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  • April 4, 1863
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  • EXPRESSION IS ART.
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, April 4, 1863: Page 5

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On Architectural Art.

gases which greatly deteriorated and interfered with the effect of colouring . What was required was something that would g ive outlines of beauty in colours , and which would at the same time resist the atmosphere ancl tbe smoke . And bad tliey not that in the vitreons materials which retained the colours which were imprihted on them , under any circumstances of fog or haze , jn March winds and November clouds , and whose service only required the pelting shower to cleanse it again ancl restore its

beauty . They should make use of the opportunity thus afforded , and grasp at tbe growing appreciation of the truth , that colour , no less than form , was one of God ' s good gifts . The world of colour was co-extensive with the world of form . Great study should be devoted to the working out of detail . The day was going when strips of colour stuck up and clown at hap-hazard were considered sufficient . Something holder—something bigger—something more constructionalwas now required .

, Architecture iu burnt earth should be as completely architectural art , as architecture in carved stone . Here also originality and copying should go hand-in-liand . The materials might be original , but the principles of design were old ancl immutable . So it was , also , with architecture in iron , in which there was great scope for the exercise of invention ancl originality , but in which much might be acquired by existing

precedents . It might be thought that he had spoken more against than for the purposes tf the museum , for , as he had stated , the museum had no systematic teaching of its own ; it had no classes ; it had merely its collection of casts and models ; but it was in the consciousness that these materials would work together for good that they had adopted that line of action . They held strong convictions—prejudices some might consider them , —but they proclaimed what they believed

to be the truth in art , leaving all others to fight their own way , and knowing that truth was great and would prevail . They believed in reality of materials , playing with the sky-line , attention to symmetry of form , and infinite variety in dealing with wood and stone , and now with pottery and iron . They believed that architecture had produced its most glorious development in the Gothic of the thirteenth ancl fourteenth centuries . Much had been light and beautiful in tbe centuries since . Many

mechanical inventions had been produced ; many new forms of beauty and infinite resources in design had been developed ; a new world with its flora and fauna had been thrown in ; the revival of classical art , which seemed to deal a death-blow to the Gothic , hut which , if properly handled , would have been the font of its regeneration ; all these were consistent with the free architecture of Europe . AVe have everything the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries could give to ustogether with all that is

, our own and all the invention of printing and the spread of literature have opened up . Art is in a transitional state ; the minds of men aren are in a transitional state ; politics are in a transitional state ; we live in a century that some years since we used glibly to say was an unventful age , but it has , on the contrary , proved to be a century of revolutions—of which even the sixteenth or seventeeth century no similitude . Empires are

crushing , new worlds are forming—the strong are being made weak , ancl the weak are becoming unexpectedly strong . Ancl in the midst of all this zeal and turmoil , there is the grand figure of Christian , progressive , European , and especially English art , rising higher and higher from the dark ancl surging waves of the ocean ; and we shall in the future be noted with a good or bad mark according as ive perform well or ill our sworn service to that good majestic mistress of ours .

Expression Is Art.

EXPRESSION IS ART .

At the ordinary meeting cf the Bristol Society of Architects , on the 9 th ult ., Mr , Ponton read a paper on " Expression in Art . " Mr . Ponton said that he held expression in art to be that power which the artist possesses of conveying ideas through his art . It mi ght be of two kinds—the one definite and certain , the other conventional and capricious . The former was dependent upon natural princilesthe latter association of

p , upon ideas . It was desirable to separate these two kinds of expression , and to confine attention more especially to that which is dependent upon natural principles , in order to ascertain how these can be best applied to the noble art of architecture . It might be convenient , however , in the first place , briefly to illustrate the expression which is due to association of ideas . Eor

example—an Englishman who has opportunities from childhood of worshipping in a Gothic cathedral , would probably be more religiously impressed with the cathedral at Cologne , than with St . Peter's at Rome ; while , on the other hand , a Roman , who frequented St . Peter's would not be so religiously impressed with the cathedral at Cologne . This difference between the Roman and Englishman was owing entirely to association of ideas . The different power of expression of the two buildings

