COMMUNITY CLUB HOUSE, +CAMP SHERMAN, OHIO] + +The author has in mind one child of such a happy union brought about +by the war; the building is the Red Cross Community Club House at Camp +Sherman, which, in the pursuit of his destiny, and for the furtherance +of his education, he inhabited for two memorable weeks. He learned +there more lessons than a few, and encountered more tangled skeins of +destiny than he is ever likely to unravel. The matter has so direct a +bearing, both on the subject of architecture and of democracy, that it +is worth discussing at some length. + +This club house stands, surrounded by its tributary dormitories, on a +government reservation, immediately adjacent to the camp itself, +the whole constituting what is known as the Community Center. By the +payment of a dollar any soldier is free to entertain his relatives +and friends there, and it is open to all the soldiers at all times. +Because the iron discipline of the army is relaxed as soon as the +limits of the camp are overpassed, the atmosphere is favourable to +social life. + +The building occupies its acre of ground invitingly, though exteriorly +of no particular distinction. It is the interior that entitles it to +consideration as a contribution to an architecture of that new-born +democracy of which our army camps have been the cradle. The plan of +this interior is cruciform, two hundred feet in each dimension. Built +by the Red Cross of the state of Ohio, and dedicated to the larger +uses of that organization, the symbolic appropriateness of this +particular geometrical figure should not pass unremarked. The cross +is divided into side aisles, nave, and crossing, with galleries and +mezzanines so arranged as to shorten the arms of the cross in its +upper stages, leaving the clear-story surrounding the crossing +unimpeded and well defined. The light comes for the most part from +high windows, filtering down, in tempered brightness to the floor. The +bones of the structure are everywhere in evidence, and an element of +its beauty, by reason of the admirably direct and logical +arrangement of posts and trusses. The vertical walls are covered with +plaster-board of a light buff color, converted into good sized +panels by means of wooden strips finished with a thin grey stain. The +structural wood work is stained in similar fashion, the iron rods, +straps, and bolts being painted black. This color scheme is +completed and a little enlivened by red stripes and crosses placed at +appropriate intervals in the general design. + +The building attained its final synthesis through the collaboration of +a Cleveland architect and a National Army captain of engineers. It is +so single in its appeal that one does not care to inquire too closely +into the part of each in the performance; both are in evidence, for +an architect seldom succeeds in being so direct and simple, while an +engineer seldom succeeds in being so gracious and altogether suave. + +Entirely aside from its æsthetic interest--based as this is on beauty +of organism almost alone--the building is notable for the success with +which it fulfils and co-ordinates its manifold functions: those of a +dormitory, a restaurant, a ballroom, a theatre, and a lounge. The +arm of the cross containing the principal entrance accommodates the +office, coat room, telephones, news and cigar stand, while leaving +the central nave unimpeded, so that from the door one gets the unusual +effect of an interior vista two hundred feet long. The restaurant +occupies the entire left transept, with a great brick fireplace at the +far end. There is another fireplace in the centre of the side of +the arm beyond the crossing; that part which would correspond in a +cathedral to the choir and apse being given over to the uses of a +reading and writing room. The right transept forms a theatre, on +occasion, terminating as it does with a stage. The central floor +spaces are kept everywhere free except in the restaurant, the sides +and angles being filled in with leather-covered sofas, wicker and +wooden chairs and tables, arranged in groups favourable to comfort and +conversation. Two stairways, at the right and left of the restaurant, +give access to the ample balcony and to the bedrooms, which occupy +three of the four ends of the arms of the cross at this level. + +The appearance and atmosphere of this great interior is inspiring; +particularly of an evening, when it is thronged with soldiers, and +civilian guests. The strains of music, the hum of many voices, the +rhythmic shuffle on the waxed floor of the feet of the dancers--these +eminently social sounds mingle and lose themselves in the spaces of +the roof, like the voice of many waters. Tobacco smoke ascends like +incense, blue above the prevailing green-brown of the crowd, shot here +and there with brighter colors from the women's hats and dresses, in +the kaleidoscopic shifting of the dance. Long parallel rows of orange +lights, grouped low down on the lofty pillars, reflect themselves +on the polished floor, and like the patina of time on painted canvas +impart to the entire animated picture an incomparable tone. For the +lighting, either by accident or by inspiration, is an achievement +of the happiest, an example of the friendliness of fate to him who +attempts a free solution of his problem. The brackets consist merely +of a cruciform arrangement of planed pine boards about each column, +with the end grain painted red. On the under side of each arm of the +cross is a single electric bulb enclosed within an orange-coloured +shade to kill the glare. The light makes the bare wood of the fixture +appear incandescent, defining its geometry in rose colour with the +most beautiful effect. + +The club house is the centre of the social and ceremonial life of the +camp, for balls, dinners, receptions, conferences, concerts without +number; and it has been the scene of a military wedding--the daughter +of a major-general to the grandson of an ex-president. To these events +the unassuming, but pervasive beauty of the place lends a dignity new +to our social life. In our army camps social life is truly democratic, +as any one who has experienced it does not need to be told. Not alone +have the conditions of conscription conspired to make it so, but there +is a manifest _will-to-democracy_--the growing of a new flower of +the spirit, sown in a community of sacrifice, to reach its maturity, +perhaps, only in a community of suffering. + +The author may seem to have over-praised this Community Club House; +with the whole country to draw from for examples it may well appear +fatuous to concentrate the reader's attention, for so long, on a +building in a remote part of the Middle West: cheap, temporary, +and requiring only twenty-one days for its erection. But of the +transvaluation of values brought about by the war, this building is +an eminent example: it stands in symbolic relation to the times; it +represents what may be called the architecture of Service; it is among +the first of the new temples of the new democracy, dedicated to the +uses of simple, rational social life. Notwithstanding that it fills a +felt need, common to every community, there is nothing like it in +any of our towns and cities; there are only such poor and partial +substitutes as the hotel, the saloon, the dance hall, the lodge room +and the club. It is scarcely conceivable that the men and women who +have experienced its benefits and its beauty should not demand and +have similar buildings in their own home towns. + +[Illustration: PLATE VII. INTERIOR OF THE CAMP SHERMAN COMMUNITY +HOUSE] + +Beyond the oasis of the Community Club House at Camp Sherman stretch +the cantonments--a Euclidian nightmare of bare boards, black roofs +and ditches, making grim vistas of straight lines. This is the +architecture of Need in contradistinction to the architecture of +Greed, symbolized in the shop-window prettiness of those sanitary +suburbs of our cities created by the real estate agent and the +speculative builder. Neither contain any enduring element of beauty. + +But the love of beauty in one form or another exists in every human +heart, and if too long or too rigorously denied it finds its own +channels of fulfilment. This desire for self-expression through beauty +is an important, though little remarked phenomenon of these mid-war +times. At the camps it shows itself in the efforts of men of +specialized tastes and talents to get together and form dramatic +organizations, glee clubs, and orchestras; and more generally by the +disposition of the soldiers to sing together at work and play and on +the march. The renascence of poetry can be interpreted as a revulsion +against the prevailing prosiness; the amateur theatre is equally a +protest against the inanity and conventionality of the commercial +stage; while the Community Chorus movement is an evidence of a desire +to escape a narrow professionalism in music. A similar situation +has arisen in the field of domestic architecture, in the form of +an unorganized, but wide-spread reaction against the cheap and ugly +commercialism which has dominated house construction and decoration of +the more unpretentious class. This became articulate a few years ago +in the large number of books and magazines devoted to house-planning, +construction, decoration, furnishing, and garden-craft. The success +which has attended these publications, and their marked influence, +give some measure of the magnitude of this revolt. + +But now attention must be called to a significant, and somewhat +sinister fact. The professional in these various fields of æsthetic +endeavour, has shown either indifference or active hostility toward +all manner of amateur efforts at self-expression. Free verse aroused +the ridicule of the professors of metrics; the Little Theatre movement +was solemnly banned by such pundits as Belasco and Mrs. Fiske; the +Community Chorus movement has invariably met with opposition and +misunderstanding from professional musicians; and with few exceptions +the more influential architects have remained aloof from the effort +to give skilled architectural assistance to those who cannot afford to +pay them ten per cent. + +Thus everywhere do we discover a deadening hand laid upon the +self-expression of the democratic spirit through beauty. Its enemies +are of its own household; those who by nature and training should +be its helpers hinder it instead. Why do they do this? Because their +fastidious, æsthetic natures are outraged by a crudeness which they +themselves could easily refine away if they chose; because also they +recoil at a lack of conformity to existing conventions--conventions +so hampering to the inner spirit of the Newness, that in order to +incarnate at all it must of necessity sweep them aside. + +But in every field of æsthetic endeavour appears here and there a +man or a woman with unclouded vision, who is able to see in the +flounderings of untrained amateurs the stirrings of _demos_ from his +age-long sleep. These, often forsaking paths more profitable, lend +their skilled assistance, not seeking to impose the ancient outworn +forms upon the Newness, but by a transfusion of consciousness +permitting it to create forms of its own. Such a one, in architecture, +Louis Sullivan has proved himself; in music Harry Barnhart, who evokes +the very spirit of song from any random crowd. The _demos_ found voice +first in the poetry of Walt Whitman who has a successor in Vachel +Lindsay, the man who walked through Kansas, trading poetry for food +and lodging, teaching the farmers' sons and daughters to intone +his stirring odes to Pocahontas, General Booth, and Old John Brown. +Isadora Duncan, Gordon Craig, Maeterlinck, Scriabine are perhaps +too remote from the spirit of democracy, too tinged with old-world +æstheticism, to be included in this particular category, but all +are image-breakers, liberators, and have played their part in the +preparation of the field for an art of democracy. + +To the architect falls the task, in the new dispensation, of providing +the appropriate material environment for its new life. If he holds the +old ideas and cherishes the old convictions current before the war +he can do nothing but reproduce their forms and fashions; for +architecture, in the last analysis, is only the handwriting of +consciousness on space, and materialism has written there already all +that it has to tell of its failure to satisfy the mind and heart of +man. However beautiful old forms may seem to him they will declare +their inadequacy to generations free of that mist of familiarity which +now makes life obscure. If, on the other hand, submitting himself +to the inspiration of the _demos_ he experiences a change of +consciousness, he will become truly and newly creative. + +His problem, in other words, is not to interpret democracy in terms +of existing idioms, be they classic or romantic, but to experience +democracy in his heart and let it create and determine its new forms +through him. It is not for him to _impose_, it is for him to be +_imposed upon_. + + "The passive Master lent his hand + To the vast soul that o'er him planned" + +says Emerson in _The Problem_, a poem, which seems particularly +addressed to architects, and which every one of them would do well to +learn by heart. + +If he is at a loss to know where to go and what to do in order to be +played upon by these great forces let him direct his attention to +the army and the army camps. Here the spirit of democracy is +already incarnate. These soldiers, violently shaken free from their +environment, stripped of all but the elemental necessities of life; +facing a sinister destiny beyond a human-shark-infested ocean, +are today the fortunate of earth by reason of their realization of +brotherhood, not as a beautiful theory, but as a blessed fact of +experience. They will come back with ideas that they cannot utter, +with memories that they cannot describe; they will have dreamed dreams +and seen visions, and their hearts will stir to potencies for which +materialism has not even a name. + +The future of the country will be in their young hands. Will they +re-create, from its ruins, the faithless and loveless feudalism +from which the war set them free? No, they will seek only for +self-expression, the expression of that aroused and indwelling spirit +which shall create the new, the true democracy. And because it is a +spiritual thing it will come clothed in beauty; that is, it will find +its supreme expression through the forms of art. The architect who +assists in the emprise of weaving this garment will be supremely +blessed, but only he who has kept the vigil with prayer and fasting +will be supremely qualified. + + + + +III + +AFTER THE WAR + + "When the old world is sterile + And the ages are effete, + He will from wrecks and sediment + The fairer world complete." + + _The World Soul_. Emerson. + +He whom the World Soul "forbids to despair" cannot but hope; and he +who hopes tries ever to imagine that "fairer world" yearning for birth +beyond this interval of blood and tears. Prophecy, to all but the +anointed, is dangerous and uncertain, but even so, the author cannot +forbear attempting to prevision the architecture likely to arise from +the wrecks and sediment left by the war. As a basis for this forecast +it is necessary first of all briefly to classify the expression of the +building impulse from what may be called the psychological point of +view. + +Broadly speaking, there are not five orders of architecture--nor +fifty--but only two: _Arranged_ and _Organic_. These correspond to the +two terms of that "inevitable duality" which bisects life. Talent and +genius, reason and intuition, bromide and sulphite are some of the +names we know them by. + +Arranged architecture is reasoned and artificial; produced by talent, +governed by taste. Organic architecture, on the other hand, is the +product of some obscure inner necessity for self-expression which +is sub-conscious. It is as though Nature herself, through some human +organ of her activity, had addressed herself to the service of the +sons and daughters of men. + +Arranged architecture in its finest manifestations is the product of +a pride, a knowledge, a competence, a confidence staggering to behold. +It seems to say of the works of Nature, "I'll show you a trick worth +two of that." For the subtlety of Nature's geometry, and for her +infinite variety and unexpectedness, Arranged architecture substitutes +a Euclidian system of straight lines and (for the most part) circular +curves, assembled and arranged according to a definite logic of +its own. It is created but not creative; it is imagined but not +imaginative. Organic architecture is both creative and imaginative. It +is non-Euclidian in the sense that it is higher-dimensional--that is, +it suggests extension in directions and into regions where the spirit +finds itself at home, but of which the senses give no report to the +brain. + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII. IMAGINATIVE SKETCH BY HENRY P. KIRBY] + +To make the whole thing clearer it may be said that Arranged and +Organic architecture bear much the same relation to one another that +a piano bears to a violin. A piano is an instrument that does not give +forth discords if one follows the rules. A violin requires absolutely +an ear--an inner rectitude. It has a way of betraying the man of +talent and glorifying the genius, becoming one with his body and his +soul. + +Of course it stands to reason that there is not always a hard and fast +differentiation between these two orders of architecture, but there +is one sure way by which each may be recognized and known. If the +function appears to have created the form, and if everywhere the +form follows the function, changing as that changes, the building is +Organic; if on the contrary, "the house confines the spirit," if the +building presents not a face but however beautiful a mask, it is an +example of Arranged architecture. + +The Gothic cathedrals of the "Heart of Europe"--now the place of +Armageddon--represent the most perfect and powerful incarnation of +the Organic spirit in architecture. After the decadence of mediaeval +feudalism--synchronous with that of monasticism--the Arranged +architecture of the Renaissance acquired the ascendant; this was +coincident with the rise of humanism, when life became increasingly +secular. During the post-Renaissance, or scientific period, of which +the war probably marks the close, there has been a confusion of +tongues; architecture has spoken only alien or dead languages, learned +by rote. + +But in so far as it is anything at all, æsthetically, our architecture +is Arranged, so if only by the operation of the law of opposites, or +alternation, we might reasonably expect the next manifestation to +be Organic. There are other and better reasons, however, for such +expectancy. + +Organic architecture is ever a flower of the religious spirit. When +the soul draws near to the surface of life, as it did in the two +mystic centuries of the Middle Ages, it _organizes_ life; and +architecture, along, with the other arts becomes truly creative. The +informing force comes not so much _from_ man as _through_ him. After +the war that spirit of brotherhood, born in the camps--as Christ was +born in a manger--and bred on the battlefields and in the trenches of +Europe, is likely to take on all the attributes of a new religion of +humanity, prompting men to such heroisms and renunciations, exciting +in them such psychic sublimations, as have characterized the great +religious renewals of time past. + +If this happens it is bound to write itself on space in an +architecture beautiful and new; one which "takes its shape and +sun-color" not from the niggardly mind, but from the opulent heart. +This architecture will of necessity be organic, the product not of +self-assertive personalities, but the work of the "Patient Daemon" +organizing the nation into a spiritual democracy. + +The author is aware that in this point of view there is little of +the "scientific spirit"; but science fails to reckon with the soul. +Science advances facing backward, so what prevision can it have of a +miraculous and divinely inspired future--or for the matter of that, +of any future at all? The old methods and categories will no longer +answer; the orderly course of evolution has been violently interrupted +by the earthquake of the war; igneous action has superseded aqueous +action. The casements of the human mind look out no longer upon +familiar hills and valleys, but on a stark, strange, devastated +landscape, the ploughed land of some future harvest of the years. +It is the end of the Age, the _Kali Yuga_--the completion of a major +cycle; but all cycles follow the same sequence: after winter, Spring; +and after the Iron Age, the Golden. + +The specific features of this organic, divinely inspired architecture +of the Golden Age cannot of course be discerned by any one, any more +than the manner in which the Great Mystery will present itself anew to +consciousness. The most imaginative artist can imagine only in +terms of the already-existent; he can speak only the language he has +learned. If that language has been derived from mediaevalism, he +will let his fancy soar after the manner of Henry Kirby, in his +_Imaginative Sketches_; if on the contrary he has learned to think in +terms of the classic vernacular, Otto Rieth's _Architectur-Skizzen_ +will suggest the sort of thing that he is likely to produce. Both +results will be as remote as possible from future reality, for the +reason that they are so near to present reality. And yet some germs of +the future must be enfolded even in the present moment. The course +of wisdom is to seek them neither in the old romance nor in the new +rationalism, but in the subtle and ever-changing spirit of the times. + +[Illustration: PLATE IX. ARCHITECTURAL SKETCH BY OTTO RIETH] + +The most modern note yet sounded in business, in diplomacy, in social +life, is expressed by the phrase, "Live openly!" From every quarter, +in regard to every manner of human activity, has come the cry, "Let +in the light!" By a physical correspondence not the result of +coincidence, but of the operation of an occult law, we have, in a very +real sense, let in the light. In buildings of the latest type devoted +to large uses, there has been a general abandonment of that "cellular +system" of many partitions which produced the pepper-box exterior, in +favour of great rooms serving diverse functions lit by vast areas of +glass. Although an increase of efficiency has dictated and determined +these changes, this breaking down of barriers between human beings +and their common sharing of the light of day in fuller measure, is a +symbol of the growth of brotherhood, and the search, by the soul, for +spiritual light. + +Now if this fellowship and this quest gain volume and intensity, its +physical symbols are bound to multiply and find ever more perfect +forms of manifestation. So both as a practical necessity and as a +symbol the most pregnant and profound, we are likely to witness in +architecture the development of the House of Light, particularly as +human ingenuity has made this increasingly practicable. + +Glass is a product still undergoing development, as are also those +devices of metal for holding it in position and making the joints +weather tight. The accident and fire hazard has been largely overcome +by protecting the structural parts, by the use of wire glass, and +by other ingenious devices. The author has been informed on good +authority that shortly before the outbreak of the war a glass had been +invented abroad, and made commercially practicable, which shut out +the heat rays, but admitted the light. The use of this glass would +overcome the last difficulty--the equalization of temperatures--and +might easily result in buildings of an entirely novel type, the +approach to which is seen in the "pier and grill" style of exterior. +This is being adopted not only for commercial buildings, but for +others of widely different function, on account of its manifest +advantages. Cass Gilbert's admirable studio apartment at 200 West +Fifty-Seventh Street, New York, is a building of this type. + +In this seeking for sunlight in our cities, we will come to live on +the roofs more and more--in summer in the free air, in winter under +variformed shelters of glass. This tendency is already manifesting +itself in those newest hotels whose roofs are gardens, convertible +into skating ponds, with glazed belvideres for eating in all weathers. +Nothing but ignorance and inanition stand in the way of utilization of +waste roof spaces. People have lived on the roofs in the past, often +enough, and will again. + +[Illustration: PLATE X. RODIN STUDIOS, 200 WEST 57TH STREET, NEW YORK] + +By shouldering ever upward for air and light, we have too often +made of the "downtown" districts cliff-bound canyons--"granite deeps +opening into granite deeps." This has been the result of no inherent +necessity, but of that competitive greed whose nemesis is ever to +miss the very thing it seeks. By intelligent co-operation, backed +by legislation, the roads and sidewalks might be made to share the +sunlight with the roofs. + +This could be achieved in two ways: by stepping back the façades +in successive stages--giving top lighting, terraces, and wonderful +incidental effects of light and shade--or by adjusting the height of +the buildings to the width of their interspaces, making rows of tall +buildings alternate with rows of low ones, with occasional fully +isolated "skyscrapers" giving variety to the sky-line. + +These and similar problems of city planning have been worked out +theoretically with much minuteness of detail, and are known to every +student of the science of cities, but very little of it all has been +realized in a practical way--certainly not on this side of the water, +where individual rights are held so sacred that a property owner may +commit any kind of an architectural nuisance so long as he confines +it to his own front yard. The strength of IS, the weakness of _should +be_, conflicting interests and legislative cowardice are responsible +for the highly irrational manner in which our cities have grown great. + +The search for spiritual light in the midst of materialism finds +unconscious symbolization in a way other than this seeking for the +sun. It is in the amazing development of artificial illumination. From +a purely utilitarian standpoint there is almost nothing that cannot +now be accomplished with light, short of making the ether itself +luminiferous. The æsthetic development of this field, however, can be +said to have scarcely begun. The so recent San Francisco Exposition +witnessed the first successful effort of any importance to enhance the +effect of architecture by artificial illumination, and to use colored +light with a view to its purely pictorial value. Though certain +buildings have since been illuminated with excellent effect, it +remains true that the corset, chewing-gum, beer and automobile +sky signs of our Great White Ways indicate the height to which our +imagination has risen in utilizing this Promethean gift in any but +necessary ways. Interior lighting, except negatively, has not been +dealt with from the standpoint of beauty, but of efficiency; the +engineer has preempted this field to the exclusion of the artist. + +All this is the result of the atrophy of that faculty to worship and +wonder which alone induces the mood from which the creation of beauty +springs. Light we regard only as a convenience "to see things by" +instead of as the power and glory that it inherently is. Its intense +and potent vibrations and the rainbow glory of its colour beat at the +door of consciousness in vain. When we awaken to these things we shall +organize light into a language of spontaneous emotion, just as from +sound music was organized. + +It is beside the purpose of this essay to attempt to trace the +evolution of this new art form, made possible by modern invention, to +indicate what phases it is likely to pass through on the way to what +perfections, but that it is bound to add a new glory to architecture +is sure. This will come about in two ways: directly, by giving color, +quality, subtlety to outdoor and indoor lighting, and indirectly by +educating the eye to color values, as the ear has been educated by +music; thus creating a need for more color everywhere. + +As light is the visible symbol of an inner radiance, so is color the +sign manual of happiness, of joy. Our cities are so dun and drab in +their outward aspects, by reason of the weight of care that burdens +us down. We decry the happy irresponsibility of the savage, and the +patient contentment of the Oriental with his lot, but both are able +to achieve marvels of color in their environment beyond the compass +of civilized man. The glory of mediaeval cathedral windows is a still +living confutation of the belief that in those far-off times the human +heart was sad. Architecture is the index of the inner life of those +who produced it, and whenever it is colorful that inner life contains +an inner joy. + +In the coming Golden Age life will be joyous, and if it is joyous, +colour will come into architecture again. Our psychological state even +now, alone prevents it, for we are rich in materials and methods to +make such polychromy possible. In an article in a recent number +of _The Architectural Record_, Mr. Leon V. Solon, writing from an +entirely different point of view, divines this tendency, and expresses +the opinion that color is again renascent. This tendency is so marked, +and this opinion is so shared that we may look with confidence toward +a color-evolution in architectural art. + +The question of the character of what may be called the ornamental +mode of the architecture of the New Age is of all questions the most +obscure. Evolution along the lines of the already existent does not +help us here, for we are utterly without any ornamental mode from +which a new and better might conceivably evolve. Nothing so betrays +the spiritual bankruptcy of the end of the Iron Age as this. + +The only light on this problem which we shall find, dwells in the +realm of metaphysics rather than in the world of material reality. +Ornament, more than any other element of architecture, is deeply +psychological, it is an externalization of an inner life. This is +so true that any time-worn fragment out of the past when art was +a language can usually be assigned to its place and its period, so +eloquent is it of a particular people and a particular time. Could we +therefore detect and understand the obscure movement of consciousness +in the modern world, we might gain some clue to the language it would +later find. + +It is clear that consciousness is moving away from its absorption in +materiality because it is losing faith in materialism. Clairvoyance, +psychism, the recrudescence of mysticism, of occultism--these signs +of the times are straws which show which way the wind now sets, and +indicate that the modern mind is beginning to find itself at home in +what is called _the fourth dimension_. The phrase is used here in +a different sense from that in which the mathematician uses it, but +oddly enough four-dimensional geometry provides the symbols by +which some of these occult and mystical ideas may be realized by the +rational mind. One of the most engaging and inspiring of these +ideas is that the personal self is a _projection_ on the plane of +materiality of a metaphysical self, or soul, to which the personal +self is related as is the shadow of an object to the object +itself. Now this coincides remarkably with the idea implicit in all +higher-space speculation, that the figures of solid geometry +are projections on a space of three dimensions, of corresponding +four-dimensional forms. + +All ornament is in its last analysis geometrical--sometimes directly +so, as in the system developed by the Moors. Will the psychology +of the new dispensation find expression through some adaptation of +four-dimensional geometry? The idea is far from absurd, by reason of +the decorative quality inherent in many of the regular hypersolids of +four-dimensional space when projected upon solid and plane space. + +If this suggestion seems too fanciful, there is still recourse to the +law of analogy in finding the thing we seek. Every fresh religious +impulse has always developed a symbology through which its truths are +expressed and handed down. These symbols, woven into the very texture +of the life of the people, are embodied by them in their ornamental +mode. The sculpture of a Greek temple is a picture-book of Greek +religion; the ornamentation of a Gothic cathedral is a veritable bible +of the Christian faith. Almost all of the most beautiful and enduring +ornaments have first been sacred symbols; the swastika, the "Eye of +Buddha," the "Shield of David," the wheel, the lotus, and the cross. + +Now that "twilight of the world" following the war perhaps will +witness an _Avatara_--the coming of a World-Teacher who will rebuild +on the one broad and ancient foundation that temple of Truth which +the folly and ignorance of man is ever tearing down. A material +counterpart of that temple will in that case afterward arise. Thus +will be born the architecture of the future; and the ornament of that +architecture will tell, in a new set of symbols, the story of the +rejuvenation of the world. + +In this previsioning of architecture after the war, the author +must not be understood to mean that these things will be realized +_directly_ after. Architecture, from its very nature, is the most +sluggish of all the arts to respond to the natural magic of the +quick-moving mind--it is Caliban, not Ariel. Following the war the +nation will be for a time depleted of man-power, burdened with +debt, prostrate, exhausted. But in that time of reckoning will come +reflection, penitence. + + "And I'll be wise hereafter, + And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass + Was I, to take this drunkard for a god, + And worship this dull fool." + +With some such epilogue the curtain will descend on the great drama +now approaching a close. It will be for the younger generations, the +reincarnate souls of those who fell in battle, to inaugurate the work +of giving expression, in deathless forms of art, to the vision of that +"fairer world" glimpsed now only as by lightning, in a dream. + +[Illustration] + + + + +ESSAYS + + + + +ORNAMENT FROM MATHEMATICS + +I + +THE WORLD ORDER + + +No fact is better established than that we live in an _orderly_ +universe. The truth of this the world-war may for the moment, and to +the near and narrow view appear to contradict, but the sweep of human +history, and the stars in their courses, show an orderliness which +cannot be gainsaid. + +Now of that order, _number_--that is, mathematics--is the more than +symbol, it is the very thing itself. Whence this weltering tide of +life arose, and whither it flows, we know not; but that it is governed +by mathematical law all of our knowledge in every field confirms. Were +it not so, knowledge itself would be impossible. It is because man is +a counting animal that he is master over all the beasts of the earth. + +Number is the tune to which all things move, and as it were make +music; it is in the pulses of the blood no less than in the starred +curtain of the sky. It is a necessary concomitant alike of the sharp +bargain, the chemical experiment, and the fine frenzy of the poet. +Music is number made audible; architecture is number made visible; +nature geometrizes not alone in her crystals, but in her most +intricate arabesques. + +If number be indeed the universal solvent of all forms, sounds, +motions, may we not make of it the basis of a new æsthetic--a loom on +which to weave patterns the like of which the world has never seen? To +attempt such a thing--to base art on mathematics--argues (some one +is sure to say) an entire misconception of the nature and function of +art. "Art is a fountain of spontaneous emotion"--what, therefore, +can it have in common with the proverbially driest, least spontaneous +preoccupation of the human mind? But the above definition concludes +with the assertion that this emotion reaches the soul "through various +channels." The transit can be effected only through some sensuous +element, some language (in the largest sense), and into this the +element of number and form must inevitably enter--mathematics is +"there" and cannot be thought or argued away. + +[Illustration: PLATE XI. IMAGINARY COMPOSITION: THE PORTAL] + +But to make mathematics, and not the emotion which it expresses, the +important thing, is not this to fall into the time-worn heresy of +art for art's sake, that is, art for form's sake--art for the sake of +mathematics? To this objection there is an answer, and as this answer +contains the crux of the whole matter, embraces the proposition by +which this thesis must stand or fall, it must be full and clear. + +What is it, in the last analysis, that all art which is not +purely personal and episodical strives to express? Is it not the +_world-order_?--the very thing that religion, philosophy, science, +strive according to their different natures and methods to express? +The perception of the world-order by the artist arouses an emotion to +which he can give vent only in terms of number; but number is itself +the most abstract expression of the world order. The form and content +of art are therefore not different, but the same. A deep sense of this +probably inspired Pater's famous saying that all art aspires toward +the condition of music; for music, from its very nature, is the +world-order uttered in terms of number, in a sense and to a degree not +attained by any other art. + +This is not mere verbal juggling. We have suffered so long from an +art-phase which exalts the personal, as opposed to the cosmic, that +we have lost sight of the fact that the great arts of antiquity, +preceding the Renaissance, insisted on the cosmic, or impersonal +aspect, and on this alone, just as does Oriental art, even today. +The secret essence, the archetypal idea of the subject is the +preoccupation of the Oriental artist, as it was of the Egyptian, +and of the Greek. We of the West today seek as eagerly to fix the +accidental and ephemeral aspect--the shadow of a particular cloud upon +a particular landscape; the smile on the face of a specific person, in +a recognizable room, at a particular moment of time. Of symbolic art, +of universal emotion expressing itself in terms which are universal, +we have very little to show. + +The reason for this is first, our love for, and understanding of, +the concrete and personal: it is the _world-aspect_ and not the +_world-order_ which interests us; and second, the inadequacies of +current forms of art expression to render our sense of the eternal +secret heart of things as it presents itself to our young eyes. +Confronted with this difficulty, we have shirked it, and our ambition +has shrunk to the portrayal of those aspects which shuffle our poverty +out of sight. It is not a poverty of technique--we are dexterous +enough; nor is it a poverty of invention--we are clever enough; it is +the poverty of the spiritual bankrupt trying to divert attention by a +prodigal display of the smallest of small change. + +Reference is made here only to the arts of space; the arts of +time--music, poetry, and the (written) drama--employing vehicles more +flexible, have been more fortunate, though they too suffer in some +degree from worshipping, instead of the god of order, the god of +chance. + +The corrective of this is a return to first principles: principles so +fundamental that they suffer no change, however new and various their +illustrations. These principles are embodied in number, and one might +almost say nowhere else in such perfection. Mathematics is not the +dry and deadly thing that our teaching of it and the uses we put it +to have made it seem. Mathematics is the handwriting on the human +consciousness of the very Spirit of Life itself. Others before +Pythagoras discovered this, and it is the discovery which awaits us +too. + +To indicate the way in which mathematics might be made to yield the +elements of a new æsthetic is beyond the province of this essay, being +beyond the compass of its author, but he makes bold to take a single +phase: ornament, and to deal with it from this point of view. + +The ornament now in common use has been gathered from the dust-bin +of the ages. What ornamental _motif_ of any universality, worth, or +importance is less than a hundred years old? We continue to use the +honeysuckle, the acanthus, the fret, the egg and dart, not because +they are appropriate to any use we put them to, but because they are +beautiful _per se_. Why are they beautiful? It is not because they +are highly conventionalized representations of natural forms which +are themselves beautiful, but because they express cosmic truths. The +honeysuckle and the acanthus leaf, for example, express the idea +of successive impulses, mounting, attaining a maximum, and +descending--expanding from some focus of force in the manner universal +throughout nature. Science recognizes in the spiral an archetypal +form, whether found in a whirlpool or in a nebula. A fret is a series +of highly conventionalized spirals: translate it from angular to +curved and we have the wave-band; isolate it and we have the volute. +Egg and dart are phallic emblems, female and male; or, if you prefer, +as ellipse and straight line, they are symbols of finite existence +contrasted with infinity. [Figure 1.] + +[Illustration: Figure 1.] + +Suppose that we determine to divest ourselves of these and other +precious inheritances, not because they have lost their beauty and +meaning, but rather on account of their manifold associations with a +past which the war makes suddenly more remote than slow centuries have +done; suppose that we determine to supplant these symbols with others +no less charged with beauty and meaning, but more directly drawn from +the inexhaustible well of mathematical truth--how shall we set to +work? + +We need not _set_ to work, because we have done that already, we are +always doing it, unknowingly, and without knowing the reason why. All +ornamentalists are subjective mathematicians--an amazing statement, +perhaps, but one susceptible of confirmation in countless amusing +ways, of which two will be shown. + +[Illustration: Figure 2.] + +Consider first your calendar--your calendar whose commonplace face, +having yielded you information as to pay day, due day, and holiday, +you obliterate at the end of each month without a qualm, oblivious to +the fact that were your interests less sordid and personal it would +speak to you of that order which pervades the universe; would make you +realize something of the music of the spheres. For on that familiar +checkerboard of the days are numerical arrangements which are +mysterious, "magical"; each separate number is as a spider at the +center of an amazing mathematical web. That is to say, every number +is discovered to be half of the sum of the pairs of numbers which +surround it, vertically, horizontally, and diagonally: all of the +pairs add to the same sum, and the central number divides this sum by +two. A graphic indication of this fact on the calendar face by means +of a system of intersecting lines yields that form of classic grille +dear to the heart of every tyro draughtsman. [Figure 2.] Here is +an evident relation between mathematical fact and ornamental mode, +whether the result of accident, or by reason of some subconscious +connection between the creative and the reasoning part of the mind. + +To show, by means of an example other than this acrostic of the days, +how the pattern-making instinct follows unconsciously in the groove +traced out for it by mathematics, the attention of the reader is +directed to the design of the old Colonial bed-spread shown in Figure +3. Adjacent to this, in the upper right hand corner, is a magic +square of four. That is, all of the columns of figures of which it is +composed: vertical, horizontal and diagonal add to the same sum: 34. +An analysis of this square reveals the fact that it is made up of +the figures of two different orders of counting: the ordinary order, +beginning at the left hand upper corner and reading across and down in +the usual way, and the reverse-ordinary, beginning at the lower right +hand corner and reading across and up. The figures in the four central +cells and in the four outside corner cells are discovered to belong +in the first category, and the remaining figures in the second. Now +if the ordinary order cells be represented by white, and the reverse +ordinary by black, just such a pattern has been created as forms the +decorative motif of the quilt. + +It may be claimed that these two examples of a relation between +ornament and mathematics are accidental and therefore prove nothing, +but they at least furnish a clue which the artist would be foolish not +to follow up. Let him attack his problem this time directly, and +see if number may not be made to yield the thing he seeks: namely, +space-rhythms which are beautiful and new. + +We know that there is a beauty inherent in _order_, that necessity of +one sort or another is the parent of beauty. Beauty in architecture +is largely the result of structural necessity; beauty in ornament +may spring from a necessity which is numerical. It is clear that the +arrangement of numbers in a magic square is necessitous--they must be +placed in a certain way in order that the summation of every column +shall be the same. The problem then becomes to make that necessity +reveal itself to the eye. Now most magic squares contain a _magic +path_, discovered by following the numbers from cell to cell in +their natural order. Because this is a necessitous line it should not +surprise us that it is frequently beautiful as well. + +[Illustration: Figure 3.] + +The left hand drawing in Figure 4 represents the smallest aggregation +of numbers that is capable of magic square arrangement. Each vertical, +horizontal, and corner diagonal column adds up to 15, and the sum of +any two opposite numbers is 10, which is twice the center number. The +magic path is the endless line developed by following, free hand, the +numbers in their natural order, from 1 to 9 and back to 1 again. The +drawing at the right of Figure 4 is this same line translated into +ornament by making an interlace of it, and filling in the larger +interstices with simple floral forms. This has been executed in white +plaster and made to perform the function of a ventilating grille. + +Now the number of magic squares is practically limitless, and while +all of them do not yield magic lines of the beauty of this one, some +contain even richer decorative possibilities. But there are also other +ways of deriving ornament from magic squares, already hinted at in the +discussion of the Colonial quilt. + +[Illustration: Figure 4.] + +[Illustration: Figure 5.] + +Magic squares of an even number of cells are found sometimes to +consist of numbers arranged not only in combinations of the ordinary +and the reverse ordinary orders of counting, but involving two others +as well: the reverse of the ordinary (beginning at the upper right +hand, across, and down) and the reversed inverse, (beginning at the +lower left hand, across, and up). If, in such a magic square, a simple +graphic symbol be substituted for the numbers belonging to each order, +pattern spontaneously springs to life. Figures 5 and 6 exemplify the +method, and Figures 7 and 8 the translation of some of these squares +into richer patterns by elaborating the symbols while respecting their +arrangement. By only a slight stretch of the imagination the beautiful +pierced stone screen from Ravenna shown in Figure 9 might be conceived +of as having been developed according to this method, although of +course it was not so in fact. Some of the arrangements shown in Figure +6 are closely paralleled in the acoustic figures made by means of +musical tones with sand, on a sheet of metal or glass. + +[Illustration: Figure 6.] + +[Illustration: Figure 7.] + +The celebrated Franklin square of 16 cells can be made to yield a +beautiful pattern by designating some of the lines which give the +summation of 2056 by different symbols, as shown in Figure 10. A free +translation of this design into pattern brickwork is indicated in +Figure 11. + +If these processes seem unduly involved and elaborate for the +achievement of a simple result--like burning the house down in +order to get roast pig--there are other more simple ways of deriving +ornament from mathematics, for the truths of number find direct and +perfect expression in the figures of geometry. The squaring of +a number--the raising of it to its second power--finds graphic +expression in the plane figure of the square; and the cubing of a +number--the raising of it to its third power--in the solid figure +of the cube. Now squares and cubes have been recognized from time +immemorial as useful ornamental motifs. Other elementary geometrical +figures, making concrete to the eye the truths of abstract number, may +be dealt with by the designer in such a manner as to produce ornament +the most varied and profuse. Moorish ceilings, Gothic window tracery, +Grolier bindings, all indicate the richness of the field. + +[Illustration: Figure 8.] + +[Illustration: PLATE XII. IMAGINARY COMPOSITION. THE BALCONY] + +[Illustration: Figure 9.] + +Suppose, for example, that we attempt to deal decoratively which such +simple figures as the three lowest Platonic solids--the tetrahedron, +the hexahedron, and the octahedron. [Figure 