Identifier: cu31924008627949 (find matches)
Title: The beautiful necessity; seven essays on theosophy and architecture
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Bragdon, Claude Fayette, 1866-1946
Subjects: Architecture Theosophy
Publisher: Rochester, N. Y., The Manas press
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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r and graceful, its lines more flowing, and itsornament more delicate and profuse. A freer and more elaborate style thaneither of these, infinitely various, seeming to obey no law save that of beauty,was used sometimes for small monuments and temples, such as the Towerof the Winds, and the monument of Lysicrates at Athens. Because the Greek architect was at liberty to improve upon the workof his predecessors if he could, no temple was just like any other, and theyform an ascending scale of excellence, culminating in the Acropolis group.Every detail was considered not only with relation to its position and func-tion, but in regard to its intrinsic beauty as well, so that the merest fragment,detached from the building of which it formed a part, is found worthy ofbeing treasured in our museums for its own sake. Just as every detail of a Greek temple was adjusted to its position andexpressed its office, so the building itself was made to fit its site and to show i6 THE BEAUTIFUL NECESSITY
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forth its purpose, forming with the surrounding buildings a unit of a largerwhole. The Athenian Acropolis is an illustration of this: it is an irregularfortified hill, bearing diverse monuments in various styles, at unequal levelsand at different angles with one another, yet the whole arrangement seemsas organic and inevitable as the disposition of the features of a face. TheAcropolis is an example of the ideal Architectural Republic wherein eachindividual contributes to the welfare of all, and at the same time enjoys theutmost personal liberty (Illustration i). Very different is the spirit bodied forth in the architecture of ImperialRome. The iron hand of its sovereignty, encased within the silken gloveof its luxury, finds its prototype in buildings which were stupendous crudebrute masses of brick and concrete, hidden within a covering of rich marblesand mosaics, wrought in beautiful, but often meaningless forms by clever,degenerate Greeks. The genius of Rome finds its most character

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