upon these two individuals was accidental , yet there was that , both in the cathedral of Cologne and of St . Peter ' s at Rome , which tended to produce an expression consonant with religious idea ; and it was this latter expression which he found to be dependent upon natural principles . The principles and laws of expression could be discovered only by observation and experiment ; by observation , in searching through nature , and trying

to ascertain upon what the expression of ideas conveyed by natural objects depended ; by experiment , in trying to imitate , in art , expressions similar to those which were found in nature , using the means which observation of nature pointed out as being the most likely to succeed . Mr . Ponton then proceeded to enumerate and enlarge upon the principles of volume , form , colour , stability , uniformity and symmetry , variety , equal spaced repetition ,

proportion , general harmony , fitness or means to an end , contrast arid gradation , and distinct view . Speaking of the principle of form , he said ; Form , like volume , is common to all material objects . In nature there are two different characters of form expressive of different qualities , namely , angular forms and curvilinear forms—the first expressive of hardness , strength or durability ; the second of softness , delicacy , or fragility . By

one writer forms have been divided into five classes—1 st , the rectilinear ancl rectangular ; 2 nd , rectilinear , but obliqued angled ; 3 rd , curvilinear forms without contrary flexure ; 4 th , curvilinear forms with geometrical contrary flexure ; aud 5 tb , curvilinear forms with natural contrary flexures . In most objects we find several of these classes of forms , and it is only by a process of comparison between a great number of natural objects—as for example , the rocky mountains , the roaring torrents , the rugged oak , the rough rhinoceros with the swelling hill , the smooth lake , the slender lily , the slight gazelle—that we are able to discover the means by which natural expression is given to objects .

The great difference between the two classes of objects above enumerated , certainly consists in the prevalence of angularity of form in the first class , and of curvilinear form in the second ; ancl the expression of the one is hardness , strength , or durability , ancl of the other , softness , delicacy , or fragility . We imitate this principle of form for the purpose of giving expression in architecture , when we employ rectangular and rectilinear forms , for the structural features of the buildingas cubes for large

, masses , horizontal or vertical lines for principal divisions in a building . It is this principal which would suggest the Greek type of form , as we find it tbe in Parthenon ( which is almost exclusively rectangular and rectilinear in its structural parts ) to express sublimity . It would also suggest the Italian semicircular arched opening type of form , to express playfulness and delicacy . With regard to colour this was also used largely in nature as

a means of expression . The best results were obtained in a building by using a light coloured stone , but not too dazzling in whiteness , but with a warm orange tint . For those those buildings in . which form , can be made the essential feature —as for example , the triumphal arch , the Greek temple , the Gothic cathedral , the historical monument—it appeared to him one material ought to be used , having a fair even tint , for the

sake of giving value to the form , and preventing the spectator from being confused between two different impressions . In such cases , colour might be employed externally for the mere purpose of heightening the ornamental decorative features , and increasing distinct views of the parts , but not in such masses as would destroy or even approach to balance tbe pervading colour of the material . In the interiorcolour was better adapted to ive

ex-, g pression , partly from the modified light , which prevents or excludes the beauty arising from strongly contrasted light and shade , and partly owing to the materials best suited to carry out the requirements of convenience , needing paint either to preserve them , or conceal their natural colours , which are too sombre . In interiors , he would be more inclined to make form subservient to colouras was done in the Alhambra . In London

, , the smoke nuisance was destructive of any attempt to introduce buildings dependent upon fine form for expression . The smoke rendered the stone so dark , that the effect , which ought to be produced by light and shade , was almost obliterated , or so modified as to destroy beauty . If we could not get rid of the smoke