12.] Their projection on a +plane yields a rhythmical division of space, because of their inherent +symmetry. These projections would correspond to the network of lines +seen in looking through a glass paperweight of the given shape, the +lines being formed by the joining of the several faces. Figure 13 +represents ornamental bands developed in this manner. The dodecahedron +and icosahedron, having more faces, yield more intricate patterns, and +there is no limit to the variety of interesting designs obtainable by +these direct and simple means. + +[Illustration: Figure 10.] + +If the author has been successful thus far in his exposition, it +should be sufficiently plain that from the inexhaustible well of +mathematics fresh beauty may be drawn. But what of its significance? +Ornament must _mean something_; it must have some relation to the +dominant ideation of the day; it must express the psychological mood. + +What is the psychological mood? Ours is an age of transition; we live +in a changing world. On the one hand we witness the breaking up of +many an old thought crystal, on the other we feel the pressure of +those forces which shall create the new. What is nature's first +visible creative act? The formation of a geometrical crystal. The +artist should take this hint, and organize geometry into a new +ornamental mode; by so doing he will prove himself to be in relation +to the _anima mundi_. It is only by the establishment of such a +relation that new beauty comes to birth in the world. + +[Illustration: Figure 11.] + +Ornament in its primitive manifestations is geometrical rather than +naturalistic. This is in a manner strange, that the abstract and +metaphysical thing should precede the concrete and sensuous. It would +be natural to suppose that man would first imitate the things which +surround him, but the most cursory acquaintance with primitive art +shows that he is much more apt to crudely geometrize. Now it is +not necessary to assume that we are to revert to the conditions of +savagery in order to believe that in this matter of a sound æsthetic +we must begin where art has always begun--with number and geometry. +Nevertheless there is a subtly ironic view which one is justified in +holding in regard to quite obvious aspects of American life, in the +light of which that life appears to have rather more in common with +savagery than with culture. + +[Illustration: Figure 12.] + +[Illustration: Figure 13.] + +The submersion of scholarship by athletics in our colleges is a case +in point, the contest of muscles exciting much more interest and +enthusiasm than any contest of wits. We persist in the savage habit of +devouring the corpses of slain animals long after the necessity for it +is past, and some even murder innocent wild creatures, giving to their +ferocity the name of sport. Our women bedeck themselves with furs and +feathers, the fruit of mercenary and systematic slaughter; we perform +orgiastic dances to the music of horns and drums and cymbals--in +short, we have the savage psychology without its vital religious +instinct and its sure decorative sense for color and form. + +But this is of course true only of the surface and sunlit shadows of +the great democratic tide. Its depths conceal every kind of subtlety +and sophistication, high endeavour, and a response to beauty and +wisdom of a sort far removed from the amoeba stage of development +above sketched. Of this latter stage the simple figures of Euclidian +plane and solid geometry--figures which any child can understand--are +the appropriate symbols, but for that other more developed state of +consciousness--less apparent but more important--these will not do. +Something more sophisticated and recondite must be sought for if we +are to have an ornamental mode capable of expressing not only the +simplicity but the complexity of present-day psychology. This need not +be sought for outside the field of geometry, but within it, and by +an extension of the methods already described. There is an altogether +modern development of the science of mathematics: the geometry of +four dimensions. This represents the emancipation of the mind from +the tyranny of mere appearances; the turning of consciousness in a +new direction. It has therefore a high symbolical significance as +typifying that movement away from materialism which is so marked a +phenomenon of the times. + +Of course to those whose notion of the fourth dimension is akin to +that of a friend of the author who described it as "a wagon-load +of bung-holes," the idea of getting from it any practical advantage +cannot seem anything but absurd. There is something about this form +of words "the fourth dimension" which seems to produce a sort of +mental-phobia in certain minds, rendering them incapable of perception +or reason. Such people, because they cannot stick their cane into it +contend that the fourth dimension has no mathematical or philosophical +validity. As ignorance on this subject is very general, the following +essay will be devoted to a consideration of the fourth dimension and +its relation to a new ornamental mode. + +[Illustration] + + + + +II + +THE FOURTH DIMENSION + + +The subject of the fourth dimension is not an easy one to understand. +Fortunately the artist in design does not need to penetrate far into +these fascinating halls of thought in order to reap the advantage +which he seeks. Nevertheless an intention of mind upon this +"fairy-tale of mathematics" cannot fail to enlarge his intellectual +and spiritual horizons, and develop his imagination--that finest +instrument in all his chest of tools. + +By way of introduction to the subject Prof. James Byrnie Shaw, in an +article in the _Scientific Monthly_, has this to say: + + Up to the period of the Reformation algebraic equations of + more than the third degree were frowned upon as having no + real meaning, since there is no fourth power or dimension. + But about one hundred years ago this chimera became an actual + existence, and today it is furnishing a new world to physics, + in which mechanics may become geometry, time be co-ordinated + with space, and every geometric theorem in the world is a + physical theorem in the experimental world in study in the + laboratory. Startling indeed it is to the scientist to be told + that an artificial dream-world of the mathematician is + more real than that he sees with his galvanometers, + ultra-microscopes, and spectroscopes. It matters little that + he replies, "Your four-dimensional world is only an analytic + explanation of my phenomena," for the fact remains a fact, + that in the mathematician's four-dimensional space there is + a space not derived in any sense of the term as a residue of + experience, however powerful a distillation of sensations or + perceptions be resorted to, for it is not contained at all in + the fluid that experience furnishes. It is a product of the + creative power of the mathematical mind, and its objects are + real in exactly the same way that the cube, the square, the + circle, the sphere or the straight line. We are enabled to see + with the penetrating vision of the mathematical insight that + no less real and no more real are these fantastic forms of the + world of relativity than those supposed to be uncreatable or + indestructible in the play of the forces of nature. + +These "fantastic forms" alone need concern the artist. If by some +potent magic he can precipitate them into the world of sensuous images +so that they make music to the eye, he need not even enter into the +question of their reality, but in order to achieve this transmutation +he should know something, at least, of the strange laws of their +being, should lend ear to a fairy-tale in which each theorem is a +paradox, and each paradox a mathematical fact. + +He must conceive of a space of four mutually independent directions; a +space, that is, having a direction at right angles to every direction +that we know. We cannot point to this, we cannot picture it, but we +can reason about it with a precision that is all but absolute. In such +a space it would of course be possible to establish four axial lines, +all intersecting at a point, and all mutually at right angles with one +another. Every hyper-solid of four-dimensional space has these four +axes. + +The regular hyper-solids (analogous to the Platonic solids of +three-dimensional space) are the "fantastic forms" which will prove +useful to the artist. He should learn to lure them forth along them +axis lines. That is, let him build up his figures, space by space, +developing them from lower spaces to higher. But since he cannot enter +the fourth dimension, and build them there, nor even the third--if he +confines himself to a sheet of paper--he must seek out some form of +_representation_ of the higher in the lower. This is a process with +which he is already acquainted, for he employs it every time he makes +a perspective drawing, which is the representation of a solid on +a plane. All that is required is an extension of the method: a +hyper-solid can be represented in a figure of three dimensions, and +this in turn can be projected on a plane. The achieved result will +constitute a perspective of a perspective--the representation of a +representation. + +This may sound obscure to the uninitiated, and it is true that the +plane projection of some of the regular hyper-solids are staggeringly +intricate affairs, but the author is so sure that this matter lies so +well within the compass of the average non-mathematical mind that he +is willing to put his confidence to a practical test. + +It is proposed to develop a representation of the tesseract or +hyper-cube on the paper of this page, that is, on a space of two +dimensions. Let us start as far back as we can: with a point. +This point, a, [Figure 14] is conceived to move in a direction w, +developing the line a b. This line next moves in a direction at right +angles to w, namely, x, a distance equal to its length, forming +the square a b c d. Now for the square to develop into a cube by a +movement into the third dimension it would have to move in a direction +at right angles to both w and x, that is, out of the plane of the +paper--away from it altogether, either up or down. This is not +possible, of course, but the third direction can be _represented_ on +the plane of the paper. + +[Illustration: Figure 14. TWO PROJECTIONS OF THE HYPERCUBE OR +TESSERACT, AND THEIR TRANSLATION INTO ORNAMENT.] + + +Let us represent it as diagonally downward toward the right, namely, +y. In the y direction, then, and at a distance equal to the length +of one of the sides of the square, another square is drawn, a'b'c'd', +representing the original square at the end of its movement into the +third dimension; and because in that movement the bounding points of +the square have traced out lines (edges), it is necessary to connect +the corresponding corners of the two squares by means of lines. This +completes the figure and achieves the representation of a cube on a +plane by a perfectly simple and familiar process. Its six faces +are easily identified by the eye, though only two of them appear as +squares owing to the exigencies of representation. + +Now for a leap into the abyss, which won't be so terrifying, since +it involves no change of method. The cube must move into the fourth +dimension, developing there a hyper-cube. This is impossible, for +the reason the cube would have to move out of our space +altogether--three-dimensional space will not contain a hyper-cube. But +neither is the cube itself contained within the plane of the paper; +it is only there _represented_. The y direction had to be imagined and +then arbitrarily established; we can arbitrarily establish the fourth +direction in the same way. As this is at right angles to y, its +indication may be diagonally downward and to the left--the direction +z. As y is known to be at right angles both to w and to x, z is at +right angles to all three, and we have thus established the four +mutually perpendicular axes necessary to complete the figure. + +The cube must now move in the z direction (the fourth dimension) +a distance equal to the length of one of its sides. Just as we did +previously in the case of the square, we draw the cube in its new +position (ABB'D'C'C) and also as before we connect each apex of the +first cube with the corresponding apex of the other, because each of +these points generates a line (an edge), each line a plane, and +each plane a solid. This is the tesseract or hyper-cube in plane +projection. It has the 16 points, 32 lines, and 8 cubes known to +compose the figure. These cubes occur in pairs, and may be readily +identified.[1] + +The tesseract as portrayed in A, Figure 14, is shown according to the +conventions of oblique, or two-point perspective; it can equally be +represented in a manner correspondent to parallel perspective. The +parallel perspective of a cube appears as a square inside another +square, with lines connecting the four vertices of the one with those +of the other. The third dimension (the one beyond the plane of the +paper) is here conceived of as being not beyond the boundaries of the +first square, but _within_ them. We may with equal propriety conceive +of the fourth dimension as a "beyond which is within." In that case +we would have a rendering of the tesseract as shown in B, Figure 14: +a cube within a cube, the space between the two being occupied by six +truncated pyramids, each representing a cube. The large outside cube +represents the original generating cube at the beginning of its motion +into the fourth dimension, and the small inside cube represents it at +the end of that motion. + +[Illustration: PLATE XIII. IMAGINARY COMPOSITION: THE AUDIENCE +CHAMBER] + +These two projections of the tesseract upon plane space are not the +only ones possible, but they are typical. Some idea of the variety of +aspects may be gained by imagining how a nest of inter-related cubes +(made of wire, so as to interpenetrate), combined into a single +symmetrical figure of three-dimensional space, would appear +from several different directions. Each view would yield new +space-subdivisions, and all would be rhythmical--susceptible, +therefore, of translation into ornament. C and D represent such +translations of A and B. + +In order to fix these unfamiliar ideas more firmly in the reader's +mind, let him submit himself to one more exercise of the creative +imagination, and construct, by a slightly different method, a +representation of a hexadecahedroid, or 16-hedroid, on a plane. This +regular solid of four-dimensional space consists of sixteen cells, +each a regular tetrahedron, thirty-two triangular faces, twenty-four +edges and eight vertices. It is the correlative of the octahedron of +three-dimensional space. + +First it is necessary to establish our four axes, all mutually +at right angles. If we draw three lines intersecting at a point, +subtending angles of 60 degrees each, it is not difficult to +conceive of these lines as being at right angles with one another +in three-dimensional space. The fourth axis we will assume to pass +vertically through the point of intersection of the three lines, +so that we see it only in cross-section, that is, as a point. It is +important to remember that all of the angles made by the four axes +are right angles--a thing possible only in a space of four dimensions. +Because the 16-hedroid is a symmetrical hyper-solid all of its +eight apexes will be equidistant from the centre of a containing +hyper-sphere, whose "surface" these will intersect at symmetrically +disposed points. These apexes are established in our representation by +describing a circle--the plane projection of the hyper-sphere--about +the central point of intersection of the axes. (Figure 15, left.) +Where each of these intersects the circle an apex of the 16-hedroid +will be established. From each apex it is now necessary to draw +straight lines to every other, each line representing one edge of the +sixteen tetrahedral cells. But because the two ends of the fourth axis +are directly opposite one another, and opposite the point of sight, +all of these lines fail to appear in the left hand diagram. It +therefore becomes necessary to _tilt_ the figure slightly, bringing +into view the fourth axis, much foreshortened, and with it, all of the +lines which make up the figure. The result is that projection of the +16-hedroid shown at the right of Figure 15.[2] Here is no fortuitous +arrangement of lines and areas, but the "shadow" cast by an +archetypal, figure of higher space upon the plane of our materiality. +It is a wonder, a mystery, staggering to the imagination, +contradictory to experience, but as well entitled to a place at the +high court of reason as are any of the more familiar figures with +which geometry deals. Translated into ornament it produces such an +all-over pattern as is shown in Figure 16 and the design which adorns +the curtains at right and left of pl. XIII. There are also other +interesting projections of the 16-hedroid which need not be gone into +here. + +[Illustration: Figure 15. DIRECT VIEW AXES SHOWN BY HEAVY LINES TILTED +VIEW APEXES SHOWN BY CIRCLES THE 16-HEDROID IN PLANE PROJECTION] + +For if the author has been successful in his exposition up to +this point, it should be sufficiently plain that the geometry +of four-dimensions is capable of yielding fresh and interesting +ornamental motifs. In carrying his demonstration farther, and in +multiplying illustrations, he would only be going over ground already +covered in his book _Projective Ornament_ and in his second Scammon +lecture. + +Of course this elaborate mechanism for producing quite obvious and +even ordinary decorative motifs may appear to some readers like +Goldberg's nightmare mechanics, wherein the most absurd and intricate +devices are made to accomplish the most simple ends. The author is +undisturbed by such criticisms. If the designs dealt with in this +chapter are "obvious and even ordinary" they are so for the reason +that they were chosen less with an eye to their interest and beauty +than as lending themselves to development and demonstration by an +orderly process which should not put too great a tax upon the patience +and intelligence of the reader. Four-dimensional geometry yields +numberless other patterns whose beauty and interest could not possibly +be impeached--patterns beyond the compass of the cleverest designer +unacquainted with projective geometry. + +[Illustration: Figure 16.] + +The great need of the ornamentalist is this or some other solid +foundation. Lacking it, he has been forced to build either on the +shifting sands of his own fancy, or on the wrecks and sediment of the +past. Geometry provides this sure foundation. We may have to work hard +and dig deep, but the results will be worth the effort, for only on +such a foundation can arise a temple which is beautiful and strong. + +In confirmation of his general contention that the basis of all +effective decoration is geometry and number, the author, in closing, +desires to direct the reader's attention to Figure 17 a slightly +modified rendering of the famous zodiacal ceiling of the Temple of +Denderah, in Egypt. A sun and its corona have been substituted for the +zodiacal signs and symbols which fill the centre of the original, for +except to an Egyptologist these are meaningless. In all essentials the +drawing faithfully follows the original--was traced, indeed, from a +measured drawing. + +[Illustration: Figure 17. CEILING DECORATION FROM THE TEMPLE OF +DENDERAH] + +Here is one of the most magnificent decorative schemes in the whole +world, arranged with a feeling for balance and rhythm exceeding the +power of the modern artist, and executed with a mastery beyond the +compass of a modern craftsman. The fact that first forces itself upon +the beholder is that the thing is so obviously mathematical in its +rhythms, that to reduce it to terms of geometry and number is a matter +of small difficulty. Compare the frozen music of these rhymed and +linked figures with the herded, confused, and cluttered compositions +of even our best decorative artists, and argument becomes +unnecessary--the fact stands forth that we have lost something +precious and vital out of art of which the ancients possessed the +secret. + +It is for the restoration of these ancient verities and the discovery +of new spatial rhythms--made possible by the advance of mathematical +science--that the author pleads. Artists, architects, designers, +instead of chewing the cud of current fashion, come into these +pastures new! + +[Illustration] + +[Footnote 1: The eight cubes in A, Figure 14, are as follows: +abb'd'c'c; ABB'D'C'C; abdDCA; a'b'd'D'C'A'; abb'B'A'A; cdd'D'C'C; +bb'd'D'DB; aa'c'C'CA.] + +[Footnote 2: The sixteen cells of the hexadehahedroid are as follows: +ABCD: A'B'C'D': AB'C'D': A'BCD: AB'CD: A'BC'D: ABC'D: A'B'CD': ABCD': +A'B'C'D: ABC'D': A'B'CD: A'BC'D: AB'CD': A'BCD': AB'C'D.] + + + + +HARNESSING THE RAINBOW + + +Reference was made in an antecedent essay to an art of light--of +mobile color--an abstract language of thought and emotion which should +speak to consciousness through the eye, as music speaks through the +ear. This is an art unborn, though quickening in the womb of the +future. The things that reflect light have been organized æsthetically +into the arts of architecture, painting, and sculpture, but light +itself has never been thus organized. + +And yet the scientific development and control of light has reached a +stage which makes this new art possible. It awaits only the advent of +the creative artist. The manipulation of light is now in the hands +of the illuminating engineers and its exploitation (in other than +necessary ways) in the hands of the advertisers. + +Some results of their collaboration are seen in the sky signs of upper +Broadway, in New York, and of the lake front, in Chicago. A carnival +of contending vulgarities, showing no artistry other than the most +puerile, these displays nevertheless yield an effect of amazing +beauty. This is on account of an occult property inherent in the +nature of light--_it cannot be vulgarized_. If the manipulation of +light were delivered into the hands of the artist, and dedicated +to noble ends, it is impossible to overestimate the augmentation of +beauty that would ensue. + +For light is a far more potent medium than sound. The sphere of sound +is the earth-sphere; the little limits of our atmosphere mark the +uttermost boundaries to which sound, even the most strident can +possibly prevail. But the medium of light is the ether, which links +us with the most distant stars. May not this serve as a symbol of the +potency of light to usher the human spirit into realms of being at the +doors of which music itself shall beat in vain? Or if we compare the +universe accessible to sight with that accessible to sound--the +plight of the blind in contrast to that of the deaf--there is the same +discrepancy; the field of the eye is immensely richer, more various +and more interesting than that of the ear. + +The difficulty appears to consist in the inferior impressionability +of the eye to its particular order of beauty. To the average man +color--as color--has nothing significant to say: to him grass is +green, snow is white, the sky blue; and to have his attention drawn to +the fact that sometimes grass is yellow, snow blue, and the sky green, +is disconcerting rather than illuminating. It is only when his retina +is assaulted by some splendid sunset or sky-encircling rainbow that +he is able to disassociate the idea of color from that of form and +substance. Even the artist is at a disadvantage in this respect, when +compared with the musician. Nothing in color knowledge and analysis +analogous to the established laws of musical harmony is part of the +equipment of the average artist; he plays, as it were, by ear. The +scientist, on the other hand, though he may know the spectrum from +end to end, and its innumerable modifications, values this "rainbow +promise of the Lord" not for its own beautiful sake but as a means +to other ends than those of beauty. But just as the art of music +has developed the ear into a fine and sensitive instrument of +appreciation, so an analogous art of light would educate the eye to +nuances of color to which it is now blind. + +[Illustration: PLATE XIV. SONG AND LIGHT: AN APPROACH TOWARD "COLOR +MUSIC"] + +It is interesting to speculate as to the particular form in which this +new art will manifest itself. The question is perhaps already answered +in the "color organ," the earliest of which was Bambridge Bishop's, +exhibited at the old Barnum's Museum--before the days of electric +light--and the latest A.W. Rimington's. Both of these instruments were +built upon a supposed correspondence between a given scale of colors, +and the musical chromatic scale; they were played from a musical score +upon an organ keyboard. This is sufficiently easy and sufficiently +obvious, and has been done, with varying success in one way or +another, time and again, but its very ease and obviousness should give +us pause. + +It may well be questioned whether any arbitrary and literal +translation, even though practicable, of a highly complex, intensely +mobile art, unfolding in time, as does music, into a correspondent +light and color expression, is the best approach to a new art of +mobile color. There is a deep and abiding conviction, justified by the +history of æsthetics, that each art-form must progress from its +own beginnings and unfold in its own unique and characteristic way. +Correspondences between the arts--such a correspondence, for +example, as inspired the famous saying that architecture is frozen +music--reveal themselves usually only after the sister arts have +attained an independent maturity. They owe their origin to that +underlying unity upon which our various modes of sensuous perception +act as a refracting medium, and must therefore be taken for granted. +Each art, like each individual, is unique and singular; in this +singularity dwells its most thrilling appeal. We are likely to miss +light's crowning glory, and the rainbow's most moving message to the +soul if we preoccupy ourselves too exclusively with the identities +existing between music and color; it is rather their points of +difference which should first be dwelt upon. + +Let us accordingly consider the characteristic differences between +the two sense-categories to which sound and light--music and +color--respectively belong. This resolves itself into a comparison +between time and space. The characteristic thing about time is +succession--hence the very idea of music, which is in time, involves +perpetual change. The characteristic of space, on the other hand, is +simultaneousness--in space alone perpetual immobility would reign. +That is why architecture, which is pre-eminently the art of space, is +of all the arts the most static. Light and color are essentially +of space, and therefore an art of mobile colour should never lack a +certain serenity and repose. A "tune" played on a color organ is only +distressing. If there is a workable correspondence between the musical +art and an art of mobile color, it will be found in the domain of +harmony which involves the idea of simultaneity, rather than in +melody, which is pure succession. This fundamental difference between +time and space cannot be over-emphasized. A musical note prolonged, +becomes at last scarcely tolerable; while a beautiful color, like the +blue of the sky, we can enjoy all day and every day. The changing hues +of a sunset, are _andante_ if referred to a musical standard, but to +the eye they are _allegretto_--we would have them pass less swiftly +than they do. The winking, chasing, changing lights of illuminated +sky-signs are only annoying, and for the same reason. The eye longs +for repose in some serene radiance or stately sequence, while the ear +delights in contrast and continual change. It may be that as the eye +becomes more educated it will demand more movement and complexity, but +a certain stillness and serenity are of the very nature of light, +as movement and passion are of the very nature of sound. Music is a +seeking--"love in search of a word"; light is a finding--a "divine +covenant." + +With attention still focussed on the differences rather than the +similarities between the musical art and a new art of mobile color, +we come next to the consideration of the matter of form. Now form +is essentially of space: we speak about the "form" of a musical +composition, but it is in a more or less figurative and metaphysical +sense, not as a thing concrete and palpable, like the forms of space. +It would be foolish to forego the advantage of linking up form with +colour, as there is opportunity to do. Here is another golden ball to +juggle with, one which no art purely in time affords. Of course it is +known that musical sounds weave invisible patterns in the air, and to +render these patterns perceptible to the eye may be one of the more +remote and recondite achievements of our uncreated art. Meantime, +though we have the whole treasury of natural forms to draw from, of +these we can only properly employ such as are _abstract_. The reason +for this is clear to any one who conceives of an art of mobile color, +not as a moving picture show--a thing of quick-passing concrete +images, to shock, to startle, or to charm--but as a rich and various +language in which light, proverbially the symbol of the spirit, is +made to speak, through the senses, some healing message to the soul. +For such a consummation, "devoutly to be wished," natural forms--forms +abounding in every kind of association with that world of materiality +from which we would escape--are out of place; recourse must be had +rather to abstract forms, that is, geometrical figures. And because +the more remote these are from the things of sense, from knowledge and +experience, the projected figures of four-dimensional geometry would +lend themselves to these uses with an especial grace. Color without +form is as a soul without a body; yet the body of light must be +without any taint of materiality. Four-dimensional forms are as +immaterial as anything that could be imagined and they could be made +to serve the useful purpose of separating colors one from another, +as lead lines do in old cathedral windows, than which nothing more +beautiful has ever been devised. + +Coming now to the consideration, not of differences, but similarities, +it is clear that a correspondence can be established between the +colors of the spectrum and the notes of a musical scale. That is, +the spectrum, considered as the analogue of a musical octave can +be subdivided into twelve colors which may be representative of +the musical chromatic scale of twelve semi-tones: the very word, +_chromatic_, being suggestive of such a correspondence between sound +and light. The red end of the spectrum would naturally relate to the +low notes of the musical scale, and the violet end to the high, by +reason of the relative rapidity of vibration in each case; for the +octave of a musical note sets the air vibrating twice as rapidly as +does the note itself, and roughly speaking, the same is true of the +end colors of the spectrum with relation to the ether. + +But assuming that a color scale can be established which would yield +a color correlative to any musical note or chord, there still remains +the matter of _values_ to be dealt with. In the musical scale there is +a practical equality of values: one note is as potent as another. In +a color scale, on the other hand, each note (taken at its greatest +intensity) has a positive value of its own, and they are all +different. These values have no musical correlatives, they belong to +color _per se_. Every colorist knows that the whole secret of beauty +and brilliance dwells in a proper understanding and adjustment of +values, and music is powerless to help him here. Let us therefore +defer the discussion of this musical parallel, which is full of +pitfalls, until we have made some examination into such simple +emotional reactions as color can be discovered to yield. The musical +art began from the emotional response to certain simple tones and +combinations, and the delight of the ear in their repetition and +variation. + +On account of our undeveloped sensitivity, the emotional reactions +to color are found to be largely personal and whimsical: one person +"loves" pink, another purple, or green. Color therapeutics is too +new a thing to be relied upon for data, for even though colors +are susceptible of classification as sedative, recuperative and +stimulating, no two classifications arrived at independently would be +likely to correspond. Most people appear to prefer bright, pure +colors when presented to them in small areas, red and blue being +the favourites. Certain data have been accumulated regarding the +physiological effect and psychological value of different colors, but +this order of research is in its infancy, and we shall have recourse, +therefore, to theory, in the absence of any safer guide. + +One of the theories which may be said to have justified itself in +practice in a different field is that upon which is based Delsarte's +famous art of expression. It has schooled some of the finest actors +in the world, and raised others from mediocrity to distinction. The +Delsarte system is founded upon the idea that man is a triplicity of +physical, emotional, and intellectual qualities or attributes, and +that the entire body and every part thereof conforms to, and expresses +this triplicity. The generative and digestive region corresponds with +the physical nature, the breast with the emotional, and the head +with the intellectual; "below" represents the nadir of ignorance and +dejection, "above" the zenith of wisdom and spiritual power. +This seems a natural, and not an arbitrary classification, having +interesting confirmations and correspondencies, both in the outer +world of form, and in the inner world of consciousness. Moreover, it +is in accord with that theosophic scheme derived from the ancient and +august wisdom of the East, which longer and better than any other +has withstood the obliterating action of slow time, and is even now +renascent. Let us therefore attempt to classify the colors of the +spectrum according to this theory, and discover if we can how nearly +such a classification is conformable to reason and experience. + +The red end of the spectrum, being lowest in vibratory rate, would +correspond to the physical nature, proverbially more sluggish than the +emotional and mental. The phrase "like a red rag to a bull," suggests +a relation between the color red and the animal consciousness +established by observation. The "low-brow" is the dear lover of the +red necktie; the "high-brow" is he who sees violet shadows on the +snow. We "see red" when we are dominated by ignoble passion. Though +the color green is associated with the idea of jealousy, it is +associated also with the idea of sympathy, and jealousy in the last +analysis is the fear of the loss of sympathy; it belongs, at all +events to the mediant, or emotional group of colors; while blue and +violet are proverbially intellectual and spiritual colors, and +their place in the spectrum therefore conforms to the demands of our +theoretical division. Here, then, is something reasonably certain, +certainly reasonable, and may serve as an hypothesis to be confirmed +or confuted by subsequent research. Coming now finally to the +consideration of the musical parallel, let us divide a color scale of +twelve steps or semi-tones into three groups; each group, graphically +portrayed, subtending one-third of the arc of a circle. The first or +red group will be related to the physical nature, and will consist of +purple-red, red, red-orange, and orange. The second, or green group +will be related to the emotional nature, and will consist of yellow, +yellow-green, green, and green-blue. The third, or blue group will be +related to the intellectual and spiritual nature, and will consist +of blue, blue-violet, violet and purple. The merging of purple into +purple-red will then correspond to the meeting place of the +highest with the lowest, "spirit" and "matter." We conceive of this +meeting-place symbolically as the "heart"--the vital centre. Now +"sanguine" is the appropriate name associated with the color of +the blood--a color between purple and purple-red. It is logical, +therefore, to regard this point in our color-scale as its +tonic--"middle C"--though each color, just as in music each note, is +itself the tonic of a scale of its own. + +Mr. Louis Wilson--the author of the above "ophthalmic color scale" +makes the same affiliation between sanguine, or blood color, and +middle C, led thereto by scientific reasons entirely unassociated with +symbolism. He has omitted orange-yellow and violet-purple; this +makes the scale conform more exactly with the diatonic scale of +two tetra-chords; it also gives a greater range of purples, a color +indispensable to the artist. Moreover, in the scale as it stands, each +color is exactly opposite its true spectral complementary. + +The color scale being thus established and broadly divided, the next +step is to find how well it justifies itself in practice. The most +direct way would be to translate the musical chords recognized and +dealt with in the science of harmony into their corresponding color +combinations. + +For the benefit of such readers as have no knowledge of musical +harmony it should be said that the entire science of harmony is based +upon the _triad_, or chord of three notes, and that there are various +kinds of triads: the major, the minor, the augmented, the diminished, +and the altered. The major triad consists of the first note of the +diatonic scale, or tonic; its third, and its fifth. The minor triad +differs from the major only in that the second member is lowered a +semi-tone. The augmented triad differs from the major only in that the +third member is raised a semi-tone. The diminished triad differs from +the minor only in that the third member is lowered a semi-tone. The +altered triad is a chord different by a semi-tone from any of the +above. + +The major triad in color is formed by taking any one of the twelve +color-centers of the ophthalmic color scale as the first member of +the triad; and, reading up the scale, the fifth step (each step +representing a semi-tone) determines the second member, while the +third member is found in the eighth step. The minor triad in color is +formed by lowering the second member of the major triad one step; the +augmented triad by raising the third member of the major triad one +step, and the diminished triad by lowering the third member of the +minor triad one step. + +[Illustration: Figure 18. MAJOR TRIAD, MINOR TRIAD, AUGMENTED TRIAD, +DIMINISHED TRIAD] + +These various triads are shown graphically in Figure 18 as +triangles within a circle divided into twelve equal parts, each part +representing a semi-tone of the chromatic scale. It is seen at a +glance that in every case each triad has one of its notes (an apex) in +or immediately adjacent to a different one of the grand divisions of +the colour scale hereinbefore established and described, and that the +same thing would be true in any "key": that is, by any variation of +the point of departure. + +This certainly satisfies the mind in that it suggests variety in +unity, balance, completeness, and in the actual portrayal, in color, +of these chords in any "key" this judgment is confirmed by the eye, +provided that the colors have been thrown into proper _harmonic +suppression_. By this is meant such an adjustment of relative values, +or such an establishment of relative proportions as will produce the +maximum of beauty of which any given combination is capable. This +matter imperatively demands an æsthetic sense the most sensitive. + +So this "musical parallel," interesting and reasonable as it is, will +not carry the color harmonist very far, and if followed too literally +it is even likely to hamper him in the higher reaches of his art, +for some of the musical dissonances are of great beauty in color +translation. All that can safely be said in regard to the musical +parallel in its present stage of development is that it simplifies and +systematizes color knowledge and experiment and to a beginner it is +highly educational. + +If we are to have color symphonies, the best are not likely to be +those based on a literal translation of some musical masterpiece into +color according to this or any theory, but those created by persons +who are emotionally reactive to this medium, able to imagine in color, +and to treat it imaginatively. The most beautiful mobile color effects +yet witnessed by the author were produced on a field only five inches +square, by an eminent painter quite ignorant of music; while some of +the most unimpressive have been the result of a rigid adherence to the +musical parallel by persons intent on cutting, with this sword, this +Gordian knot. + +Into the subject of means and methods it is not proposed to enter, nor +to attempt to answer such questions as to whether the light shall be +direct or projected; whether the spectator, wrapped in darkness, shall +watch the music unfold at the end of some mysterious vista, or +whether his whole organism shall be played upon by powerful waves +of multi-coloured light. These coupled alternatives are not mutually +exclusive, any more than the idea of an orchestra is exclusive of that +of a single human voice. + +In imagining an art of mobile color unconditioned by considerations +of mechanical difficulty or of expense, ideas multiply in truly +bewildering profusion. Sunsets, solar coronas, star spectra, auroras +such as were never seen on sea or land; rainbows, bubbles, rippling +water; flaming volcanoes, lava streams of living light--these and a +hundred other enthralling and perfectly realizable effects suggest +themselves. What Israfil of the future will pour on mortals this new +"music of the spheres"? + + + + +LOUIS SULLIVAN + +PROPHET OF DEMOCRACY + + +Due tribute has been paid to Mr. Louis Sullivan as an architect in +the first essay of this volume. That aspect of his genius has been +critically dealt with by many, but as an author he is scarcely +known. Yet there are Sibylline leaves of his, still let us hope in +circulation, which have wielded a potent influence on the minds of a +generation of men now passing to maturity. It is in the hope that his +message may not be lost to the youth of today and of tomorrow that the +present author now undertakes to summarize and interpret that message +to a public to which Mr. Sullivan is indeed a name, but not a voice. + +That he is not a voice can be attributed neither to his lack of +eloquence--for he is eloquent--nor to the indifference of the younger +generation of architects which has grown up since he has ceased, +in any public way, to speak. It is due rather to a curious fatality +whereby his memorabilia have been confined to sheets which the +winds of time have scattered--pamphlets, ephemeral magazines, trade +journals--never the bound volume which alone guards the sacred flame +from the gusts of evil chance. + +And Mr. Sullivan's is a "sacred flame," because it was kindled solely +with the idea of service--a beacon to keep young men from +shipwreck traversing those straits made dangerous by the Scylla of +Conventionality, and the Charybdis of License. The labour his writing +cost him was enormous. "I shall never again make so great a sacrifice +for the younger generation," he says in a letter, "I am amazed to +note how insignificant, how almost nil is the effect produced, in +comparison to the cost, in vitality to me. Or perhaps it is I who +am in error. Perhaps one must have reached middle age, or the Indian +Summer of life, must have seen much, heard much, felt and produced +much and been much in solitude to receive in reading what I gave in +writing 'with hands overfull.'" + +This was written with reference to _Kindergarten Chats. A sketch +Analysis of Contemporaneous American Architecture_, which constitutes +Mr. Sullivan's most extended and characteristic preachment to the +young men of his day. It appeared in 1901, in fifty-two consecutive +numbers of _The Interstate Architect and Builder_, a magazine now +no longer published. In it the author, as mentor, leads an imaginary +disciple up and down the land, pointing out to him the "bold, +upholsterrific blunders" to be found in the architecture of the day, +and commenting on them in a caustic, colloquial style--large, loose, +discursive--a blend of Ruskin, Carlyle and Whitman, yet all Mr. +Sullivan's own. He descends, at times, almost to ribaldry, at others +he rises to poetic and prophetic heights. This is all a part of his +method alternately to shame and inspire his pupil to some sort of +creative activity. The syllabus of Mr. Sullivan's scheme, as it +existed in his mind during the writing of _Kindergarten Chats_, +and outlined by him in a letter to the author is such a torch of +illumination that it is quoted here entire. + + A young man who has "finished his education" at the + architectural schools comes to me for a post-graduate + course--hence a free form of dialogue. + + I proceed with his education rather by indirection and + suggestion than by direct precept. I subject him to certain + experiences and allow the impressions they make on him to + infiltrate, and, as I note the effect, I gradually use a + guiding hand. I supply the yeast, so to speak, and allow the + ferment to work in him. + + This is the gist of the whole scheme. It remains then to + determine, carefully, the kind of experiences to which I shall + subject the lad, and in what order, or logical (and especially + psychological) sequence. I begin, then, with aspects that + are literal, objective, more or less cynical, and brutal, and + philistine. A little at a time I introduce the subjective, + the refined, the altruistic; and, by a to-and-fro increasingly + intense rhythm of these two opposing themes, worked so to + speak in counterpoint, I reach a preliminary climax: of + brutality tempered by a longing for nobler, purer things. + + Hence arise a purblind revulsion and yearning in the lad's + soul; the psychological moment has arrived, and I take him + at once into the _country_--(Summer: The Storm). This is the + first of the four out-of-door scenes, and the lad's first + real experience with nature. It impresses him crudely but + violently; and in the tense excitement of the tempest he is + inspired to temporary eloquence; and at the close is much + softened. He feels in a way but does not know that he has been + a participant in one of Nature's superb dramas. (Thus do + I insidiously prepare the way for the notion that creative + architecture is in essence a dramatic art, and an art of + eloquence; of subtle rhythmic beauty, power, and tenderness). + + Left alone in the country the lad becomes maudlin--a callow + lover of nature--and makes feeble attempts at verse. Returning + to the city he melts and unbosoms--the tender shaft of the + unknowable Eros has penetrated to his heart--Nature's subtle + spell is on him, to disappear and reappear. Then follow + discussions, more or less didactic, leading to the second + out-of-door scene (Autumn Glory). Here the lad does most of + the talking and shows a certain lucidity and calm of mind. The + discussion of Responsibility, Democracy, Education, etc., has + inevitably detached the lurking spirit of pessimism. It has + to be:--Into the depths and darkness we descend, and the + work reaches the tragic climax in the third out-of-door + scene--Winter. + + Now that the forces have been gathered and marshalled the + true, sane movement of the work is entered upon and pushed + at high tension, and with swift, copious modulations to its + foreordained climax and optimistic peroration in the fourth + and last out-of-door scene as portrayed in the Spring Song. + The _locale_ of this closing number is the beautiful spot in + the woods, on the shore of Biloxi Bay:--where I am writing + this. + + I would suggest in passing that a considerable part of the + K.C. is in rhythmic prose--some of it declamatory. I have + endeavoured throughout this work to represent, or reproduce + to the mind and heart of the reader the spoken word and + intonation--not written language. It really should be read + aloud, especially the descriptive and exalted passages. + +There was a movement once on the part of Mr. Sullivan's admirers to +issue _Kindergarten Chats_ in book form, but he was asked to tone it +down and expurgate it, a thing which he very naturally refused to do. +Mr. Sullivan has always been completely alive to our cowardice when +it comes to hearing the truth about ourselves, and alive to the danger +which this cowardice entails, for to his imaginary pupil he says, + + If you wish to read the current architecture of your country, + you must go at it courageously, and not pick out merely the + little bits that please you. I am going to soak you with it + until you are absolutely nauseated, and your faculties turn + in rebellion. I may be a hard taskmaster, but I strive to be + a good one. When I am through with you, you will know + architecture from the ground up. You will know its virtuous + reality and you will know the fake and the fraud and the + humbug. I will spare nothing--for your sake. I will stir up + the cesspool to its utmost depths of stench, and also the + pious, hypocritical virtues of our so-called architecture--the + nice, good, mealy-mouthed, suave, dexterous, diplomatic + architecture, I will show you also the kind of architecture + our "cultured" people believe in. And why do they believe in + it? Because they do not believe in themselves. + +_Kindergarten Chats_ is even more pertinent and pointed today than it +was some twenty years ago, when it was written. Speech that is full of +truth is timeless, and therefore prophetic. Mr. Sullivan forecast some +of the very evils by which we have been overtaken. He was able to do +this on account of the fundamental soundness of his point of view, +which finds expression in the following words: "Once you learn to look +upon architecture not merely as an art more or less well, or more or +less badly done, but as a _social manifestation_, the critical eye +becomes clairvoyant, and obscure, unnoted phenomena become illumined." + +Looking, from this point of view, at the office buildings that the +then newly-realized possibilities of steel construction were sending +skyward along lower Broadway, in New York, Mr. Sullivan reads in them +a denial of democracy. To him they signify much more than they seem +to, or mean to; they are more than the betrayal of architectural +ignorance and mendacity, they are symptomatic of forces undermining +American life. + + These buildings, as they increase in number, make this city + poorer, morally and spiritually; they drag it down and down + into the mire. This is not American civilization; it is the + rottenness of Gomorrah. This is not Democracy--it is savagery. + It shows the glutton hunt for the Dollar with no thought for + aught else under the sun or over the earth. It is decadence of + the spirit in its most revolting form; it is rottenness of + the heart and corruption of the mind. So truly does this + architecture reflect the causes which have brought it into + being. Such structures are _profoundly anti-social_, and as + such, they must be reckoned with. These buildings are not + architecture, but outlawry, and their authors criminals in the + true sense of the word. And such is the architecture of lower + New York--hopeless, degraded, and putrid in its pessimistic + denial of our art, and of our growing civilization--its + cynical contempt for all those qualities that real humans + value. + +We have always been very glib about democracy; we have assumed that +this country was a democracy because we named it so. But now that +we are called upon to die for the idea, we find that we have never +realized it anywhere except perhaps in our secret hearts. In the life +of Abraham Lincoln, in the poetry of Walt Whitman, in the architecture +of Louis Sullivan, the spirit of democracy found utterance, and to +the extent that we ourselves partake of that spirit, it will find +utterance also in us. Mr. Sullivan is a "prophet of democracy" not +alone in his buildings but in his writings, and the prophetic note is +sounded even more clearly in his _What is Architecture? A Study in the +American People of Today_, than in _Kindergarten Chats_. + +This essay was first printed in _The American Contractor_ of January +6, 1906, and afterwards issued in brochure form. The author starts +by tracing architecture to its root in the human mind: this physical +thing is the manifestation of a psychological state. As a man thinks, +so he is; he acts according to his thought, and if that act takes the +form of a building it is an emanation of his inmost life, and reveals +it. + + Everything is there for us to read, to interpret; and this + we may do at our leisure. The building has not means of + locomotion, it cannot hide itself, it cannot get away. There + it is, and there it will stay--telling more truths about him + who made it, than he in his fatuity imagines; revealing his + mind and his heart exactly for what they are worth, not a whit + more, not a whit less; telling plainly the lies he thinks; + telling with almost cruel truthfulness his bad faith, his + feeble, wabbly mind, his impudence, his selfish egoism, his + mental irresponsibility, his apathy, his disdain for real + things--until at last the building says to us: "I am no more a + real building than the thing that made me is a real man!" + +Language like this stings and burns, but it is just such as is +needful to shame us out of our comfortable apathy, to arouse us to +new responsibilities, new opportunities. Mr. Sullivan, awake among +the sleepers, drenches us with bucketfuls of cold, tonic, energizing +truth. The poppy and mandragora of the past, of Europe, poisons us, +but in this, our hour of battle, we must not be permitted to dream on. +He saw, from far back, that "we, as a people, not only have betrayed +each other, but have failed in that trust which the world spirit of +democracy placed in our hands, as we, a new people, emerged to fill +a new and spacious land." It has taken a world war to make us see the +situation as he saw it, and it is to us, a militant nation, and not +to the slothful civilians a decade ago, that Mr. Sullivan's stirring +message seems to be addressed. + +The following quotation is his first crack of the whip at the +architectural schools. The problem of education is to him of all +things the most vital; in this essay he returns to it again and again, +while of _Kindergarten Chats_ it is the very _raison d'être_. + + I trust that a long disquisition is not necessary in order to + show that the attempt at imitation, by us, of this day, of the + by-gone forms of building, is a procedure unworthy of a free + people; and that the dictum of the schools, that Architecture + is finished and done, is a suggestion humiliating to every + active brain, and therefore, in fact, a puerility and a + falsehood when weighed in the scales of truly democratic + thought. Such dictum gives the lie in arrogant fashion, to + healthful human experience. It says, in a word: the American + people are not fit for democracy. + +He finds the schools saturated with superstitions which are the +survivals of the scholasticism of past centuries--feudal institutions, +in effect, inimical to his idea of the true spirit of democratic +education. This he conceives of as a searching-out, liberating, and +developing the splendid but obscured powers of the average man, and +particularly those of children. "It is disquieting to note," he says, +"that the system of education on which we lavish funds with such +generous, even prodigal, hand, falls short of fulfilling its true +democratic function; and that particularly in the so-called higher +branches its tendency appears daily more reactionary, more feudal. +It is not an agreeable reflection that so many of our university +graduates lack the trained ability to see clearly, and to think +clearly, concisely, constructively; that there is perhaps more showing +of cynicism than good faith, seemingly more distrust of men than +confidence in them, and, withal, no consummate ability to interpret +things." + +In contrast to the schoolman he sketches the psychology of the +active-minded but "uneducated" man, with sympathy and understanding, +the man who is courageously seeking a way with little to guide and +help him. + + Is it not the part of wisdom to cheer, to encourage such a + mind, rather than dishearten it with ridicule? To say to it: + Learn that the mind works best when allowed to work naturally; + learn to do what your problem suggests when you have reduced + it to its simplest terms; you will thus find that all + problems, however complex, take on a simplicity you had + not dreamed of; accept this simplicity boldly, and with + confidence, do not lose your nerve and run away from it, or + you are lost, for you are here at the point men so heedlessly + call genius--as though it were necessarily rare; for you are + here at the point no living brain can surpass in essence, + the point all truly great minds seek--the point of vital + simplicity--the point of view which so illuminates the mind + that the art of expression becomes spontaneous, powerful, and + unerring, and achievement a certainty. So, if you seek and + express the best that is in yourself, you must search out the + best that is in your people; for they are your problem, and + you are indissolubly a part of them. It is for you to affirm + that which they really wish to affirm, namely, the best that + is in them, and they as truly wish you to express the best + that is in yourself. If the people seem to have but little + faith it is because they have been tricked so long; they are + weary of dishonesty, more weary than they know, much more + weary than you know, and in their hearts they seek honest and + fearless men, men simple and clear in mind, loyal to their own + manhood and to the people. The American people are now in a + stupor; be on hand at the awakening. + +Next he pays his respects to current architectural criticism--a +straining at gnats and a swallowing of camels, by minds "benumbed +by culture," and hearts made faint by the tyranny of precedent. He +complains that they make no distinction between _was_ and _is_, +too readily assuming that all that is left us moderns is the humble +privilege to select, copy and adapt. + + The current mannerisms of Architectural criticism must often + seem trivial. For of what avail is it to say that this is too + small, that too large, this too thick, and that too thin, or + to quote this, that, or the other precedent, when the real + question may be: Is not the entire design a mean evasion? Why + magnify this, that, or the other little thing, if the entire + scheme of thinking that the building stands for is false, and + puts a mask upon the people, who want true buildings, but do + not know how to get them so long as Architects betray them + with Architectural phrases? + +And so he goes on with his Jeremiad: a prophet of despair, do you +say? No, he seeks to destroy only that falsity which would confine +the living spirit. Earlier and more clearly than we, he discerned the +menace to our civilization of the unrestricted play of the masculine +forces--powerful, ruthless, disintegrating--the head dominating the +heart. It has taken the surgery of war to open our eyes, and behold +the spectacle of the entire German nation which by an intellectual +process appears to have killed out compassion, enthroning +_Schrecklichkeit_. In the heart alone dwells hope of salvation. "For +he who knows even a genuinely little of Mankind knows this truth: the +heart is greater than the head. For in the heart is Desire; and from +it come forth Courage and Magnanimity." + + You have not thought deeply enough to know that the heart in + you is the woman in man. You have derided your femininity, + where you have suspected it; whereas, you should have known + its power, cherished and utilized it, for it is the hidden + well-spring of Intuition and Imagination. What can the brain + accomplish without these two? They are the man's two inner + eyes; without them he is stone blind. For the mind sets forth + their powers both together. One carries the light, the other + searches; and between them they find treasures. These they + bring to the brain, which first elaborates them, then says to + the will, "Do"--and Action follows. Poetically considered, + as far as the huge, disordered resultant mass of your + Architecture is concerned, Intuition and Imagination have not + gone forth to illuminate and search the hearts of the people. + Thus are its works stone blind. + +It is the absence of poetry and beauty which makes our architecture +so depressing to the spirits. "Poetry as a living thing," says Mr. +Sullivan, "stands for the most telling quality that a man can impart +to his thoughts. Judged by this test your buildings are dreary, empty +places." Artists in words, like Lafcadio Hearn and Henry James, are +able to make articulate the sadness which our cities inspire, but +it is a blight which lies heavy on us all. Theodore Dreiser says, in +_Sister Carrie_--a book with so much bitter truth in it that it was +suppressed by the original publishers: + + Once the bright days of summer pass by, a city takes on the + sombre garb of grey, wrapped in which it goes about its labors + during the long winter. Its endless buildings look grey, + its sky and its streets assume a sombre hue; the scattered, + leafless trees and wind-blown dust and paper but add to the + general solemnity of color. There seems to be something in + the chill breezes which scurry through the long, narrow + thoroughfares productive of rueful thoughts. Not poets alone, + nor artists, nor that superior order of mind which arrogates + to itself all refinement, feel this, but dogs and all men. + +The excuse that we are too young a people to have developed an +architecture instinct with that natural poetry which so charms us in +the art of other countries and other times, Mr. Sullivan disposes +of in characteristic fashion. To the plea that "We are too young to +consider these accomplishments. We have been so busy with our material +development that we have not found time to consider them," he makes +answer as follows: + + Know, then, to begin with, they are not accomplishments but + necessaries. And, to end with, you are old enough, and + have found the time to succeed in nearly making a fine art + of--Betrayal, and a science of--Graft. Know that you are + as old as the race. That each man among you had in him the + accumulated power of the race, ready at hand for use, in the + right way, when he shall conclude it better to think straight + and hence act straight rather than, as now, to act crooked + and pretend to be straight. Know that the test, plain, simple + _honesty_ (and you all know, every man of you knows, exactly + what that means) is always at your hand. + + Know that as all complex manifestations have a simple basis + of origin, so the vast complexity of your national unrest, ill + health, inability to think clearly and accurately concerning + simple things, really vital things, is easily traceable to the + single, actual, active cause--Dishonesty; and that this points + with unescapable logic and in just measure to each individual + man! + + The remedy;--_individual honesty_. + +To the objection that this is too simple a solution, Mr. Sullivan +retorts that all great solutions are simple, that the basic things of +the universe are those which the heart of a child might comprehend. +"Honesty stands in the universe of Human Thought and Action, as its +very Centre of Gravity, and is our human mask-word behind which abides +all the power of Nature's Integrity, the profoundest _fact_ which +modern thinking has persuaded Life to reveal." + +If, on the other hand, the reader complains, "All this is above our +heads," Mr. Sullivan is equally ready with an answer: + + No, it is not. _It is close beside your hand!_ and therein + lies its power. + + Again you say, "How can honesty be enforced?" + + It cannot be enforced! + + "Then how will the remedy go into effect?" + + It cannot _go_ into effect. It can only come into effect. + + "Then how can it come?" + + Ask Nature. + + "And what will Nature say?" + + Nature is always saying: "I centre at each man, woman and + child. I knock at the door of each heart, and I wait. I wait + in patience--ready to enter with my gifts." + + "And is that all that Nature says?" + + That is all. + + "Then how shall we receive Nature?" + + By opening wide your minds! For your greatest crime against + yourselves is that you have locked the door and thrown away + the key! + + +Thus, by a long detour, Mr. Sullivan returns to his initial +proposition, that the falsity of our architecture can be corrected +only by integrity of thought. "Thought is the fine and powerful +instrument. Therefore, _have thought for the integrity of your own +thought_." + + Naturally, then, as your thoughts thus change, your growing + architecture will change. Its falsity will depart; its reality + will gradually appear. For the integrity of your thought as + a People, will then have penetrated the minds of your + architects. + + Then, too, _as your basic thought changes, will emerge a + philosophy, a poetry, and an art of expression in all things; + for you will have learned that a characteristic philosophy, + poetry and art of expression are vital to the healthful growth + and development of a democratic people_. + +Some readers may complain that these are after all only glittering +generalities, of no practical use in solving the specific problems +with which every architect is confronted. On the contrary they are +fundamental verities of incalculable benefit to every sincere artist. +Shallowness is the great vice of democracy; it is surface without +depth, a welter of concrete detail in which the mind easily loses +those great, underlying abstractions from which alone great art can +spring. These, in this essay, Mr. Sullivan helps us to recapture, and +inspires us to employ. He would win us from our insincerities, our +trivialities, and awaken our enormous latent, unused power. He says: + + Awaken it. + + Use it. + + Use it for the common good. + + Begin now! + + For it is as true today as when one of your wise men said + it:-- + + "The way to resume is to resume!" + + + + +COLOR AND CERAMICS + + +The production of ceramics--perhaps the oldest of all the useful +arts practised by man; an art with a magnificent history--seems to be +entering upon a new era of development. It is more alive today, more +generally, more skilfully, though not more _artfully_ practised than +ever before. It should therefore be of interest to all lovers of +architecture, in view of the increasing importance of ceramics in +building, to consider the ways in which these materials may best be +used. + +Looking at the matter in the broadest possible way, it may be said +that the building impulse throughout the ages has expressed itself +in two fundamentally different types of structure: that in which the +architecture--and even the ornament--is one with the engineering; and +that in which the two elements are separable, not in thought alone, +but in fact. For brevity let us name that manner of building in which +the architecture is the construction, _Inherent_ architecture, and +that manner in which the two are separable _Incrusted_ architecture. + +To the first class belong the architectures of Egypt, Greece, and +Gothic architecture as practised in the north of Europe; to the +second belong Roman architecture of the splendid period, Moorish +architecture, and Italian Gothic, so called. In the first class the +bones of the building were also its flesh; in the second bones and +flesh were in a manner separable, as is proven by the fact that they +were separately considered, separately fashioned. Ruined Karnak, the +ruined Parthenon, wrecked Rheims, show ornament so integral a part +of the fabric--etched so deep--that what has survived of the one has +survived also of the other; while the ruined Baths of Caracalla the +uncompleted church of S. Petronio in Bologna, and many a stark mosque +on many a sandy desert show only bare skeletons of whose completed +glory we can only guess. In them the fabric was a framework for the +display of the lapidary or the ceramic art--a garment destroyed, rent, +or tattered by time and chance, leaving the bones still strong, but +bare. + +This classification of architecture into Inherent and Incrusted is not +to be confused with the discrimination between architecture that is +_Arranged_, and architecture that is _Organic_, a classification which +is based on psychology--like the difference between the business man +and the poet: talent and genius--whereas the classification which +the reader is asked now to consider is based rather on the matter +of expediency in the use of materials. Let us draw no invidious +comparisons between Inherent and Incrusted architecture, but regard +each as the adequate expression of an ideal type of beauty; the one +masculine, since in the male figure the osseous framework is more +easily discernible; the other feminine, because more concealed and +overlaid with a cellular tissue of shining, precious materials, on +which the disruptive forces in man and nature are more free to act. + +It is scarcely necessary to state that it is with Incrusted +architecture that we are alone concerned in this discussion, for to +this class almost all modern buildings perforce belong. This is by +reason of a necessity dictated by the materials that we employ, and by +our methods of construction. All modern buildings follow practically +one method of construction: a bony framework of steel--or of concrete +reinforced by steel--filled in and subdivided by concrete, brick, +hollow fire-clay, or some of its substitutes. To a construction of +this kind some sort of an outer encasement is not only æsthetically +desirable, but practically necessary. It usually takes the form of +stone, face-brick, terra-cotta, tile, stucco, or some combination of +two or more of these materials. Of the two types of architecture the +Incrusted type is therefore imposed by structural necessity. + +The enormous importance of ceramics in its relation to architecture +thus becomes apparent. They minister to an architectural need instead +of gratifying an architectural whim. Ours is a period of Incrusted +architecture--one which demands the encasement, rather than the +exposure of structure, and therefore logically admits of the +enrichment of surfaces by means of "veneers" of materials more +precious and beautiful than those employed in the structure, which +becomes, as it were, the canvas of the picture, and not the picture +itself. For these purposes there are no materials more apt, more +adaptable, more enduring, richer in potentialities of beauty than the +products of ceramic art. They are easily and inexpensively produced of +any desired shape, color, texture; their hard, dense surface resists +the action of the elements, is not easily soiled, and is readily +cleaned; being fashioned by fire they are fire resistant. + +So much then for the practical demands, in modern architecture, met by +the products of ceramic art. The æsthetic demand is not less admirably +met--or rather _might_ be. + +When, in the sixteenth century, the Renaissance spread from south +to north, color was practically eliminated from architecture. The +Egyptians had had it, hot and bright as the sun on the desert; we +know that the Greeks made their Parian marble glow in rainbow tints; +Moorish architecture was nothing if not colorful, and the Venice +Ruskin loved was fairly iridescent--a thing of fire-opal and pearl. +In Italian Renaissance architecture up to its latest phase, the color +element was always present; but it was snuffed out under the leaden +colored northern skies. Paris is grey, London is brown, New York is +white, and Chicago the color of cinders. We have only to compare them +to yellow Rome, red Siena, and pearl-tinted Venice, to realize how +much we have lost in the elimination of color from architecture. +We are coming to realize it. Color played an important part in the +Pan-American Exposition, and again in the San Francisco Exposition, +where, wedded to light, it became the dominant note of the whole +architectural concert. Now these great expositions in which the +architects and artists are given a free hand, are in the nature of +preliminary studies in which these functionaries sketch in transitory +form the things they desire to do in more permanent form. They are +forecasts of the future, a future which in certain quarters is +already beginning to realize itself. It is therefore probable that +architectural art will become increasingly colorful. + +The author remembers the day and the hour when this became his +personal conviction--his personal desire. It happened years ago in +the Albright Gallery in Buffalo--a building then newly completed, of a +severely classic type. In the central hall was a single doorway, +whose white marble architrave had been stained with different colored +pigments by Francis Bacon; after the manner of the Greeks. The effect +was so charming, and made the rest of the place seem by contrast so +cold and dun, that the author came then and there to the conclusion +that architecture without polychromy was architecture incomplete. Mr. +Bacon spent three years in Asia Minor, and elsewhere, studying +the remains of Greek architecture, and he found and brought home a +fragment of an antefix from the temple of Assos, in which the applied +color was still pure and strong. The Greeks were a joyous people. When +joy comes back into life, color will come back into architecture. + +Ceramic products are ideal as a means to this end. The Greeks +themselves recognized their value for they used them widely and +wisely: it has been discovered that they even attached bands of +colored terra-cotta to the marble mouldings of their temples. How +different must have been such a temple's real appearance from +that imagined by the Classical Revivalists, whose tradition of the +inviolable cold Parian purity of Greek architecture has persisted, +even against archæological evidence to the contrary, up to the present +day. + +In one way we have an advantage over the Greek, if we only had the wit +to profit by it. His palette, like his musical scale, was more limited +than ours. Nearly the whole gamut of the spectrum is now available to +the architect who wishes to employ ceramics. The colors do not +change or fade, and possess a beautiful quality. Our craftsmen and +manufacturers of face-brick, terra-cotta, and colored tile, after much +costly experimentation, have succeeded in producing ceramics of a +high order of excellence and intrinsic beauty; they can do practically +anything demanded of them; but from that quarter where they +should reap the greatest commercial advantage--the field of +architecture--there is all too little demand. The architect who should +lead, teach and dictate in this field, is often through ignorance +obliged to learn and follow instead. This has led to an ignominious +situation--ignominious, that is, to the architect. He has come +to require of the manufacturer--when he requires anything at +all--assistance in the very matter in which he should assist: the +determination of color design. It is no wonder that the results are +often bad, and therefore discouraging. The manufacturers of ceramics +welcome co-operation and assistance on the part of the architect with +an eagerness which is almost pathetic, on those rare occasions when +assistance is offered. + +But the architect is not really to blame: the reason for his failure +lies deep in his general predicament of having to know a little of +everything, and do a great deal more than he can possibly do well. To +cope with this, if his practice warrants the expenditure, he surrounds +himself with specialists in various fields, and assigns various +departments of his work to them. He cannot be expected to have on +his staff a specialist in ceramics, nor can he, with all his manifold +activities, be expected to become such a specialist himself. As a +result, he is usually content to let color problems alone, for they +are just another complication of his already too complicated life; +or he refers them to some one whom he thinks ought to know--a +manufacturer's designer--and approves almost anything submitted. Of +course the ideal architect would have time for every problem, and +solve it supremely well; but the real architect is all too human: +there are depressions on his cranium where bumps ought to be; +moreover, he wants a little time left to energize in other +directions than in the practice of his craft. One of the functions +of architecture is to reveal the inherent qualities and beauties of +different materials, by their appropriate use and tasteful display. +An onyx staircase on the one hand, and a portland cement high altar +on the other, alike violate this function of architecture; they +transgress that beautiful necessity which decrees that precious +materials should serve precious uses and common materials should +serve utilitarian ends. Now color is a precious thing, and its highest +beauties can be brought out only by contrast with broad neutral tinted +spaces. The interior walls of a mediaeval cathedral never competed +with its windows, and by the same token, a riot of polychromy all +over the side of a building is not as effective, even from a chromatic +point of view, as though it were confined, say, to an entrance and a +frieze. Gilbert's witty phrase is applicable here: + + "Where everybody's somebody, nobody's anybody." + +Let us build our walls, then, of stone, or brick, or stucco,--for +their flat surfaces and neutral tints conduce to that repose so +essential to good architectural effect: but let us not rest content +with this, but grant to the eye the delight and contentment which it +craves, by color and pattern placed at those points to which it is +desirable to attract attention, for they serve the same æsthetic +purpose as a tiara on the brow of beauty, or a ring on a delicate +white hand. But just as jewelry is best when it is most individual, +so the ornament of a building should be in keeping with its general +character and complexion. A color scheme should not be chosen at +random, but dictated by the prevailing tone and texture of the wall +surfaces, with which it should harmonize as inevitably as the blossom +of a bush with its prevailing tone of stems and foliage. In a building +this prevailing tone will inevitably be either cold or warm, and the +color scheme just as inevitably should be either cold or warm; that +is, there should be a preponderance of cold colors over warm, or vice +versa. Otherwise the eye will suffer just that order of uneasiness +which comes from the contemplation of two equal masses, whereas it +experiences satisfaction in proportionate unequals. + +Nothing will take the place of an instinctive colour-sense, but even +that needs the training of experience, if the field be new, and a few +general principles of all but universal application will not be amiss. + +First of all it should be remembered that the intensity of color +should be carefully adjusted to its area. It is dangerous to try to +use high, pure colors, unrelieved and uncontrasted, in large masses, +but the brightest, strongest colors may be used with safety in units +of sufficiently restricted size. For harmony, as well as for richness, +the law of complementaries, in its most general application, is +the safest of all guides, but it must be followed with fine +discrimination. Complementary colors are like married pairs, if they +find the right adjustment with one another they are happy--that is, +there is an effect of beauty--but lacking such adjustment they are +worse off together than apart. Every artist who experiments in color +soon finds out for himself that instead of using two colors directly +complementary, it is better to "split" one of them, that is, use +instead of one of them two others, which combined will yield the +color in question. For example, the color complementary to red is +green-blue. Now green-blue is equidistant between yellow-green and +blue-violet, so if for red and blue-green; red, yellow-green and +blue-violet be substituted the combination loses its obviousness and +a certain harshness without losing anything of its brilliance, or +without departing from the optical law involved. Such a combination +corresponds to a diminished triad in music. + +Another important consideration with regard to color as employed by +the architect dwells in those optical changes effected by distance and +position: the relative visibility of different colors and combinations +of colors as the spectator recedes from them, and the environmental +changes which colors undergo--in bright sunlight, in shadow, against +the sky, and with relation to backgrounds of different sorts. + +The effect of distance is to make colors merge into one another, to +lower the values, but not all equally. Yellow loses itself first, +tending toward white. The effect of distance, in general, is to +disintegrate and decompose, thus giving "vibration" as it is called. A +knowledge of these and kindred facts will save the architect from many +disappointments and enable him to obtain wonderful chromatic effects +by simple means. + +Many architects unused to color problems design their ornament with +very little thought about the colors which they propose to employ, +making it an after-consideration; but the two things should be +considered synchronously for the best final effect. There is a cryptic +saying that "color is at right angles to form," that is, color is +capable of making surfaces advance toward or recede from the eye, just +as modelling does; and for this reason, if color is used, a great deal +of modelling may be dispensed with. If a receding color is used on a +recessed plane, it deepens that plane unduly; while on the other hand +if a color which refuses to recede--like yellow for example--is used +where depth is wanted, the receding plane and the approaching color +neutralize one another, resulting in an effect of flatness not +intended. The tyro should not complicate his problem by combining +color with high relief modelling, bringing inevitably in the element +of light and shade. He should leave that for older hands and concern +himself rather with flat or nearly flat surfaces, using his modelling +much as the worker in cloisonné uses his little rims of brass--to +confine and define each color within its own allotted area. Then, +as he gains experience, he may gradually enrich his pattern by the +addition of the element of light and shade, should he so decide. + +Now as to certain general considerations in relation to the +appropriate and logical use of ceramics in the construction and +adornment of buildings, exterior and interior. In our northern +latitudes care should be taken that ceramics are not used in places +and in ways where the accumulation of snow and ice render the joints +subject to alternate freezing and thawing, for in such case, unless +the joints are protected with metal, the units will work loose in +time. On vertical surfaces such protection is not necessary; the use +of ceramics should therefore be confined for the most part to such +surfaces: for friezes, panels, door and window architraves, and the +like. When it is desirable for æsthetic reasons to tie a series of +windows together vertically by means of some "fill" of a material +different from that of the body of the wall, ceramics lend themselves +admirably to the purpose--better than wood, which rots; than iron, +which rusts; than bronze, which turns black; and than marble, which +soon loses its color and texture in exposed situations of this sort. + +On the interior of buildings, the most universal use of ceramics is, +of course, for floors, and with the non-slip devices of various sorts +which have come into the market, they are no less good for stairs. +There is nothing better for wainscoting, and in fact for any surface +whatsoever subject to soil and wear. These materials combine permanent +protection and permanent decoration. But fired by the zeal of the +convert the use of ceramics may be overdone. One easily recalls +entire rooms of this material, floors, walls, ceilings, which are less +successful than as though a variety of materials had been employed. It +is just such variety--each material treated in a characteristic, and +therefore different way--that gives charm to so many foreign churches +and cathedrals: walls of stone, floors of marble, choir-stalls of +carved wood, and rood-screen of metal: it is the difference between +an orchestra of various instruments and a mandolin orchestra or a +saxaphone sextette. Ceramics should never invade the domain of the +plasterer, the mural painter, the cabinet maker. Do not let us, in +our zeal for ceramics, be like Bottom the weaver, eager to play every +part. + +Ceramics have, as regards architecture, a distinct and honorable +function. This function should be recognized, taken advantage of, but +never overpassed. They offer opportunities large but not limitless. +They constitute one instrument of the orchestra of which the architect +is the conductor, an instrument beautiful in the hands of a master, +and doubly beautiful in concert and contrast with those other +materials whose harmonious ensemble makes that music in three +dimensions: architectural art. + + + + +SYMBOLS AND SACRAMENTS + + +Architecture is the concrete presentment in space of the soul of a +people. If that soul be petty and sordid--"stirred like a child +by little things"--no great architecture is possible because great +architecture can image only greatness. Before any worthy architecture +can arise in the modern world the soul must be aroused. The cannons +of Europe are bringing about this awakening. The world--the world of +thought and emotion from whence flow acts and events--is no longer +decrepit, but like Swedenborg's angels it is advancing toward the +springtide of its youth: down the ringing grooves of change "we sweep +into the younger day." + +After the war we are likely to witness an art evolution which will +not be restricted to statues and pictures and insincere essays in +dry-as-dust architectural styles, but one which will permeate the +whole social fabric, and make it palpitate with the rhythm of a +younger, a more abundant life. Beauty and mystery will again make +their dwelling among men; the Voiceless will speak in music, and the +Formless will spin rhythmic patterns on the loom of space. We shall +seek and find a new language of symbols to express the joy of the +soul, freed from the thrall of an iron age of materialism, and +fronting the unimaginable splendors of the spiritual life. + +[Illustration: PLATE XV. SYMBOL OF RESURRECTION] + +For every æsthetic awakening is the result of a spiritual awakening +of some sort. Every great religious movement found an art expression +eloquent of it. When religion languished, such things as Versailles +and the Paris Opera House were possible, but not such things as the +Parthenon, or Notre Dame. The temples of Egypt were built for the +celebration of the rites of the religion of Egypt; so also in the +case of Greece. Roman architecture was more widely secular, but Rome's +noblest monument, the Pantheon, was a religious edifice. The Moors, +inflamed with religious ardor, swept across Europe, blazing their +trail with mosques and palaces conceived seemingly in some ecstatic +state of dream. The Renaissance, tainted though it was by worldliness, +found still its inspiration in sacred themes, and recorded +its beginning and its end in two mighty religious monuments: +Brunelleschi's and Michael Angelo's domical churches, "wrought in a +sad sincerity" by deeply religious men. Gothic art is a synonym for +mediaeval Christianity; while in the Orient art is scarcely secular at +all, but a symbolical language framed and employed for the expression +of spiritual ideas. + +This law, that spirituality and not materialism distils the precious +attar of great art, is permanently true and perennially applicable, +for laws of this order do not change from age to age, however various +their manifestation. The inference is plain: until we become a +religious people great architecture is far from us. We are becoming +religious in that broad sense in which churches and creeds, forms +and ceremonies, play little part. Ours is the search of the heart +for something greater than itself which is still itself; it is the +religion of brotherhood, whose creed is love, whose ritual is service. + +This transformed and transforming religion of the West, the tardy +fruit of the teachings of Christ, now secretly active in the hearts +of men, will receive enrichment from many sources. Science will reveal +the manner in which the spirit weaves its seven-fold veil of illusion; +nature, freshly sensed, will yield new symbols which art will organize +into a language; out of the experience of the soul will grow new +rituals and observances. But one precious tincture of this new +religion our civilization and our past cannot supply; it is the +heritage of Asia, cherished in her brooding bosom for uncounted +centuries, until, by the operation of the law of cycles, the time +should come for the giving of it to the West. + +This secret is Yoga, the method of self-development whereby the seeker +for union is enabled to perceive the shining of the Inward Light. This +is achieved by daily discipline in stilling the mind and directing the +consciousness inward instead of outward. The Self is within, and +the mind, which is normally centrifugal, must first be arrested, +controlled, and then turned back upon itself, and held with perfect +steadiness. All this is naively expressed in the Upanishads in the +passage, "The Self-existent pierced the openings of the senses so that +they turn forward, not backward into himself. Some wise man, however, +with eyes closed and wishing for immortality, saw the Self behind." +This stilling of the mind, its subjugation and control whereby it may +be concentrated on anything at will, is particularly hard for persons +of our race and training, a race the natural direction of whose +consciousness is strongly outward, a training in which the practice of +introspective meditation finds no place. + +Yoga--that "union" which brings inward vision, the contribution of the +East to the spiritual life of the West--will bring profound changes +into the art of the West, since art springs from consciousness. The +consciousness of the West now concerns itself with the visible world +almost exclusively, and Western art is therefore characterized by an +almost slavish fidelity to the ephemeral appearances of things--the +record of particular moods and moments. The consciousness of the East +on the other hand, is subjective, introspective. Its art accordingly +concerns itself with eternal aspects, with a world of archetypal +ideas in which things exist not for their own sake, but as symbols of +supernal things. The Oriental artist avoids as far as possible trivial +and individual rhythms, seeking always the fundamental rhythm of the +larger, deeper life. + +Now this quality so earnestly sought and so highly prized in Oriental +art, is the very thing which our art and our architecture most +conspicuously lack. To the eye sensitive to rhythm, our essays in +these fields appear awkward and unconvincing, lacking a certain +_inevitability_. We must restore to art that first great canon of +Chinese æsthetics, "_Rhythmic vitality,_ or the life movement of the +spirit through the rhythm of things." It cannot be interjected from +the outside, but must be inwardly realized by the "stilling" of the +mind above described. + +Art cannot dispense with symbolism; as the letters on this page convey +thoughts to the mind, so do the things of this world, organized into +a language of symbols, speak to the soul through art. But in the +building of our towers of Babel, again mankind is stricken with a +confusion of tongues. Art has no _common language;_ its symbols are +no longer valid, or are no longer understood. This is a condition for +which materialism has no remedy, for the reason that materialism sees +always the pattern but never that which the pattern represents. We +must become _spiritually illumined_ before we can read nature truly, +and re-create, from such a reading, fresh and universal symbols for +art. This is a task beyond the power of our sad generation, enchained +by negative thinking, overshadowed by war, but we can at least glimpse +the nature of the reaction between the mystic consciousness and the +things of this world which will produce a new language of symbols. The +mystic consciousness looks upon nature as an arras embroidered over +with symbols of the things it conceals from view. We are ourselves +symbols, dwelling in a world of symbols--a world many times removed +from that ultimate reality to which all things bear figurative +witness; the commonest thing has yet some mystic meaning, and ugliness +and vulgarity exist only in the unillumined mind. + +What mystic meaning, it may be asked, is contained in such things as +a brick, a house, a hat, a pair of shoes? A brick is the ultimate +atom of a building; a house is the larger body which man makes for his +uses, just as the Self has built its habitation of flesh and bones; +hat and shoes are felt and leather insulators with which we seek to +cut ourselves off from the currents which flow through earth and air +from God. It may be objected that these answers only substitute +for the lesser symbol a greater, but this is inevitable: if for the +greater symbol were named one still more abstract and inclusive, the +ultimate verity would be as far from affirmation as before. There is +nothing of which the human mind can conceive that is not a symbol of +something greater and higher than itself. + +The dictionary defines a symbol as "something that stands for +something else and serves to represent it, or to bring to mind one or +more of its qualities." Now this world is a _reflection_ of a higher +world, and that of a higher world still, and so on. Accordingly, +everything is a symbol of something higher, since by reflecting, it +"stands for, and serves to represent it," and the thing symbolized, +being itself a reflection, is, by the same token, itself a symbol. +By reiterated repetitions of this reflecting process throughout the +numberless planes and sub-planes of nature, each thing becomes a +symbol, not of one thing only, but of many things, all intimately +correlated, and this gives rise to those underlying analogies, those +"secret subterranean passages between matter and soul" which have ever +been the especial preoccupation of the poet and the mystic, but which +may one day become the subject of serious examination by scientific +men. + +Let us briefly pass in review the various terms of such an ascending +series of symbols: members of one family, they might be called, since +they follow a single line of descent. + +Take gold: as a thing in itself, without any symbolical significance, +it is a metallic element, having a characteristic yellow color, very +heavy, very soft, the most ductile, malleable, and indestructible of +metals. In its minted form it is the life force of the body economic, +since on its abundance and free circulation the well-being of that +body depends; it is that for which all men strive and contend, because +without it they cannot comfortably live. This, then, is gold in its +first and lowest symbolical aspect: a life principle, a motive force +in human affairs. But it is not gold which has gained for man his +lordship over nature; it is fire, the yellow gold, not of the earth, +but of the air,--cities and civilizations, arts and industries, have +ever followed the camp fire of the pioneer. Sunlight comes next in +sequence--sunlight, which focussed in a burning glass, spontaneously +produces flame. The world subsists on sunlight; all animate creation +grows by it, and languishes without it, as the prosperity of cities +waxes or wanes with the presence or absence of a supply of gold. The +magnetic force of the sun, specialized as _prana_ (which is not the +breath which goes up and the breath which goes down, but that other, +in which the two repose), fulfils the same function in the human body +as does gold in civilization, sunlight in nature: its abundance makes +for health, its meagreness for enervation. Higher than _prana_ is the +mind, that golden sceptre of man's dominion, the Promethean gift of +fire with which he menaces the empire of the gods. Higher still, in +the soul, love is the motive force, the conqueror: a "heart of gold" +is one warmed and lighted by love. Still other is the desire of the +spirit, which no human affection satisfies, but truth only, the Golden +Person, the Light of the World, the very Godhead itself. Thus there is +earthy, airy, etheric gold; gold as intellect, gold as love, gold as +truth; from the curse of the world, the cause of a thousand crimes, +there ascends a Jacob's Ladder of symbols to divinity itself, whereby +men may learn that God works by sacrifice: that His universe is itself +His broken body. As gold in the purse, fire on the forge, sunlight +for the eyes, breath in the body, knowledge in the mind, love in the +heart, and wisdom in the understanding, He draws all men unto Him, +teaching them the wise use of wealth, the mastery over nature, the +care of the body, the cultivation of the mind, the love of wife and +child and neighbour, and, last lesson of all, He teaches them that in +industry, in science, in art, in sympathy and understanding, He it is +they are all the while knowing, loving, becoming; and that even when +they flee Him, His are the wings-- + + "When me they fly, I am the wings." + +This attempt to define gold as a symbol ends with the indication of an +ubiquitous and immanent divinity in everything. Thus it is always: in +attempting to dislodge a single voussoir from the arch of truth, the +temple itself is shaken, so cunningly are the stones fitted together. +All roads lead to Rome, and every symbol is a key to the Great +Mystery: for example, read in the light of these correspondences, the +alchemist's transmutation of base metals into gold, is seen to be the +sublimation of man's lower nature into "that highest golden sheath, +which is Brahman." + +Keeping the first sequence clearly in mind, let us now attempt to +trace another, parallel to it: the feminine of which the first may +be considered the corresponding masculine. Silver is a white, ductile +metallic element. In coinage it is the synonym for ready cash,--gold +in the bank is silver in the pocket; hence, in a sense, silver is +the _reflection_, or the second power of gold. Just as ruddy gold is +correlated with fire, so is pale silver with water; and as fire is +affiliated with the sun, so do the waters of the earth follow the +moon in her courses. The golden sun, the silver moon: these commonly +employed descriptive adjectives themselves supply the correlation we +are seeking; another