Ruination is
more of a gradual destruction that involves force of nature and force of time.
It introduces the question of time in a nuanced way, how we understand nature
(not just how we oppose architecture), how we understand sustainable. Early
renaissance paintings such as the Christ giving the Keys to St. Peter (1481-82)
by Pietro Perugino, the artist uses central perspective. These perspectives are
usually that of a white male European. Human perspective, it is omniscient. In
the foreground are more white male Europeans. IN the vanishing point is
architecture, which is the focus, therefore this pushes the idea that
architecture is the creation of humans. In the background, there is a simple
landscape that is stripped of grandeur, or other dynamic characteristics.
During this time period, paintings were accurately and realistically depicting
the world, and this was a particular view on realism, and the particular take
on the relationship between humanity, culture, and the creation of humanity,
and nature.
Prior to this time, buildings were not planned
in the sense that they are today. They were planned and drawn, however, most of
major decisions were made during the construction. Major design decisions were
made on site. This is because a different person that it is built by designs it
often. However, during the renaissance, designs became more regulated. There
was a newfound push to design in the studio, and the act was strictly
associated to studio. Drawings began to dictate design, and design dictated construction.
Elevations become popular during this time, as they show how a 3D world can be
realistically translated to a 2D frame, so the drawings could be mass-produced,
this was one of the forces of mannerism.
William Kent designed a villa for a client, Merlin’s
Cave at Richmond in 1735. This drawings is a prime example of how we are moving
away from the regular structure of foreground, background, etc. There is a
shift from elevation to a sort of perspective. It has an atmospheric feeling,
with conditions of light. There is more appreciation to context and nature. It
is different from the elevation of the Banqueting House because there are
details understand linear perspective, and there is a claim to accuracy. Things
also become more hazy or blurred and some is left to the imagination, there is
no obsessions to dictating its own take on the world, but leaving the
interpretation to us. It is in this century, that a bunch of artists and
architects begin question nature in the background, vanishing point, foreground,
etc. And even before William Kent, landscape painters were already questioning
this structure of painting. In Chlaude Lorrain’s Landscape with Apollo, the
Muses and a River God, the human is in the foreground, and there are some
humans in the background. Architecture is also in the background, but there is
a big question of how we get to the architecture because the path is no longer
regularly gridded. We can potentially get to the building through a
multiplicity of routes, this arouses our curiosity and leaves it up to us to
interpret the painting and navigating it. The nature now is no longer in the
background but is the foreground. It is alive, and the plants and trees become
activated.
William Kent goes to Italy on a grand tour,
and this allows him to make contacts with other artists and architects. Through
his networking, he gains a commission to design villas and other things. He
designed centerpieces such as the Hermit’s house that resembles the paintings
by landscape painters that trigger a sense of exploration or navigation like
the architecture in the landscape paintings. He begins to basically design
nature, and becomes labeled as the first landscape architect because he is
using nature as a passive background. It becomes unclear weather the landscape
was designed or it just came about.
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