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1863-04-04, Page 5” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 23 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_04041863/page/5/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
CLASSICAL THEOLOGY. Article 1
ODD WORDS. Article 2
ON ARCHITECTURAL ART. Article 3
EXPRESSION IS ART. Article 5
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 7
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 9
RIGHTS OF VISITORS. Article 10
COMPETITION FOR MASONIC BUILDINGS. Article 10
THE GRAND SUPT. OF WORKS. Article 10
THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 11
METROPOLITAN. Article 11
PROVINCIAL. Article 12
WEST INDIES. Article 13
INDIA. Article 14
MARK MASONRY. Article 18
Obituary. Article 18
THE WEEK. Article 18
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 20
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

On Architectural Art.

gases which greatly deteriorated and interfered with the effect of colouring . What was required was something that would g ive outlines of beauty in colours , and which would at the same time resist the atmosphere ancl tbe smoke . And bad tliey not that in the vitreons materials which retained the colours which were imprihted on them , under any circumstances of fog or haze , jn March winds and November clouds , and whose service only required the pelting shower to cleanse it again ancl restore its

beauty . They should make use of the opportunity thus afforded , and grasp at tbe growing appreciation of the truth , that colour , no less than form , was one of God ' s good gifts . The world of colour was co-extensive with the world of form . Great study should be devoted to the working out of detail . The day was going when strips of colour stuck up and clown at hap-hazard were considered sufficient . Something holder—something bigger—something more constructionalwas now required .

, Architecture iu burnt earth should be as completely architectural art , as architecture in carved stone . Here also originality and copying should go hand-in-liand . The materials might be original , but the principles of design were old ancl immutable . So it was , also , with architecture in iron , in which there was great scope for the exercise of invention ancl originality , but in which much might be acquired by existing

precedents . It might be thought that he had spoken more against than for the purposes tf the museum , for , as he had stated , the museum had no systematic teaching of its own ; it had no classes ; it had merely its collection of casts and models ; but it was in the consciousness that these materials would work together for good that they had adopted that line of action . They held strong convictions—prejudices some might consider them , —but they proclaimed what they believed

to be the truth in art , leaving all others to fight their own way , and knowing that truth was great and would prevail . They believed in reality of materials , playing with the sky-line , attention to symmetry of form , and infinite variety in dealing with wood and stone , and now with pottery and iron . They believed that architecture had produced its most glorious development in the Gothic of the thirteenth ancl fourteenth centuries . Much had been light and beautiful in tbe centuries since . Many

mechanical inventions had been produced ; many new forms of beauty and infinite resources in design had been developed ; a new world with its flora and fauna had been thrown in ; the revival of classical art , which seemed to deal a death-blow to the Gothic , hut which , if properly handled , would have been the font of its regeneration ; all these were consistent with the free architecture of Europe . AVe have everything the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries could give to ustogether with all that is

, our own and all the invention of printing and the spread of literature have opened up . Art is in a transitional state ; the minds of men aren are in a transitional state ; politics are in a transitional state ; we live in a century that some years since we used glibly to say was an unventful age , but it has , on the contrary , proved to be a century of revolutions—of which even the sixteenth or seventeeth century no similitude . Empires are

crushing , new worlds are forming—the strong are being made weak , ancl the weak are becoming unexpectedly strong . Ancl in the midst of all this zeal and turmoil , there is the grand figure of Christian , progressive , European , and especially English art , rising higher and higher from the dark ancl surging waves of the ocean ; and we shall in the future be noted with a good or bad mark according as ive perform well or ill our sworn service to that good majestic mistress of ours .

Expression Is Art.

EXPRESSION IS ART .

At the ordinary meeting cf the Bristol Society of Architects , on the 9 th ult ., Mr , Ponton read a paper on " Expression in Art . " Mr . Ponton said that he held expression in art to be that power which the artist possesses of conveying ideas through his art . It mi ght be of two kinds—the one definite and certain , the other conventional and capricious . The former was dependent upon natural princilesthe latter association of

p , upon ideas . It was desirable to separate these two kinds of expression , and to confine attention more especially to that which is dependent upon natural principles , in order to ascertain how these can be best applied to the noble art of architecture . It might be convenient , however , in the first place , briefly to illustrate the expression which is due to association of ideas . Eor