indication of its validity lies in the fact that +one of the characteristics of water is its power of reflecting; that +moonlight is reflected sunlight. If gold is the mind, silver is the +body, in which the mind is imaged, objectified; if gold is flamelike +love, silver is brooding affection; and in the highest regions of +consciousness, beauty is the feminine or form side of truth--its +silver mirror. + +There are two forces in the world, one of projection, the other +of recall; two states, activity and rest. Nature, with tireless +ingenuity, everywhere publishes this fact: in bursting bud and falling +seed, in the updrawn waters and the descending rain; throw a stone +into the air, and when the impulse is exhausted, gravity brings it to +earth again. In civilized society these centrifugal and centripetal +forces find expression in the anarchic and radical spirit which breaks +down and re-forms existing institutions, and in the conservative +spirit which preserves and upbuilds by gradual accretion; they are +analogous to igneous and to aqueous action in the formation and +upbuilding of the earth itself, and find their prototype again in man +and woman: man, the warrior, who prevails by the active exercise +of his powers, and woman, "the treasury of the continued race," +who conquers by continual quietness. Man and woman symbolize forces +centrifugal and centripetal not alone in their inner nature, and +in the social and economic functions peculiar to each, but in their +physical aspects and peculiarities as well, for man is small of flank +and broad of shoulder, with relatively large extremities, _i.e., +centrifugal_: while woman is formed with broad hips, narrow shoulders, +and small feet and hands, _i.e., centripetal_. Woman's instinctive +and unconscious gestures are _towards_ herself, man's are _away from_ +himself. The physiologist might hold that the anatomical differences +between the sexes result from their difference in function in the +reproduction and conservation of the race, and this is a true view, +but the lesser truth need not necessarily exclude the greater. As +Chesterton says, "Something in the evil spirit of our time forces +people always to pretend to have found some material and mechanical +explanation." Such would have us believe, with Schopenhauer and +Bernard Shaw, that the lover's delight in the beauty of his mistress +dwells solely in his instinctive perception of her fitness to be the +mother of his child. This is undoubtedly a factor in the glamour +woman casts on man, but there are other factors too, higher as well as +lower, corresponding to different departments of our manifold nature. +First of all, there is mere physical attraction: to the man physical, +woman is a cup of delight; next, there is emotional love, whereby +woman appeals through her need of protection, her power of tenderness; +on the mental plane she is man's intellectual companion, his masculine +reason would supplement itself with her feminine intuition; he +recognizes in her an objectification, in some sort, of his own soul, +his spirit's bride, predestined throughout the ages; while the god +within him perceives her to be that portion of himself which he put +forth before the world was, to be the mother, not alone of human +children, but of all those myriad forms, within which entering, "as in +a sheath, a knife," he becomes the Enjoyer, and realizes, vividly and +concretely, his bliss, his wisdom, and his power. + +Adam and Eve, and the tree in the midst of the garden! After man and +woman, a tree is perhaps the most significant symbol in the +world: every tree is the Tree of Life in the sense that it is a +representation of universal becoming. To say that all things have for +their mother _prakriti_, undifferentiated substance, and for their +father _purusha_, the creative fire, is vague and metaphysical, and +conveys little meaning to our image-bred, image-fed minds; on the +physical plane we can only learn these transcendental truths by means +of symbols, and so to each of us is given a human father and a human +mother from whose relation to one another and to oneself may be +learned our relation to nature, the universal mother, and to that +immortal spirit which is the father of us all. We are given, moreover, +the symbol of the tree, which, rooted in the earth, its mother, and +nourished by her juices, strives ever upward towards its father, the +sun. The mathematician may be able to demonstrate, as a result of a +lifetime of hard thinking, that unity and infinity are but two aspects +of one thing; this is not clear to ordinary minds, but made concrete +in the tree--unity in the trunk, infinity in the foliage--any one +is able to understand it. We perceive that all things grow as a tree +grows, from unity to multiplicity, from simplicity and strength to +beauty and fineness. The generation of the line from the point, the +plane from the line, and from the plane, the solid, is a matter, +again, which chiefly interests the geometrician, but the inevitable +sequence stands revealed in seed, stem, leaf, and fruit: a point, a +line, a surface, and a sphere. There is another order of truths, also, +which a tree teaches: the renewal of its life each year is a symbol +of the reincarnation of the soul, teaching that life is never-ending +climax, and that what appears to be cessation is merely a change +of state. A tree grows great by being firmly rooted; we too, though +children of the air, need the earth, and grow by good deeds, hidden, +like the roots of the tree, out of sight; for the tree, rain and +sunshine: for the soul, tears and laughter thrill the imprisoned +spirit into conscious life. + +We love and understand the trees because we have ourselves passed +through their evolution, and they survive in us still, for the +arterial and nervous systems are trees, the roots of one in the heart, +of the other in the brain. Has not our body its trunk, bearing aloft +the head, like a flower: a cup to hold the precious juices of the +brain? Has not that trunk its tapering limbs which ramify into hands +and feet, and these into fingers and toes, after the manner of the +twigs and branches of a tree? + +Closely related to symbolism is sacramentalism; the man who sees +nature as a book of symbols is likely to regard life as a sacrament. +Because this is a point of view vitalizing to art let us glance at +the sacramental life, divorced from the forms and observances of any +specific religion. + +This life consists in the habitual perception of an ulterior meaning, +a hidden beauty and significance in the objects, acts, and events +of every day. Though binding us to a sensuous existence, these +nevertheless contain within themselves the power of emancipating us +from it: over and above their immediate use, their pleasure or their +profit, they have a hidden meaning which contains some healing message +for the soul. + +A classic example of a sacrament, not alone in the ordinary meaning +of the term, but in the special sense above defined, is the Holy +Communion of the Christian Church. Its origin is a matter of common +knowledge. On the evening of the night in which He was betrayed, +Jesus and His disciples were gathered together for the feast of the +Passover. Aware of His impending betrayal, and desirous of impressing +powerfully upon His chosen followers the nature and purpose of His +sacrifice, Jesus ordained a sacrament out of the simple materials of +the repast. He took bread and broke it, and gave to each a piece as +the symbol of His broken body; and to each He passed a cup of wine, +as a symbol of His poured-out blood. In this act, as in the washing of +the disciples' feet on the same occasion, He made His ministrations to +the needs of men's bodies an allegory of His greater ministration to +the needs of their souls. + +The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is of such beauty and power that it +has persisted even to the present day. It lacks, however, the element +of universality--at least by other than Christians its universality +would be denied. Let us seek, therefore some all-embracing symbol to +illustrate the sacramental view of life. + +Perhaps marriage is such a symbol. The public avowal of love between +a man and woman, their mutual assumption of the attendant privileges, +duties and responsibilities are matters so pregnant with consequences +to them and to the race that by all right-thinking people marriage is +regarded as a high and holy thing; its sacramental character is felt +and acknowledged even by those who would be puzzled to tell the reason +why. + +The reason is involved in the answer to the question, "Of what is +marriage a symbol?" The most obvious answer, and doubtless the best +one, is found in the well known and much abused doctrine, common to +every religion, of the spiritual marriage between God and the soul. +What Christians call _the Mystic Way,_ and Buddhists _the Path_ +comprises those changes in consciousness through which every soul +passes on its way to perfection. When the personal life is conceived +of as an allegory of this inner, intense, super-mundane life, it +assumes a sacramental character. With strange unanimity, followers +of the Mystic Way have given the name of marriage to that memorable +experience in "the flight of the Alone to the Alone," when the soul, +after trials and purgations, enters into indissoluble union with the +spirit, that divine, creative principle whereby it is made fruitful +for this world. Marriage, then, however dear and close the union, is +the symbol of a union dearer and closer, for it is the fair prophecy +that on some higher arc of the evolutionary spiral, the soul will meet +its immortal lover and be initiated into divine mysteries. + +As an example of the power of symbols to induce those changes of +consciousness whereby the soul is prepared for this union, it is +recorded that an eminent scientist was moved to alter his entire mode +of life on reflecting, while in his bath one morning, that though each +day he was at such pains to make clean his body, he made no similar +purgation of his mind and heart. The idea appealed to him so +profoundly that he began to practise the higher cleanliness from that +day forth. + +If it be true, as has been said, that ordinary life in the world is a +training school for a life more real and more sublime, then everything +pertaining to life in the world must possess a sacramental character, +and possess it inherently, and not merely by imputation. Let us +discover, then, if we can, some of the larger meanings latent in +little things. + +When at the end of a cloudy day the sun bursts forth in splendor and +sets red in the west, it is a sign to the weather-wise that the next +day will be fair. To the devotee of the sacramental life it holds a +richer promise. To him the sun is a symbol of the love of God; the +clouds, those worldly preoccupations of his own which hide its face +from him. This purely physical phenomenon, therefore, which brings +to most men a scarcely noticed augmentation of heat and light, and +an indication of fair weather on the morrow, induces in the mystic an +ineffable sense of divine immanence and beneficence, and an assurance +of their continuance beyond the dark night of the death of the body. + +When the sacramentalist goes swimming in the sea he enjoys to the full +the attendant physical exhilaration, but a greater joy flows from +the thought that he is back with his great Sea-Mother--that feminine +principle of which the sea is the perfect symbol, since water brings +all things to birth and nurtures them. When at the end of a day +he lays aside his clothes--that two-dimensional sheath of the +three-dimensional body--it is in full assurance that his body in turn +will be abandoned by the inwardly retreating consciousness, and that +he will range wherever he wills during the hours of sleep, clothed in +his subtle four-dimensional body, related to the physical body as that +is related to the clothes it wears. + +To every sincere seeker nature reveals her secrets, but since men +differ in their curiosities she reveals different things to different +men. All are rewarded for their devotion in accordance with their +interests and desires, but woman-like, nature reveals herself most +fully to him who worships not the fair form of her, but her soul. This +favored lover is the mystic; for ever seeking instruction in things +spiritual, he perceives in nature an allegory of the soul, and +interprets her symbols in terms of the sacramental life. + +The brook, pursuing its tortuous and stony pathway in untiring effort +to reach its gravitational centre, is a symbol of the Pilgrim's +progress, impelled by love to seek God within his heart. The modest +daisy by the roadside, and the wanton sunflower in the garden alike +seek to image the sun, the god of their worship, a core of seeds and +fringe of petals representing their best effort to mimic the flaming +disc and far-flung corona of the sun. Man seeks less ardently, and so +more ineffectively in his will and imagination to image God. In the +reverent study of insect and animal life we gain some hint of what we +have been and what we may become--something corresponding to the grub, +a burrowing thing; to the caterpillar, a crawling thing; and finally +to the butterfly, a radiant winged creature. + +After this fashion then does he who has embraced the sacramental life +come to perceive in the "sensuous manifold" of nature, that one divine +Reality which ever seeks to instruct him in supermundane wisdom, and +to woo him to superhuman blessedness and peace. In time, this reading +of earth in terms of heaven, becomes a settled habit. Then, in +Emerson's phrase, he has hitched his wagon to a star, and changed his +grocer's cart into a chariot of the sun. + +The reader may perhaps fail to perceive the bearing of this long +discussion of symbols and sacraments upon the subject of art and +architecture, but in the mind of the author the correlation is +plain. There can be no great art without religion: religion begins in +consciousness as a mystic experience, it flows thence into symbols +and sacraments, and these in turn are precipitated by the artist into +ponderable forms of beauty. Unless the artist himself participates in +this mystic experience, life's deeper meanings will escape him, and +the work of his hands will have no special significance. Until it can +be said of every artist + + "Himself from God he could not free," + +there will be no art worthy of the name. + + + + +SELF-EDUCATION[1] + + +I take great pleasure in availing myself of this opportunity to speak +to you on certain aspects of the art which we practise. I cannot +forget, and I hope that you sufficiently remember, that the +architectural future of this country lies in the hands of just such +men as you. Let me dwell then for a moment on your unique opportunity. +Perhaps some of you have taken up architecture as you might have gone +into trade, or manufacturing, or any of the useful professions; in +that case you have probably already learned discrimination, and now +realize that in the cutting of the cake of human occupations you +have drawn the piece which contains the ring of gold. The cake is +the business and utilitarian side of life, the ring of gold is the +æsthetic, the creative side: treasure it, for it is a precious and +enduring thing. Think what your work is: to reassemble materials in +such fashion that they become instinct with a beauty and eloquent with +a meaning which may carry inspiration and delight to generations still +unborn. Immortality haunts your threshold, even though your hand may +not be strong enough to open to the heavenly visitor. + +Though the profession of architecture is a noble one in any country +and in any age, it is particularly rich in inspiration and in +opportunity here and now, for who can doubt that we are about to enter +upon a great building period? We have what Mr. Sullivan calls "the +need and the power to build," the spirit of great art alone is +lacking, and that is already stirring in the secret hearts of men, and +will sooner or later find expression in objective and ponderable +forms of new beauty. These it is your privilege to create. May the +opportunity find you ready! There is a saying, "To be young, to be in +love, to be in Italy!" I would paraphrase it thus: To be young, to be +in architecture, to be in America. + +It is my purpose tonight to outline a scheme of self-education, which +if consistently followed out I am sure will help you, though I am +aware that to a certain order of mind it will seem highly mystical and +impractical. If it commends itself to your favor I shall be glad. + +Many of you will have had the advantage of a thorough technical +training in your chosen profession: be grateful for it. Others, like +Topsy, "just growed"--or have just failed to grow. For the solace of +all such, without wishing to be understood to disparage architectural +schooling, I would say that there is a kind of education which is +worse than none, for by filling his mind with ready-made ideas it +prevents a man from ever learning to think for himself; and there is +another kind which teaches him to think, indeed, but according to some +arbitrary method, so that his mind becomes a canal instead of a river, +flowing in a predetermined and artificial channel, and unreplenished +by the hidden springs of the spirit. The best education can do no more +than to bring into manifestation that which is inherent; it does this +by means of some stimulus from without--from books and masters--but +the stimulus may equally come from within: each can develop his own +mind, and in the following manner. + +The alternation between a state of activity and a state of passivity, +which is a law of our physical being, as it is a law of all nature, +is characteristic of the action of the mind as well: observation and +meditation are the two poles of thought. The tendency of modern life +and of our active American temperament is towards a too exclusive +functioning of the mind in its outgoing state, and this results in +a great cleverness and a great shallowness. It is only in moments of +quiet meditation that the great synthetic, fundamental truths reveal +themselves. Observe ceaselessly, weigh, judge, criticize--this order +of intellectual activity is important and valuable--but the mind must +be steadied and strengthened by another and a different process. The +power of attention, the ability to concentrate, is the measure of +mental efficiency; and this power may be developed by a training +exactly analogous to that by which a muscle is developed, for mind +and muscle are alike the instruments of the Silent Thinker who sits +behind. The mind an instrument of something higher than the mind: here +is a truth so fertile that in the language of Oriental imagery, "If +you were to tell this to a dry stick, branches would grow, and leaves +sprout from it." + +There is nothing original in the method of mental development here +indicated; it has been known and practised for centuries in the East, +where life is less strenuous than it is with us. The method consists +in silent meditation every day at stated periods, during which the +attempt is made to hold the mind to the contemplation of a single +image or idea, bringing the attention back whenever it wanders, +killing each irrelevant thought as it arises, as one might kill a +rat coming out of a hole. This turning of the mind back on itself is +difficult, but I know of nothing that "pays" so well, and I have never +found any one who conscientiously practised it who did not confirm +this view. The point is, that if a man acquires the ability to +concentrate on one thing, he can concentrate on anything; he increases +his competence on the mental plane in the same manner that pulling +chest-weights increases his competence on the physical. The practice +of meditation has moreover an ulterior as well as an immediate +advantage, and that is the reason it is practised by the Yogis of +India. They believe that by stilling the mind, which is like a lake +reflecting the sky, the Higher Self communicates a knowledge of Itself +to the lower consciousness. Without the working of this Oversoul in +and through us we can never hope to produce an architecture which +shall rank with the great architectures of the past, for in Egypt, in +Greece, in mediaeval France, as in India, China, and Japan, mysticism +made for itself a language more eloquent than any in which the purely +rational consciousness of man has ever spoken. + +We are apt to overestimate the importance of books and book learning. +Think how small a part books have played in the development of +architecture; indeed, Palladio and Vignola, with their hard and fast +formulæ have done the art more harm than good. It is a fallacy that +reading strengthens the mind--it enervates it; reading sometimes +stimulates the mind to original thinking, and _this_ develops it, +but reading itself is a passive exercise, because the thought of the +reader is for the time being in abeyance in order that the thought +of the writer may enter. Much reading impairs the power to think +originally and consecutively. Few of the great creators of the world +have had use for books, and if you aspire to be in their class you +will avoid the "spawn of the press." The best plan is to read only +great books, and having read for five minutes, think about what you +have read for ten. + +These exercises, faithfully followed out, will make your mind a fit +vehicle for the expression of your idea, but the advice I have +given is as pertinent to any one who uses his mind as it is to the +architect. To what, specifically, should the architectural student +devote his attention in order to improve the quality of his work? +My own answer would be that he should devote himself to the study of +music, of the human figure, and to the study of Nature--"first, last, +midst, and without end." + +The correlation between music and architecture is no new thought; it +is implied in the famous saying that architecture is frozen music. +Vitruvius considered a knowledge of music to be a qualification of the +architect of his day, and if it was desirable then it is no less so +now. There is both a metaphysical reason and a practical one why +this is so. Walter Pater, in a famous phrase, declared that all art +constantly aspires to the condition of music, by which he meant to +imply that there is a certain rhythm and harmony at the root of every +art, of which music is the perfect and pure expression; that in +music the means and the end are one and the same. This coincides with +Schopenhauer's theory about music, that it is the most perfect +and unconditioned sensuous presentment known to us of that undying +_will-to-live_ which constitutes life and the world. Metaphysics +aside, the architect ought to hear as much good music as he can, and +learn the rudiments of harmony, at least to the extent of knowing the +simple numerical ratios which govern the principal consonant intervals +within the octave, so that, translating these ratios into intervals of +space expressed in terms of length and breadth, height, and width, his +work will "aspire to the condition of music." + +There is a metaphysical reason, too, as well as a practical one, why +an architect should know the human figure. Carlyle says, "There is but +one temple in the world, and that is the body of man." If the body +is, as he declares, a temple, it is no less true that a temple, or any +work of architectural art is in the nature of an ampler body which +man has created for his uses, and which he inhabits, just as the +individual consciousness builds and inhabits its fleshly stronghold. +This may seem a highly mystical idea, but the correlation between +the house and its inhabitant, and the body and its consciousness is +everywhere close, and is susceptible of infinite elaboration. + +Architectural beauty, like human beauty, depends upon a proper +subordination of parts to the whole, a harmonious interrelation +between these parts, the expressiveness of each of its functions, and +when these are many and diverse, their reconcilement one with another. +This being so, a study of the human figure with a view to analyzing +the sources of its beauty cannot fail to be profitable to the +architectural designer. Pursued intelligently, such study will +stimulate the mind to a perception of those simple yet subtle laws +according to which nature everywhere works, and it will educate +the eye in the finest known school of proportion, training it to +distinguish minute differences, in the same way that the hearing of +good music cultivates the ear. + +It is neither necessary nor desirable to make elaborate and carefully +shaded drawings from a posed model; an equal number of hours spent in +copying and analyzing the plates of a good art anatomy, supplemented +with a certain amount of life drawing, done merely with a view to +catch the pose, will be found to be a more profitable exercise, for it +will make you familiar with the principal and subsidiary proportions +of the bodily temple, and give you sufficient data to enable you to +indicate a figure in any position with fair accuracy. + +I recommend the study of Nature because I believe that such study +will assist you to recover that direct and instant perception of +beauty, our natural birthright, of which over-sophistication has +so bereft us that we no longer know it to be ours by right of +inheritance--inheritance from that cosmic matter endowed with +motion out of which we are fashioned, proceeding ever rationally and +rhythmically to its appointed ends. We are all of us participators in +a world of concrete music, geometry and number--a world, that is, so +mathematically constituted and co-ordinated that our pigmy bodies, +equally with the farthest star, throb to the music of the spheres. The +blood flows rhythmically, the heart its metronome; the moving limbs +weave patterns; the voice stirs into radiating sound-waves that pool +of silence which we call the air. + + "Thou canst not wave thy staff in air, + Or dip thy paddle in the lake, + But it carves the bow of beauty there, + And ripples in rhyme the oar forsake." + +The whole of animate creation labours under the beautiful necessity of +being beautiful. Everywhere it exhibits a perfect utility subservient +to harmonious laws. Nature is the workshop in which are built +_beautiful organisms_. This is exactly the aim of the architect--to +fashion beautiful organisms; what better school, therefore, could he +have in which to learn his trade? + +To study Nature it is not necessary to go out into the fields and +botanize, nor to attempt to make water colours of picturesque scenery. +These things are very well, but not so profitable to your particular +purpose as observation directed toward the discovery of the laws which +underlie and determine form and structure, such as the tracing of the +spiral line, not alone where it is obvious, as in the snail's shell +and in the ram's horn, but where it appears obscurely, as in the +disposition of leaves or twigs upon a parent stem. Such laws of nature +are equally laws of art, for art _is_ nature carried to a higher power +by reason of its passage through a human consciousness. Thought and +emotion tend to crystallize into forms of beauty as inevitably, and +according to the same laws, as does the frost on the window pane. Art, +in one of its aspects, is the weaving of a pattern, the communication +of an order and a method to lines, forms, colors, sounds. All very +poetical, and possibly true, you may be saying to yourselves, but +what has it to do with architecture, which nowadays, at least, is +pre-eminently a practical and utilitarian art whose highest mission +is to fulfil definite conditions in an economical and admirable way; +whose supreme excellence is fitness, appropriateness, the perfect +adaptation of means to ends, and the apt expression of both means +and ends? Yes, architecture is all of this, but this is not all of +architecture; else the most efficient engineer would be the most +admirable architect, which does not happen to be the case. Along with +the expression of the concrete and individual must go the expression +of the abstract and universal; the two can be combined in a single +building in the same way that in every human countenance are +combined a racial or temperamental _type_, which is universal, and a +_character_, which is individual. The expression of any sort of cosmic +truth, of universal harmony and rhythm, is the quality which our +architecture most conspicuously lacks. Failing to find the cosmic +truth within ourselves, failing to vibrate to the universal harmony +and rhythm, our architecture is--well, what it is, for only that which +is native to our living spirit can we show forth in the work of our +hands. + +Your work will be, in the last analysis, what you yourselves are. Let +no sophistry blind you to the truth of that. There are rhythms in the +world of space which we find only in the architecture of the past, and +enamoured of their beauty we repeat them over and over (off the key +for the most part), on the principle that all the songs have been +sung; or we just make a noise, on the principle that noise is all +there is to architecture anyway. It is not so. Those systems of +spatial rhythms which we call Egyptian, Classic, Gothic, Renaissance +architecture and the rest, are records all of the living human spirit +energizing in the stubborn matter of the physical plane with joy, with +conviction, with mastery. When that undying spirit awakes again in +you, stirred into consciousness by meditation, which is its prayer; +by music, which is its praise; by the contemplation of that fair +form which is its temple; and by communion with nature, which is its +looking-glass; you will experience again that ancient joy, hold again +that firm conviction, and exercise again that mastery to transfuse the +granite and iron heart of the hills into patterns unlike any that the +hand of man has made before. + +[Footnote 1: An address delivered before the Boston Architectural Club +in April, 1909.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARCHITECTURE AND DEMOCRACY*** + + +******* This file should be named 12625-8.txt or 12625-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/6/2/12625 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** diff --git a/old/12625-8.zip b/old/12625-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..011d8bc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12625-8.zip diff --git a/old/12625.txt b/old/12625.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..01de55e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12625.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4302 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Architecture and Democracy, by Claude Fayette +Bragdon + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Architecture and Democracy + +Author: Claude Fayette Bragdon + +Release Date: June 15, 2004 [eBook #12625] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARCHITECTURE AND DEMOCRACY*** + + +E-text prepared by Leah Moser and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + +ARCHITECTURE AND DEMOCRACY + +BY + +CLAUDE BRAGDON +F.A.I.A. + +1918 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: PLATE I. THE WOOLWORTH BUILDING, NEW YORK] + + + + +PREFACE + + +This book can lay no claim to unity of theme, since its subjects range +from skyscrapers to symbols and soul states; but the author claims for +it nevertheless a unity of point of view, and one (correct or not) so +comprehensive as to include in one synthesis every subject dealt +with. For according to that point of view, a skyscraper is only a +symbol--and of what? A condition of consciousness, that is, a state of +the soul. Democracy even, we are beginning to discover, is a condition +of consciousness too. + +Our only hope of understanding the welter of life in which we are +immersed, as in a swift and muddy river, is in ascending as near +to its pure source as we can. That source is in consciousness and +consciousness is in ourselves. This is the point of view from which +each problem dealt with has been attacked; but lest the author be at +once set down as an impracticable dreamer, dwelling aloof in an ivory +tower, the reader should know that his book has been written in +the scant intervals afforded by the practice of the profession of +architecture, so broadened as to include the study of abstract form, +the creation of ornament, experiments with color and light, and such +occasional educational activities as from time to time he has been +called upon to perform at one or another architectural school. + +The three essays included under the general heading of "Democracy +and Architecture" were prepared at the request of the editor of _The +Architectural Record_, and were published in that journal. The two +following, on "Ornament from Mathematics," represent a recasting and +a rewriting of articles which have appeared in _The Architectural +Review, The Architectural Forum_, and _The American Architect_. +"Harnessing the Rainbow" is an address delivered before the Ad. Club +of Cleveland, and the Rochester Rotary Club, and afterwards made into +an essay and published in _The American Architect_ under a different +title. The appreciation of Louis Sullivan as a writer appears here for +the first time, the author having previously paid his respects to Mr. +Sullivan's strictly architectural genius in an essay in _House and +Garden_. "Color and Ceramics" was delivered on the occasion of the +dedication of the Ceramic Building of the University of Illinois, +and afterwards published in _The Architectural Forum_. "Symbols and +Sacraments" was printed in the English Quarterly _Orpheus_. "Self +Education" was delivered before the Boston Architectural Club, and +afterwards published in a number of architectural journals. + +Acknowledgment is hereby tendered by the author to the editors of +these various magazines for their consent to republication, together +with thanks, however belated, for their unfailing hospitality to the +children of his brain. + +CLAUDE BRAGDON. + +_August 1, 1918_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + ARCHITECTURE AND DEMOCRACY + + I. Before the War + + II. During the War + + III. After the War + + + ORNAMENT FROM MATHEMATICS + + I. The World Order + + II. The Fourth Dimension + + + HARNESSING THE RAINBOW + + + LOUIS SULLIVAN, PROPHET OF DEMOCRACY + + + COLOR AND CERAMICS + + + SYMBOLS AND SACRAMENTS + + + SELF-EDUCATION + + + + +LIST OF FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + + Plate I. The Woolworth Building, New York + + Plate II. The New York Public Library + + Plate III. The Prudential Building, Buffalo, N.Y. + + Plate IV. The Erie County Savings Bank, Buffalo, N.Y. + + Plate V. The New York Central Terminal + + Plate VI. Plan of the Red Cross Community Club House, + Camp Sherman, Ohio + + Plate VII. Interior View of the Camp Sherman Community House + + Plate VIII. Imaginative Sketch by Henry P. Kirby + + Plate IX. Architectural Sketch by Otto Rieth + + Plate X. 200 West 57th Street, New York + + Plate XI. Imaginary Composition: The Portal + + Plate XII. Imaginary Composition: The Balcony + + Plate XIII. Imaginary Composition: The Audience Chamber + + Plate XIV. Song and Light: An Approach toward "Color Music" + + Plate XV. Symbol of Resurrection + + + + +Every form of government, every social institution, every +undertaking, however great, however small, every symbol of +enlightenment or degradation, each and all have sprung and are still +springing from the life of the people, and have ever formed and are +now as surely forming images of their thought. Slowly by centuries, +generations, years, days, hours, the thought of the people has +changed; so with precision have their acts responsively changed; thus +thoughts and acts have flowed and are flowing ever onward, unceasingly +onward, involved within the impelling power of Life. Throughout this +stream of human life, and thought, and activity, men have ever felt +the need to build; and from the need arose the power to build. So, +as they thought, they built; for, strange as it may seem, they could +build in no other way. As they built, they made, used, and left behind +them records of their thinking. Then, as through the years new men +came with changed thoughts, so arose new buildings in consonance +with the change of thought--the building always the expression of +the thinking. Whatever the character of the thinking, just so was the +character of the building. + +What is Architecture? A Study in the American People of Today, by +LOUIS SULLIVAN. + + + + +Architecture and Democracy + +I + +BEFORE THE WAR + + +The world war represents not the triumph, but the birth of democracy. +The true ideal of democracy--the rule of a people by the _demos_, or +group soul--is a thing unrealized. How then is it possible to consider +or discuss an architecture of democracy--the shadow of a shade? It is +not possible to do so with any degree of finality, but by an intention +of consciousness upon this juxtaposition of ideas--architecture and +democracy--signs of the times may yield new meanings, relations may +emerge between things apparently unrelated, and the future, always +existent in every present moment, may be evoked by that strange magic +which resides in the human mind. + +Architecture, at its worst as at its best, reflects always a true +image of the thing that produced it; a building is revealing even +though it is false, just as the face of a liar tells the thing +his words endeavor to conceal. This being so, let us make such +architecture as is ours declare to us our true estate. + +The architecture of the United States, from the period of the Civil +War, up to the beginning of the present crisis, everywhere reflects a +struggle to be free of a vicious and depraved form of feudalism, +grown strong under the very aegis of democracy. The qualities that made +feudalism endeared and enduring; qualities written in beauty on +the cathedral cities of mediaeval Europe--faith, worship, +loyalty, magnanimity--were either vanished or banished from this +pseudo-democratic, aridly scientific feudalism, leaving an inheritance +of strife and tyranny--a strife grown mean, a tyranny grown prudent, +but full of sinister power the weight of which we have by no means +ceased to feel. + +Power, strangely mingled with timidity; ingenuity, frequently +misdirected; ugliness, the result of a false ideal of beauty--these +in general characterize the architecture of our immediate past; an +architecture "without ancestry or hope of posterity," an architecture +devoid of coherence or conviction; willing to lie, willing to steal. +What impression such a city as Chicago or Pittsburgh might have made +upon some denizen of those cathedral-crowned feudal cities of the +past we do not know. He would certainly have been amazed at its giant +energy, and probably revolted at its grimy dreariness. We are wont +to pity the mediaeval man for the dirt he lived in, even while smoke +greys our sky and dirt permeates the very air we breathe: we think of +castles as grim and cathedrals as dim, but they were beautiful and gay +with color compared with the grim, dim canyons of our city streets. + +Lafcadio Hearn, in _A Conservative_, has sketched for us, with a +sympathy truly clairvoyant, the impression made by the cities of the +West upon the consciousness of a young Japanese samurai educated under +a feudalism not unlike that of the Middle Ages, wherein was worship, +reverence, poetry, loyalty--however strangely compounded with the more +sinister products of the feudal state. + + Larger than all anticipation the West appeared to him,--a + world of giants; and that which depresses even the boldest + Occidental who finds himself, without means or friends, alone + in a great city, must often have depressed the Oriental exile: + that vague uneasiness aroused by the sense of being invisible + to hurrying millions; by the ceaseless roar of traffic + drowning voices; by monstrosities of architecture without a + soul; by the dynamic display of wealth forcing mind and + hand, as mere cheap machinery, to the uttermost limits of + the possible. Perhaps he saw such cities as Dore saw London: + sullen majesty of arched glooms, and granite deeps opening + into granite deeps beyond range of vision, and mountains + of masonry with seas of labor in turmoil at their base, and + monumental spaces displaying the grimness of ordered power + slow-gathering through centuries. Of beauty there was nothing + to make appeal to him between those endless cliffs of stone + which walled out the sunrise and the sunset, the sky and the + wind. + +The view of our pre-war architecture thus sketchily presented is sure +to be sharply challenged in certain quarters, but unfortunately for +us all this is no mere matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact. The +buildings are there, open to observation; rooted to the spot, they +cannot run away. Like criminals "caught with the goods" they stand, +self-convicted, dirty with the soot of a thousand chimneys, heavy with +the spoils of vanished civilizations; graft and greed stare at us out +of their glazed windows--eyes behind which no soul can be discerned. +There are doubtless extenuating circumstances; they want to be clean, +they want to be honest, these "monsters of the mere market," but they +are nevertheless the unconscious victims of evils inherent in our +transitional social state. + +Let us examine these strange creatures, doomed, it is hoped, to +extinction in favor of more intelligent and gracious forms of +life. They are big, powerful, "necessitous," and have therefore an +impressiveness, even an aesthetic appeal, not to be denied. So subtle +and sensitive an old-world consciousness as that of M. Paul Bourget +was set vibrating by them like a violin to the concussion of a +trip-hammer, and to the following tune: + + The portals of the basements, usually arched as if crushed + beneath the weight of the mountains which they support, look + like dens of a primitive race, continually receiving and + pouring forth a stream of people. You lift your eyes, and you + feel that up there behind the perpendicular wall, with + its innumerable windows, is a multitude coming and + going,--crowding the offices that perforate these cliffs of + brick and iron, dizzied with the speed of the elevators. + You divine, you feel the hot breath of speculation quivering + behind these windows. This it is which has fecundated these + thousands of square feet of earth, in order that from them may + spring up this appalling growth of business palaces, that hide + the sun from you and almost shut out the light of day. + +"The simple power of necessity is to a certain degree a principle of +beauty," says M. Bourget, and to these structures this order of beauty +cannot be denied, but even this is vitiated by a failure to press the +advantage home: the ornate facades are notably less impressive +than those whose grim and stark geometry is unmitigated by the +grave-clothes of dead styles. Instances there are of strivings toward +a beauty that is fresh and living, but they are so unsuccessful and +infrequent as to be negligible. However impressive these buildings may +be by reason of their ordered geometry, their weight and magnitude, +and as a manifestation of irrepressible power, they have the +unloveliness of things ignoble being the product neither of praise, +nor joy, nor worship, but enclosures for the transaction of sharp +bargains--gold bringing jinn of our modern Aladdins, who love them not +but only use them. That is the reason they are ugly; no one has loved +them for themselves alone. + +For beauty is ever the very face of love. From the architecture of +a true democracy, founded on love and mutual service, beauty would +inevitably shine forth; its absence convicts us of a maladjustment in +our social and economic life. A skyscraper shouldering itself aloft at +the expense of its more humble neighbors, stealing their air and +their sunlight, is a symbol, written large against the sky, of +the will-to-power of a man or a group of men--of that ruthless and +tireless aggression on the part of the cunning and the strong so +characteristic of the period which produced the skyscraper. One of +our streets made up of buildings of diverse styles and shapes and +sizes--like a jaw with some teeth whole, some broken, some rotten, +and some gone--is a symbol of our unkempt individualism, now happily +becoming curbed and chastened by a common danger, a common devotion. + +Some people hold the view that our insensitiveness to formal beauty is +no disgrace. Such argue that our accomplishments and our interests are +in other fields, where we more than match the accomplishments of older +civilizations. They forget that every achievement not registered in +terms of beauty has failed of its final and enduring transmutation. It +is because the achievements of older civilizations attained to their +apotheoses in art that they interest us, and unless we are able +to effect a corresponding transmutation we are destined to perish +unhonoured on our rubbish heap. That we shall effect it, through +knowledge and suffering, is certain, but before attempting the +more genial and rewarding task of tracing, in our life and in our +architecture, those forces and powers which make for righteousness, +for beauty, let us look our failures squarely in the face, and +discover if we can why they are failures. + +Confining this examination to the particular matter under discussion, +the neo-feudal architecture of our city streets, we find it to lack +unity, and the reason for this lack of unity dwells in a _divided +consciousness_. The tall office building is the product of many +forces, or perhaps we should say one force, that of necessity; but its +concrete embodiment is the result of two different orders of talent, +that of the structural engineer and of the architectural designer. +These are usually incarnate in two different individuals, working +more or less at cross purposes. It is the business of the engineer +to preoccupy himself solely with ideas of efficiency and economy, +and over his efficient and economical structure the designer smears +a frosting of beauty in the form of architectural style, in the +archaeological sense. This is a foolish practice, and cannot but result +in failure. In the case of a Greek temple or a mediaeval cathedral +structure and style were not twain, but one; the structure determined +the style, the style expressed the structure; but with us so divorced +have the two things become that in a case known to the author, the +structural framework of a great office building was determined and +fabricated and then architects were invited to "submit designs" +for the exterior. This is of course an extreme example and does not +represent the usual practice, but it brings sharply to consciousness +the well known fact that for these buildings we have substantially one +method of construction--that of the vertical strut, and the horizontal +"fill"--while in style they appear as Grecian, Roman, Renaissance, +Gothic, Modern French and what not, according to the whim of the +designer. + +[Illustration: PLATE II. THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY] + +With the modern tendency toward specialization, the natural outgrowth +of necessity, there is no inherent reason why the bones of a building +should not be devised by one man and its fleshly clothing by another, +so long as they understand one another, and are in ideal agreement, +but there is in general all too little understanding, and a +confusion of ideas and aims. To the average structural engineer the +architectural designer is a mere milliner in stone, informed in those +prevailing architectural fashions of which he himself knows little and +cares less. Preoccupied as he is with the building's strength, safety, +economy; solving new and staggeringly difficult problems with address +and daring, he has scant sympathy with such inconsequent matters as +the stylistic purity of a facade, or the profile of a moulding. To the +designer, on the other hand, the engineer appears in the light of a +subordinate to be used for the promotion of his own ends, or an evil +to be endured as an interference with those ends. + +As a result of this lack of sympathy and co-ordination, success crowns +only those efforts in which, on the one hand, the stylist has been +completely subordinated to engineering necessity, as in the case of +the East River bridges, where the architect was called upon only to +add a final grace to the strictly structural towers; or on the other +hand, in which the structure is of the old-fashioned masonry sort, and +faced with a familiar problem the architect has found it easy to be +frank; as in the case of the Manhattan Storage Warehouse, on 42nd +Street, New York, or in the Bryant Park facade on the New York +Library. The Woolworth building is a notable example of the complete +co-ordination between the structural framework and its envelope, and +falls short of ideal success only in the employment of an archaic and +alien ornamental language, used, however, let it be said, with a fine +understanding of the function of ornament. + +For the most part though, there is a difference of intention between +the engineer and the designer; they look two ways, and the result of +their collaboration is a flat and confused image of the thing that +should be, not such as is produced by truly binocular vision. This +difference of aim is largely the result of a difference of education. +Engineering science of the sort which the use of steel has required is +a thing unprecedented; the engineer cannot hark back to