Is It Just a Building?

Leo Tolstoy said that to have real artistic activity, the production of something new must occur; Clive Bell said that there is a particular kind of emotion that people feel when viewing works of visual art; the structures presented in this montage all contain appreciable levels of newness and provoke emotional responses to varying degrees. Structures, for me, with their grandness, scale, purpose and position in the landscape suggest feelings of power and strength. Many of these structures also suggest longevity and perseverance. 

With each example, they present a newness, whether it be use, style of construction, symbolism, technological advance, or human ideal. The emotional power they provoke has just as much depth as from paintings, sculptures, and musical scores. The grandeur and scale of architecture act as emphatic statements of humanity’s ability to impose its will and upon nature, but also to work in conjunction and unison with it. Though the forces of nature will ultimately prevail over all of man’s efforts, the mark he leaves is not so easily erased. 

The Great Pyramid of Giza (Pyramid of Khufu) ca. 2560 BC

Flavian Amphitheatre – The Colosseum (70AD)

St. Peter’s Basilica (1626) – Donato Bramante

Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster (1834-1864) – Charles 

Barry and Augustus W.N. Pugin

Golden Gate Bridge (1937) – Irwin Morrow

US Capitol Building (1793, expanded 1850) – William Thornton et.al.

Hoover Dam (1936) Six Companies, Inc. (structural), Gordon Kaufmann (exteriors)

Statue of Liberty (1886) Frederic Auguste Bartholdi

Empire State Building (1931)  - William F. Lamb

Kremlin Complex(various construction Dates and designers) 

Do any of these structures inspire you? Motivate you? Are they art? What do you think?

Thanks for reading. Questions and Comments are welcome.