example—an Englishman who has opportunities from childhood of worshipping in a Gothic cathedral , would probably be more religiously impressed with the cathedral at Cologne , than with St . Peter's at Rome ; while , on the other hand , a Roman , who frequented St . Peter's would not be so religiously impressed with the cathedral at Cologne . This difference between the Roman and Englishman was owing entirely to association of ideas . The different power of expression of the two buildings

upon these two individuals was accidental , yet there was that , both in the cathedral of Cologne and of St . Peter ' s at Rome , which tended to produce an expression consonant with religious idea ; and it was this latter expression which he found to be dependent upon natural principles . The principles and laws of expression could be discovered only by observation and experiment ; by observation , in searching through nature , and trying

to ascertain upon what the expression of ideas conveyed by natural objects depended ; by experiment , in trying to imitate , in art , expressions similar to those which were found in nature , using the means which observation of nature pointed out as being the most likely to succeed . Mr . Ponton then proceeded to enumerate and enlarge upon the principles of volume , form , colour , stability , uniformity and symmetry , variety , equal spaced repetition ,

proportion , general harmony , fitness or means to an end , contrast arid gradation , and distinct view . Speaking of the principle of form , he said ; Form , like volume , is common to all material objects . In nature there are two different characters of form expressive of different qualities , namely , angular forms and curvilinear forms—the first expressive of hardness , strength or durability ; the second of softness , delicacy , or fragility . By

one writer forms have been divided into five classes—1 st , the rectilinear ancl rectangular ; 2 nd , rectilinear , but obliqued angled ; 3 rd , curvilinear forms without contrary flexure ; 4 th , curvilinear forms with geometrical contrary flexure ; aud 5 tb , curvilinear forms with natural contrary flexures . In most objects we find several of these classes of forms , and it is only by a process of comparison between a great number of natural objects—as for example , the rocky mountains , the roaring torrents , the rugged oak , the rough rhinoceros with the swelling hill , the smooth lake , the slender lily , the slight gazelle—that we are able to discover the means by which natural expression is given to objects .

The great difference between the two classes of objects above enumerated , certainly consists in the prevalence of angularity of form in the first class , and of curvilinear form in the second ; ancl the expression of the one is hardness , strength , or durability , ancl of the other , softness , delicacy , or fragility . We imitate this principle of form for the purpose of giving expression in architecture , when we employ rectangular and rectilinear forms , for the structural features of the buildingas cubes for large

, masses , horizontal or vertical lines for principal divisions in a building . It is this principal which would suggest the Greek type of form , as we find it tbe in Parthenon ( which is almost exclusively rectangular and rectilinear in its structural parts ) to express sublimity . It would also suggest the Italian semicircular arched opening type of form , to express playfulness and delicacy . With regard to colour this was also used largely in nature as

a means of expression . The best results were obtained in a building by using a light coloured stone , but not too dazzling in whiteness , but with a warm orange tint . For those those buildings in . which form , can be made the essential feature —as for example , the triumphal arch , the Greek temple , the Gothic cathedral , the historical monument—it appeared to him one material ought to be used , having a fair even tint , for the

sake of giving value to the form , and preventing the spectator from being confused between two different impressions . In such cases , colour might be employed externally for the mere purpose of heightening the ornamental decorative features , and increasing distinct views of the parts , but not in such masses as would destroy or even approach to balance tbe pervading colour of the material . In the interiorcolour was better adapted to ive

ex-, g pression , partly from the modified light , which prevents or excludes the beauty arising from strongly contrasted light and shade , and partly owing to the materials best suited to carry out the requirements of convenience , needing paint either to preserve them , or conceal their natural colours , which are too sombre . In interiors , he would be more inclined to make form subservient to colouras was done in the Alhambra . In London

, , the smoke nuisance was destructive of any attempt to introduce buildings dependent upon fine form for expression . The smoke rendered the stone so dark , that the effect , which ought to be produced by light and shade , was almost obliterated , or so modified as to destroy beauty . If we could not get rid of the smoke

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