the past for +help, even if he would. The case is different with the architectural +designer; he is taught that all of the best songs have been sung, all +of the true words spoken. The Glory that was Greece, and the Grandeur +that was Rome, the romantic exuberance of Gothic, and the ordered +restraint of Renaissance are so drummed into him during his years of +training, and exercise so tyrannical a spell over his imagination that +he loses the power of clear and logical thought, and never becomes +truly creative. Free of this incubus the engineer has succeeded in +being straightforward and sensible, to say the least; subject to it +the man with a so-called architectural education is too often tortuous +and absurd. + +The architect without any training in the essentials of design +produces horrors as a matter of course, for the reason that sin is the +result of ignorance; the architect trained in the false manner of the +current schools becomes a reconstructive archaeologist, handicapped by +conditions with which he can deal only imperfectly, and imperfectly +control. Once in a blue moon a man arises who, with all the advantages +inherent in education, pierces through the past to the present, and +is able to use his brain as the architects of the past used theirs--to +deal simply and directly with his immediate problem. + +Such a man is Louis Sullivan, though it must be admitted that not +always has he achieved success. That success was so marked, however, +in his treatment of the problem of the tall building, and exercised +subconsciously such a spell upon the minds even of his critics and +detractors, that it resulted in the emancipation of this type of +building from an absurd and impossible convention--the practice, +common before his time, of piling order upon order, like a house +of cards, or by a succession of strongly marked string courses +emphasizing the horizontal dimension of a vertical edifice, thus +vitiating the finest effect of which such a building is capable. + +The problem of the tall building, with which his predecessors dealt +always with trepidation and equivocation, Mr. Sullivan approached +with confidence and joy. "What," he asked himself, "is the chief +characteristic of the tall office building? It is lofty. This +loftiness is to the artist-nature its thrilling aspect. It must be +tall. The force of altitude must be in it. It must be every inch a +proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exultation that from bottom +to top it is a unit without a dissenting line." The Prudential +(Guaranty) building in Buffalo represents the finest concrete +embodiment of his idea achieved by Mr. Sullivan. It marks his +emancipation from what he calls his "masonry" period, during which +he tried, like so many other architects before and since, to make a +steel-framed structure look as though it were nothing but a masonry +wall perforated with openings--openings too many and too great not +to endanger its stability. The keen blade of Mr. Sullivan's mind cut +through this contradiction, and in the Prudential building he carried +out the idea of a _protective casing_ so successfully that Montgomery +Schuyler said of it, "I know of no steel framed building in which the +metallic construction is more palpably felt through the envelope of +baked clay." + +[Illustration: PLATE III. THE PRUDENTIAL BUILDING, BUFFALO N.Y.] + +The present author can speak with all humbleness of the general +failure, on the part of the architectural profession, to appreciate +the importance of this achievement, for he pleads guilty of day after +day having passed the Prudential building, then fresh in the majesty +of its soaring lines, and in the wonder of its fire-wrought casing, +with eyes and admiration only for the false romanticism of the Erie +County Savings Bank, and the empty bombast of the gigantic Ellicott +Square. He had not at that period of his life succeeded in living down +his architectural training, and as a result the most ignorant layman +was in a better position to appraise the relative merits of these +three so different incarnations of the building impulse than was he. + +Since the Prudential building there have been other tall office +buildings, by other hands, truthful in the main, less rigid, less +monotonous, more superficially pleasing, yet they somehow fail to +impart the feeling of utter sincerity and fresh originality inspired +by this building. One feels that here democracy has at last found +utterance in beauty; the American spirit speaks, the spirit of the +Long Denied. This rude, rectangular bulk is uncompromisingly practical +and utilitarian; these rows on rows of windows, regularly spaced, and +all of the same size, suggest the equality and monotony of obscure, +laborious lives; the upspringing shafts of the vertical piers stand +for their hopes and aspirations, and the unobtrusive, delicate +ornament which covers the whole with a garment of fresh beauty is like +the very texture of their dreams. The building is able to speak +thus powerfully to the imagination because its creator is a poet +and prophet of democracy. In his own chosen language he declares, as +Whitman did in verse, his faith in the people of "these states"--"A +Nation announcing itself." Others will doubtless follow who will make +a richer music, commensurate with the future's richer life, but such +democracy as is ours stands here proclaimed, just as such feudalism +as is still ours stands proclaimed in the Erie County Bank just across +the way. The massive rough stone walls of this building, its pointed +towers and many dormered chateau-like roof unconsciously symbolize the +attempt to impose upon the living present a moribund and alien +order. Democracy is thus afflicted, and the fact must needs find +architectural expression. + +In the field of domestic architecture these dramatic contrasts are +less evident, less sharply marked. Domestic life varies little from +age to age; a cottage is a cottage the world over, and some manorial +mansion on the James River, built in Colonial days, remains a fitting +habitation (assuming the addition of electric lights and sanitary +plumbing) for one of our Captains of Industry, however little an +ancient tobacco warehouse would serve him as a place of business. +This fact is so well recognized that the finest type of modern country +house follows, in general, this or some other equally admirable model, +though it is amusing to note the millionaire's preference for a feudal +castle, a French chateau, or an Italian villa of the decadence. + +The "man of moderate means," so called, provides himself with +no difficulty with a comfortable house, undistinguished but +unpretentious, which fits him like a glove. There is a piazza towards +the street, a bay-window in the living room, a sleeping-porch for the +children, and a box of a garage for the flivver in the bit of a back +yard. + +For the wage earner the housing problem is not so easily nor +so successfully solved. He is usually between the devil of the +speculative builder and the deep sea of the predatory landlord, each +intent upon taking from him the limit that the law allows and giving +him as little as possible for his money. Going down the scale of +indigence we find an itinerancy amounting almost to homelessness, or +houses so abject that they are an insult to the very name of home. + +[Illustration: PLATE IV: THE ERIE COUNTY SAVINGS BANK, BUFFALO, N.Y.] + +It is an eloquent commentary upon our national attitude toward a most +vital matter that in this feverish hustle to produce ships, airplanes, +clothing and munitions on a vast scale, the housing of the workers was +either overlooked entirely, or received eleventh-hour consideration, +and only now, after a year of participation in the war, is it +beginning to be adequately and officially dealt with--how efficiently +and intelligently remains to be seen. The housing of the soldiers was +another matter: that necessity was plain and urgent, and the miracle +has been accomplished, but except by indirection it has contributed +nothing to the permanent housing problem. + +Other aspects of our life which have found architectural expression +fall neither in the commercial nor in the domestic category--the great +hotels, for example, which partake of the nature of both, and our +passenger railway terminals, which partake of the nature of neither. +These latter deserve especial consideration in this connection, by +reason of their important function. The railway is of the very essence +of the modern, even though (with what sublime unreason) Imperial Rome +is written large over New York's most magnificent portal. + +Think not that in an age of unfaith mankind gives up the building +of temples. Temples inevitably arise where the tide of life flows +strongest; for there God manifests, in however strange a guise. That +tide is nowhere stronger than in the railroad, which is the arterial +system of our civilization. All arteries lead to and from the heart, +and thus the railroad terminus becomes the beating heart at the center +of modern life. It is a true instinct therefore which prompts to +the making of the terminal building a very temple, a monument to +the conquest of space through the harnessing of the giant horses of +electricity and steam. This conquest must be celebrated on a scale +commensurate with its importance, and in obedience to this necessity +the Pennsylvania station raised its proud head amid the push-cart +architecture of that portion of New York in which it stands. It is not +therefore open to the criticism often passed upon it, that it is too +grand, but it is the wrong kind of grandeur. If there be truth in the +contention that the living needs of today cannot be grafted upon the +dead stump of any ancient grandeur, the futility of every attempt to +accomplish this impossible will somehow, somewhere, reveal itself to +the discerning eye. Let us seek out, in this building, the place of +this betrayal. + +It is not necessarily in the main facade, though this is not a face, +but a mask--and a mask can, after its kind, always be made beautiful; +it is not in the nobly vaulted corridor, lined with shops--for all we +know the arcades of Imperial Rome were similarly lined; nor is it in +the splendid vestibule, leading into the magnificent waiting room, in +which a subject of the Caesars would have felt more perfectly at home, +perhaps, than do we. But beyond this passenger concourse, where the +elevators and stairways descend to the tracks, necessity demanded the +construction of a great enclosure, supported only on slender columns +and far-flung trusses roofed with glass. Now latticed columns, steel +trusses, and wire glass are inventions of the modern world too useful +to be dispensed with. Rome could not help the architect here. The mode +to which he was inexorably self-committed in the rest of the building +demanded massive masonry, cornices, mouldings; a tribute to Caesar +which could be paid everywhere but in this place. The architect's +problem then became to reconcile two diametrically different systems. +But between the west wall of the ancient Roman baths and the modern +skeleton construction of the roof of the human greenhouse there is +no attempt at fusion. The slender latticed columns cut unpleasantly +through the granite cornices and mouldings; the first century A.D. and +the twentieth are here in incongruous juxtaposition--a little thing, +easily overlooked, yet how revealing! How reassuring of the fact "God +is not mocked!" + +The New York Central terminal speaks to the eye in a modern tongue, +with however French an accent. Its facade suggests a portal, reminding +the beholder that a railway station is in a very literal sense a city +gate placed just as appropriately in the center of the municipality as +in ancient times it was placed in the circuit of the outer walls. + +Neither edifice will stand the acid test of Mr. Sullivan's formula, +that a building is an organism and should follow the law of organisms, +which decrees that the form must everywhere follow and express the +function, the function determining and creating its appropriate form. +Here are two eminent examples of "arranged" architecture. Before +organic architecture can come into being our inchoate national life +must itself become organic. Arranged architecture, of the sort we +see everywhere, despite its falsity, is a true expression of the +conditions which gave it birth. + +[Illustration: PLATE V. THE NEW YORK CENTRAL TERMINAL] + +The grandeur of Rome, the splendour of Paris--what just and adequate +expression do they give of modern American life? Then shall we find in +our great hotels, say, such expression? Truly they represent, in the +phrase of Henry James, "a realized ideal" and a study of them should +reveal that ideal. From such a study we can only conclude that it +is life without effort or responsibility, with every physical need +luxuriously gratified. But these hotels nevertheless represent +democracy, it may be urged, for the reason that every one may there +buy board and lodging and mercenary service if he has the price. The +exceeding greatness of that price, however, makes of it a badge +of nobility which converts these democratic hostelries into feudal +castles, more inaccessible to the Long Denied than as though entered +by a drawbridge and surrounded by a moat. + +We need not even glance at the churches, for the tides of our +spiritual life flow no longer in full volume through their portals; +neither may the colleges long detain us, for architecturally +considered they give forth a confusion of tongues which has its +analogue in the confusion of ideas in the collective academic head. + +Is our search for some sign of democracy ended, and is it vain? No, +democracy exists in the secret heart of the people, all the people, +but it is a thing so new, so strange, so secret and sacred--the ideal +of brotherhood--that it is unmanifest yet in time and space. It is +a thing born not with the Declaration of Independence, but only +yesterday, with the call to a new crusade. The National Army is its +cradle, and it is nurtured wherever communities unite to serve the +sacred cause. Although menaced by the bloody sword of Imperialism in +Europe, it perhaps stands in no less danger from the secret poison +of graft and greed and treachery here at home. But it is a spiritual +birth, and therefore it cannot perish, but will live to write itself +on space in terms of beauty such as the world has never known. + + + + +II + +DURING THE WAR + + +The best thing that can be said about our immediate architectural +past is that it is past, for it has contributed little of value to an +architecture of democracy. During that neo-feudal period the architect +prospered, having his place at the baronial table; but now poor Tom's +a-cold on a war-swept heath, with food only for reflection. This +is but natural; the architect, in so far as he is an artist, is a +purveyor of beauty; and the abnormal conditions inevitable to a state +of war are devastating to so feminine and tender a thing, even though +war be the very soil from which new beauty springs. With Mars in +mid-heaven how afflicted is the horoscope of all artists! The skilled +hand of the musician is put to coarser uses; the eye that learned +its lessons from the sunset must learn the trick of making invisible +warships and great guns. Let the architect serve the war-god likewise, +in any capacity that offers, confident that this troubling of the +waters will bring about a new precipitation; that once the war is +over, men will turn from those "old, unhappy, far-off things" to +pastures beautiful and new. + +In whatever way the war may complicate the architect's personal +problem, it should simplify and clarify his attitude toward his art. +With no matter what seriousness and sincerity he may have undertaken +his personal search for truth and beauty, he will come to question, +as never before, both its direction and its results. He is bound to +perceive, if he does not perceive already, that the war's arrestment +of architecture (in all but its most utilitarian and ephemeral phases) +is no great loss to the world for the reason that our architecture was +uninspired, unoriginal, done without joy, without reverence, without +conviction: a thing which any wind of a new spirit was bound to make +appear foolish to a generation with sight rendered clairvoyant through +its dedication to great and regenerative ends. + +He will come to perceive that between the Civil War and the crusade +that is now upon us, we were under the evil spell of materialism. Now +materialism is the very negation of democracy, which is a government +by the _demos_, or over-soul; it is equally the negation of joy, the +negation of reverence, and it is without conviction because it cannot +believe even in itself. Reflecting thus, he can scarcely fail to +realize that materialism, everywhere entrenched, was entrenched +strongest in the camps of the rich---not the idle rich, for +materialism is so terrible a taskmaster that it makes its votaries its +slaves. These slaves, in turn, made a slave of the artist, a minister +to their pride and pretence. His art thus lacked that "sad sincerity" +which alone might have saved it in a crisis. When the storm broke +militant democracy turned to the engineer, who produced buildings at +record speed, by the mile, with only such architectural assistance as +could be first and easiest fished up from the dragnet of the draft. + +In one direction only does there appear to be open water. Toward the +general housing problem the architectural profession has been spurred +into activity by reason of the war, and to its credit be it said, it +is now thoroughly aroused. The American Institute of Architects sent a +commissioner to England to study housing in its latest manifestations, +and some of the ablest and most influential members of that +organization have placed their services at the disposal of the +government. Moreover, there is a manifest disposition, on the part of +architects everywhere, to help in this matter all they can. The danger +dwells in the possibility that their advice will not be heeded, their +services not be fully utilized, but through chicanery, ignorance, +or inanition, we will relapse into the tentative, "expensively +provisional" methods which have governed the housing of workers +hitherto. Even so, architects will doubtless recapture, and more +than recapture, their imperiled prestige, but under what changed +conditions, and with what an altered attitude toward their art and +their craft! + +They will find that they must unlearn certain things the schools had +taught them: preoccupation with the relative merits of Gothic and +Classic--tweedledum and tweedledee. Furthermore, they must learn +certain neglected lessons from the engineer, lessons that they will +be able immeasurably to better, for although the engineer is a very +monster of competence and efficiency within his limits, these are +sharply marked, and to any detailed knowledge of that "beautiful +necessity" which determines spatial rhythm and counterpoint he is a +stranger. The ideal relation between architect and engineer is that of +a happily wedded pair--strength married to beauty; in the period just +passed or passing they have been as disgruntled divorces. + +[Illustration: PLATE VI. PLAN OF THE RED CROSS COMMUNITY CLUB HOUSE, +CAMP SHERMAN, OHIO] + +The author has in mind one child of such a happy union brought about +by the war; the building is the Red Cross Community Club House at Camp +Sherman, which, in the pursuit of his destiny, and for the furtherance +of his education, he inhabited for two memorable weeks. He learned +there more lessons than a few, and encountered more tangled skeins of +destiny than he is ever likely to unravel. The matter has so direct a +bearing, both on the subject of architecture and of democracy, that it +is worth discussing at some length. + +This club house stands, surrounded by its tributary dormitories, on a +government reservation, immediately adjacent to the camp itself, +the whole constituting what is known as the Community Center. By the +payment of a dollar any soldier is free to entertain his relatives +and friends there, and it is open to all the soldiers at all times. +Because the iron discipline of the army is relaxed as soon as the +limits of the camp are overpassed, the atmosphere is favourable to +social life. + +The building occupies its acre of ground invitingly, though exteriorly +of no particular distinction. It is the interior that entitles it to +consideration as a contribution to an architecture of that new-born +democracy of which our army camps have been the cradle. The plan of +this interior is cruciform, two hundred feet in each dimension. Built +by the Red Cross of the state of Ohio, and dedicated to the larger +uses of that organization, the symbolic appropriateness of this +particular geometrical figure should not pass unremarked. The cross +is divided into side aisles, nave, and crossing, with galleries and +mezzanines so arranged as to shorten the arms of the cross in its +upper stages, leaving the clear-story surrounding the crossing +unimpeded and well defined. The light comes for the most part from +high windows, filtering down, in tempered brightness to the floor. The +bones of the structure are everywhere in evidence, and an element of +its beauty, by reason of the admirably direct and logical +arrangement of posts and trusses. The vertical walls are covered with +plaster-board of a light buff color, converted into good sized +panels by means of wooden strips finished with a thin grey stain. The +structural wood work is stained in similar fashion, the iron rods, +straps, and bolts being painted black. This color scheme is +completed and a little enlivened by red stripes and crosses placed at +appropriate intervals in the general design. + +The building attained its final synthesis through the collaboration of +a Cleveland architect and a National Army captain of engineers. It is +so single in its appeal that one does not care to inquire too closely +into the part of each in the performance; both are in evidence, for +an architect seldom succeeds in being so direct and simple, while an +engineer seldom succeeds in being so gracious and altogether suave. + +Entirely aside from its aesthetic interest--based as this is on beauty +of organism almost alone--the building is notable for the success with +which it fulfils and co-ordinates its manifold functions: those of a +dormitory, a restaurant, a ballroom, a theatre, and a lounge. The +arm of the cross containing the principal entrance accommodates the +office, coat room, telephones, news and cigar stand, while leaving +the central nave unimpeded, so that from the door one gets the unusual +effect of an interior vista two hundred feet long. The restaurant +occupies the entire left transept, with a great brick fireplace at the +far end. There is another fireplace in the centre of the side of +the arm beyond the crossing; that part which would correspond in a +cathedral to the choir and apse being given over to the uses of a +reading and writing room. The right transept forms a theatre, on +occasion, terminating as it does with a stage. The central floor +spaces are kept everywhere free except in the restaurant, the sides +and angles being filled in with leather-covered sofas, wicker and +wooden chairs and tables, arranged in groups favourable to comfort and +conversation. Two stairways, at the right and left of the restaurant, +give access to the ample balcony and to the bedrooms, which occupy +three of the four ends of the arms of the cross at this level. + +The appearance and atmosphere of this great interior is inspiring; +particularly of an evening, when it is thronged with soldiers, and +civilian guests. The strains of music, the hum of many voices, the +rhythmic shuffle on the waxed floor of the feet of the dancers--these +eminently social sounds mingle and lose themselves in the spaces of +the roof, like the voice of many waters. Tobacco smoke ascends like +incense, blue above the prevailing green-brown of the crowd, shot here +and there with brighter colors from the women's hats and dresses, in +the kaleidoscopic shifting of the dance. Long parallel rows of orange +lights, grouped low down on the lofty pillars, reflect themselves +on the polished floor, and like the patina of time on painted canvas +impart to the entire animated picture an incomparable tone. For the +lighting, either by accident or by inspiration, is an achievement +of the happiest, an example of the friendliness of fate to him who +attempts a free solution of his problem. The brackets consist merely +of a cruciform arrangement of planed pine boards about each column, +with the end grain painted red. On the under side of each arm of the +cross is a single electric bulb enclosed within an orange-coloured +shade to kill the glare. The light makes the bare wood of the fixture +appear incandescent, defining its geometry in rose colour with the +most beautiful effect. + +The club house is the centre of the social and ceremonial life of the +camp, for balls, dinners, receptions, conferences, concerts without +number; and it has been the scene of a military wedding--the daughter +of a major-general to the grandson of an ex-president. To these events +the unassuming, but pervasive beauty of the place lends a dignity new +to our social life. In our army camps social life is truly democratic, +as any one who has experienced it does not need to be told. Not alone +have the conditions of conscription conspired to make it so, but there +is a manifest _will-to-democracy_--the growing of a new flower of +the spirit, sown in a community of sacrifice, to reach its maturity, +perhaps, only in a community of suffering. + +The author may seem to have over-praised this Community Club House; +with the whole country to draw from for examples it may well appear +fatuous to concentrate the reader's attention, for so long, on a +building in a remote part of the Middle West: cheap, temporary, +and requiring only twenty-one days for its erection. But of the +transvaluation of values brought about by the war, this building is +an eminent example: it stands in symbolic relation to the times; it +represents what may be called the architecture of Service; it is among +the first of the new temples of the new democracy, dedicated to the +uses of simple, rational social life. Notwithstanding that it fills a +felt need, common to every community, there is nothing like it in +any of our towns and cities; there are only such poor and partial +substitutes as the hotel, the saloon, the dance hall, the lodge room +and the club. It is scarcely conceivable that the men and women who +have experienced its benefits and its beauty should not demand and +have similar buildings in their own home towns. + +[Illustration: PLATE VII. INTERIOR OF THE CAMP SHERMAN COMMUNITY +HOUSE] + +Beyond the oasis of the Community Club House at Camp Sherman stretch +the cantonments--a Euclidian nightmare of bare boards, black roofs +and ditches, making grim vistas of straight lines. This is the +architecture of Need in contradistinction to the architecture of +Greed, symbolized in the shop-window prettiness of those sanitary +suburbs of our cities created by the real estate agent and the +speculative builder. Neither contain any enduring element of beauty. + +But the love of beauty in one form or another exists in every human +heart, and if too long or too rigorously denied it finds its own +channels of fulfilment. This desire for self-expression through beauty +is an important, though little remarked phenomenon of these mid-war +times. At the camps it shows itself in the efforts of men of +specialized tastes and talents to get together and form dramatic +organizations, glee clubs, and orchestras; and more generally by the +disposition of the soldiers to sing together at work and play and on +the march. The renascence of poetry can be interpreted as a revulsion +against the prevailing prosiness; the amateur theatre is equally a +protest against the inanity and conventionality of the commercial +stage; while the Community Chorus movement is an evidence of a desire +to escape a narrow professionalism in music. A similar situation +has arisen in the field of domestic architecture, in the form of +an unorganized, but wide-spread reaction against the cheap and ugly +commercialism which has dominated house construction and decoration of +the more unpretentious class. This became articulate a few years ago +in the large number of books and magazines devoted to house-planning, +construction, decoration, furnishing, and garden-craft. The success +which has attended these publications, and their marked influence, +give some measure of the magnitude of this revolt. + +But now attention must be called to a significant, and somewhat +sinister fact. The professional in these various fields of aesthetic +endeavour, has shown either indifference or active hostility toward +all manner of amateur efforts at self-expression. Free verse aroused +the ridicule of the professors of metrics; the Little Theatre movement +was solemnly banned by such pundits as Belasco and Mrs. Fiske; the +Community Chorus movement has invariably met with opposition and +misunderstanding from professional musicians; and with few exceptions +the more influential architects have remained aloof from the effort +to give skilled architectural assistance to those who cannot afford to +pay them ten per cent. + +Thus everywhere do we discover a deadening hand laid upon the +self-expression of the democratic spirit through beauty. Its enemies +are of its own household; those who by nature and training should +be its helpers hinder it instead. Why do they do this? Because their +fastidious, aesthetic natures are outraged by a crudeness which they +themselves could easily refine away if they chose; because also they +recoil at a lack of conformity to existing conventions--conventions +so hampering to the inner spirit of the Newness, that in order to +incarnate at all it must of necessity sweep them aside. + +But in every field of aesthetic endeavour appears here and there a +man or a woman with unclouded vision, who is able to see in the +flounderings of untrained amateurs the stirrings of _demos_ from his +age-long sleep. These, often forsaking paths more profitable, lend +their skilled assistance, not seeking to impose the ancient outworn +forms upon the Newness, but by a transfusion of consciousness +permitting it to create forms of its own. Such a one, in architecture, +Louis Sullivan has proved himself; in music Harry Barnhart, who evokes +the very spirit of song from any random crowd. The _demos_ found voice +first in the poetry of Walt Whitman who has a successor in Vachel +Lindsay, the man who walked through Kansas, trading poetry for food +and lodging, teaching the farmers' sons and daughters to intone +his stirring odes to Pocahontas, General Booth, and Old John Brown. +Isadora Duncan, Gordon Craig, Maeterlinck, Scriabine are perhaps +too remote from the spirit of democracy, too tinged with old-world +aestheticism, to be included in this particular category, but all +are image-breakers, liberators, and have played their part in the +preparation of the field for an art of democracy. + +To the architect falls the task, in the new dispensation, of providing +the appropriate material environment for its new life. If he holds the +old ideas and cherishes the old convictions current before the war +he can do nothing but reproduce their forms and fashions; for +architecture, in the last analysis, is only the handwriting of +consciousness on space, and materialism has written there already all +that it has to tell of its failure to satisfy the mind and heart of +man. However beautiful old forms may seem to him they will declare +their inadequacy to generations free of that mist of familiarity which +now makes life obscure. If, on the other hand, submitting himself +to the inspiration of the _demos_ he experiences a change of +consciousness, he will become truly and newly creative. + +His problem, in other words, is not to interpret democracy in terms +of existing idioms, be they classic or romantic, but to experience +democracy in his heart and let it create and determine its new forms +through him. It is not for him to _impose_, it is for him to be +_imposed upon_. + + "The passive Master lent his hand + To the vast soul that o'er him planned" + +says Emerson in _The Problem_, a poem, which seems particularly +addressed to architects, and which every one of them would do well to +learn by heart. + +If he is at a loss to know where to go and what to do in order to be +played upon by these great forces let him direct his attention to +the army and the army camps. Here the spirit of democracy is +already incarnate. These soldiers, violently shaken free from their +environment, stripped of all but the elemental necessities of life; +facing a sinister destiny beyond a human-shark-infested ocean, +are today the fortunate of earth by reason of their realization of +brotherhood, not as a beautiful theory, but as a blessed fact of +experience. They will come back with ideas that they cannot utter, +with memories that they cannot describe; they will have dreamed dreams +and seen visions, and their hearts will stir to potencies for which +materialism has not even a name. + +The future of the country will be in their young hands. Will they +re-create, from its ruins, the faithless and loveless feudalism +from which the war set them free? No, they will seek only for +self-expression, the expression of that aroused and indwelling spirit +which shall create the new, the true democracy. And because it is a +spiritual thing it will come clothed in beauty; that is, it will find +its supreme expression through the forms of art. The architect who +assists in the emprise of weaving this garment will be supremely +blessed, but only he who has kept the vigil with prayer and fasting +will be supremely qualified. + + + + +III + +AFTER THE WAR + + "When the old world is sterile + And the ages are effete, + He will from wrecks and sediment + The fairer world complete." + + _The World Soul_. Emerson. + +He whom the World Soul "forbids to despair" cannot but hope; and he +who hopes tries ever to imagine that "fairer world" yearning for birth +beyond this interval of blood and tears. Prophecy, to all but the +anointed, is dangerous and uncertain, but even so, the author cannot +forbear attempting to prevision the architecture likely to arise from +the wrecks and sediment left by the war. As a basis for this forecast +it is necessary first of all briefly to classify the expression of the +building impulse from what may be called the psychological point of +view. + +Broadly speaking, there are not five orders of architecture--nor +fifty--but only two: _Arranged_ and _Organic_. These correspond to the +two terms of that "inevitable duality" which bisects life. Talent and +genius, reason and intuition, bromide and sulphite are some of the +names we know them by. + +Arranged architecture is reasoned and artificial; produced by talent, +governed by taste. Organic architecture, on the other hand, is the +product of some obscure inner necessity for self-expression which +is sub-conscious. It is as though Nature herself, through some human +organ of her activity, had addressed herself to the service of the +sons and daughters of men. + +Arranged architecture in its finest manifestations is the product of +a pride, a knowledge, a competence, a confidence staggering to behold. +It seems to say of the works of Nature, "I'll show you a trick worth +two of that." For the subtlety of Nature's geometry, and for her +infinite variety and unexpectedness, Arranged architecture substitutes +a Euclidian system of straight lines and (for the most part) circular +curves, assembled and arranged according to a definite logic of +its own. It is created but not creative; it is imagined but not +imaginative. Organic architecture is both creative and imaginative. It +is non-Euclidian in the sense that it is higher-dimensional--that is, +it suggests extension in directions and into regions where the spirit +finds itself at home, but of which the senses give no report to the +brain. + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII. IMAGINATIVE SKETCH BY HENRY P. KIRBY] + +To make the whole thing clearer it may be said that Arranged and +Organic architecture bear much the same relation to one another that +a piano bears to a violin. A piano is an instrument that does not give +forth discords if one follows the rules. A violin requires absolutely +an ear--an inner rectitude. It has a way of betraying the man of +talent and glorifying the genius, becoming one with his body and his +soul. + +Of course it stands to reason that there is not always a hard and fast +differentiation between these two orders of architecture, but there +is one sure way by which each may be recognized and known. If the +function appears to have created the form, and if everywhere the +form follows the function, changing as that changes, the building is +Organic; if on the contrary, "the house confines the spirit," if the +building presents not a face but however beautiful a mask, it is an +example of Arranged architecture. + +The Gothic cathedrals of the "Heart of Europe"--now the place of +Armageddon--represent the most perfect and powerful incarnation of +the Organic spirit in architecture. After the decadence of mediaeval +feudalism--synchronous with that of monasticism--the Arranged +architecture of the Renaissance acquired the ascendant; this was +coincident with the rise of humanism, when life became increasingly +secular. During the post-Renaissance, or scientific period, of which +the war probably marks the close, there has been a confusion of +tongues; architecture has spoken only alien or dead languages, learned +by rote. + +But in so far as it is anything at all, aesthetically, our architecture +is Arranged, so if only by the operation of the law of opposites, or +alternation, we might reasonably expect the next manifestation to +be Organic. There are other and better reasons, however, for such +expectancy. + +Organic architecture is ever a flower of the religious spirit. When +the soul draws near to the surface of life, as it did in the two +mystic centuries of the Middle Ages, it _organizes_ life; and +architecture, along, with the other arts becomes truly creative. The +informing force comes not so much _from_ man as _through_ him. After +the war that spirit of brotherhood, born in the camps--as Christ was +born in a manger--and bred on the battlefields and in the trenches of +Europe, is likely to take on all the attributes of a new religion of +humanity, prompting men to such heroisms and renunciations, exciting +in them such psychic sublimations, as have characterized the great +religious renewals of time past. + +If this happens it is bound to write itself on space in an +architecture beautiful and new; one which "takes its shape and +sun-color" not from the niggardly mind, but from the opulent heart. +This architecture will of necessity be organic, the product not of +self-assertive personalities, but the work of the "Patient Daemon" +organizing the nation into a spiritual democracy. + +The author is aware that in this point of view there is little of +the "scientific spirit"; but science fails to reckon with the soul. +Science advances facing backward, so what prevision can it have of a +miraculous and divinely inspired future--or for the matter of that, +of any future at all? The old methods and categories will no longer +answer; the orderly course of evolution has been violently interrupted +by the earthquake of the war; igneous action has superseded aqueous +action. The casements of the human mind look out no longer upon +familiar hills and valleys, but on a stark, strange, devastated +landscape, the ploughed land of some future harvest of the years. +It is the end of the Age, the _Kali Yuga_--the completion of a major +cycle; but all cycles follow the same sequence: after winter, Spring; +and after the Iron Age, the Golden. + +The specific features of this organic, divinely inspired architecture +of the Golden Age cannot of course be discerned by any one, any more +than the manner in which the Great Mystery will present itself anew to +consciousness. The most imaginative artist can imagine only in +terms of the already-existent; he can speak only the language he has +learned. If that language has been derived from mediaevalism, he +will let his fancy soar after the manner of Henry Kirby, in his +_Imaginative Sketches_; if on the contrary he has learned to think in +terms of the classic vernacular, Otto Rieth's _Architectur-Skizzen_ +will suggest the sort of thing that he is likely to produce. Both +results will be as remote as possible from future reality, for the +reason that they are so near to present reality. And yet some germs of +the future must be enfolded even in the present moment. The course +of wisdom is to seek them neither in the old romance nor in the new +rationalism, but in the subtle and ever-changing spirit of the times. + +[Illustration: PLATE IX. ARCHITECTURAL SKETCH BY OTTO RIETH] + +The most modern note yet sounded in business, in diplomacy, in social +life, is expressed by the phrase, "Live openly!" From every quarter, +in regard to every manner of human activity, has come the cry, "Let +in the light!" By a physical correspondence not the result of +coincidence, but of the operation of an occult law, we have, in a very +real sense, let in the light. In buildings of the latest type devoted +to large uses, there has been a general abandonment of that "cellular +system" of many partitions which produced the pepper-box exterior, in +favour of great rooms serving diverse functions lit by vast areas of +glass. Although an increase of efficiency has dictated and determined +these changes, this breaking down of barriers between human beings +and their common sharing of the light of day in fuller measure, is a +symbol of the growth of brotherhood, and the search, by the soul, for +spiritual light. + +Now if this fellowship and this quest gain volume and intensity, its +physical symbols are bound to multiply and find ever more perfect +forms of manifestation. So both as a practical necessity and as a +symbol the most pregnant and profound, we are likely to witness in +architecture the development of the House of Light, particularly as +human ingenuity has made this increasingly practicable. + +Glass is a product still undergoing development, as are also those +devices of metal for holding it in position and making the joints +weather tight. The accident and fire hazard has been largely overcome +by protecting the structural parts, by the use of wire glass, and +by other ingenious devices. The author has been informed on good +authority that shortly before the outbreak of the war a glass had been +invented abroad, and made commercially practicable, which shut out +the heat rays, but admitted the light. The use of this glass would +overcome the last difficulty--the equalization of temperatures--and +might easily result in buildings of an entirely novel type, the +approach to which is seen in the "pier and grill" style of exterior. +This is being adopted not only for commercial buildings, but for +others of widely different function, on account of its manifest +advantages. Cass Gilbert's admirable studio apartment at 200 West +Fifty-Seventh Street, New York, is a building of this type. + +In this seeking for sunlight in our cities, we will come to live on +the roofs more and more--in summer in the free air, in winter under +variformed shelters of glass. This tendency is already manifesting +itself in those newest hotels whose roofs are gardens, convertible +into skating ponds, with glazed belvideres for eating in all weathers. +Nothing but ignorance and inanition stand in the way of utilization of +waste roof spaces. People have lived on the roofs in the past, often +enough, and will again. + +[Illustration: PLATE X. RODIN STUDIOS, 200 WEST 57TH STREET, NEW YORK] + +By shouldering ever upward for air and light, we have too often +made of the "downtown" districts cliff-bound canyons--"granite deeps +opening into granite deeps." This has been the result of no inherent +necessity, but of that competitive greed whose nemesis is ever to +miss the very thing it seeks. By intelligent co-operation, backed +by legislation, the roads and sidewalks might be made to share the +sunlight with the roofs. + +This could be achieved in two ways: by stepping back the facades +in successive stages--giving top lighting, terraces, and wonderful +incidental effects of light and shade--or by adjusting the height of +the buildings to the width of their interspaces, making rows of tall +buildings alternate with rows of low ones, with occasional fully +isolated "skyscrapers" giving variety to the sky-line. + +These and similar problems of city planning have been worked out +theoretically with much minuteness of detail, and are known to every +student of the science of cities, but very little of it all has been +realized in a practical way--certainly not on this side of the water, +where individual rights are held so sacred that a property owner may +commit any kind of an architectural nuisance so long as he confines +it to his own front yard. The strength of IS, the weakness of _should +be_, conflicting interests and legislative cowardice are responsible +for the highly irrational manner in which our cities have grown great. + +The search for spiritual light in the midst of materialism finds +unconscious symbolization in a way other than this seeking for the +sun. It is in the amazing development of artificial illumination. From +a purely utilitarian standpoint there is almost nothing that cannot +now be accomplished with light, short of making the ether itself +luminiferous. The aesthetic development of this field, however, can be +said to have scarcely begun. The so recent San Francisco Exposition +witnessed the first successful effort of any importance to enhance the +effect of architecture by artificial illumination, and to use colored +light with a view to its purely pictorial value. Though certain +buildings have since been illuminated with excellent effect, it +remains true that the corset, chewing-gum, beer and automobile +sky signs of our Great White Ways indicate the height to which our +imagination has risen in utilizing this Promethean gift in any but +necessary ways. Interior lighting, except negatively, has not been +dealt with from the standpoint of beauty, but of efficiency; the +engineer has preempted this field to the exclusion of the artist. + +All this is the result of the atrophy of that faculty to worship and +wonder which alone induces the mood from which the creation of beauty +springs. Light we regard only as a convenience "to see things by" +instead of as the power and glory that it inherently is. Its intense +and potent vibrations and the rainbow glory of its colour beat at the +door of consciousness in vain. When we awaken to these things we shall +organize light into a language of spontaneous emotion, just as from +sound music was organized. + +It is beside the purpose of this essay to attempt to trace the +evolution of this new art form, made possible by modern invention, to +indicate what phases it is likely to pass through on the way to what +perfections, but that it is bound to add a new glory to architecture +is sure. This will come about in two ways: directly, by giving color, +quality, subtlety to outdoor and indoor lighting, and indirectly by +educating the eye to color values, as the ear has been educated by +music; thus creating a need for more color everywhere. + +As light is the visible symbol of an inner radiance, so is color the +sign manual of happiness, of joy. Our cities are so dun and drab in +their outward aspects, by reason of the weight of care that burdens +us down. We decry the happy irresponsibility of the savage, and the +patient contentment of the Oriental with his lot, but both are able +to achieve marvels of color in their environment beyond the compass +of civilized man. The glory of mediaeval cathedral windows is a still +living confutation of the belief that in those far-off times the human +heart was sad. Architecture is the index of the inner life of those +who produced it, and whenever it is colorful that inner life contains +an inner joy. + +In the coming Golden Age life will be joyous, and if it is joyous, +colour will come into architecture again. Our psychological state even +now, alone prevents it, for we are rich in materials and methods to +make such polychromy possible. In an article in a recent number +of _The Architectural Record_, Mr. Leon V. Solon, writing from an +entirely different point of view, divines this tendency, and expresses +the opinion that color is again renascent. This tendency is so marked, +and this opinion is so shared that we may look with confidence toward +a color-evolution in architectural art. + +The question of the character of what may be called the ornamental +mode of the architecture of the New Age is of all questions the most +obscure. Evolution along the lines of the already existent does not +help us here, for we are utterly without any ornamental mode from +which a new and better might conceivably evolve. Nothing so betrays +the spiritual bankruptcy of the end of the Iron Age as this. + +The only light on this problem which we shall find, dwells in the +realm of metaphysics rather than in the world of material reality. +Ornament, more than any other element of architecture, is deeply +psychological, it is an externalization of an inner life. This is +so true that any time-worn fragment out of the past when art was +a language can usually be assigned to its place and its period, so +eloquent is it of a particular people and a particular time. Could we +therefore detect and understand the obscure movement of consciousness +in the modern world, we might gain some clue to the language it would +later find. + +It is clear that consciousness is moving away from its absorption in +materiality because it is losing faith in materialism. Clairvoyance, +psychism, the recrudescence of mysticism, of occultism--these signs +of the times are straws which show which way the wind now sets, and +indicate that the modern mind is beginning to find itself at home in +what is called _the fourth dimension_. The phrase is used here in +a different sense from that in which the mathematician uses it, but +oddly enough four-dimensional geometry provides the symbols by +which some of these occult and mystical ideas may be realized by the +rational mind. One of the most engaging and inspiring of these +ideas is that the personal self is a _projection_ on the plane of +materiality of a metaphysical self, or soul, to which the personal +self is related as is the shadow of an object to the object +itself. Now this coincides remarkably with the idea implicit in all +higher-space speculation, that the figures of solid geometry +are projections on a space of three dimensions, of corresponding +four-dimensional forms. + +All ornament is in its last analysis geometrical--sometimes directly +so, as in the system developed by the Moors. Will the psychology +of the new dispensation find expression through some adaptation of +four-dimensional geometry? The idea is far from absurd, by reason of +the decorative quality inherent in many of the regular hypersolids of +four-dimensional space when projected upon solid and plane space. + +If this suggestion seems too fanciful, there is still recourse to the +law of analogy in finding the thing we seek. Every fresh religious +impulse has always developed a symbology through which its truths are +expressed and handed down. These symbols, woven into the very texture +of the life of the people, are embodied by them in their ornamental +mode. The sculpture of a Greek temple is a picture-book of Greek +religion; the ornamentation of a Gothic cathedral is a veritable bible +of the Christian faith. Almost all of the most beautiful and enduring +ornaments have first been sacred symbols; the swastika, the "Eye of +Buddha," the "Shield of David," the wheel, the lotus, and the cross. + +Now that "twilight of the world" following the war perhaps will +witness an _Avatara_--the coming of a World-Teacher who will rebuild +on the one broad and ancient foundation that temple of Truth which +the folly and ignorance of man is ever tearing down. A material +counterpart of that temple will in that case afterward arise. Thus +will be born the architecture of the future; and the ornament of that +architecture will tell, in a new set of symbols, the story of the +rejuvenation of the world. + +In this previsioning of architecture after the war, the author +must not be understood to mean that these things will be realized +_directly_ after. Architecture, from its very nature, is the most +sluggish of all the arts to respond to the natural magic of the +quick-moving mind--it is Caliban, not Ariel. Following the war the +nation will be for a time depleted of man-power, burdened with +debt, prostrate, exhausted. But in that time of reckoning will come +reflection, penitence. + + "And I'll be wise hereafter, + And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass + Was I, to take this drunkard for a god, + And worship this dull fool." + +With some such epilogue the curtain will descend on the great drama +now approaching a close. It will be for the younger generations, the +reincarnate souls of those who fell in battle, to inaugurate the work +of giving expression, in deathless forms of art, to the vision of that +"fairer world" glimpsed now only as by lightning, in a dream. + +[Illustration] + + + + +ESSAYS + + + + +ORNAMENT FROM MATHEMATICS + +I + +THE WORLD ORDER + + +No fact is better established than that we live in an _orderly_ +universe. The truth of this the world-war may for the moment, and to +the near and narrow view appear to contradict, but the sweep of human +history, and the stars in their courses, show an orderliness which +cannot be gainsaid. + +Now of that order, _number_--that is, mathematics--is the more than +symbol, it is the very thing itself. Whence this weltering tide of +life arose, and whither it flows, we know not; but that it is governed +by mathematical law all of our knowledge in every field confirms. Were +it not so, knowledge itself would be impossible. It is because man is +a counting animal that he is master over all the beasts of the earth. + +Number is the tune to which all things move, and as it were make +music; it is in the pulses of the blood no less than in the starred +curtain of the sky. It is a necessary concomitant alike of the sharp +bargain, the chemical experiment, and the fine frenzy of the poet. +Music is number made audible; architecture is number made visible; +nature geometrizes not alone in her crystals, but in her most +intricate arabesques. + +If number be indeed the universal solvent of all forms, sounds, +motions, may we not make of it the basis of a new aesthetic--a loom on +which to weave patterns the like of which the world has never seen? To +attempt such a thing--to base art on mathematics--argues (some one +is sure to say) an entire misconception of the nature and function of +art. "Art is a fountain of spontaneous emotion"--what, therefore, +can it have in common with the proverbially driest, least spontaneous +preoccupation of the human mind? But the above definition concludes +with the assertion that this emotion reaches the soul "through various +channels." The transit can be effected only through some sensuous +element, some language (in the largest sense), and into this the +element of number and form must inevitably enter--mathematics is +"there" and cannot be thought or argued away. + +[Illustration: PLATE XI. IMAGINARY COMPOSITION: THE PORTAL] + +But to make mathematics, and not the emotion which it expresses, the +important thing, is not this to fall into the time-worn heresy of +art for art's sake, that is, art for form's sake--art for the sake of +mathematics? To this objection there is an answer, and as this answer +contains the crux of the whole matter, embraces the proposition by +which this thesis must stand or fall, it must be full and clear. + +What is it, in the last analysis, that all art which is not +purely personal and episodical strives to express? Is it not the +_world-order_?