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A Good Point

John Lukacs, in his A Student’s Guide to the Study of History, says in a footnote:

The Renaissance began, in many ways, with an emulation of Greek and Roman forms of especially painting, sculpture, and architecture; then the Renaissance craftsmen went on, far beyond emulation, achieving masterpieces of their own. For all art, indeed, all human creation (including the writing of history) must begin with emulation, with a wish to imitate the finished achievements of great masters.

This is my essential point about architecture today. If one looks at the actual built quality of buildings by Duncan Stroik or Thomas Gordon Smith, one may appreciate the overall idea or effort but frown upon the execution, call it clumsy or whatnot. The point is that though these people may or may not be masters themselves, they are raising a new generation of architects who are in tune with the past and thus able to more readily plot a future of beauty and mastery. With any luck, within 50-100 years, architecture will have recovered from the uninspiring malaise in which it currently dwells.

Published at 4:41 pm on Sunday 5 December 2004. Categories: Architecture Tradition.
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