--the very thing that religion, philosophy, science, +strive according to their different natures and methods to express? +The perception of the world-order by the artist arouses an emotion to +which he can give vent only in terms of number; but number is itself +the most abstract expression of the world order. The form and content +of art are therefore not different, but the same. A deep sense of this +probably inspired Pater's famous saying that all art aspires toward +the condition of music; for music, from its very nature, is the +world-order uttered in terms of number, in a sense and to a degree not +attained by any other art. + +This is not mere verbal juggling. We have suffered so long from an +art-phase which exalts the personal, as opposed to the cosmic, that +we have lost sight of the fact that the great arts of antiquity, +preceding the Renaissance, insisted on the cosmic, or impersonal +aspect, and on this alone, just as does Oriental art, even today. +The secret essence, the archetypal idea of the subject is the +preoccupation of the Oriental artist, as it was of the Egyptian, +and of the Greek. We of the West today seek as eagerly to fix the +accidental and ephemeral aspect--the shadow of a particular cloud upon +a particular landscape; the smile on the face of a specific person, in +a recognizable room, at a particular moment of time. Of symbolic art, +of universal emotion expressing itself in terms which are universal, +we have very little to show. + +The reason for this is first, our love for, and understanding of, +the concrete and personal: it is the _world-aspect_ and not the +_world-order_ which interests us; and second, the inadequacies of +current forms of art expression to render our sense of the eternal +secret heart of things as it presents itself to our young eyes. +Confronted with this difficulty, we have shirked it, and our ambition +has shrunk to the portrayal of those aspects which shuffle our poverty +out of sight. It is not a poverty of technique--we are dexterous +enough; nor is it a poverty of invention--we are clever enough; it is +the poverty of the spiritual bankrupt trying to divert attention by a +prodigal display of the smallest of small change. + +Reference is made here only to the arts of space; the arts of +time--music, poetry, and the (written) drama--employing vehicles more +flexible, have been more fortunate, though they too suffer in some +degree from worshipping, instead of the god of order, the god of +chance. + +The corrective of this is a return to first principles: principles so +fundamental that they suffer no change, however new and various their +illustrations. These principles are embodied in number, and one might +almost say nowhere else in such perfection. Mathematics is not the +dry and deadly thing that our teaching of it and the uses we put it +to have made it seem. Mathematics is the handwriting on the human +consciousness of the very Spirit of Life itself. Others before +Pythagoras discovered this, and it is the discovery which awaits us +too. + +To indicate the way in which mathematics might be made to yield the +elements of a new aesthetic is beyond the province of this essay, being +beyond the compass of its author, but he makes bold to take a single +phase: ornament, and to deal with it from this point of view. + +The ornament now in common use has been gathered from the dust-bin +of the ages. What ornamental _motif_ of any universality, worth, or +importance is less than a hundred years old? We continue to use the +honeysuckle, the acanthus, the fret, the egg and dart, not because +they are appropriate to any use we put them to, but because they are +beautiful _per se_. Why are they beautiful? It is not because they +are highly conventionalized representations of natural forms which +are themselves beautiful, but because they express cosmic truths. The +honeysuckle and the acanthus leaf, for example, express the idea +of successive impulses, mounting, attaining a maximum, and +descending--expanding from some focus of force in the manner universal +throughout nature. Science recognizes in the spiral an archetypal +form, whether found in a whirlpool or in a nebula. A fret is a series +of highly conventionalized spirals: translate it from angular to +curved and we have the wave-band; isolate it and we have the volute. +Egg and dart are phallic emblems, female and male; or, if you prefer, +as ellipse and straight line, they are symbols of finite existence +contrasted with infinity. [Figure 1.] + +[Illustration: Figure 1.] + +Suppose that we determine to divest ourselves of these and other +precious inheritances, not because they have lost their beauty and +meaning, but rather on account of their manifold associations with a +past which the war makes suddenly more remote than slow centuries have +done; suppose that we determine to supplant these symbols with others +no less charged with beauty and meaning, but more directly drawn from +the inexhaustible well of mathematical truth--how shall we set to +work? + +We need not _set_ to work, because we have done that already, we are +always doing it, unknowingly, and without knowing the reason why. All +ornamentalists are subjective mathematicians--an amazing statement, +perhaps, but one susceptible of confirmation in countless amusing +ways, of which two will be shown. + +[Illustration: Figure 2.] + +Consider first your calendar--your calendar whose commonplace face, +having yielded you information as to pay day, due day, and holiday, +you obliterate at the end of each month without a qualm, oblivious to +the fact that were your interests less sordid and personal it would +speak to you of that order which pervades the universe; would make you +realize something of the music of the spheres. For on that familiar +checkerboard of the days are numerical arrangements which are +mysterious, "magical"; each separate number is as a spider at the +center of an amazing mathematical web. That is to say, every number +is discovered to be half of the sum of the pairs of numbers which +surround it, vertically, horizontally, and diagonally: all of the +pairs add to the same sum, and the central number divides this sum by +two. A graphic indication of this fact on the calendar face by means +of a system of intersecting lines yields that form of classic grille +dear to the heart of every tyro draughtsman. [Figure 2.] Here is +an evident relation between mathematical fact and ornamental mode, +whether the result of accident, or by reason of some subconscious +connection between the creative and the reasoning part of the mind. + +To show, by means of an example other than this acrostic of the days, +how the pattern-making instinct follows unconsciously in the groove +traced out for it by mathematics, the attention of the reader is +directed to the design of the old Colonial bed-spread shown in Figure +3. Adjacent to this, in the upper right hand corner, is a magic +square of four. That is, all of the columns of figures of which it is +composed: vertical, horizontal and diagonal add to the same sum: 34. +An analysis of this square reveals the fact that it is made up of +the figures of two different orders of counting: the ordinary order, +beginning at the left hand upper corner and reading across and down in +the usual way, and the reverse-ordinary, beginning at the lower right +hand corner and reading across and up. The figures in the four central +cells and in the four outside corner cells are discovered to belong +in the first category, and the remaining figures in the second. Now +if the ordinary order cells be represented by white, and the reverse +ordinary by black, just such a pattern has been created as forms the +decorative motif of the quilt. + +It may be claimed that these two examples of a relation between +ornament and mathematics are accidental and therefore prove nothing, +but they at least furnish a clue which the artist would be foolish not +to follow up. Let him attack his problem this time directly, and +see if number may not be made to yield the thing he seeks: namely, +space-rhythms which are beautiful and new. + +We know that there is a beauty inherent in _order_, that necessity of +one sort or another is the parent of beauty. Beauty in architecture +is largely the result of structural necessity; beauty in ornament +may spring from a necessity which is numerical. It is clear that the +arrangement of numbers in a magic square is necessitous--they must be +placed in a certain way in order that the summation of every column +shall be the same. The problem then becomes to make that necessity +reveal itself to the eye. Now most magic squares contain a _magic +path_, discovered by following the numbers from cell to cell in +their natural order. Because this is a necessitous line it should not +surprise us that it is frequently beautiful as well. + +[Illustration: Figure 3.] + +The left hand drawing in Figure 4 represents the smallest aggregation +of numbers that is capable of magic square arrangement. Each vertical, +horizontal, and corner diagonal column adds up to 15, and the sum of +any two opposite numbers is 10, which is twice the center number. The +magic path is the endless line developed by following, free hand, the +numbers in their natural order, from 1 to 9 and back to 1 again. The +drawing at the right of Figure 4 is this same line translated into +ornament by making an interlace of it, and filling in the larger +interstices with simple floral forms. This has been executed in white +plaster and made to perform the function of a ventilating grille. + +Now the number of magic squares is practically limitless, and while +all of them do not yield magic lines of the beauty of this one, some +contain even richer decorative possibilities. But there are also other +ways of deriving ornament from magic squares, already hinted at in the +discussion of the Colonial quilt. + +[Illustration: Figure 4.] + +[Illustration: Figure 5.] + +Magic squares of an even number of cells are found sometimes to +consist of numbers arranged not only in combinations of the ordinary +and the reverse ordinary orders of counting, but involving two others +as well: the reverse of the ordinary (beginning at the upper right +hand, across, and down) and the reversed inverse, (beginning at the +lower left hand, across, and up). If, in such a magic square, a simple +graphic symbol be substituted for the numbers belonging to each order, +pattern spontaneously springs to life. Figures 5 and 6 exemplify the +method, and Figures 7 and 8 the translation of some of these squares +into richer patterns by elaborating the symbols while respecting their +arrangement. By only a slight stretch of the imagination the beautiful +pierced stone screen from Ravenna shown in Figure 9 might be conceived +of as having been developed according to this method, although of +course it was not so in fact. Some of the arrangements shown in Figure +6 are closely paralleled in the acoustic figures made by means of +musical tones with sand, on a sheet of metal or glass. + +[Illustration: Figure 6.] + +[Illustration: Figure 7.] + +The celebrated Franklin square of 16 cells can be made to yield a +beautiful pattern by designating some of the lines which give the +summation of 2056 by different symbols, as shown in Figure 10. A free +translation of this design into pattern brickwork is indicated in +Figure 11. + +If these processes seem unduly involved and elaborate for the +achievement of a simple result--like burning the house down in +order to get roast pig--there are other more simple ways of deriving +ornament from mathematics, for the truths of number find direct and +perfect expression in the figures of geometry. The squaring of +a number--the raising of it to its second power--finds graphic +expression in the plane figure of the square; and the cubing of a +number--the raising of it to its third power--in the solid figure +of the cube. Now squares and cubes have been recognized from time +immemorial as useful ornamental motifs. Other elementary geometrical +figures, making concrete to the eye the truths of abstract number, may +be dealt with by the designer in such a manner as to produce ornament +the most varied and profuse. Moorish ceilings, Gothic window tracery, +Grolier bindings, all indicate the richness of the field. + +[Illustration: Figure 8.] + +[Illustration: PLATE XII. IMAGINARY COMPOSITION. THE BALCONY] + +[Illustration: Figure 9.] + +Suppose, for example, that we attempt to deal decoratively which such +simple figures as the three lowest Platonic solids--the tetrahedron, +the hexahedron, and the octahedron. [Figure 12.] Their projection on a +plane yields a rhythmical division of space, because of their inherent +symmetry. These projections would correspond to the network of lines +seen in looking through a glass paperweight of the given shape, the +lines being formed by the joining of the several faces. Figure 13 +represents ornamental bands developed in this manner. The dodecahedron +and icosahedron, having more faces, yield more intricate patterns, and +there is no limit to the variety of interesting designs obtainable by +these direct and simple means. + +[Illustration: Figure 10.] + +If the author has been successful thus far in his exposition, it +should be sufficiently plain that from the inexhaustible well of +mathematics fresh beauty may be drawn. But what of its significance? +Ornament must _mean something_; it must have some relation to the +dominant ideation of the day; it must express the psychological mood. + +What is the psychological mood? Ours is an age of transition; we live +in a changing world. On the one hand we witness the breaking up of +many an old thought crystal, on the other we feel the pressure of +those forces which shall create the new. What is nature's first +visible creative act? The formation of a geometrical crystal. The +artist should take this hint, and organize geometry into a new +ornamental mode; by so doing he will prove himself to be in relation +to the _anima mundi_. It is only by the establishment of such a +relation that new beauty comes to birth in the world. + +[Illustration: Figure 11.] + +Ornament in its primitive manifestations is geometrical rather than +naturalistic. This is in a manner strange, that the abstract and +metaphysical thing should precede the concrete and sensuous. It would +be natural to suppose that man would first imitate the things which +surround him, but the most cursory acquaintance with primitive art +shows that he is much more apt to crudely geometrize. Now it is +not necessary to assume that we are to revert to the conditions of +savagery in order to believe that in this matter of a sound aesthetic +we must begin where art has always begun--with number and geometry. +Nevertheless there is a subtly ironic view which one is justified in +holding in regard to quite obvious aspects of American life, in the +light of which that life appears to have rather more in common with +savagery than with culture. + +[Illustration: Figure 12.] + +[Illustration: Figure 13.] + +The submersion of scholarship by athletics in our colleges is a case +in point, the contest of muscles exciting much more interest and +enthusiasm than any contest of wits. We persist in the savage habit of +devouring the corpses of slain animals long after the necessity for it +is past, and some even murder innocent wild creatures, giving to their +ferocity the name of sport. Our women bedeck themselves with furs and +feathers, the fruit of mercenary and systematic slaughter; we perform +orgiastic dances to the music of horns and drums and cymbals--in +short, we have the savage psychology without its vital religious +instinct and its sure decorative sense for color and form. + +But this is of course true only of the surface and sunlit shadows of +the great democratic tide. Its depths conceal every kind of subtlety +and sophistication, high endeavour, and a response to beauty and +wisdom of a sort far removed from the amoeba stage of development +above sketched. Of this latter stage the simple figures of Euclidian +plane and solid geometry--figures which any child can understand--are +the appropriate symbols, but for that other more developed state of +consciousness--less apparent but more important--these will not do. +Something more sophisticated and recondite must be sought for if we +are to have an ornamental mode capable of expressing not only the +simplicity but the complexity of present-day psychology. This need not +be sought for outside the field of geometry, but within it, and by +an extension of the methods already described. There is an altogether +modern development of the science of mathematics: the geometry of +four dimensions. This represents the emancipation of the mind from +the tyranny of mere appearances; the turning of consciousness in a +new direction. It has therefore a high symbolical significance as +typifying that movement away from materialism which is so marked a +phenomenon of the times. + +Of course to those whose notion of the fourth dimension is akin to +that of a friend of the author who described it as "a wagon-load +of bung-holes," the idea of getting from it any practical advantage +cannot seem anything but absurd. There is something about this form +of words "the fourth dimension" which seems to produce a sort of +mental-phobia in certain minds, rendering them incapable of perception +or reason. Such people, because they cannot stick their cane into it +contend that the fourth dimension has no mathematical or philosophical +validity. As ignorance on this subject is very general, the following +essay will be devoted to a consideration of the fourth dimension and +its relation to a new ornamental mode. + +[Illustration] + + + + +II + +THE FOURTH DIMENSION + + +The subject of the fourth dimension is not an easy one to understand. +Fortunately the artist in design does not need to penetrate far into +these fascinating halls of thought in order to reap the advantage +which he seeks. Nevertheless an intention of mind upon this +"fairy-tale of mathematics" cannot fail to enlarge his intellectual +and spiritual horizons, and develop his imagination--that finest +instrument in all his chest of tools. + +By way of introduction to the subject Prof. James Byrnie Shaw, in an +article in the _Scientific Monthly_, has this to say: + + Up to the period of the Reformation algebraic equations of + more than the third degree were frowned upon as having no + real meaning, since there is no fourth power or dimension. + But about one hundred years ago this chimera became an actual + existence, and today it is furnishing a new world to physics, + in which mechanics may become geometry, time be co-ordinated + with space, and every geometric theorem in the world is a + physical theorem in the experimental world in study in the + laboratory. Startling indeed it is to the scientist to be told + that an artificial dream-world of the mathematician is + more real than that he sees with his galvanometers, + ultra-microscopes, and spectroscopes. It matters little that + he replies, "Your four-dimensional world is only an analytic + explanation of my phenomena," for the fact remains a fact, + that in the mathematician's four-dimensional space there is + a space not derived in any sense of the term as a residue of + experience, however powerful a distillation of sensations or + perceptions be resorted to, for it is not contained at all in + the fluid that experience furnishes. It is a product of the + creative power of the mathematical mind, and its objects are + real in exactly the same way that the cube, the square, the + circle, the sphere or the straight line. We are enabled to see + with the penetrating vision of the mathematical insight that + no less real and no more real are these fantastic forms of the + world of relativity than those supposed to be uncreatable or + indestructible in the play of the forces of nature. + +These "fantastic forms" alone need concern the artist. If by some +potent magic he can precipitate them into the world of sensuous images +so that they make music to the eye, he need not even enter into the +question of their reality, but in order to achieve this transmutation +he should know something, at least, of the strange laws of their +being, should lend ear to a fairy-tale in which each theorem is a +paradox, and each paradox a mathematical fact. + +He must conceive of a space of four mutually independent directions; a +space, that is, having a direction at right angles to every direction +that we know. We cannot point to this, we cannot picture it, but we +can reason about it with a precision that is all but absolute. In such +a space it would of course be possible to establish four axial lines, +all intersecting at a point, and all mutually at right angles with one +another. Every hyper-solid of four-dimensional space has these four +axes. + +The regular hyper-solids (analogous to the Platonic solids of +three-dimensional space) are the "fantastic forms" which will prove +useful to the artist. He should learn to lure them forth along them +axis lines. That is, let him build up his figures, space by space, +developing them from lower spaces to higher. But since he cannot enter +the fourth dimension, and build them there, nor even the third--if he +confines himself to a sheet of paper--he must seek out some form of +_representation_ of the higher in the lower. This is a process with +which he is already acquainted, for he employs it every time he makes +a perspective drawing, which is the representation of a solid on +a plane. All that is required is an extension of the method: a +hyper-solid can be represented in a figure of three dimensions, and +this in turn can be projected on a plane. The achieved result will +constitute a perspective of a perspective--the representation of a +representation. + +This may sound obscure to the uninitiated, and it is true that the +plane projection of some of the regular hyper-solids are staggeringly +intricate affairs, but the author is so sure that this matter lies so +well within the compass of the average non-mathematical mind that he +is willing to put his confidence to a practical test. + +It is proposed to develop a representation of the tesseract or +hyper-cube on the paper of this page, that is, on a space of two +dimensions. Let us start as far back as we can: with a point. +This point, a, [Figure 14] is conceived to move in a direction w, +developing the line a b. This line next moves in a direction at right +angles to w, namely, x, a distance equal to its length, forming +the square a b c d. Now for the square to develop into a cube by a +movement into the third dimension it would have to move in a direction +at right angles to both w and x, that is, out of the plane of the +paper--away from it altogether, either up or down. This is not +possible, of course, but the third direction can be _represented_ on +the plane of the paper. + +[Illustration: Figure 14. TWO PROJECTIONS OF THE HYPERCUBE OR +TESSERACT, AND THEIR TRANSLATION INTO ORNAMENT.] + + +Let us represent it as diagonally downward toward the right, namely, +y. In the y direction, then, and at a distance equal to the length +of one of the sides of the square, another square is drawn, a'b'c'd', +representing the original square at the end of its movement into the +third dimension; and because in that movement the bounding points of +the square have traced out lines (edges), it is necessary to connect +the corresponding corners of the two squares by means of lines. This +completes the figure and achieves the representation of a cube on a +plane by a perfectly simple and familiar process. Its six faces +are easily identified by the eye, though only two of them appear as +squares owing to the exigencies of representation. + +Now for a leap into the abyss, which won't be so terrifying, since +it involves no change of method. The cube must move into the fourth +dimension, developing there a hyper-cube. This is impossible, for +the reason the cube would have to move out of our space +altogether--three-dimensional space will not contain a hyper-cube. But +neither is the cube itself contained within the plane of the paper; +it is only there _represented_. The y direction had to be imagined and +then arbitrarily established; we can arbitrarily establish the fourth +direction in the same way. As this is at right angles to y, its +indication may be diagonally downward and to the left--the direction +z. As y is known to be at right angles both to w and to x, z is at +right angles to all three, and we have thus established the four +mutually perpendicular axes necessary to complete the figure. + +The cube must now move in the z direction (the fourth dimension) +a distance equal to the length of one of its sides. Just as we did +previously in the case of the square, we draw the cube in its new +position (ABB'D'C'C) and also as before we connect each apex of the +first cube with the corresponding apex of the other, because each of +these points generates a line (an edge), each line a plane, and +each plane a solid. This is the tesseract or hyper-cube in plane +projection. It has the 16 points, 32 lines, and 8 cubes known to +compose the figure. These cubes occur in pairs, and may be readily +identified.[1] + +The tesseract as portrayed in A, Figure 14, is shown according to the +conventions of oblique, or two-point perspective; it can equally be +represented in a manner correspondent to parallel perspective. The +parallel perspective of a cube appears as a square inside another +square, with lines connecting the four vertices of the one with those +of the other. The third dimension (the one beyond the plane of the +paper) is here conceived of as being not beyond the boundaries of the +first square, but _within_ them. We may with equal propriety conceive +of the fourth dimension as a "beyond which is within." In that case +we would have a rendering of the tesseract as shown in B, Figure 14: +a cube within a cube, the space between the two being occupied by six +truncated pyramids, each representing a cube. The large outside cube +represents the original generating cube at the beginning of its motion +into the fourth dimension, and the small inside cube represents it at +the end of that motion. + +[Illustration: PLATE XIII. IMAGINARY COMPOSITION: THE AUDIENCE +CHAMBER] + +These two projections of the tesseract upon plane space are not the +only ones possible, but they are typical. Some idea of the variety of +aspects may be gained by imagining how a nest of inter-related cubes +(made of wire, so as to interpenetrate), combined into a single +symmetrical figure of three-dimensional space, would appear +from several different directions. Each view would yield new +space-subdivisions, and all would be rhythmical--susceptible, +therefore, of translation into ornament. C and D represent such +translations of A and B. + +In order to fix these unfamiliar ideas more firmly in the reader's +mind, let him submit himself to one more exercise of the creative +imagination, and construct, by a slightly different method, a +representation of a hexadecahedroid, or 16-hedroid, on a plane. This +regular solid of four-dimensional space consists of sixteen cells, +each a regular tetrahedron, thirty-two triangular faces, twenty-four +edges and eight vertices. It is the correlative of the octahedron of +three-dimensional space. + +First it is necessary to establish our four axes, all mutually +at right angles. If we draw three lines intersecting at a point, +subtending angles of 60 degrees each, it is not difficult to +conceive of these lines as being at right angles with one another +in three-dimensional space. The fourth axis we will assume to pass +vertically through the point of intersection of the three lines, +so that we see it only in cross-section, that is, as a point. It is +important to remember that all of the angles made by the four axes +are right angles--a thing possible only in a space of four dimensions. +Because the 16-hedroid is a symmetrical hyper-solid all of its +eight apexes will be equidistant from the centre of a containing +hyper-sphere, whose "surface" these will intersect at symmetrically +disposed points. These apexes are established in our representation by +describing a circle--the plane projection of the hyper-sphere--about +the central point of intersection of the axes. (Figure 15, left.) +Where each of these intersects the circle an apex of the 16-hedroid +will be established. From each apex it is now necessary to draw +straight lines to every other, each line representing one edge of the +sixteen tetrahedral cells. But because the two ends of the fourth axis +are directly opposite one another, and opposite the point of sight, +all of these lines fail to appear in the left hand diagram. It +therefore becomes necessary to _tilt_ the figure slightly, bringing +into view the fourth axis, much foreshortened, and with it, all of the +lines which make up the figure. The result is that projection of the +16-hedroid shown at the right of Figure 15.[2] Here is no fortuitous +arrangement of lines and areas, but the "shadow" cast by an +archetypal, figure of higher space upon the plane of our materiality. +It is a wonder, a mystery, staggering to the imagination, +contradictory to experience, but as well entitled to a place at the +high court of reason as are any of the more familiar figures with +which geometry deals. Translated into ornament it produces such an +all-over pattern as is shown in Figure 16 and the design which adorns +the curtains at right and left of pl. XIII. There are also other +interesting projections of the 16-hedroid which need not be gone into +here. + +[Illustration: Figure 15. DIRECT VIEW AXES SHOWN BY HEAVY LINES TILTED +VIEW APEXES SHOWN BY CIRCLES THE 16-HEDROID IN PLANE PROJECTION] + +For if the author has been successful in his exposition up to +this point, it should be sufficiently plain that the geometry +of four-dimensions is capable of yielding fresh and interesting +ornamental motifs. In carrying his demonstration farther, and in +multiplying illustrations, he would only be going over ground already +covered in his book _Projective Ornament_ and in his second Scammon +lecture. + +Of course this elaborate mechanism for producing quite obvious and +even ordinary decorative motifs may appear to some readers like +Goldberg's nightmare mechanics, wherein the most absurd and intricate +devices are made to accomplish the most simple ends. The author is +undisturbed by such criticisms. If the designs dealt with in this +chapter are "obvious and even ordinary" they are so for the reason +that they were chosen less with an eye to their interest and beauty +than as lending themselves to development and demonstration by an +orderly process which should not put too great a tax upon the patience +and intelligence of the reader. Four-dimensional geometry yields +numberless other patterns whose beauty and interest could not possibly +be impeached--patterns beyond the compass of the cleverest designer +unacquainted with projective geometry. + +[Illustration: Figure 16.] + +The great need of the ornamentalist is this or some other solid +foundation. Lacking it, he has been forced to build either on the +shifting sands of his own fancy, or on the wrecks and sediment of the +past. Geometry provides this sure foundation. We may have to work hard +and dig deep, but the results will be worth the effort, for only on +such a foundation can arise a temple which is beautiful and strong. + +In confirmation of his general contention that the basis of all +effective decoration is geometry and number, the author, in closing, +desires to direct the reader's attention to Figure 17 a slightly +modified rendering of the famous zodiacal ceiling of the Temple of +Denderah, in Egypt. A sun and its corona have been substituted for the +zodiacal signs and symbols which fill the centre of the original, for +except to an Egyptologist these are meaningless. In all essentials the +drawing faithfully follows the original--was traced, indeed, from a +measured drawing. + +[Illustration: Figure 17. CEILING DECORATION FROM THE TEMPLE OF +DENDERAH] + +Here is one of the most magnificent decorative schemes in the whole +world, arranged with a feeling for balance and rhythm exceeding the +power of the modern artist, and executed with a mastery beyond the +compass of a modern craftsman. The fact that first forces itself upon +the beholder is that the thing is so obviously mathematical in its +rhythms, that to reduce it to terms of geometry and number is a matter +of small difficulty. Compare the frozen music of these rhymed and +linked figures with the herded, confused, and cluttered compositions +of even our best decorative artists, and argument becomes +unnecessary--the fact stands forth that we have lost something +precious and vital out of art of which the ancients possessed the +secret. + +It is for the restoration of these ancient verities and the discovery +of new spatial rhythms--made possible by the advance of mathematical +science--that the author pleads. Artists, architects, designers, +instead of chewing the cud of current fashion, come into these +pastures new! + +[Illustration] + +[Footnote 1: The eight cubes in A, Figure 14, are as follows: +abb'd'c'c; ABB'D'C'C; abdDCA; a'b'd'D'C'A'; abb'B'A'A; cdd'D'C'C; +bb'd'D'DB; aa'c'C'CA.] + +[Footnote 2: The sixteen cells of the hexadehahedroid are as follows: +ABCD: A'B'C'D': AB'C'D': A'BCD: AB'CD: A'BC'D: ABC'D: A'B'CD': ABCD': +A'B'C'D: ABC'D': A'B'CD: A'BC'D: AB'CD': A'BCD': AB'C'D.] + + + + +HARNESSING THE RAINBOW + + +Reference was made in an antecedent essay to an art of light--of +mobile color--an abstract language of thought and emotion which should +speak to consciousness through the eye, as music speaks through the +ear. This is an art unborn, though quickening in the womb of the +future. The things that reflect light have been organized aesthetically +into the arts of architecture, painting, and sculpture, but light +itself has never been thus organized. + +And yet the scientific development and control of light has reached a +stage which makes this new art possible. It awaits only the advent of +the creative artist. The manipulation of light is now in the hands +of the illuminating engineers and its exploitation (in other than +necessary ways) in the hands of the advertisers. + +Some results of their collaboration are seen in the sky signs of upper +Broadway, in New York, and of the lake front, in Chicago. A carnival +of contending vulgarities, showing no artistry other than the most +puerile, these displays nevertheless yield an effect of amazing +beauty. This is on account of an occult property inherent in the +nature of light--_it cannot be vulgarized_. If the manipulation of +light were delivered into the hands of the artist, and dedicated +to noble ends, it is impossible to overestimate the augmentation of +beauty that would ensue. + +For light is a far more potent medium than sound. The sphere of sound +is the earth-sphere; the little limits of our atmosphere mark the +uttermost boundaries to which sound, even the most strident can +possibly prevail. But the medium of light is the ether, which links +us with the most distant stars. May not this serve as a symbol of the +potency of light to usher the human spirit into realms of being at the +doors of which music itself shall beat in vain? Or if we compare the +universe accessible to sight with that accessible to sound--the +plight of the blind in contrast to that of the deaf--there is the same +discrepancy; the field of the eye is immensely richer, more various +and more interesting than that of the ear. + +The difficulty appears to consist in the inferior impressionability +of the eye to its particular order of beauty. To the average man +color--as color--has nothing significant to say: to him grass is +green, snow is white, the sky blue; and to have his attention drawn to +the fact that sometimes grass is yellow, snow blue, and the sky green, +is disconcerting rather than illuminating. It is only when his retina +is assaulted by some splendid sunset or sky-encircling rainbow that +he is able to disassociate the idea of color from that of form and +substance. Even the artist is at a disadvantage in this respect, when +compared with the musician. Nothing in color knowledge and analysis +analogous to the established laws of musical harmony is part of the +equipment of the average artist; he plays, as it were, by ear. The +scientist, on the other hand, though he may know the spectrum from +end to end, and its innumerable modifications, values this "rainbow +promise of the Lord" not for its own beautiful sake but as a means +to other ends than those of beauty. But just as the art of music +has developed the ear into a fine and sensitive instrument of +appreciation, so an analogous art of light would educate the eye to +nuances of color to which it is now blind. + +[Illustration: PLATE XIV. SONG AND LIGHT: AN APPROACH TOWARD "COLOR +MUSIC"] + +It is interesting to speculate as to the particular form in which this +new art will manifest itself. The question is perhaps already answered +in the "color organ," the earliest of which was Bambridge Bishop's, +exhibited at the old Barnum's Museum--before the days of electric +light--and the latest A.W. Rimington's. Both of these instruments were +built upon a supposed correspondence between a given scale of colors, +and the musical chromatic scale; they were played from a musical score +upon an organ keyboard. This is sufficiently easy and sufficiently +obvious, and has been done, with varying success in one way or +another, time and again, but its very ease and obviousness should give +us pause. + +It may well be questioned whether any arbitrary and literal +translation, even though practicable, of a highly complex, intensely +mobile art, unfolding in time, as does music, into a correspondent +light and color expression, is the best approach to a new art of +mobile color. There is a deep and abiding conviction, justified by the +history of aesthetics, that each art-form must progress from its +own beginnings and unfold in its own unique and characteristic way. +Correspondences between the arts--such a correspondence, for +example, as inspired the famous saying that architecture is frozen +music--reveal themselves usually only after the sister arts have +attained an independent maturity. They owe their origin to that +underlying unity upon which our various modes of sensuous perception +act as a refracting medium, and must therefore be taken for granted. +Each art, like each individual, is unique and singular; in this +singularity dwells its most thrilling appeal. We are likely to miss +light's crowning glory, and the rainbow's most moving message to the +soul if we preoccupy ourselves too exclusively with the identities +existing between music and color; it is rather their points of +difference which should first be dwelt upon. + +Let us accordingly consider the characteristic differences between +the two sense-categories to which sound and light--music and +color--respectively belong. This resolves itself into a comparison +between time and space. The characteristic thing about time is +succession--hence the very idea of music, which is in time, involves +perpetual change. The characteristic of space, on the other hand, is +simultaneousness--in space alone perpetual immobility would reign. +That is why architecture, which is pre-eminently the art of space, is +of all the arts the most static. Light and color are essentially +of space, and therefore an art of mobile colour should never lack a +certain serenity and repose. A "tune" played on a color organ is only +distressing. If there is a workable correspondence between the musical +art and an art of mobile color, it will be found in the domain of +harmony which involves the idea of simultaneity, rather than in +melody, which is pure succession. This fundamental difference between +time and space cannot be over-emphasized. A musical note prolonged, +becomes at last scarcely tolerable; while a beautiful color, like the +blue of the sky, we can enjoy all day and every day. The changing hues +of a sunset, are _andante_ if referred to a musical standard, but to +the eye they are _allegretto_--we would have them pass less swiftly +than they do. The winking, chasing, changing lights of illuminated +sky-signs are only annoying, and for the same reason. The eye longs +for repose in some serene radiance or stately sequence, while the ear +delights in contrast and continual change. It may be that as the eye +becomes more educated it will demand more movement and complexity, but +a certain stillness and serenity are of the very nature of light, +as movement and passion are of the very nature of sound. Music is a +seeking--"love in search of a word"; light is a finding--a "divine +covenant." + +With attention still focussed on the differences rather than the +similarities between the musical art and a new art of mobile color, +we come next to the consideration of the matter of form. Now form +is essentially of space: we speak about the "form" of a musical +composition, but it is in a more or less figurative and metaphysical +sense, not as a thing concrete and palpable, like the forms of space. +It would be foolish to forego the advantage of linking up form with +colour, as there is opportunity to do. Here is another golden ball to +juggle with, one which no art purely in time affords. Of course it is +known that musical sounds weave invisible patterns in the air, and to +render these patterns perceptible to the eye may be one of the more +remote and recondite achievements of our uncreated art. Meantime, +though we have the whole treasury of natural forms to draw from, of +these we can only properly employ such as are _abstract_. The reason +for this is clear to any one who conceives of an art of mobile color, +not as a moving picture show--a thing of quick-passing concrete +images, to shock, to startle, or to charm--but as a rich and various +language in which light, proverbially the symbol of the spirit, is +made to speak, through the senses, some healing message to the soul. +For such a consummation, "devoutly to be wished," natural forms--forms +abounding in every kind of association with that world of materiality +from which we would escape--are out of place; recourse must be had +rather to abstract forms, that is, geometrical figures. And because +the more remote these are from the things of sense, from knowledge and +experience, the projected figures of four-dimensional geometry would +lend themselves to these uses with an especial grace. Color without +form is as a soul without a body; yet the body of light must be +without any taint of materiality. Four-dimensional forms are as +immaterial as anything that could be imagined and they could be made +to serve the useful purpose of separating colors one from another, +as lead lines do in old cathedral windows, than which nothing more +beautiful has ever been devised. + +Coming now to the consideration, not of differences, but similarities, +it is clear that a correspondence can be established between the +colors of the spectrum and the notes of a musical scale. That is, +the spectrum, considered as the analogue of a musical octave can +be subdivided into twelve colors which may be representative of +the musical chromatic scale of twelve semi-tones: the very word, +_chromatic_, being suggestive of such a correspondence between sound +and light. The red end of the spectrum would naturally relate to the +low notes of the musical scale, and the violet end to the high, by +reason of the relative rapidity of vibration in each case; for the +octave of a musical note sets the air vibrating twice as rapidly as +does the note itself, and roughly speaking, the same is true of the +end colors of the spectrum with relation to the ether. + +But assuming that a color scale can be established which would yield +a color correlative to any musical note or chord, there still remains +the matter of _values_ to be dealt with. In the musical scale there is +a practical equality of values: one note is as potent as another. In +a color scale, on the other hand, each note (taken at its greatest +intensity) has a positive value of its own, and they are all +different. These values have no musical correlatives, they belong to +color _per se_. Every colorist knows that the whole secret of beauty +and brilliance dwells in a proper understanding and adjustment of +values, and music is powerless to help him here. Let us therefore +defer the discussion of this musical parallel, which is full of +pitfalls, until we have made some examination into such simple +emotional reactions as color can be discovered to yield. The musical +art began from the emotional response to certain simple tones and +combinations, and the delight of the ear in their repetition and +variation. + +On account of our undeveloped sensitivity, the emotional reactions +to color are found to be largely personal and whimsical: one person +"loves" pink, another purple, or green. Color therapeutics is too +new a thing to be relied upon for data, for even though colors +are susceptible of classification as sedative, recuperative and +stimulating, no two classifications arrived at independently would be +likely to correspond. Most people appear to prefer bright, pure +colors when presented to them in small areas, red and blue being +the favourites. Certain data have been accumulated regarding the +physiological effect and psychological value of different colors, but +this order of research is in its infancy, and we shall have recourse, +therefore, to theory, in the absence of any safer guide. + +One of the theories which may be said to have justified itself in +practice in a different field is that upon which is based Delsarte's +famous art of expression. It has schooled some of the finest actors +in the world, and raised others from mediocrity to distinction. The +Delsarte system is founded upon the idea that man is a triplicity of +physical, emotional, and intellectual qualities or attributes, and +that the entire body and every part thereof conforms to, and expresses +this triplicity. The generative and digestive region corresponds with +the physical nature, the breast with the emotional, and the head +with the intellectual; "below" represents the nadir of ignorance and +dejection, "above" the zenith of wisdom and spiritual power. +This seems a natural, and not an arbitrary classification, having +interesting confirmations and correspondencies, both in the outer +world of form, and in the inner world of consciousness. Moreover, it +is in accord with that theosophic scheme derived from the ancient and +august wisdom of the East, which longer and better than any other +has withstood the obliterating action of slow time, and is even now +renascent. Let us therefore attempt to classify the colors of the +spectrum according to this theory, and discover if we can how nearly +such a classification is conformable to reason and experience. + +The red end of the spectrum, being lowest in vibratory rate, would +correspond to the physical nature, proverbially more sluggish than the +emotional and mental. The phrase "like a red rag to a bull," suggests +a relation between the color red and the animal consciousness +established by observation. The "low-brow" is the dear lover of the +red necktie; the "high-brow" is he who sees violet shadows on the +snow. We "see red" when we are dominated by ignoble passion. Though +the color green is associated with the idea of jealousy, it is +associated also with the idea of sympathy, and jealousy in the last +analysis is the fear of the loss of sympathy; it belongs, at all +events to the mediant, or emotional group of colors; while blue and +violet are proverbially intellectual and spiritual colors, and +their place in the spectrum therefore conforms to the demands of our +theoretical division. Here, then, is something reasonably certain, +certainly reasonable, and may serve as an hypothesis to be confirmed +or confuted by subsequent research. Coming now finally to the +consideration of the musical parallel, let us divide a color scale of +twelve steps or semi-tones into three groups; each group, graphically +portrayed, subtending one-third of the arc of a circle. The first or +red group will be related to the physical nature, and will consist of +purple-red, red, red-orange, and orange. The second, or green group +will be related to the emotional nature, and will consist of yellow, +yellow-green, green, and green-blue. The third, or blue group will be +related to the intellectual and spiritual nature, and will consist +of blue, blue-violet, violet and purple. The merging of purple into +purple-red will then correspond to the meeting place of the +highest with the lowest, "spirit" and "matter." We conceive of this +meeting-place symbolically as the "heart"--the vital centre. Now +"sanguine" is the appropriate name associated with the color of +the blood--a color between purple and purple-red. It is logical, +therefore, to regard this point in our color-scale as its +tonic--"middle C"--though each color, just as in music each note, is +itself the tonic of a scale of its own. + +Mr. Louis Wilson--the author of the above "ophthalmic color scale" +makes the same affiliation between sanguine, or blood color, and +middle C, led thereto by scientific reasons entirely unassociated with +symbolism. He has omitted orange-yellow and violet-purple; this +makes the scale conform more exactly with the diatonic scale of +two tetra-chords; it also gives a greater range of purples, a color +indispensable to the artist. Moreover, in the scale as it stands, each +color is exactly opposite its true spectral complementary. + +The color scale being thus established and broadly divided, the next +step is to find how well it justifies itself in practice. The most +direct way would be to translate the musical chords recognized and +dealt with in the science of harmony into their corresponding color +combinations. + +For the benefit of such readers as have no knowledge of musical +harmony it should be said that the entire science of harmony is based +upon the _triad_, or chord of three notes, and that there are various +kinds of triads: the major, the minor, the augmented, the diminished, +and the altered. The major triad consists of the first note of the +diatonic scale, or tonic; its third, and its fifth. The minor triad +differs from the major only in that the second member is lowered a +semi-tone. The augmented triad differs from the major only in that the +third member is raised a semi-tone. The diminished triad differs from +the minor only in that the third member is lowered a semi-tone. The +altered triad is a chord different by a semi-tone from any of the +above. + +The major triad in color is formed by taking any one of the twelve +color-centers of the ophthalmic color scale as the first member of +the triad; and, reading up the scale, the fifth step (each step +representing a semi-tone) determines the second member, while the +third member is found in the eighth step. The minor triad in color is +formed by lowering the second member of the major triad one step; the +augmented triad by raising the third member of the major triad one +step, and the diminished triad by lowering the third member of the +minor triad one step. + +[Illustration: Figure 18. MAJOR TRIAD, MINOR TRIAD, AUGMENTED TRIAD, +DIMINISHED TRIAD] + +These various triads are shown graphically in Figure 18 as +triangles within a circle divided into twelve equal parts, each part +representing a semi-tone of the chromatic scale. It is seen at a +glance that in every case each triad has one of its notes (an apex) in +or immediately adjacent to a different one of the grand divisions of +the colour scale hereinbefore established and described, and that the +same thing would be true in any "key": that is, by any variation of +the point of departure. + +This certainly satisfies the mind in that it suggests variety in +unity, balance, completeness, and in the actual portrayal, in color, +of these chords in any "key" this judgment is confirmed by the eye, +provided that the colors have been thrown into proper _harmonic +suppression_. By this is meant such an adjustment of relative values, +or such an establishment of relative proportions as will produce the +maximum of beauty of which any given combination is capable. This +matter imperatively demands an aesthetic sense the most sensitive. + +So this "musical parallel," interesting and reasonable as it is, will +not carry the color harmonist very far, and if followed too literally +it is even likely to hamper him in the higher reaches of his art, +for some of the musical dissonances are of great beauty in color +translation. All that can safely be said in regard to the musical +parallel in its present stage of development is that it simplifies and +systematizes color knowledge and experiment and to a beginner it is +highly educational. + +If we are to have color symphonies, the best are not likely to be +those based on a literal translation of some musical masterpiece into +color according to this or any theory, but those created by persons +who are emotionally reactive to this medium, able to imagine in color, +and to treat it imaginatively. The most beautiful mobile color effects +yet witnessed by the author were produced on a field only five inches +square, by an eminent painter quite ignorant of music; while some of +the most unimpressive have been the result of a rigid adherence to the +musical parallel by persons intent on cutting, with this sword, this +Gordian knot. + +Into the subject of means and methods it is not proposed to enter, nor +to attempt to answer such questions as to whether the light shall be +direct or projected; whether the spectator, wrapped in darkness, shall +watch the music unfold at the end of some mysterious vista, or +whether his whole organism shall be played upon by powerful waves +of multi-coloured light. These coupled alternatives are not mutually +exclusive, any more than the idea of an orchestra is exclusive of that +of a single human voice. + +In imagining an art of mobile color unconditioned by considerations +of mechanical difficulty or of expense, ideas multiply in truly +bewildering profusion. Sunsets, solar coronas, star spectra, auroras +such as were never seen on sea or land; rainbows, bubbles, rippling +water; flaming volcanoes, lava streams of living light--these and a +hundred other enthralling and perfectly realizable effects suggest +themselves. What Israfil of the future will pour on mortals this new +"music of the spheres"? + + + + +LOUIS SULLIVAN + +PROPHET OF DEMOCRACY + + +Due tribute has been paid to Mr. Louis Sullivan as an architect in +the first essay of this volume. That aspect of his genius has been +critically dealt with by many, but as an author he is scarcely +known. Yet there are Sibylline leaves of his, still let us hope in +circulation, which have wielded a potent influence on the minds of a +generation of men now passing to maturity. It is in the hope that his +message may not be lost to the youth of today and of tomorrow that the +present author now undertakes to summarize and interpret that message +to a public to which Mr. Sullivan is indeed a name, but not a voice. + +That he is not a voice can be attributed neither to his lack of +eloquence--for he is eloquent--nor to the indifference of the younger +generation of architects which has grown up since he has ceased, +in any public way, to speak. It is due rather to a curious fatality +whereby his memorabilia have been confined to sheets which the +winds of time have scattered--pamphlets, ephemeral magazines, trade +journals--never the bound volume which alone guards the sacred flame +from the gusts of evil chance. + +And Mr. Sullivan's is a "sacred flame," because it was kindled solely +with the idea of service--a beacon to keep young men from +shipwreck traversing those straits made dangerous by the Scylla of +Conventionality, and the Charybdis of License. The labour his writing +cost him was enormous. "I shall never again make so great a sacrifice +for the younger generation," he says in a letter, "I am amazed to +note how insignificant, how almost nil is the effect produced, in +comparison to the cost, in vitality to me. Or perhaps it is I who +am in error. Perhaps one must have reached middle age, or the Indian +Summer of life, must have seen much, heard much, felt and produced +much and been much in solitude to receive in reading what I gave in +writing 'with hands overfull.'" + +This was written with reference to _Kindergarten Chats. A sketch +Analysis of Contemporaneous American Architecture_, which constitutes +Mr. Sullivan's most extended and characteristic preachment to the +young men of his day. It appeared in 1901, in fifty-two consecutive +numbers of _The Interstate Architect and Builder_, a magazine now +no longer published. In it the author, as mentor, leads an imaginary +disciple up and down the land, pointing out to him the "bold, +upholsterrific blunders" to be found in the architecture of the day, +and commenting on them in a caustic, colloquial style--large, loose, +discursive--a blend of Ruskin, Carlyle and Whitman, yet all Mr. +Sullivan's own. He descends, at times, almost to ribaldry, at others +he rises to poetic and prophetic heights. This is all a part of his +method alternately to shame and inspire his pupil to some sort of +creative activity. The syllabus of Mr. Sullivan's scheme, as it +existed in his mind during the writing of _Kindergarten Chats_, +and outlined by him in a letter to the author is such a torch of +illumination that it is quoted here entire. + + A young man who has "finished his education" at the + architectural schools comes to me for a post-graduate + course--hence a free form of dialogue. + + I proceed with his education rather by indirection and + suggestion than by direct precept. I subject him to certain + experiences and allow the impressions they make on him to + infiltrate, and, as I note the effect, I gradually use a + guiding hand. I supply the yeast, so to speak, and allow the + ferment to work in him. + + This is the gist of the whole scheme. It remains then to + determine, carefully, the kind of experiences to which I shall + subject the lad, and in what order, or logical (and especially + psychological) sequence. I begin, then, with aspects that + are literal, objective, more or less cynical, and brutal, and + philistine. A little at a time I introduce the subjective, + the refined, the altruistic; and, by a to-and-fro increasingly + intense rhythm of these two opposing themes, worked so to + speak in counterpoint, I reach a preliminary climax: of + brutality tempered by a longing for nobler, purer things. + + Hence arise a purblind revulsion and yearning in the lad's + soul; the psychological moment has arrived, and I take him + at once into the _country_--(Summer: The Storm). This is the + first of the four out-of-door scenes, and the lad's first + real experience with nature. It impresses him crudely but + violently; and in the tense excitement of the tempest he is + inspired to temporary eloquence; and at the close is much + softened. He feels in a way but does not know that he has been + a participant in one of Nature's superb dramas. (Thus do + I insidiously prepare the way for the notion that creative + architecture is in essence a dramatic art, and an art of + eloquence; of subtle rhythmic beauty, power, and tenderness). + + Left alone in the country the lad becomes maudlin--a callow + lover of nature--and makes feeble attempts at verse. Returning + to the city he melts and unbosoms--the tender shaft of the + unknowable Eros has penetrated to his heart--Nature's subtle + spell is on him, to disappear and reappear. Then follow + discussions, more or less didactic, leading to the second + out-of-door scene (Autumn Glory). Here the lad does most of + the talking and shows a certain lucidity and calm of mind. The + discussion of Responsibility, Democracy, Education, etc., has + inevitably detached the lurking spirit of pessimism. It has + to be:--Into the depths and darkness we descend, and the + work reaches the tragic climax in the third out-of-door + scene--Winter. + + Now that the forces have been gathered and marshalled the + true, sane movement of the work is entered upon and pushed + at high tension, and with swift, copious modulations to its + foreordained climax and optimistic peroration in the fourth + and last out-of-door scene as portrayed in the Spring Song. + The _locale_ of this closing number is the beautiful spot in + the woods, on the shore of Biloxi Bay:--where I am writing + this. + + I would suggest in passing that a considerable part of the + K.C. is in rhythmic prose--some of it declamatory. I have + endeavoured throughout this work to represent, or reproduce + to the mind and heart of the reader the spoken word and + intonation--not written language. It really should be read + aloud, especially the descriptive and exalted passages. + +There was a movement once on the part of Mr. Sullivan's admirers to +issue _Kindergarten Chats_ in book form, but he was asked to tone it +down and expurgate it, a thing which he very naturally refused to do. +Mr. Sullivan has always been completely alive to our cowardice when +it comes to hearing the truth about ourselves, and alive to the danger +which this cowardice entails, for to his imaginary pupil he says, + + If you wish to read the current architecture of your country, + you must go at it courageously, and not pick out merely the + little bits that please you. I am going to soak you with it + until you are absolutely nauseated, and your faculties turn + in rebellion. I may be a hard taskmaster, but I strive to be + a good one. When I am through with you, you will know + architecture from the ground up. You will know its virtuous + reality and you will know the fake and the fraud and the + humbug. I will spare nothing--for your sake. I will stir up + the cesspool to its utmost depths of stench, and also the + pious, hypocritical virtues of our so-called architecture--the + nice, good, mealy-mouthed, suave, dexterous, diplomatic + architecture, I will show you also the kind of architecture + our "cultured" people believe in. And why do they believe in + it? Because they do not believe in themselves. + +_Kindergarten Chats_ is even more pertinent and pointed today than it +was some twenty years ago, when it was written. Speech that is full of +truth is timeless, and therefore prophetic. Mr. Sullivan forecast some +of the very evils by which we have been overtaken. He was able to do +this on account of the fundamental soundness of his point of view, +which finds expression in the following words: "Once you learn to look +upon architecture not merely as an art more or less well, or more or +less badly done, but as a _social manifestation_, the critical eye +becomes clairvoyant, and obscure, unnoted phenomena become illumined." + +Looking, from this point of view, at the office buildings that the +then newly-realized possibilities of steel construction were sending +skyward along lower Broadway, in New York, Mr. Sullivan reads in them +a denial of democracy. To him they signify much more than they seem +to, or mean to; they are more than the betrayal of architectural +ignorance and mendacity, they are symptomatic of forces undermining +American life. + + These buildings, as they increase in number, make this city + poorer, morally and spiritually; they drag it down and down + into the mire. This is not American civilization; it is the + rottenness of Gomorrah. This is not Democracy--it is savagery. + It shows the glutton hunt for the Dollar with no thought for + aught else under the sun or over the earth. It is decadence of + the spirit in its most revolting form; it is rottenness of + the heart and corruption of the mind. So truly does this + architecture reflect the causes which have brought it into + being. Such structures are _profoundly anti-social_, and as + such, they must be reckoned with. These buildings are not + architecture, but outlawry, and their authors criminals in the + true sense of the word. And such is the architecture of lower + New York--hopeless, degraded, and putrid in its pessimistic + denial of our art, and of our growing civilization--its + cynical contempt for all those qualities that real humans + value. + +We have always been very glib about democracy; we have assumed that +this country was a democracy because we named it so. But now that +we are called upon to die for the idea, we find that we have never +realized it anywhere except perhaps in our secret hearts. In the life +of Abraham Lincoln, in the poetry of Walt Whitman, in the architecture +of Louis Sullivan, the spirit of democracy found utterance, and to +the extent that we ourselves partake of that spirit, it will find +utterance also in us. Mr. Sullivan is a "prophet of democracy" not +alone in his buildings but in his writings, and the prophetic note is +sounded even more clearly in his _What is Architecture? A Study in the +American People of Today_, than in _Kindergarten Chats_. + +This essay was first printed in _The American Contractor_ of January +6, 1906, and afterwards issued in brochure form. The author starts +by tracing architecture to its root in the human mind: this physical +thing is the manifestation of a psychological state. As a man thinks, +so he is; he acts according to his thought, and if that act takes the +form of a building it is an emanation of his inmost life, and reveals +it. + + Everything is there for us to read, to interpret; and this + we may do at our leisure. The building has not means of + locomotion, it cannot hide itself, it cannot get away. There + it is, and there it will stay--telling more truths about him + who made it, than he in his fatuity imagines; revealing his + mind and his heart exactly for what they are worth, not a whit + more, not a whit less; telling plainly the lies he thinks; + telling with almost cruel truthfulness his bad faith, his + feeble, wabbly mind, his impudence, his selfish egoism, his + mental irresponsibility, his apathy, his disdain for real + things--until at last the building says to us: "I am no more a + real building than the thing that made me is a real man!" + +Language like this stings and burns, but it is just such as is +needful to shame us out of our comfortable apathy, to arouse us to +new responsibilities, new opportunities. Mr. Sullivan, awake among +the sleepers, drenches us with bucketfuls of cold, tonic, energizing +truth. The poppy and mandragora of the past, of Europe, poisons us, +but in this, our hour of battle, we must not be permitted to dream on. +He saw, from far back, that "we, as a people, not only have betrayed +each other, but have failed in that trust which the world spirit of +democracy placed in our hands, as we, a new people, emerged to fill +a new and spacious land." It has taken a world war to make us see the +situation as he saw it, and it is to us, a militant nation, and not +to the slothful civilians a decade ago, that Mr. Sullivan's stirring +message seems to be addressed. + +The following quotation is his first crack of the whip at the +architectural schools. The problem of education is to him of all +things the most vital; in this essay he returns to it again and again, +while of _Kindergarten Chats_ it is the very _raison d'etre_. + + I trust that a long disquisition is not necessary in order to + show that the attempt at imitation, by us, of this day, of the + by-gone forms of building, is a procedure unworthy of a free + people; and that the dictum of the schools, that Architecture + is finished and done, is a suggestion humiliating to every + active brain, and therefore, in fact, a puerility and a + falsehood when weighed in the scales of truly democratic + thought. Such dictum gives the lie in arrogant fashion, to + healthful human experience. It says, in a word: the American + people are not fit for democracy. + +He finds the schools saturated with superstitions which are the +survivals of the scholasticism of past centuries--feudal institutions, +in effect, inimical to his idea of the true spirit of democratic +education. This he conceives of as a searching-out, liberating, and +developing the splendid but obscured powers of the average man, and +particularly those of children. "It is disquieting to note," he says, +"that the system of education on which we lavish funds with such +generous, even prodigal, hand, falls short of fulfilling its true +democratic function; and that particularly in the so-called higher +branches its tendency appears daily more reactionary, more feudal. +It is not an agreeable reflection that so many of our university +graduates lack the trained ability to see clearly, and to think +clearly, concisely, constructively; that there is perhaps more showing +of cynicism than good faith, seemingly more distrust of men than +confidence in them, and, withal, no consummate ability to interpret +things." + +In contrast to the schoolman he sketches the psychology of the +active-minded but "uneducated" man, with sympathy and understanding, +the man who is courageously seeking a way with little to guide and +help him. + + Is it not the part of wisdom to cheer, to encourage such a + mind, rather than dishearten it with ridicule? To say to it: + Learn that the mind works best when allowed to work naturally; + learn to do what your problem suggests when you have reduced + it to its simplest terms; you will thus find that all + problems, however complex, take on a simplicity you had + not dreamed of; accept this simplicity boldly, and with + confidence, do not lose your nerve and run away from it, or + you are lost, for you are here at the point men so heedlessly + call genius--as though it were necessarily rare; for you are + here at the point no living brain can surpass in essence, + the point all truly great minds seek--the point of vital + simplicity--the point of view which so illuminates the mind + that the art of expression becomes spontaneous, powerful, and + unerring, and achievement a certainty. So, if you seek and + express the best that is in yourself, you must search out the + best that is in your people; for they are your problem, and + you are indissolubly a part of them. It is for you to affirm + that which they really wish to affirm, namely, the best that + is in them, and they as truly wish you to express the best + that is in yourself. If the people seem to have but little + faith it is because they have been tricked so long; they are + weary of dishonesty, more weary than they know, much more + weary than you know, and in their hearts they seek honest and + fearless men, men simple and clear in mind, loyal to their own + manhood and to the people. The American people are now in a + stupor; be on hand at the awakening. + +Next he pays his respects to current architectural criticism--a +straining at gnats and a swallowing of camels, by minds "benumbed +by culture," and hearts made faint by the tyranny of precedent. He +complains that they make no distinction between _was_ and _is_, +too readily assuming that all that is left us moderns is the humble +privilege to select, copy and adapt. + + The current mannerisms of Architectural criticism must often + seem trivial. For of what avail is it to say that this is too + small, that too large, this too thick, and that too thin, or + to quote this, that, or the other precedent, when the real + question may be: Is not the entire design a mean evasion? Why + magnify this, that, or the other little thing, if the entire + scheme of thinking that the building stands for is false, and + puts a mask upon the people, who want true buildings, but do + not know how to get them so long as Architects betray them + with Architectural phrases? + +And so he goes on with his Jeremiad: a prophet of despair, do you +say? No, he seeks to destroy only that falsity which would confine +the living spirit. Earlier and more clearly than we, he discerned the +menace to our civilization of the unrestricted play of the masculine +forces--powerful, ruthless, disintegrating--the head dominating the +heart. It has taken the surgery of war to open our eyes, and behold +the spectacle of the entire German nation which by an intellectual +process appears to have killed out compassion, enthroning +_Schrecklichkeit_. In the heart alone dwells hope of salvation. "For +he who knows even a genuinely little of Mankind knows this truth: the +heart is greater than the head. For in the heart is Desire; and from +it come forth Courage and Magnanimity." + + You have not thought deeply enough to know that the heart in + you is the woman in man. You have derided your femininity, + where you have suspected it; whereas, you should have known + its power, cherished and utilized it, for it is the hidden + well-spring of Intuition and Imagination. What can the brain + accomplish without these two? They are the man's two inner + eyes; without them he is stone blind. For the mind sets forth + their powers both together. One carries the light, the other + searches; and between them they find treasures. These they + bring to the brain, which first elaborates them, then says to + the will, "Do"--and Action follows. Poetically considered, + as far as the huge, disordered resultant mass of your + Architecture is concerned, Intuition and Imagination have not + gone forth to illuminate and search the hearts of the people. + Thus are its works stone blind. + +It is the absence of poetry and beauty which makes our architecture +so depressing to the spirits. "Poetry as a living thing," says Mr. +Sullivan, "stands for the most telling quality that a man can impart +to his thoughts. Judged by this test your buildings are dreary, empty +places." Artists in words, like Lafcadio Hearn and Henry James, are +able to make articulate the sadness which our cities inspire, but +it is a blight which lies heavy on us all. Theodore Dreiser says, in +_Sister Carrie_--a book with so much bitter truth in it that it was +suppressed by the original publishers: + + Once the bright days of summer pass by, a city takes on the + sombre garb of grey, wrapped in which it goes about its labors + during the long winter. Its endless buildings look grey, + its sky and its streets assume a sombre hue; the scattered, + leafless trees and wind-blown dust and paper but add to the + general solemnity of color. There seems to be something in + the chill breezes which scurry through the long, narrow + thoroughfares productive of rueful thoughts. Not poets alone, + nor artists, nor that superior order of mind which arrogates + to itself all refinement, feel this, but dogs and all men. + +The excuse that we are too young a people to have developed an +architecture instinct with that natural poetry which so charms us in +the art of other countries and other times, Mr. Sullivan disposes +of in characteristic fashion. To the plea that "We are too young to +consider these accomplishments. We have been so busy with our material +development that we have not found time to consider them," he makes +answer as follows: + + Know, then, to begin with, they are not accomplishments but + necessaries. And, to end with, you are old enough, and + have found the time to succeed in nearly making a fine art + of--Betrayal, and a science of--Graft. Know that you are + as old as the race. That each man among you had in him the + accumulated power of the race, ready at hand for use, in the + right way, when he shall conclude it better to think straight + and hence act straight rather than, as now, to act crooked + and pretend to be straight. Know that the test, plain, simple + _honesty_ (and you all know, every man of you knows, exactly + what that means) is always at your hand. + + Know that as all complex manifestations have a simple basis + of origin, so the vast complexity of your national unrest, ill + health, inability to think clearly and accurately concerning + simple things, really vital things, is easily traceable to the + single, actual, active cause--Dishonesty; and that this points + with unescapable logic and in just measure to each individual + man! + + The remedy;--_individual honesty_. + +To the objection that this is too simple a solution, Mr. Sullivan +retorts that all great solutions are simple, that the basic things of +the universe are those which the heart of a child might comprehend. +"Honesty stands in the universe of Human Thought and Action, as its +very Centre of Gravity, and is our human mask-word behind which abides +all the power of Nature's Integrity, the profoundest _fact_ which +modern thinking has persuaded Life to reveal." + +If, on the other hand, the reader complains, "All this is above our +heads," Mr. Sullivan is equally ready with an answer: + + No, it is not. _It is close beside your hand!_ and therein + lies its power. + + Again you say, "How can honesty be enforced?" + + It cannot be enforced! + + "Then how will the remedy go into effect?" + + It cannot _go_ into effect. It can only come into effect. + + "Then how can it come?" + + Ask Nature. + + "And what will Nature say?" + + Nature is always saying: "I centre at each man, woman and + child. I knock at the door of each heart, and I wait. I wait + in patience--ready to enter with my gifts." + + "And is that all that Nature says?" + + That is all. + + "Then how shall we receive Nature?" + + By opening wide your minds! For your greatest crime against + yourselves is that you have locked the door and thrown away + the key! + + +Thus, by a long detour, Mr. Sullivan returns to his initial +proposition, that the falsity of our architecture can be corrected +only by integrity of thought. "Thought is the fine and powerful +instrument. Therefore, _have thought for the integrity of your own +thought_." + + Naturally, then, as your thoughts thus change, your growing + architecture will change. Its falsity will depart; its reality + will gradually appear. For the integrity of your thought as + a People, will then have penetrated the minds of your + architects. + + Then, too, _as your basic thought changes, will emerge a + philosophy, a poetry, and an art of expression in all things; + for you will have learned that a characteristic philosophy, + poetry and art of expression are vital to the healthful growth + and development of a democratic people_. + +Some readers may complain that these are after all only glittering +generalities, of no practical use in solving the specific problems +with which every architect is confronted. On the contrary they are +fundamental verities of incalculable benefit to every sincere artist. +Shallowness is the great vice of democracy; it is surface without +depth, a welter of concrete detail in which the mind easily loses +those great, underlying abstractions from which alone great art can +spring. These, in this essay, Mr. Sullivan helps us to recapture, and +inspires us to employ. He would win us from our insincerities, our +trivialities, and awaken our enormous latent, unused power. He says: + + Awaken it. + + Use it. + + Use it for the common good. + + Begin now! + + For it is as true today as when one of your wise men said + it:-- + + "The way to resume is to resume!" + + + + +COLOR AND CERAMICS + + +The production of ceramics--perhaps the oldest of all the useful +arts practised by man; an art with a magnificent history--seems to be +entering upon a new era of development. It is more alive today, more +generally, more skilfully, though not more _artfully_ practised than +ever before. It should therefore be of interest to all lovers of +architecture, in view of the increasing importance of ceramics in +building, to consider the ways in which these materials may best be +used. + +Looking at the matter in the broadest possible way, it may be said +that the building impulse throughout the ages has expressed itself +in two fundamentally different types of structure: that in which the +architecture--and even the ornament--is one with the engineering; and +that in which the two elements are separable, not in thought alone, +but in fact. For brevity let us name that manner of building in which +the architecture is the construction, _Inherent_ architecture, and +that manner in which the two are separable _Incrusted_ architecture. + +To the first class belong the architectures of Egypt, Greece, and +Gothic architecture as practised in the north of Europe; to the +second belong Roman architecture of the splendid period, Moorish +architecture, and Italian Gothic, so called. In the first class the +bones of the building were also its flesh; in the second bones and +flesh were in a manner separable, as is proven by the fact that they +were separately considered, separately fashioned. Ruined Karnak, the +ruined Parthenon, wrecked Rheims, show ornament so integral a part +of the fabric--etched so deep--that what has survived of the one has +survived also of the other; while the ruined Baths of Caracalla the +uncompleted church of S. Petronio in Bologna, and many a stark mosque +on many a sandy desert show only bare skeletons of whose completed +glory we can only guess. In them the fabric was a framework for the +display of the lapidary or the ceramic art--a garment destroyed, rent, +or tattered by time and chance, leaving the bones still strong, but +bare. + +This classification of architecture into Inherent and Incrusted is not +to be confused with the discrimination between architecture that is +_Arranged_, and architecture that is _Organic_, a classification which +is based on psychology--like the difference between the business man +and the poet: talent and genius--whereas the classification which +the reader is asked now to consider is based rather on the matter +of expediency in the use of materials. Let us draw no invidious +comparisons between Inherent and Incrusted architecture, but regard +each as the adequate expression of an ideal type of beauty; the one +masculine, since in the male figure the osseous framework is more +easily discernible; the other feminine, because more concealed and +overlaid with a cellular tissue of shining, precious materials, on +which the disruptive forces in man and nature are more free to act. + +It is scarcely necessary to state that it is with Incrusted +architecture that we are alone concerned in this discussion, for to +this class almost all modern buildings perforce belong. This is by +reason of a necessity dictated by the materials that we employ, and by +our methods of construction. All modern buildings follow practically +one method of construction: a bony framework of steel--or of concrete +reinforced by steel--filled in and subdivided by concrete, brick, +hollow fire-clay, or some of its substitutes. To a construction of +this kind some sort of an outer encasement is not only aesthetically +desirable, but practically necessary. It usually takes the form of +stone, face-brick, terra-cotta, tile, stucco, or some combination of +two or more of these materials. Of the two types of architecture the +Incrusted type is therefore imposed by structural necessity. + +The enormous importance of ceramics in its relation to architecture +thus becomes apparent. They minister to an architectural need instead +of gratifying an architectural whim. Ours is a period of Incrusted +architecture--one which demands the encasement, rather than the +exposure of structure, and therefore logically admits of the +enrichment of surfaces by means of "veneers" of materials more +precious and beautiful than those employed in the structure, which +becomes, as it were, the canvas of the picture, and not the picture +itself. For these purposes there are no materials more apt, more +adaptable, more enduring, richer in potentialities of beauty than the +products of ceramic art. They are easily and inexpensively produced of +any desired shape, color, texture; their hard, dense surface resists +the action of the elements, is not easily soiled, and is readily +cleaned; being fashioned by fire they are fire resistant. + +So much then for the practical demands, in modern architecture, met by +the products of ceramic art. The aesthetic demand is not less admirably +met--or rather _might_ be. + +When, in the sixteenth century, the Renaissance spread from south +to north, color was practically eliminated from architecture. The +Egyptians had had it, hot and bright as the sun on the desert; we +know that the Greeks made their Parian marble glow in rainbow tints; +Moorish architecture was nothing if not colorful, and the Venice +Ruskin loved was fairly iridescent--a thing of fire-opal and pearl. +In Italian Renaissance architecture up to its latest phase, the color +element was always present; but it was snuffed out under the leaden +colored northern skies. Paris is grey, London is brown, New York is +white, and Chicago the color of cinders. We have only to compare them +to yellow Rome, red Siena, and pearl-tinted Venice, to realize how +much we have lost in the elimination of color from architecture. +We are coming to realize it. Color played an important part in the +Pan-American Exposition, and again in the San Francisco Exposition, +where, wedded to light, it became the dominant note of the whole +architectural concert. Now these great expositions in which the +architects and artists are given a free hand, are in the nature of +preliminary studies in which these functionaries sketch in transitory +form the things they desire to do in more permanent form. They are +forecasts of the future, a future which in certain quarters is +already beginning to realize itself. It is therefore probable that +architectural art will become increasingly colorful. + +The author remembers the day and the hour when this became his +personal conviction--his personal desire. It happened years ago in +the Albright Gallery in Buffalo--a building then newly completed, of a +severely classic type. In the central hall was a single doorway, +whose white marble architrave had been stained with different colored +pigments by Francis Bacon; after the manner of the Greeks. The effect +was so charming, and made the rest of the place seem by contrast so +cold and dun, that the author came then and there to the conclusion +that architecture without polychromy was architecture incomplete. Mr. +Bacon spent three years in Asia Minor, and elsewhere, studying +the remains of Greek architecture, and he found and brought home a +fragment of an antefix from the temple of Assos, in which the applied +color was still pure and strong. The Greeks were a joyous people. When +joy comes back into life, color will come back into architecture. + +Ceramic products are ideal as a means to this end. The Greeks +themselves recognized their value for they used them widely and +wisely: it has been discovered that they even attached bands of +colored terra-cotta to the marble mouldings of their temples. How +different must have been such a temple's real appearance from +that imagined by the Classical Revivalists, whose tradition of the +inviolable cold Parian purity of Greek architecture has persisted, +even against archaeological evidence to the contrary, up to the present +day. + +In one way we have an advantage over the Greek, if we only had the wit +to profit by it. His palette, like his musical scale, was more limited +than ours. Nearly the whole gamut of the spectrum is now available to +the architect who wishes to employ ceramics. The colors do not +change or fade, and possess a beautiful quality. Our craftsmen and +manufacturers of face-brick, terra-cotta, and colored tile, after much +costly experimentation, have succeeded in producing ceramics of a +high order of excellence and intrinsic beauty; they can do practically +anything demanded of them; but from that quarter where they +should reap the greatest commercial advantage--the field of +architecture--there is all too little demand. The architect who should +lead, teach and dictate in this field, is often through ignorance +obliged to learn and follow instead. This has led to an ignominious +situation--ignominious, that is, to the architect. He has come +to require of the manufacturer--when he requires anything at +all--assistance in the very matter in which he should assist: the +determination of color design. It is no wonder that the results are +often bad, and therefore discouraging. The manufacturers of ceramics +welcome co-operation and assistance on the part of the architect with +an eagerness which is almost pathetic, on those rare occasions when +assistance is offered. + +But the architect is not really to blame: the reason for his failure +lies deep in his general predicament of having to know a little of +everything, and do a great deal more than he can possibly do well. To +cope with this, if his practice warrants the expenditure, he surrounds +himself with specialists in various fields, and assigns various +departments of his work to them. He cannot be expected to have on +his staff a specialist in ceramics, nor can he, with all his manifold +activities, be expected to become such a specialist himself. As a +result, he is usually content to let color problems alone, for they +are just another complication of his already too complicated life; +or he refers them to some one whom he thinks ought to know--a +manufacturer's designer--and approves almost anything submitted. Of +course the ideal architect would have time for every problem, and +solve it supremely well; but the real architect is all too human: +there are depressions on his cranium where bumps ought to be; +moreover, he wants a little time left to energize in other +directions than in the practice of his craft. One of the functions +of architecture is to reveal the inherent qualities and beauties of +different materials, by their appropriate use and tasteful display. +An onyx staircase on the one hand, and a portland cement high altar +on the other, alike violate this function of architecture; they +transgress that beautiful necessity which decrees that precious +materials should serve precious uses and common materials should +serve utilitarian ends. Now color is a precious thing, and its highest +beauties can be brought out only by contrast with broad neutral tinted +spaces. The interior walls of a mediaeval cathedral never competed +with its windows, and by the same token, a riot of polychromy all +over the side of a building is not as effective, even from a chromatic +point of view, as though it were confined, say, to an entrance and a +frieze. Gilbert's witty phrase is applicable here: + + "Where everybody's somebody, nobody's anybody." + +Let us build our walls, then, of stone, or brick, or stucco,--for +their flat surfaces and neutral tints conduce to that repose so +essential to good architectural effect: but let us not rest content +with this, but grant to the eye the delight and contentment which it +craves, by color and pattern placed at those points to which it is +desirable to attract attention, for they serve the same aesthetic +purpose as a tiara on the brow of beauty, or a ring on a delicate +white hand. But just as jewelry is best when it is most individual, +so the ornament of a building should be in keeping with its general +character and complexion. A color scheme should not be chosen at +random, but dictated by the prevailing tone and texture of the wall +surfaces, with which it should harmonize as inevitably as the blossom +of a bush with its prevailing tone of stems and foliage. In a building +this prevailing tone will inevitably be either cold or warm, and the +color scheme just as inevitably should be either cold or warm; that +is, there should be a preponderance of cold colors over warm, or vice +versa. Otherwise the eye will suffer just that order of uneasiness +which comes from the contemplation of two equal masses, whereas it +experiences satisfaction in proportionate unequals. + +Nothing will take the place of an instinctive colour-sense, but even +that needs the training of experience, if the field be new, and a few +general principles of all but universal application will not be amiss. + +First of all it should be remembered that the intensity of color +should be carefully adjusted to its area. It is dangerous to try to +use high, pure colors, unrelieved and uncontrasted, in large masses, +but the brightest, strongest colors may be used with safety in units +of sufficiently restricted size. For harmony, as well as for richness, +the law of complementaries, in its most general application, is +the safest of all guides, but it must be followed with fine +discrimination. Complementary colors are like married pairs, if they +find the right adjustment with one another they are happy--that is, +there is an effect of beauty--but lacking such adjustment they are +worse off together than apart. Every artist who experiments in color +soon finds out for himself that instead of using two colors directly +complementary, it is better to "split" one of them, that is, use +instead of one of them two others, which combined will yield the +color in question. For example, the color complementary to red is +green-blue. Now green-blue is equidistant between yellow-green and +blue-violet, so if for red and blue-green; red, yellow-green and +blue-violet be substituted the combination loses its obviousness and +a certain harshness without losing anything of its brilliance, or +without departing from the optical law involved. Such a combination +corresponds to a diminished triad in music. + +Another important consideration with regard to color as employed by +the architect dwells in those optical changes effected by distance and +position: the relative visibility of different colors and combinations +of colors as the spectator recedes from them, and the environmental +changes which colors undergo--in bright sunlight, in shadow, against +the sky, and with relation to backgrounds of different sorts. + +The effect of distance is to make colors merge into one another, to +lower the values, but not all equally. Yellow loses itself first, +tending toward white. The effect of distance, in general, is to +disintegrate and decompose, thus giving "vibration" as it is called. A +knowledge of these and kindred facts will save the architect from many +disappointments and enable him to obtain wonderful chromatic effects +by simple means. + +Many architects unused to color problems design their ornament with +very little thought about the colors which they propose to employ, +making it an after-consideration; but the two things should be +considered synchronously for the best final effect. There is a cryptic +saying that "color is at right angles to form," that is, color is +capable of making surfaces advance toward or recede from the eye, just +as modelling does; and for this reason, if color is used, a great deal +of modelling may be dispensed with. If a receding color is used on a +recessed plane, it deepens that plane unduly; while on the other hand +if a color which refuses to recede--like yellow for example--is used +where depth is wanted, the receding plane and the approaching color +neutralize one another, resulting in an effect of flatness not +intended. The tyro should not complicate his problem by combining +color with high relief modelling, bringing inevitably in the element +of light and shade. He should leave that for older hands and concern +himself rather with flat or nearly flat surfaces, using his modelling +much as the worker in cloisonne uses his little rims of brass--to +confine and define each color within its own allotted area. Then, +as he gains experience, he may gradually enrich his pattern by the +addition of the element of light and shade, should he so decide. + +Now as to certain general considerations in relation to the +appropriate and logical use of ceramics in the construction and +adornment of buildings, exterior and interior. In our northern +latitudes care should be taken that ceramics are not used in places +and in ways where the accumulation of snow and ice render the joints +subject to alternate freezing and thawing, for in such case, unless +the joints are protected with metal, the units will work loose in +time. On vertical surfaces such protection is not necessary; the use +of ceramics should therefore be confined for the most part to such +surfaces: for friezes, panels, door and window architraves, and the +like. When it is desirable for aesthetic reasons to tie a series of +windows together vertically by means of some "fill" of a material +different from that of the body of the wall, ceramics lend themselves +admirably to the purpose--better than wood, which rots; than iron, +which rusts; than bronze, which turns black; and than marble, which +soon loses its color and texture in exposed situations of this sort. + +On the interior of buildings, the most universal use of ceramics is, +of course, for floors, and with the non-slip devices of various sorts +which have come into the market, they are no less good for stairs. +There is nothing better for wainscoting, and in fact for any surface +whatsoever subject to soil and wear. These materials combine permanent +protection and permanent decoration. But fired by the zeal of the +convert the use of ceramics may be overdone. One easily recalls +entire rooms of this material, floors, walls, ceilings, which are less +successful than as though a variety of materials had been employed. It +is just such variety--each material treated in a characteristic, and +therefore different way--that gives charm to so many foreign churches +and cathedrals: walls of stone, floors of marble, choir-stalls of +carved wood, and rood-screen of metal: it is the difference between +an orchestra of various instruments and a mandolin orchestra or a +saxaphone sextette. Ceramics should never invade the domain of the +plasterer, the mural painter, the cabinet maker. Do not let us, in +our zeal for ceramics, be like Bottom the weaver, eager to play every +part. + +Ceramics have, as regards architecture, a distinct and honorable +function. This function should be recognized, taken advantage of, but +never overpassed. They offer opportunities large but not limitless. +They constitute one instrument of the orchestra of which the architect +is the conductor, an instrument beautiful in the hands of a master, +and doubly beautiful in concert and contrast with those other +materials whose harmonious ensemble makes that music in three +dimensions: architectural art. + + + + +SYMBOLS AND SACRAMENTS + + +Architecture is the concrete presentment in space of the soul of a +people. If that soul be petty and sordid--"stirred like a child +by little things"--no great architecture is possible because great +architecture can image only greatness. Before any worthy architecture +can arise in the modern world the soul must be aroused. The cannons +of Europe are bringing about this awakening. The world--the world of +thought and emotion from whence flow acts and events--is no longer +decrepit, but like Swedenborg's angels it is advancing toward the +springtide of its youth: down the ringing grooves of change "we sweep +into the younger day." + +After the war we are likely to witness an art evolution which will +not be restricted to statues and pictures and insincere essays in +dry-as-dust architectural styles, but one which will permeate the +whole social fabric, and make it palpitate with the rhythm of a +younger, a more abundant life. Beauty and mystery will again make +their dwelling among men; the Voiceless will speak in music, and the +Formless will spin rhythmic patterns on the loom of space. We shall +seek and find a new language of symbols to express the joy of the +soul, freed from the thrall of an iron age of materialism, and +fronting the unimaginable splendors of the spiritual life. + +[Illustration: PLATE XV. SYMBOL OF RESURRECTION] + +For every aesthetic awakening is the result of a spiritual awakening +of some sort. Every great religious movement found an art expression +eloquent of it. When religion languished, such things as Versailles +and the Paris Opera House were possible, but not such things as the +Parthenon, or Notre Dame. The temples of Egypt were built for the +celebration of the rites of the religion of Egypt; so also in the +case of Greece. Roman architecture was more widely secular, but Rome's +noblest monument, the Pantheon, was a religious edifice. The Moors, +inflamed with religious ardor, swept across Europe, blazing their +trail with mosques and palaces conceived seemingly in some ecstatic +state of dream. The Renaissance, tainted though it was by worldliness, +found still its inspiration in sacred themes, and recorded +its beginning and its end in two mighty religious monuments: +Brunelleschi's and Michael Angelo's domical churches, "wrought in a +sad sincerity" by deeply religious men. Gothic art is a synonym for +mediaeval Christianity; while in the Orient art is scarcely secular at +all, but a symbolical language framed and employed for the expression +of spiritual ideas. + +This law, that spirituality and not materialism distils the precious +attar of great art, is permanently true and perennially applicable, +for laws of this order do not change from age to age, however various +their manifestation. The inference is plain: until we become a +religious people great architecture is far from us. We are becoming +religious in that broad sense in which churches and creeds, forms +and ceremonies, play little part. Ours is the search of the heart +for something greater than itself which is still itself; it is the +religion of brotherhood, whose creed is love, whose ritual is service. + +This transformed and transforming religion of the West, the tardy +fruit of the teachings of Christ, now secretly active in the hearts +of men, will receive enrichment from many sources. Science will reveal +the manner in which the spirit weaves its seven-fold veil of illusion; +nature, freshly sensed, will yield new symbols which art will organize +into a language; out of the experience of the soul will grow new +rituals and observances. But one precious tincture of this new +religion our civilization and our past cannot supply; it is the +heritage of Asia, cherished in her brooding bosom for uncounted +centuries, until, by the operation of the law of cycles, the time +should come for the giving of it to the West. + +This secret is Yoga, the method of self-development whereby the seeker +for union is enabled to perceive the shining of the Inward Light. This +is achieved by daily discipline in stilling the mind and directing the +consciousness inward instead of outward. The Self is within, and +the mind, which is normally centrifugal, must first be arrested, +controlled, and then turned back upon itself, and held with perfect +steadiness. All this is naively expressed in the Upanishads in the +passage, "The Self-existent pierced the openings of the senses so that +they turn forward, not backward into himself. Some wise man, however, +with eyes closed and wishing for immortality, saw the Self behind." +This stilling of the mind, its subjugation and control whereby it may +be concentrated on anything at will, is particularly hard for persons +of our race and training, a race the natural direction of whose +consciousness is strongly outward, a training in which the practice of +introspective meditation finds no place. + +Yoga--that "union" which brings inward vision, the contribution of the +East to the spiritual life of the West--will bring profound changes +into the art of the West, since art springs from consciousness. The +consciousness of the West now concerns itself with the visible world +almost exclusively, and Western art is therefore characterized by an +almost slavish fidelity to the ephemeral appearances of things--the +record of particular moods and moments. The consciousness of the East +on the other hand, is subjective, introspective. Its art accordingly +concerns itself with eternal aspects, with a world of archetypal +ideas in which things exist not for their own sake, but as symbols of +supernal things. The Oriental artist avoids as far as possible trivial +and individual rhythms, seeking always the fundamental rhythm of the +larger, deeper life. + +Now this quality so earnestly sought and so highly prized in Oriental +art, is the very thing which our art and our architecture most +conspicuously lack. To the eye sensitive to rhythm, our essays in +these fields appear awkward and unconvincing, lacking a certain +_inevitability_. We must restore to art that first great canon of +Chinese aesthetics, "_Rhythmic vitality,_ or the life movement of the +spirit through the rhythm of things." It cannot be interjected from +the outside, but must be inwardly realized by the "stilling" of the +mind above described. + +Art cannot dispense with symbolism; as the letters on this page convey +thoughts to the mind, so do the things of this world, organized into +a language of symbols, speak to the soul through art. But in the +building of our towers of Babel, again mankind is stricken with a +confusion of tongues. Art has no _common language;_ its symbols are +no longer valid, or are no longer understood. This is a condition for +which materialism has no remedy, for the reason that materialism sees +always the pattern but never that which the pattern represents. We +must become _spiritually illumined_ before we can read nature truly, +and re-create, from such a reading, fresh and universal symbols for +art. This is a task beyond the power of our sad generation, enchained +by negative thinking, overshadowed by war, but we can at least glimpse +the nature of the reaction between the mystic consciousness and the +things of this world which will produce a new language of symbols. The +mystic consciousness looks upon nature as an arras embroidered over +with symbols of the things it conceals from view. We are ourselves +symbols, dwelling in a world of symbols--a world many times removed +from that ultimate reality to which all things bear figurative +witness; the commonest thing has yet some mystic meaning, and ugliness +and vulgarity exist only in the unillumined mind. + +What mystic meaning, it may be asked, is contained in such things as +a brick, a house, a hat, a pair of shoes? A brick is the ultimate +atom of a building; a house is the larger body which man makes for his +uses, just as the Self has built its habitation of flesh and bones; +hat and shoes are felt and leather insulators with which we seek to +cut ourselves off from the currents which flow through earth and air +from God. It may be objected that these answers only substitute +for the lesser symbol a greater, but this is inevitable: if for the +greater symbol were named one still more abstract and inclusive, the +ultimate verity would be as far from affirmation as before. There is +nothing of which the human mind can conceive that is not a symbol of +something greater and higher than itself. + +The dictionary defines a symbol as "something that stands for +something else and serves to represent it, or to bring to mind one or +more of its qualities." Now this world is a _reflection_ of a higher +world, and that of a higher world still, and so on. Accordingly, +everything is a symbol of something higher, since by reflecting, it +"stands for, and serves to represent it," and the thing symbolized, +being itself a reflection, is, by the same token, itself a symbol. +By reiterated repetitions of this reflecting process throughout the +numberless planes and sub-planes of nature, each thing becomes a +symbol, not of one thing only, but of many things, all intimately +correlated, and this gives rise to those underlying analogies, those +"secret subterranean passages between matter and soul" which have ever +been the especial preoccupation of the poet and the mystic, but which +may one day become the subject of serious examination by scientific +men. + +Let us briefly pass in review the various terms of such an ascending +series of symbols: members of one family, they might be called, since +they follow a single line of descent. + +Take gold: as a thing in itself, without any symbolical significance, +it is a metallic element, having a characteristic yellow color, very +heavy, very soft, the most ductile, malleable, and indestructible of +metals. In its minted form it is the life force of the body economic, +since on its abundance and free circulation the well-being of that +body depends; it is that for which all men strive and contend, because +without it they cannot comfortably live. This, then, is gold in its +first and lowest symbolical aspect: a life principle, a motive force +in human affairs. But it is not gold which has gained for man his +lordship over nature; it is fire, the yellow gold, not of the earth, +but of the air,--cities and civilizations, arts and industries, have +ever followed the camp fire of the pioneer. Sunlight comes next in +sequence--sunlight, which focussed in a burning glass, spontaneously +produces flame. The world subsists on sunlight; all animate creation +grows by it, and languishes without it, as the prosperity of cities +waxes or wanes with the presence or absence of a supply of gold. The +magnetic force of the sun, specialized as _prana_ (which is not the +breath which goes up and the breath which goes down, but that other, +in which the two repose), fulfils the same function in the human body +as does gold in civilization, sunlight in nature: its abundance makes +for health, its meagreness for enervation. Higher than _prana_ is the +mind, that golden sceptre of man's dominion, the Promethean gift of +fire with which he menaces the empire of the gods. Higher still, in +the soul, love is the motive force, the conqueror: a "heart of gold" +is one warmed and lighted by love. Still other is the desire of the +spirit, which no human affection satisfies, but truth only, the Golden +Person, the Light of the World, the very Godhead itself. Thus there is +earthy, airy, etheric gold; gold as intellect, gold as love, gold as +truth; from the curse of the world, the cause of a thousand crimes, +there ascends a Jacob's Ladder of symbols to divinity itself, whereby +men may learn that God works by sacrifice: that His universe is itself +His broken body. As gold in the purse, fire on the forge, sunlight +for the eyes, breath in the body, knowledge in the mind, love in the +heart, and wisdom in the understanding, He draws all men unto Him, +teaching them the wise use of wealth, the mastery over nature, the +care of the body, the cultivation of the mind, the love of wife and +child and neighbour, and, last lesson of all, He teaches them that in +industry, in science, in art, in sympathy and understanding, He it is +they are all the while knowing, loving, becoming; and that even when +they flee Him, His are the wings-- + + "When me they fly, I am the wings." + +This attempt to define gold as a symbol ends with the indication of an +ubiquitous and immanent divinity in everything. Thus it is always: in +attempting to dislodge a single voussoir from the arch of truth, the +temple itself is shaken, so cunningly are the stones fitted together. +All roads lead to Rome, and every symbol is a key to the Great +Mystery: for example, read in the light of these correspondences, the +alchemist's transmutation of base metals into gold, is seen to be the +sublimation of man's lower nature into "that highest golden sheath, +which is Brahman." + +Keeping the first sequence clearly in mind, let us now attempt to +trace another, parallel to it: the feminine of which the first may +be considered the corresponding masculine. Silver is a white, ductile +metallic element. In coinage it is the synonym for ready cash,--gold +in the bank is silver in the pocket; hence, in a sense, silver is +the _reflection_, or the second power of gold. Just as ruddy gold is +correlated with fire, so is pale silver with water; and as fire is +affiliated with the sun, so do the waters of the earth follow the +moon in her courses. The golden sun, the silver moon: these commonly +employed descriptive adjectives themselves supply the correlation we +are seeking; another indication of its validity lies in the fact that +one of the characteristics of water is its power of reflecting; that +moonlight is reflected sunlight. If gold is the mind, silver is the +body, in which the mind is imaged, objectified; if gold is flamelike +love, silver is brooding affection; and in the highest regions of +consciousness, beauty is the feminine or form side of truth--its +silver mirror. + +There are two forces in the world, one of projection, the other +of recall; two states, activity and rest. Nature, with tireless +ingenuity, everywhere publishes this fact: in bursting bud and falling +seed, in the updrawn waters and the descending rain; throw a stone +into the air, and when the impulse is exhausted, gravity brings it to +earth again. In civilized society these centrifugal and centripetal +forces find expression in the anarchic and radical spirit which breaks +down and re-forms existing institutions, and in the conservative +spirit which preserves and upbuilds by gradual accretion; they are +analogous to igneous and to aqueous action in the formation and +upbuilding of the earth itself, and find their prototype again in man +and woman: man, the warrior, who prevails by the active exercise +of his powers, and woman, "the treasury of the continued race," +who conquers by continual quietness. Man and woman symbolize forces +centrifugal and centripetal not alone in their inner nature, and +in the social and economic functions peculiar to each, but in their +physical aspects and peculiarities as well, for man is small of flank +and broad of shoulder, with relatively large extremities, _i.e., +centrifugal_: while woman is formed with broad hips, narrow shoulders, +and small feet and hands, _i.e., centripetal_. Woman's instinctive +and unconscious gestures are _towards_ herself, man's are _away from_ +himself. The physiologist might hold that the anatomical differences +between the sexes result from their difference in function in the +reproduction and conservation of the race, and this is a true view, +but the lesser truth need not necessarily exclude the greater. As +Chesterton says, "Something in the evil spirit of our time forces +people always to pretend to have found some material and mechanical +explanation." Such would have us believe, with Schopenhauer and +Bernard Shaw, that the lover's delight in the beauty of his mistress +dwells solely in his instinctive perception of her fitness to be the +mother of his child. This is undoubtedly a factor in the glamour +woman casts on man, but there are other factors too, higher as well as +lower, corresponding to different departments of our manifold nature. +First of all, there is mere physical attraction: to the man physical, +woman is a cup of delight; next, there is emotional love, whereby +woman appeals through her need of protection, her power of tenderness; +on the mental plane she is man's intellectual companion, his masculine +reason would supplement itself with her feminine intuition; he +recognizes in her an objectification, in some sort, of his own soul, +his spirit's bride, predestined throughout the ages; while the god +within him perceives her to be that portion of himself which he put +forth before the world was, to be the mother, not alone of human +children, but of all those myriad forms, within which entering, "as in +a sheath, a knife," he becomes the Enjoyer, and realizes, vividly and +concretely, his bliss, his wisdom, and his power. + +Adam and Eve, and the tree in the midst of the garden! After man and +woman, a tree is perhaps the most significant symbol in the +world: every tree is the Tree of Life in the sense that it is a +representation of universal becoming. To say that all things have for +their mother _prakriti_, undifferentiated substance, and for their +father _purusha_, the creative fire, is vague and metaphysical, and +conveys little meaning to our image-bred, image-fed minds; on the +physical plane we can only learn these transcendental truths by means +of symbols, and so to each of us is given a human father and a human +mother from whose relation to one another and to oneself may be +learned our relation to nature, the universal mother, and to that +immortal spirit which is the father of us all. We are given, moreover, +the symbol of the tree, which, rooted in the earth, its mother, and +nourished by her juices, strives ever upward towards its father, the +sun. The mathematician may be able to demonstrate, as a result of a +lifetime of hard thinking, that unity and infinity are but two aspects +of one thing; this is not clear to ordinary minds, but made concrete +in the tree--unity in the trunk, infinity in the foliage--any one +is able to understand it. We perceive that all things grow as a tree +grows, from unity to multiplicity, from simplicity and strength to +beauty and fineness. The generation of the line from the point, the +plane from the line, and from the plane, the solid, is a matter, +again, which chiefly interests the geometrician, but the inevitable +sequence stands revealed in seed, stem, leaf, and fruit: a point, a +line, a surface, and a sphere. There is another order of truths, also, +which a tree teaches: the renewal of its life each year is a symbol +of the reincarnation of the soul, teaching that life is never-ending +climax, and that what appears to be cessation is merely a change +of state. A tree grows great by being firmly rooted; we too, though +children of the air, need the earth, and grow by good deeds, hidden, +like the roots of the tree, out of sight; for the tree, rain and +sunshine: for the soul, tears and laughter thrill the imprisoned +spirit into conscious life. + +We love and understand the trees because we have ourselves passed +through their evolution, and they survive in us still, for the +arterial and nervous systems are trees, the roots of one in the heart, +of the other in the brain. Has not our body its trunk, bearing aloft +the head, like a flower: a cup to hold the precious juices of the +brain? Has not that trunk its tapering limbs which ramify into hands +and feet, and these into fingers and toes, after the manner of the +twigs and branches of a tree? + +Closely related to symbolism is sacramentalism; the man who sees +nature as a book of symbols is likely to regard life as a sacrament. +Because this is a point of view vitalizing to art let us glance at +the sacramental life, divorced from the forms and observances of any +specific religion. + +This life consists in the habitual perception of an ulterior meaning, +a hidden beauty and significance in the objects, acts, and events +of every day. Though binding us to a sensuous existence, these +nevertheless contain within themselves the power of emancipating us +from it: over and above their immediate use, their pleasure or their +profit, they have a hidden meaning which contains some healing message +for the soul. + +A classic example of a sacrament, not alone in the ordinary meaning +of the term, but in the special sense above defined, is the Holy +Communion of the Christian Church. Its origin is a matter of common +knowledge. On the evening of the night in which He was betrayed, +Jesus and His disciples were gathered together for the feast of the +Passover. Aware of His impending betrayal, and desirous of impressing +powerfully upon His chosen followers the nature and purpose of His +sacrifice, Jesus ordained a sacrament out of the simple materials of +the repast. He took bread and broke it, and gave to each a piece as +the symbol of His broken body; and to each He passed a cup of wine, +as a symbol of His poured-out blood. In this act, as in the washing of +the disciples' feet on the same occasion, He made His ministrations to +the needs of men's bodies an allegory of His greater ministration to +the needs of their souls. + +The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is of such beauty and power that it +has persisted even to the present day. It lacks, however, the element +of universality--at least by other than Christians its universality +would be denied. Let us seek, therefore some all-embracing symbol to +illustrate the sacramental view of life. + +Perhaps marriage is such a symbol. The public avowal of love between +a man and woman, their mutual assumption of the attendant privileges, +duties and responsibilities are matters so pregnant with consequences +to them and to the race that by all right-thinking people marriage is +regarded as a high and holy thing; its sacramental character is felt +and acknowledged even by those who would be puzzled to tell the reason +why. + +The reason is involved in the answer to the question, "Of what is +marriage a symbol?" The most obvious answer, and doubtless the best +one, is found in the well known and much abused doctrine, common to +every religion, of the spiritual marriage between God and the soul. +What Christians call _the Mystic Way,_ and Buddhists _the Path_ +comprises those changes in consciousness through which every soul +passes on its way to perfection. When the personal life is conceived +of as an allegory of this inner, intense, super-mundane life, it +assumes a sacramental character. With strange unanimity, followers +of the Mystic Way have given the name of marriage to that memorable +experience in "the flight of the Alone to the Alone," when the soul, +after trials and purgations, enters into indissoluble union with the +spirit, that divine, creative principle whereby it is made fruitful +for this world. Marriage, then, however dear and close the union, is +the symbol of a union dearer and closer, for it is the fair prophecy +that on some higher arc of the evolutionary spiral, the soul will meet +its immortal lover and be initiated into divine mysteries. + +As an example of the power of symbols to induce those changes of +consciousness whereby the soul is prepared for this union, it is +recorded that an eminent scientist was moved to alter his entire mode +of life on reflecting, while in his bath one morning, that though each +day he was at such pains to make clean his body, he made no similar +purgation of his mind and heart. The idea appealed to him so +profoundly that he began to practise the higher cleanliness from that +day forth. + +If it be true, as has been said, that ordinary life in the world is a +training school for a life more real and more sublime, then everything +pertaining to life in the world must possess a sacramental character, +and possess it inherently, and not merely by imputation. Let us +discover, then, if we can, some of the larger meanings latent in +little things. + +When at the end of a cloudy day the sun bursts forth in splendor and +sets red in the west, it is a sign to the weather-wise that the next +day will be fair. To the devotee of the sacramental life it holds a +richer promise. To him the sun is a symbol of the love of God; the +clouds, those worldly preoccupations of his own which hide its face +from him. This purely physical phenomenon, therefore, which brings +to most men a scarcely noticed augmentation of heat and light, and +an indication of fair weather on the morrow, induces in the mystic an +ineffable sense of divine immanence and beneficence, and an assurance +of their continuance beyond the dark night of the death of the body. + +When the sacramentalist goes swimming in the sea he enjoys to the full +the attendant physical exhilaration, but a greater joy flows from +the thought that he is back with his great Sea-Mother--that feminine +principle of which the sea is the perfect symbol, since water brings +all things to birth and nurtures them. When at the end of a day +he lays aside his clothes--that two-dimensional sheath of the +three-dimensional body--it is in full assurance that his body in turn +will be abandoned by the inwardly retreating consciousness, and that +he will range wherever he wills during the hours of sleep, clothed in +his subtle four-dimensional body, related to the physical body as that +is related to the clothes it wears. + +To every sincere seeker nature reveals her secrets, but since men +differ in their curiosities she reveals different things to different +men. All are rewarded for their devotion in accordance with their +interests and desires, but woman-like, nature reveals herself most +fully to him who worships not the fair form of her, but her soul. This +favored lover is the mystic; for ever seeking instruction in things +spiritual, he perceives in nature an allegory of the soul, and +interprets her symbols in terms of the sacramental life. + +The brook, pursuing its tortuous and stony pathway in untiring effort +to reach its gravitational centre, is a symbol of the Pilgrim's +progress, impelled by love to seek God within his heart. The modest +daisy by the roadside, and the wanton sunflower in the garden alike +seek to image the sun, the god of their worship, a core of seeds and +fringe of petals representing their best effort to mimic the flaming +disc and far-flung corona of the sun. Man seeks less ardently, and so +more ineffectively in his will and imagination to image God. In the +reverent study of insect and animal life we gain some hint of what we +have been and what we may become--something corresponding to the grub, +a burrowing thing; to the caterpillar, a crawling thing; and finally +to the butterfly, a radiant winged creature. + +After this fashion then does he who has embraced the sacramental life +come to perceive in the "sensuous manifold" of nature, that one divine +Reality which ever seeks to instruct him in supermundane wisdom, and +to woo him to superhuman blessedness and peace. In time, this reading +of earth in terms of heaven, becomes a settled habit. Then, in +Emerson's phrase, he has hitched his wagon to a star, and changed his +grocer's cart into a chariot of the sun. + +The reader may perhaps fail to perceive the bearing of this long +discussion of symbols and sacraments upon the subject of art and +architecture, but in the mind of the author the correlation is +plain. There can be no great art without religion: religion begins in +consciousness as a mystic experience, it flows thence into symbols +and sacraments, and these in turn are precipitated by the artist into +ponderable forms of beauty. Unless the artist himself participates in +this mystic experience, life's deeper meanings will escape him, and +the work of his hands will have no special significance. Until it can +be said of every artist + + "Himself from God he could not free," + +there will be no art worthy of the name. + + + + +SELF-EDUCATION[1] + + +I take great pleasure in availing myself of this opportunity to speak +to you on certain aspects of the art which we practise. I cannot +forget, and I hope that you sufficiently remember, that the +architectural future of this country lies in the hands of just such +men as you. Let me dwell then for a moment on your unique opportunity. +Perhaps some of you have taken up architecture as you might have gone +into trade, or manufacturing, or any of the useful professions; in +that case you have probably already learned discrimination, and now +realize that in the cutting of the cake of human occupations you +have drawn the piece which contains the ring of gold. The cake is +the business and utilitarian side of life, the ring of gold is the +aesthetic, the creative side: treasure it, for it is a precious and +enduring thing. Think what your work is: to reassemble materials in +such fashion that they become instinct with a beauty and eloquent with +a meaning which may carry inspiration and delight to generations still +unborn. Immortality haunts your threshold, even though your hand may +not be strong enough to open to the heavenly visitor. + +Though the profession of architecture is a noble one in any country +and in any age, it is particularly rich in inspiration and in +opportunity here and now, for who can doubt that we are about to enter +upon a great building period? We have what Mr. Sullivan calls "the +need and the power to build," the spirit of great art alone is +lacking, and that is already stirring in the secret hearts of men, and +will sooner or later find expression in objective and ponderable +forms of new beauty. These it is your privilege to create. May the +opportunity find you ready! There is a saying, "To be young, to be in +love, to be in Italy!" I would paraphrase it thus: To be young, to be +in architecture, to be in America. + +It is my purpose tonight to outline a scheme of self-education, which +if consistently followed out I am sure will help you, though I am +aware that to a certain order of mind it will seem highly mystical and +impractical. If it commends itself to your favor I shall be glad. + +Many of you will have had the advantage of a thorough technical +training in your chosen profession: be grateful for it. Others, like +Topsy, "just growed"--or have just failed to grow. For the solace of +all such, without wishing to be understood to disparage architectural +schooling, I would say that there is a kind of education which is +worse than none, for by filling his mind with ready-made ideas it +prevents a man from ever learning to think for himself; and there is +another kind which teaches him to think, indeed, but according to some +arbitrary method, so that his mind becomes a canal instead of a river, +flowing in a predetermined and artificial channel, and unreplenished +by the hidden springs of the spirit. The best education can do no more +than to bring into manifestation that which is inherent; it does this +by means of some stimulus from without--from books and masters--but +the stimulus may equally come from within: each can develop his own +mind, and in the following manner. + +The alternation between a state of activity and a state of passivity, +which is a law of our physical being, as it is a law of all nature, +is characteristic of the action of the mind as well: observation and +meditation are the two poles of thought. The tendency of modern life +and of our active American temperament is towards a too exclusive +functioning of the mind in its outgoing state, and this results in +a great cleverness and a great shallowness. It is only in moments of +quiet meditation that the great synthetic, fundamental truths reveal +themselves. Observe ceaselessly, weigh, judge, criticize--this order +of intellectual activity is important and valuable--but the mind must +be steadied and strengthened by another and a different process. The +power of attention, the ability to concentrate, is the measure of +mental efficiency; and this power may be developed by a training +exactly analogous to that by which a muscle is developed, for mind +and muscle are alike the instruments of the Silent Thinker who sits +behind. The mind an instrument of something higher than the mind: here +is a truth so fertile that in the language of Oriental imagery, "If +you were to tell this to a dry stick, branches would grow, and leaves +sprout from it." + +There is nothing original in the method of mental development here +indicated; it has been known and practised for centuries in the East, +where life is less strenuous than it is with us. The method consists +in silent meditation every day at stated periods, during which the +attempt is made to hold the mind to the contemplation of a single +image or idea, bringing the attention back whenever it wanders, +killing each irrelevant thought as it arises, as one might kill a +rat coming out of a hole. This turning of the mind back on itself is +difficult, but I know of nothing that "pays" so well, and I have never +found any one who conscientiously practised it who did not confirm +this view. The point is, that if a man acquires the ability to +concentrate on one thing, he can concentrate on anything; he increases +his competence on the mental plane in the same manner that pulling +chest-weights increases his competence on the physical. The practice +of meditation has moreover an ulterior as well as an immediate +advantage, and that is the reason it is practised by the Yogis of +India. They believe that by stilling the mind, which is like a lake +reflecting the sky, the Higher Self communicates a knowledge of Itself +to the lower consciousness. Without the working of this Oversoul in +and through us we can never hope to produce an architecture which +shall rank with the great architectures of the past, for in Egypt, in +Greece, in mediaeval France, as in India, China, and Japan, mysticism +made for itself a language more eloquent than any in which the purely +rational consciousness of man has ever spoken. + +We are apt to overestimate the importance of books and book learning. +Think how small a part books have played in the development of +architecture; indeed, Palladio and Vignola, with their hard and fast +formulae have done the art more harm than good. It is a fallacy that +reading strengthens the mind--it enervates it; reading sometimes +stimulates the mind to original thinking, and _this_ develops it, +but reading itself is a passive exercise, because the thought of the +reader is for the time being in abeyance in order that the thought +of the writer may enter. Much reading impairs the power to think +originally and consecutively. Few of the great creators of the world +have had use for books, and if you aspire to be in their class you +will avoid the "spawn of the press." The best plan is to read only +great books, and having read for five minutes, think about what you +have read for ten. + +These exercises, faithfully followed out, will make your mind a fit +vehicle for the expression of your idea, but the advice I have +given is as pertinent to any one who uses his mind as it is to the +architect. To what, specifically, should the architectural student +devote his attention in order to improve the quality of his work? +My own answer would be that he should devote himself to the study of +music, of the human figure, and to the study of Nature--"first, last, +midst, and without end." + +The correlation between music and architecture is no new thought; it +is implied in the famous saying that architecture is frozen music. +Vitruvius considered a knowledge of music to be a qualification of the +architect of his day, and if it was desirable then it is no less so +now. There is both a metaphysical reason and a practical one why +this is so. Walter Pater, in a famous phrase, declared that all art +constantly aspires to the condition of music, by which he meant to +imply that there is a certain rhythm and harmony at the root of every +art, of which music is the perfect and pure expression; that in +music the means and the end are one and the same. This coincides with +Schopenhauer's theory about music, that it is the most perfect +and unconditioned sensuous presentment known to us of that undying +_will-to-live_ which constitutes life and the world. Metaphysics +aside, the architect ought to hear as much good music as he can, and +learn the rudiments of harmony, at least to the extent of knowing the +simple numerical ratios which govern the principal consonant intervals +within the octave, so that, translating these ratios into intervals of +space expressed in terms of length and breadth, height, and width, his +work will "aspire to the condition of music." + +There is a metaphysical reason, too, as well as a practical one, why +an architect should know the human figure. Carlyle says, "There is but +one temple in the world, and that is the body of man." If the body +is, as he declares, a temple, it is no less true that a temple, or any +work of architectural art is in the nature of an ampler body which +man has created for his uses, and which he inhabits, just as the +individual consciousness builds and inhabits its fleshly stronghold. +This may seem a highly mystical idea, but the correlation between +the house and its inhabitant, and the body and its consciousness is +everywhere close, and is susceptible of infinite elaboration. + +Architectural beauty, like human beauty, depends upon a proper +subordination of parts to the whole, a harmonious interrelation +between these parts, the expressiveness of each of its functions, and +when these are many and diverse, their reconcilement one with another. +This being so, a study of the human figure with a view to analyzing +the sources of its beauty cannot fail to be profitable to the +architectural designer. Pursued intelligently, such study will +stimulate the mind to a perception of those simple yet subtle laws +according to which nature everywhere works, and it will educate +the eye in the finest known school of proportion, training it to +distinguish minute differences, in the same way that the hearing of +good music cultivates the ear. + +It is neither necessary nor desirable to make elaborate and carefully +shaded drawings from a posed model; an equal number of hours spent in +copying and analyzing the plates of a good art anatomy, supplemented +with a certain amount of life drawing, done merely with a view to +catch the pose, will be found to be a more profitable exercise, for it +will make you familiar with the principal and subsidiary proportions +of the bodily temple, and give you sufficient data to enable you to +indicate a figure in any position with fair accuracy. + +I recommend the study of Nature because I believe that such study +will assist you to recover that direct and instant perception of +beauty, our natural birthright, of which over-sophistication has +so bereft us that we no longer know it to be ours by right of +inheritance--inheritance from that cosmic matter endowed with +motion out of which we are fashioned, proceeding ever rationally and +rhythmically to its appointed ends. We are all of us participators in +a world of concrete music, geometry and number--a world, that is, so +mathematically constituted and co-ordinated that our pigmy bodies, +equally with the farthest star, throb to the music of the spheres. The +blood flows rhythmically, the heart its metronome; the moving limbs +weave patterns; the voice stirs into radiating sound-waves that pool +of silence which we call the air. + + "Thou canst not wave thy staff in air, + Or dip thy paddle in the lake, + But it carves the bow of beauty there, + And ripples in rhyme the oar forsake." + +The whole of animate creation labours under the beautiful necessity of +being beautiful. Everywhere it exhibits a perfect utility subservient +to harmonious laws. Nature is the workshop in which are built +_beautiful organisms_. This is exactly the aim of the architect--to +fashion beautiful organisms; what better school, therefore, could he +have in which to learn his trade? + +To study Nature it is not necessary to go out into the fields and +botanize, nor to attempt to make water colours of picturesque scenery. +These things are very well, but not so profitable to your particular +purpose as observation directed toward the discovery of the laws which +underlie and determine form and structure, such as the tracing of the +spiral line, not alone where it is obvious, as in the snail's shell +and in the ram's horn, but where it appears obscurely, as in the +disposition of leaves or twigs upon a parent stem. Such laws of nature +are equally laws of art, for art _is_ nature carried to a higher power +by reason of its passage through a human consciousness. Thought and +emotion tend to crystallize into forms of beauty as inevitably, and +according to the same laws, as does the frost on the window pane. Art, +in one of its aspects, is the weaving of a pattern, the communication +of an order and a method to lines, forms, colors, sounds. All very +poetical, and possibly true, you may be saying to yourselves, but +what has it to do with architecture, which nowadays, at least, is +pre-eminently a practical and utilitarian art whose highest mission +is to fulfil definite conditions in an economical and admirable way; +whose supreme excellence is fitness, appropriateness, the perfect +adaptation of means to ends, and the apt expression of both means +and ends? Yes, architecture is all of this, but this is not all of +architecture; else the most efficient engineer would be the most +admirable architect, which does not happen to be the case. Along with +the expression of the concrete and individual must go the expression +of the abstract and universal; the two can be combined in a single +building in the same way that in every human countenance are +combined a racial or temperamental _type_, which is universal, and a +_character_, which is individual. The expression of any sort of cosmic +truth, of universal harmony and rhythm, is the quality which our +architecture most conspicuously lacks. Failing to find the cosmic +truth within ourselves, failing to vibrate to the universal harmony +and rhythm, our architecture is--well, what it is, for only that which +is native to our living spirit can we show forth in the work of our +hands. + +Your work will be, in the last analysis, what you yourselves are. Let +no sophistry blind you to the truth of that. There are rhythms in the +world of space which we find only in the architecture of the past, and +enamoured of their beauty we repeat them over and over (off the key +for the most part), on the principle that all the songs have been +sung; or we just make a noise, on the principle that noise is all +there is to architecture anyway. It is not so. Those systems of +spatial rhythms which we call Egyptian, Classic, Gothic, Renaissance +architecture and the rest, are records all of the living human spirit +energizing in the stubborn matter of the physical plane with joy, with +conviction, with mastery. When that undying spirit awakes again in +you, stirred into consciousness by meditation, which is its prayer; +by music, which is its praise; by the contemplation of that fair +form which is its temple; and by communion with nature, which is its +looking-glass; you will experience again that ancient joy, hold again +that firm conviction, and exercise again that mastery to transfuse the +granite and iron heart of the hills into patterns unlike any that the +hand of man has made before. + +[Footnote 1: An address delivered before the Boston Architectural Club +in April, 1909.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARCHITECTURE AND DEMOCRACY*** + + +******* This file should be named 12625.txt or 12625.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/6/2/12625 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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